Semper Fi!

Day 598, 15:17 • Published in USA USA • by Hadrian X
The Q10 (Ten Quick Questions) – “American Hero” Edition

10 Quick Questions with Vice-Commandant of the eUSMC, Lucius Varenus:

Q1: You were the first to notify President Harrison Richardson of the scheme being perpetrated by Senator Robert S. Miller as he attempted to defraud the eUS government of nearly $ 100,000 by transferring it to a fake organization that he controlled. If you did not sound the alarm as quickly as you did, then he might have gotten away with it. How did you initially discover the fraud?
A: I am paranoid ever since the Franco incident (for the n00bs: that's the first time I recall that the eUS treasury was robbed), so I double check all matters of national security. The first thing to raise my suspicion was the fact that Ft. Knox and not CBO was getting a donation - I didn't know at that time that Congress had planned to donate to Ft. Knox in the first place.

I suspected one of the oldest tricks on eRep - a lot of treasuries have been robbed because of the stupid system on how to get money out of the country's treasury and the font where a capitalized i/I and lowercase L/l look exactly the same - so I searched for Fort Knox, noticed the fake org and copy & pasted the name of the org on the donation proposal into another font. I immediately contacted HR and the JCS, then I opened a thread on the milforum to taunt our exp-hungry politicians as the voting already was 20:0 in favor. In retrospect, I have to apologize to the politicians as they were not as stupid as I thought they were, because the Ft. Knox donation had been planned.

Q2: If you could ask or say anything to Robert S. Miller, right now, what would it be?
A: Nice try, jackass. You ain't so smooth after all, eh?

Q3: Quick word association... PEACE… USMC… Lucius Varenus. (Please just give one word that comes to mind.)
A: Challenge... Ownage... Soldier.

Q4: President Harrison Richardson recently sent out an article describing the serious threat that PEACE presents to the United States and our allies. Without leaking any national secrets, can you say how imminent this threat is and how well prepared is the eUSA for a real war with PEACE?
A: Our intel tells us that this threat is VERY imminent. Only a matter of hours to days. We can't beat PEACE all alone, but we don't have to. We have some of the finest allies one could wish for lined up who will be able to fight from home to help us defend our soil.

It's about time for another WW and we have the huge advantage of being able to fight out of the defensive - even if we have to sacrifice a couple of regions to begin with, we have 51 regions and nobody will be able to fully occupy all these regions. We have fair chances that the outcome will be pleasant for us, but whatever it might be, this will be a lot of fun for both sides and that's what this game is all about, right? 🙂

Q5: Do you feel, in general, that the US Military receives the proper amount of financial support from Congress to adequately complete the missions with which you are asked to carry out?
A: Some might say you can never have enough money and especially the Marines who were used to only fight with Q3+ weapons are a little pissed, but ever since our weekly budgets have been established by the Milcom and the JCS, funding has become less of an issue as it used to be. We can always request emergency funding if we need more for a certain mission, and Congress has never denied us so far - this relationship used to be a lot more tense.

Q6: Just for fun, if you could punch one ePerson in the face who would it be and why?
A: My fellow Marine Paradiziac. Because he is French-Canadian. 😃

Q7: You are known by many as Lucius “Lucky” Varenus. Where did you get the nickname, “Lucky”?
A: Hehe.. I got that nickname from the guy who gave all the Marines their nicknames - Eugene Harlot.

It's a long story, but I'll try to make it short. Back when I joined the Marines Harlot was a LT and he and Tula Jit (A former Marine who is dearly missed) used to organize so-called "Black Ops" where they would chip in with their personal resources (Harlot had a tix company and TJ had a weapons company) to enable a small group of Marines who were active on IRC to gain exp and have some fun by participating in battles the eUS was not officially involved in. So I was about to participate in my first Black Op and Harlot was passing out tix, I digged through my logs to get you the original lines:

[04:31:34] tix and weapons are all you need... black ops mission
[04:31:49] are you logged in on eRep?
[04:32:06] ok, 1 tix for tj, 1 tix for Lucky, 1 tix for me, 2 for Gillz
[04:32:25] I guess I am Lucky? 😃
[04:32:39] yes
[04:32:43] great 🙂

I was lucky to be there and that's how "Lucky" Varenus was born. 😉

Q8: What political party do you belong to, if any, and why?
A: None, if you don't count randomly joining a party for the exp once a month. I dislike all the drama that evolves around eRep politics.

Q9: For those eAmericans who are newer players that are interested in joining the US Military, with sights on the eUSMC in the future, what advice do you have?
A: Train daily, fight in the war games and never lose focus. Join up with one of the other branches to get your first military experiences in - wahoobob wrote an excellent recruitment article providing you with all the necessary info. And once you are near or above the requirements to join the eUSMC, feel free to send in an application or ask your CO for a transfer.

Q10: And finally, seeing as you are a hero to this eAmerican, can you tell me who your personal hero is and why?
A: Eugene Harlot, closely followed by the other Marines Senior Officers (including Leroy Combs). If it wasn't for them I probably would have already quit this stupid game. 😉

Bonus Question: Favorite wall? Hadrian’s Wall, the Wailing Wall, the Great Wall or the Berlin Wall?
A: Pink Floyd - The Wall! No, Hadrian's Wall of course! 🙂
Thanks for having me on this fine newspaper and good luck for it's future.

Thank you for serving the eUSA proudly and for your time, Gen. Varenus!

”The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
-Edmund Burke

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