Join the new world

Dear Soldiers and citizens,

Around 250 days ago, things were different. One of the main challenges the Governments faced in those days was a scattered MU landscape. Most notably a well functioning private MU was the strongest in the country. The State Military Units were slowly collapsing and not as appealing and responsive as the Governments would like it to be. The main problem was that there was no absolute guarantee that the non-state controlled MU's would follow MoD orders when needed.

During the term of Notie III (last april) the CP decided that it was time for a change. Between Trannsvaal and myself, we flipped a coin on who was stepping in to take on this project. It became myself. A few days before that, the other Stae MU got deactivated, leaving the new players homeless. So I joined the only remaining MU 'Navy'.

we have come a long way since then. Certain improvements were made and certain outside events helped a great deal to succeed in this project. To sum up:

* the MU 'Navy' adopted the new name 'Dutch Armed Forces' after an extensive selection process in which the population could vote.

* the new MU DAF had the public and its soldiers decide on new colors, avatar and logo. This is what you currently see in use.

* as a result of this, using an avatar became more and more common in the State MU, showing that we are a unit, fighting for a cause, rather than a bunch of separate people.

* We opened a forum part specifically for DAF

* new players received a message from the government, with handy advice and a tip to join DAF.

* ElGorro started paying 5Q7 for people to start using the avatar (now called DAFatar) Later he was refunded for this, but nevertheless we owe him thanks for the initiative.

The above alone resulted in a steady influx of people that wanted to be part of this new, exciting organization.

There were outside events too. A series of tournaments made some people from smaller MU's swap for the duration of the tournament. Several of them actually stayed, further strengthening our MU.
One major event was the scandal that tore PG apart. I shall not go into detail here about that, but its needless to say this made a lot of people join our new and attractive MU and finally put us on top of the charts without competition (at least besides the tournaments)

* This great influx increased the need for an updated structure. After some deliberation we decided to adop the structure called 'the Sword of the Nation' (can be seen on the forum, but essentially regiments per Division with an active captain, where people can flow upwards based on their progress in the game) This structure is still active, as it functions rather well, altho its not easy to spot all the necessary changes in the population and act on it.

* Then we agreed with the Government that we could borrow an Org to facilitate the MU. Now DAF had its own newspaper (that you are reading now) and (small) storage for stock of weapons.

* the last improvement we realised is a funding program where DAF has temporary it's own Money cycle. DAF's funds are comprised of private donation's, gifts and borrowed money. No regular tax money flows to DAF. The idea behind this is that DAF becomes a self sufficient strong Unit that doesnt rely on the relatively small Government budgets that are available each term. This will allow DAF to respond quickly to threats in the future, at times when the voting process on emergency funds takes too long.

All of the above makes me proud. Im proud of what we realised and Im proud of HOW we realised it, with so many people stepping in, putting their shoulders under this and lifting up the MU. I want to thank you all.

Now, the time has come for me to realise that the project I was assigned for, is completed. The current Unit DAF is far more flexible, appealing and strong than any of the former State MU's was in recent history (at least as long as my memoery goes back). That means that in the light of my busy RL challenges and current political tasks, I am not the right person to take DAF to the next level. I shall give back Command to Weekstrom (now 2nd Commander). Essentially we shall swap places, where I'll support him as 2nd Commander for the time being until we think its time to completely remove me from the command chain.

I wish him all the best.

And the rest of the team as well ofcourse:

Weekstrom (Commander)
Fosite (2nd Commander)
Weirdstuffs (Captain)
Shawtyl0w (Captain)
071Leiden (Captain)

Ofcourse, DAF can still use fresh soldiers. Feel free to join in and DAFatar up. We have a nice chat, forum and active feed.

o7
It's been a pleasure to serve our nation for these months.

Walhallah
ex Commander

DAF 'the Sword of the Nation'