Join the new world

So, after reading Deer's letter, I've decided I can't really match the good format he came up with. At least, not in originality. So I will be shamelessly stealing his format.

According to my eBirthday, I'm going on one year and seven months of actively playing eRep. One year and seven months. Granted, some have done it for three years or so, but I still consider my time served to be rather substantial. I joined this game thinking that it'd be a cool thing to play around with for 15 minutes a day (I think we all did, initially). As a new citizen in the glorious days of eRep Version 1, I watched the walls rise and fall on the battlefield and took note of the star-themed avatars I'd see late into the night.

Joining TC and the eUS Mil

For you young'uns, this was back when the JCS Militia was known as the eUS Military -- they still retain the term today, but it just doesn't mean the same thing, you know?. Anyway, TC did a good job of keeping themselves in the media, so I figured I'd give that a whirl and see how the military module was. Politics never really interested me anyways.

My original avatar. Joseph Ducreaux is a meme in-and-of himself.


Flashing forward a month or two, I was given the opportunity to be the Platoon XO for TC's 303rd Skullcrushers. That platoon is the real reason I'm still playing, to be honest. The people I met there kept excellent company at any given hour of the day. Eventually I moved up to Platoon CO and then to CO of Bravo Company. Around June I left along with several other officers to the eUS Cavalry. Some things about the TC's officer atmosphere rubbed me the wrong way, and many of my closer eRep friends were situated in Cav anyway.

My final avatar upon leaving TC.


The Departure to Cav

From there, I planned on just chilling with another Platoon CO position. I felt like I did best in those small-unit roles, as I always had more of an interest in engaging people than doing anything else. Within a few months, I had ended up as the Regimental CO for 3rd Armored Cav Regiment after our previous glorious leader, TK_421. Probably the best times I had in the game were over the course of August 2010 - January 2011.

Final cav avatar.


"And Now for Something Completely Different"

Moving right along, December-January was an unsure time for many in the military. For Cavalry, that period culminated in the removal of Avruch (at the time, our branch exec officer) and, only days later, the dissolution of Cavalry. The eUS Army absorbed Cavalry, and that lasted around 3 weeks for most of us; the environment was quite different, and to be honest, Army really didn't have the life that Cavalry did. Nor the motivation.

My UM avatar, courtesy of Stuart Shepard.
Or Pfeiffer. Or Deificus.
Somebody made it, anyway.


That's when I left for the Ultramarines. UM was started as a joint project between Pfeiffer, Avruch (former Cavalry XO), and Maruishima (Airborne senior officer). Whereas JCS was highly structured and regimented, the Ultramarines were (and are) the antithesis: a tierless, rankless structure that solely focused on dropping damage with a minimum of fuss. It was a good time for me, as it allowed me to see the perspective of a militia; how they're run, how the environment is, and how social interactions completely replace the militaristic formalities of the old military.

In UM, I was content to chill there for a few months. My only responsibility was to serve as one of their quartermasters (supply distributors). I had done that since Cavalry, and it's one of the things I've loved doing; being designated a quartermaster means that people put real trust in you, and feel that you can be relied upon to deliver. Literally.

You should know by this point that I am frivolous as f*ck.


Near April 2011, I had all but lost interest in the game. Aside from my QM duties and the people I know in UM, there was no real reason for me to continue playing actively on IRC.

Change of Pace, A Reworked Military

It was around this time that Emerick inherited the presidency (again). After the JCS/Congress drama ended with JCS losing their "official military of the eUS" status, Emerick ordered a new military to be formed. I was approached by several people, Avruch and Emerick amongst them, and asked if I would be interested in joining the new US Armed Forces. I signed on, told them I'd be willing to form the Boot Camp unit with NX.

My avatar, again.


With a solid initial officer corps hammered out, we took on the mammoth task of generating a workable program that would meet the president's requirements AND providing an environment that would be fun to be in. Some said it would take us a month or two to create Boot Camp. I am happy to say we built it in under a week. All original material.

Anyway, Deificus (the original Army CO) resigned some time in May or so. Deerslayer stepped up to replace him, and I was asked to serve as his XO. I did so happily; deer has been one of the more enjoyable fellows to work with. From there, I supported Deer and executed several minor reorganizations of the Army. I took on a QM role again, and continue to hold that role now.



By June or thereabouts, we had the Goldsmiths as some of our brightest junior officers in Boot Camp. They had formed their own militia (Stealth) and were making strides on that unit. I came up with a deal that would integrate Stealth into the existing Boot Camp name, thereby allowing them to have creative license with the unit whilst retaining excellent officers that would go on to continue serving USAF so well. I am proud to say that seems to be one of my best decisions as a USAF General.

TL😉R

I've got work early in the morning, so I'll wrap this up:

With respect to my impact on USAF and the US fighting community as a whole, the biggest claim that I feel I can make is that I assisted in laying down and maintaining an environment that was de-emphasized the importance of rank, identifying ranks purely with responsibilities, and for maintaining a highly merit-based promotion system.

Zach Goldsmith is a shining example of that system I helped found with Deer and the others; a relatively new player (only a few months old), Zach will be replacing me as Boot Camp CO. A seniority-based system of promotions would probably have delayed his meteoric rise, but I digress.

I have no fear as to the direction that Army and Boot Camp will head. The roadmap is clear, and this next generation of leaders is well-informed and well-intentioned.

I will stay on as a QM and provider of commune locations, but for the immediate future I'm done with officer roles. I might try to run for congress or something, but I'll hold off on that until I can spend more time on that.

'Cause I'm busy and shit.

The End.