EBC's Cassy Styles Anumia sat down with Grand Admiral Common-Sense Politics to discuss the Navy and his plans for it.
Cassy: Thank you for sitting down with me. An important area of Europeia is certainly its Navy, and it has come under neglect in the past. How's the navy going now?
CSP: Slowly but surely. We have a few dedicated members which make things easier. Right now our biggest challenges are being short of manpower and bringing everyone up to a high standard of readiness and knowledge.
Cassy: How do you plan on overcoming these challenges? How are you planning to increase the number of "manpower"?
CSP: The focus so far as been on bringing us up to speed administratively and we're just about there. Unfortunately the disappearance of our Recruitment Officer has set us back a bit but in the near future you will see more aggressive recruitment efforts as well as a concerted effort to make the Navy more culturally dynamic.
Cassy: What are you going to do about your Recruitment Officer? Are you going to replace them?
CSP: Eventually. Right now I'll be re-assuming those responsibilities.
Cassy: What are your plans to make the navy more culturally dynamic?
CSP: Well we'd like there to be something more to look at when one visits the Octagon. Completion of the Hall of Grand Admirals Past as well as a collection of recruitment posters used over the years will provide a historical component. We look to continue development of the Mess Hall which is a sort of Republic Square for sailors. We're going to be revisiting some cultural initiatives put into place by GA Oliver but were later abandoned. We'll have our eyes out for any other good ideas as well. My Culture Officer, Captain Seven Deaths is very adept at this sort of thing, moreso than I am.
Cassy: What is this merit system you installed?
CSP: We've tried to use a point system in the past and that effort didn't exactly pan out but I think an atmosphere of competition is vital to an institution that depends on focused activity. Therefore I implemented a system under which sailors would earn merit or demerit points based on their performance. Recently I decided to do away with demerits as I saw them to be unduly discouraging. Nonetheless, we have an apparatus that let's us know who's doing what and fosters that competetive atmosphere I was talking about though it is not meant to comprehensively judge anyone's performance.
Cassy: What progress has been established towards the new training initiatives?
CSP: Our Training Focus of the Week is back which is supplemented by our tagging operations. Two sailors will be undergoing command training in the coming week. We've had to go back to basics and build from the ground up so it's a lot of work but we'll get there.
Cassy: What were the initial problems? How are they being fixed? In terms of training.
CSP: It's been some time since there has been any formal attempt to bring everyone to a common base level of knowledge and capability. Changes to game mechanics have contributed to laziness. Nothing that can't be corrected in short order.
Cassy: What have you done differently in terms of naval leadership?
CSP: My approach isn't any different than my most recent terms of service in this position.
Cassy: What do you envision for the navy for the future?
CSP: That's a really open-ended question. Ultimately, we strive to be the largest, most active, best trained force in the game. A reasonable short term goal is to be the best trained and maintain enough activity to be relevant. That's our focus right now.
Cassy: Thank you for your time.
CSP: Thank you.
Cassy: Thank you for sitting down with me. An important area of Europeia is certainly its Navy, and it has come under neglect in the past. How's the navy going now?
CSP: Slowly but surely. We have a few dedicated members which make things easier. Right now our biggest challenges are being short of manpower and bringing everyone up to a high standard of readiness and knowledge.
Cassy: How do you plan on overcoming these challenges? How are you planning to increase the number of "manpower"?
CSP: The focus so far as been on bringing us up to speed administratively and we're just about there. Unfortunately the disappearance of our Recruitment Officer has set us back a bit but in the near future you will see more aggressive recruitment efforts as well as a concerted effort to make the Navy more culturally dynamic.
Cassy: What are you going to do about your Recruitment Officer? Are you going to replace them?
CSP: Eventually. Right now I'll be re-assuming those responsibilities.
Cassy: What are your plans to make the navy more culturally dynamic?
CSP: Well we'd like there to be something more to look at when one visits the Octagon. Completion of the Hall of Grand Admirals Past as well as a collection of recruitment posters used over the years will provide a historical component. We look to continue development of the Mess Hall which is a sort of Republic Square for sailors. We're going to be revisiting some cultural initiatives put into place by GA Oliver but were later abandoned. We'll have our eyes out for any other good ideas as well. My Culture Officer, Captain Seven Deaths is very adept at this sort of thing, moreso than I am.
Cassy: What is this merit system you installed?
CSP: We've tried to use a point system in the past and that effort didn't exactly pan out but I think an atmosphere of competition is vital to an institution that depends on focused activity. Therefore I implemented a system under which sailors would earn merit or demerit points based on their performance. Recently I decided to do away with demerits as I saw them to be unduly discouraging. Nonetheless, we have an apparatus that let's us know who's doing what and fosters that competetive atmosphere I was talking about though it is not meant to comprehensively judge anyone's performance.
Cassy: What progress has been established towards the new training initiatives?
CSP: Our Training Focus of the Week is back which is supplemented by our tagging operations. Two sailors will be undergoing command training in the coming week. We've had to go back to basics and build from the ground up so it's a lot of work but we'll get there.
Cassy: What were the initial problems? How are they being fixed? In terms of training.
CSP: It's been some time since there has been any formal attempt to bring everyone to a common base level of knowledge and capability. Changes to game mechanics have contributed to laziness. Nothing that can't be corrected in short order.
Cassy: What have you done differently in terms of naval leadership?
CSP: My approach isn't any different than my most recent terms of service in this position.
Cassy: What do you envision for the navy for the future?
CSP: That's a really open-ended question. Ultimately, we strive to be the largest, most active, best trained force in the game. A reasonable short term goal is to be the best trained and maintain enough activity to be relevant. That's our focus right now.
Cassy: Thank you for your time.
CSP: Thank you.
