The Unit & Volunteering

[Capt (Ret) Koch]

This will likely be my last post for a while (save some off-topic / non-unit related ones here and there), but I think it's an important one to make. I'd just like to touch on the most important thing this unit has (although not enough of): volunteers. 

Don't want to read the huge wall of text? At least read this:
The unit needs S-Shops to stay alive. S-Shops need people to stay alive. If you have a few hours to spare a month, consider applying for one. It isn't worse than reaching out to a S-Shop leader in a PM, on TeamSpeak or Steam and asking if they need help anywhere. You don't need any particular skills for most jobs (S-4 is an exception, in addition to S-5 video stuff); and if you do, most people are more than happy to teach you so that you can help them.

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Arguably, everyone here is a volunteer - especially those in leadership and up. Everyone is here to play a game and have a good time, but in a simulated military environment. This means there are certain aspects (Personnel, for instance) that get simulated, that may otherwise be cumbersome. I'd just like to touch on the different sections for a bit, some people here may not actually be entirely clued in on what the different S-Shops do. I'll include, for good measure since we just had someone transfer there, the H&S Officer position - one I've held previously.

H&S Officer
This is arguably one of the more important positions in the unit. From the outside, it may seem like an entirely useless position (to many CSOs, perhaps - no offense intended here). I've held the position before, and while there are some downsides to its existence (personal opinion), it's a very important position to have. They ensure that the S-Shops function, are doing their job and help funnel any requests back and forth between Company (and the rest of the unit), and the S-Shops. They act as the firewall & router of the S-Shops to put it into technological terms. They receive requests, filter them, and send them where they belong. I'm glad that LaPrade is the one in this position, he's a swell guy and am sure he's going to do an amazing job, just as he did while he was my Sergeant Major.

Like I told him not too long ago; this is basically good practice for his real life job (some day!) when he starts attending more OCS things.

S-1 Personnel
The quiet (sometimes) workhorse that keeps the unit together. They ensure promotions are done, audit the unit as a whole (in regards to personnel and the likes), and try to answer questions that people may have about anything. They include Recruit Processing Staff that are sometimes the first people that new members meet, and they play an extremely important role in the upkeep of our unit. They've been pulling a lot of weight for the past few months, and I think they could benefit from a few new people. This isn't a super hard job (although more difficult jobs do exist in S-1, you receive training anyway). They're mostly jobs that don't require your constant and immediate attention; to my knowledge, we allow for up to 72 hours to process something in. That's you having to check in once every 3 days to process something - it's a good start for getting into S-Shops in any realism unit that has this.

S-2 Intelligence
I don't think any S-Shop is as internally loved, and hated, as S-2. They work together with Unit Leadership (Company, Battalion, CS) to create our FTXes, Operations and any content related to it. We're lucky with the people we have now, having staff from unit veterans to real life veterans manning the upper S-Shop echelons. They play both BLUFOR and OPFOR; a difficult role to have provided that you basically know both sides of the coin when trying to plan an operation. Trying to make things exciting without turning it into a Michael Bay movie is difficult, and people have various tastes.

I've heard a lot of complaints about deployments, operations and FTXes - I've read pretty much everything that has been sent up since I got to the role of H&S Officer, all the way through Alpha Company XO and Battalion CO. It's a difficult job to do, people have different tastes. Some want more "relaxed" missions where there's more action (relaxed in a milsim sense), while some people want to do true MARSOC things. I know S-2 is constantly trying to balance it to make everyone happy, but cut them some slack if an operation wasn't up to par. Send a PM up your chain, it'll get to S-2 eventually and read. They care about your opinions, but you need to care about them being humans, too.

S-3 Operations & Training
The brunt of this S-Shop manages most specialised training in this unit. They're the frontlines of our unit so to speak; they train everyone coming in to the best of their abilities. We've had our ups and downs but I think the unit is at an OK point now and things are going fairly smoothly, with the exception of a few things here and there that aren't necessarily the fault of S-3 - but higher ups (mostly myself, so self-criticism).

I don't have too much to say about S-3. It's a good job, and a good starting point. If you want to get your name known it's a good way to do it, my first ever instructor was @MGySgt (Ret) De Leo in the 15thMEU, our partner unit, when he was a Corporal. I still remember the class to this day, even though it was in 2013.

