OCS Policy

The Office of the Chief of Staff (OCS) is the administrative arm of Bravo Fleet responsible for a wide variety of logistical activities in the fleet including awards, promotions, competitions, transfers, name changes, the mentorship program and overall management of the Bravo Fleet roster. The Office of the Chief of Staff is responsible for the timely execution of these duties as the primary facilitator of many facets of the fleet.

Below you will find the key policies that the office operates through, with more detailed policies linked throughout. Any questions regarding these policies should be directed at the current Chief of Staff.

Policy

Section 1 - Awards & Promotions

• All promotion and award recommendations should be submitted through BFMS and include clear, concise language about what the member did and, if applicable, how they did it. Recommendations can include information about a person's personality and character but should provide factual information on the things that they have done.
• All medals and promotions should be known and directed through (up and down) the chain of command appropriately so each leader knows what is being requested and can avoid instances of denial due to double-dipping, or an award being recommended for the same thing within a short period. That is to say, Task Force staff preparing a medal or promotion should consult with Department Staff on any department work that a member may be doing, and equally any Department Staff looking to prepare a medal or promotion for a member of their staff should consult with the member's Task Force staff about possibly including their regular activity. Another example would be a TGCO should consult with their TFCO about a member they're looking to award.
• All awards and promotions should come directly from the source of which they’re being awarded. For instance, a merit award for work in the Intelligence Office should come from the Intelligence Officer. A merit award for the general activity should come from TF staff. If there is a grouping from different sources to complete an award or promotion recommendation, then there should be only one primary recommendation (usually from the TF staff) and as many supplemental recommendations as needed. If you think you may want to group up activities in different areas of Bravo Fleet for an award or promotion, "reach out" to other leaders to have them add in!
• Awards and promotions, once granted, can only be revoked by the Magistrate’s Office. This does not apply to obvious administrative or technical errors, which can be administratively (rather than judicially) removed by the Office of the Chief of Staff.
• When in doubt, ask.

Awards

• Awards are split into two categories: merit and activity.
  • Activity awards (ribbons) are given out, usually within their respective departments, for completing activities within Bravo Fleet.
  • Merit awards are awards that recognize a member’s overall activity and contribution to the fleet and are typically given for the accumulation of activities either through activity ribbons, project work, leadership, or any other metric that can be tangibly tracked. Merit awards are further broken down into two categories:
    • Recognition Awards (Tier 1) — typically awarded for more standard activity.
    • Distinction Awards (Tier 2) — typically awarded for levels of activity and work for the fleet that go above and beyond.
• Awards cannot double-dip activity within their respective category. Any activity, once recognized by an award, cannot be used toward future medals. For activity ribbons this is self-explanatory in that once an activity is awarded for, it cannot be awarded again. For merit awards, this is more prone to happen if a person writing a rec doesn’t read through previous merit awards to see what has already been awarded for. This, however, does not always apply to promotions, which tend to be focused on the total of accomplishments since a member’s last promotion. There has been confusion around these subjects, so example situations are listed below to provide further clarification:
  • A member receives a Silver Palm for participation in a large-scale Task Force event. Four months later, that same member is recommended for a Star Cross for activity in the intervening period, as well as the participation in the large-scale Task Force event. That Star Cross will be rejected.
  • Continuing from the above, if that member is instead recommended for a promotion (and assuming all guidelines and requirements are met), that would be acceptable.
  • If a member is promoted appropriately (assuming all guidelines and requirements are met) for work only internal to their Task Force, and then is recommended for a recognition award for the completion of several projects for a Department — that award is appropriate.
  • If a Task Force Commanding Officer is promoted for their long-term work for their task force to an admiralty rank, and then is recommended for a recognition award for work internal to the task force one month later, that medal will be rejected.
• All awards have a minimum position requirement for the nominator, but that isn’t the only award they can nominate for. For instance, the Star Cross must be nominated by at least a TFCO, but anyone above a TFCO can also nominate someone for it. Alternatively, if you are below TFCO and want to nominate someone for a Star Cross, talk to your TFCO!

Promotions

• Unlike awards, promotions are more a sum of the actions of a member since their last promotion. A promotion should include all of their activity, awards, and projects they’ve completed, and this activity should be reasonably recent.
• Once promoted, all activity in the previous rank is “consumed” and cannot be used again for any promotion or medal. This, however, does not necessarily apply for department work or projects that may be long-term and overlap through promotions as long as that work is not mentioned and used in a previous promotion.
• Promotions between ranks have time-in-rank requirements. These requirements are not absolute, and there may be extreme circumstances where it may be waived in the case of senior officer promotions, but this is highly unlikely, and the standard(s) of activity are significantly higher for rapid promotions.

Section 2 - Transfers

Transfer among Task Forces

• Transfer requests are not a forum for argument or discussion. Problems with unit superiors should be addressed directly between the relevant members.
• Transfers between task forces may be held until such time that the OCS is satisfied with the reasons for the transfer.
• The direct recruitment of members from one unit to another with promises of medals, promotions, or other entitlements is forbidden and may result in disciplinary action. This does not include application periods for positions open to all of Bravo Fleet.
• Reserve hopping, wherein a member transfers to Reserve status before transferring to a new task force is forbidden and may result in disciplinary action when discovered.
• Members accepting leadership positions in units to which they do not currently belong should first request a transfer to the appropriate unit with confirmation of the appointment given as reason.

AWOL

• When a member has not logged into the BFMS for 60 days they will be considered absent without leave (AWOL) and transferred to the BF reserve list.
• It will be the Task Force Staff’s responsibility to check the member’s page and contact each member who has not logged in during this time period (TF Staff can do this at 53 days of no login from a member).
• Members will then have 7 days to login before TF Staff are given the option to start the transfer process. If members do login, they will not show up.
• If members do not login after the 7 days, TF Staff will see an option to transfer them to the reserves.
• The Chief of Staff will review the transfer request and most likely approve the transfer to reserves.

Section 3 - Competitions

• To avoid timing conflicts, members wishing to organize a competition must get approval from their unit leaders. All competitions must be approved by the OCS staff through administration on BFMS.
• All competitions must have clearly defined guidelines on how they will be judged.
• All competitions must have a decent and detailed description that would aid in encouraging players to enter the competition. This may include references to the theme of the event or storyline the competition may be linked to. Competition creators/organizers should seek clarity or help from the OCS staff to ensure the level of description is adequate enough. Please see the OCS Guide: Competition Creation.
• Competitions should run for a minimum of 10 days. Only during special events will this be waived.
• Competitions in Bravo Fleet are tiered based on their target audience, with the placement awards shifting in each situation. These are:
  • Bravo Fleet-wide Fleet Action Events:
    • Starfleet Gold Star
    • Starfleet Silver Star
    • Starfleet Bronze Star
  • Bravo Fleet-wide organized by a member(s) of the Bravo Fleet Senior Staff:
    • First Place: Action Medal with Galaxy Cluster
    • Second Place: Action Medal with Star Cluster
    • Third Place: Action Medal with Planet Cluster
  • Bravo Fleet-wide organized by a member(s) of Bravo Fleet Command:
    • First Place: Action Medal with Star Cluster
    • Second Place: Action Medal with Planet Cluster
    • Third Place: Action Medal with Moon Cluster
  • Bravo Fleet-wide organized by a Bravo Fleet member(s):
    • First Place: Action Medal with Planet Cluster
    • Second Place: Action Medal with Moon Cluster
    • Third Place: Action Medal with Comet Cluster
• A Fleet Action is a club-wide event consisting of several smaller events in phases. These smaller events fit into an overall storyline impacting multiple facets of Bravo Fleet canon. Fleet Actions are run by the Bravo Fleet Senior Staff at the direction of the BFCO and BFXO, and directly influence the direction of Bravo Fleet canon via the Intelligence Officer.
• All competitions are expected to be judged and closed within thirty (30) days of the end date. Competitions still open after this time will result in a warning email to the organizers.
  • The BFMS will automatically prevent further submissions to a competition past its closing date.
  • After 45 days, the OCS will take over judging the competition. At this point, an AWOL competition organizer may have their privileges to run competitions suspended by the OCS office.
• Competitions with valid participation are expected to place action medals accordingly, but there are always situations where no submission has met the subjective criteria for placement. Should this situation arise, the OCS must be notified of the situation and provided with the competition runner’s reasoning.
  • Subjectively graded competitions (including but not limited to: fiction, graphics, poetry, caption contests, and other forms of creative activities) should not have ties when finalized, as there is always a method of discerning appropriate placements.
  • Any competition that is likely to end in multiple ties should have clearly defined guidelines of how ties will be delineated so that there will only be one first, second, and third place finisher.
• Competition organizers and co-organizers are ineligible for placement in their competitions.

Section 4 - Names & Usernames

• Names of canon Star Trek characters are generally prohibited. If you are unsure if your character's name is in question, contact the OCS to work with you.
• Offensive names — while there is no formal list of names that are considered offensive, the Office of the Chief of Staff reserves the right to review potential or actually offensive names.

Section 5 - Dossier Deletion

• Any member who wishes to leave Bravo Fleet in totality may do so by requesting their dossier be deleted by the OCS. Once a dossier is deleted it is done so in full and not retrievable.
• Any awards, promotions, or recognitions that were on a dossier that has been deleted are not transferable to a new dossier created by the same member.
• Clear and obvious incidents of accidental cloning (e.g.: signing up twice in a row) can be resolved by the Chief of Staff by merging accounts, with permission from the BFCO or Magistrate.

Section 6 - Mentorship Program

• Click here for the policy regarding Bravo Fleet's Mentorship Program.

Section 7 - Other

• No ranks, medals, or awards from any other Star Trek club are transferable to Bravo Fleet.