S-4 Logistics
This is a very interesting S-Shop, and probably up there with S-2 in terms of love and hate relationships in the unit. They maintain our mods, technical infrastructure and whatever else may have a power cord plugged in - just like IT in real life. Maintaining a decent mod pack at a decent size, with functionality that everyone wants is not a job I envy. I gave up working on the mod pack many moons ago simply because it's a very thankless and soul-draining job (at least in my opinion), and I'd like everyone to give everyone in the mod team a thanks if they get a chance. God knows how many more server crashes we would have had if they weren't around and did their job as well as they do.

This is a very difficult, but can be an extremely rewarding S-Shop. If you have the slightest technical inclination, I really recommend you apply. Major Ray is an awesome guy, a great leader and if he left, it would be a great loss for the unit. Moreso than me leaving ever will be, if I may be blunt. I'm sure most people who have interacted with him would agree with this statement; including my close personal friends.

S-5 Public Affairs
S-5 is probably my favourite S-Shop in the entire unit, just because I love doing what they do. Up until recently, I've been in charge of speaking to the 15th MEU & 506th IR, and establishing good relations with them. We're at a stage now where our relations with the 15th MEU is that we're on a Discord with them and discuss actively (sometimes), and we've had the 15th attend our operations - and vice versa.

Moving on from talking about myself, however, S-5 is incredibly important - just like every other S-Shop - to the unit. We want to have a good standing in the ArmA Community. We want to be able to do joint operations with short notices. We want to be able to work with large units like the 15th MEU; partly because they're a big ArmA unit that may give us exposure, but also because it makes things interesting. S-5 is the engine that drives these relationships forward, although it may stall every now and then.

In addition, they do video production stuff. I don't know too much about this, but I'm sure our aussie Whelan could divulge some information if anyone is keen to learn.

With the above being said about S-5, they are currently looking for a Chief. I almost considered asking if I could transfer to it, because S-5 is a really fun job. If you enjoy talking to people, it is the S-Shop to be in. You get to talk to units like the 15th MEU, 4tbIB and the likes - all great dudes. If you're even vaguely interested in S-5, and know something about talking to people, send an application.

Moving on from the S-Shops...
For a unit of this size, or just this niche in the unit market to survive, S-Shops need to exist. People need to volunteer to drive the unit forward, otherwise it will, sadly, eventually wither and die. We can receive as many donations and players as we want; we can have as many CSOs as we want, but if the supporting infrastructure behind it doesn't scale with the unit - it's doomed to fail. This has happened to too many units in the past; and I would absolutely hate to see it happen to the 3d MRB.

With this being said, I don't have any huge plans in being in a S-Shop myself moving forward - simply because I'm focusing on other things. This may be the case for others, too, and maybe some are just here to play games. But I do implore you - if you have 1-2 hours to spare a week, that may be useful in a S-Shop somewhere in the unit. Simply reach out to the S-Shop Leaders and say "hey, I have 3-4 hours a week I can use to help out. would that be useful?"

They'll reply honestly, and they'll appreciate you reaching out. It doesn't matter if applications are open or not, they'll more than likely be happy to accept you anyway. As an example; S-4 has been understaffed for months. We took a hit when a few members left S-4, and it's showing on the stress levels of everyone in S-4. I help as a "Friend of S-4" (what am actually rostered as in 2 S-Shops as of today), but I'm more of a backup guy than anything.

Same goes for all other S-Shops. If you're interested in learning to write, S-2 is a great place to start. While this sentence is extremely biased; Cole is a great guy. I say that because he's a good friend, but also because he's a good leader. S-1 may need more clerks; they have people processing 6-7 different things on their own, and that doesn't scale. If that one person is gone, poor @Capt Makowski picks up the slack, and has to do even more of a job.

There is a very low bar to apply and succeed in a S-Shop in this unit. Some experiences may even help you in real life, I know leading this unit has helped me in real life to develop some new skills - and considerably lower my stress levels. Maybe it'll do something to help your life, too?

Signed,
Koch

[Capt (Ret) Koch]

Note: these are the ramblings of a sick guy who has not slept for way too many hours, and cannot fall asleep. Sorry if I made any mistakes in any S-Shop descriptions, words or anything. S-Shop leaders can feel free to correct me, or just post some more info about themselves in the topic.