Bongosz - Commanding Officer Application

[Me_Bigsnail]

Commanding Officer Application - Bongosz

What is your BYOND key?

Bongosz

What is your Discord ID?

iamtheguy

What is your timezone in UTC?

GMT-5

Player Name You Use Most?

Gestas hind (Current) // Dismas Hind (Former)

Ban Appeals, Whitelist and Staff Applications:

I don’t know how to find the old forum threads (I can’t find them through google) But in chronological order (from what I remember)
Synthetic WL - Approved // 2020
CO WL - Approved // 2020
Spriter Application - Approved // 2020
Pred WL - Approved // 2021ish (?)
MP JobBan appeal - Approved // I received a ban in this role because I gave a swirlie to a prisoner.
Queen JobBan appeal - Approved // I received a ban when I banished two xenos when the ability was introduced, I banished them to fight at the ring when hijack ended in our victory.

Have you been banned in the last 3 months?

No

If so, why?

N/A

Command Knowledge:

How familiar are you with command positions?

I know how to direct the attention of others towards achieving the several goals directed by me, as well as delegating tasks to those under me, I am able to properly utilize with efficiency the several new mechanics that have been implemented to CIC throught the years, as well as a proper understanding of what is expecting for be to do and what not to do when I am playing Command roles

I understand that playing as a senior officer requires more than just being good to manage the several variables both, shipside and groundside, but to also involve others into RP scenarios that can enhance the atmosphere of the game, so as long as it is within the spirit of it.
I know how to play in both low pop and high pop, and I seek the CO WL because I wish to be a giving hand to newer players in having fun with me being around.

Hours in XO:

69.3 hr

Hours in SL:

116.8 hr

Character Information:

Why did your character decide to become the CO of a ship?

Gestas always held the shared dream of his brother to leave behind their poverty filled lifestyle and work to one day become the leaders of their own lives, unfortunately this also meant that the two brothers would have to face their own ambitious spirit before doing any meaningful progress in their career, in the case of Dismas, he was too cocky and desperate for power that he would do anything, even throw away his rank, while Gestas was more calm and thankful of the peace he had achieved.
When his brother achieved the rank of Lt. Colonel (Commodore in the ol’ days…) he would keep his rank for a whopping 2 hours before being dishonorably discharged and marked for desertion, although his actions were extremely disgraceful for everyone around him, he left a letter of recommendation for Gestas before disappearing.
The letter barely had any impact in the career of Gestas in any positive way, exposure of the theatrics done by his brother would leave him in the spotlight for media vultures to surround him with questions regarding fraud and bureaucracy which would lead to an arrest by “Provost officials” that would cause Incident Alpha - Whiskey 0947 in the USS Golden Cascade sparking within him a deeper sense of duty and responsibility with others, so that what happened to him would never occur to anyone else under his wing.

How did your character attain the position of CO?

Before the incident, Gestas always held interest in being a Commanding Officer, he didn’t have any type of great ambition when compared to his brother, as he had a dream of building a more effective and peaceful galaxy for others to live in, however fate had a better idea…
Truly, it was a grueling and difficult situation for Gestas during Incident Alpha - Whiskey 0947 , during his so called “Arrest” under the charges of fraud, desertion and tampering of official government documents, the situation would have sparked into a full blown diplomatic meltdown between UPP and the UA as the ship was steering dangerously close to UPP territory without proper clearance, however, due to his efforts to deviate the stream of events to cause any serious damage and escalation of conflict between the both powers, his name was cleared of any suspicion after several interviews and investigations, the talks for a promotion were underway as the incident became public, obviously, his promotion was a hot topic so he was sent to the officer’s academy to test his skills, and since he proved to be a good character, he was granted the rank of Major.

Provide a short story of your CO.

24 pages because I love writing, I hope you guys find it entertaining

Incident Alpha - Whiskey 0947

Command Actions:

When do you believe it’s appropriate to pardon a prisoner?

Three things to take into consideration before even thinking about a pardon:
The behavior of the prisoner
The worth of the prisoner for the operation
The weight of the crime

Pardons should be handed over to someone when the crime is minor/excusable and the operation is in a dire situation which means that sure, spec may have broken a window and did an oopsie so now he’s in brig and he can beg for a pardon but there is no dire situation, sorry not sorry, but you are eating the 15 min in the brig.

I would hand out a pardon if the following are met:

• The prisoner in question is a valuable asset for the operation’s success, in other words, the operation NEEDS every resource available to be successful, even manpower
• The time that the prisoner has to stay in brig is more than 20 minutes OR there is a proper, justifiable reason that the crime was performed (messing around and being goofy isn’t a good justification)
• The prisoner shows good behavior (chatgpt type of letters are NOT the only thing deciding this)

Pardons are a big deal to me because if you pardon ANYONE then everyone will begin to disrespect the spirit of the game because they can get away with it when you are online, it isn’t about being a hardass, it is about showing minimal interest in following procedure

Give some examples of when you would or would not use pardon.

A SL gets arrested because they disrespected a senior officer before first drop, such as a XO, it was a heated argument and talks about their rank were thrown around, even if the XO acted unprofessional there, there is no reason for a SL to lower themselves down to insult someone with far higher rank than theirs. I would warn the XO to keep their composure around the men as for the SL the pardon is not granted under the grounds that the crime was avoidable and minor.

The only doctor on this ship decides to trespass into engineering to grab engineering supplies there when I told them not to and instead man the chemline, they are charged with theft, trespass, resisting arrest and insubordination, they are jailed for about 20 minutes or more. I would talk with the doctor and remind them that their ID has access to medbay for a reason, and if they need access they must ask for clearance, if they are not showing proper behavior for what they have done then I am not pardoning them for the grounds of possible reoffense, however I would let them sit there for a while before seeing if they have changed their mind, since we do need doctors at medbay. Pardon denied under the grounds of re-offense (but tentatively on hold for one)

A PVT fires a bullet inside briefing, the bullet hit someone but the damage is minimal, however they are arrested for assault with a deadly weapon and failure to follow procedure (due to them keeping their gun out) when I ask them about their actions their explanation can be summarized as it was an accident, I would consider heavily if the private understands what they did wrong, and why they got arrested, if they show proper composure and owns up to it, then I would direct a SEA towards the private (if any) and pardon them under the grounds of good behavior, HOWEVER, I would only do this if they show to be a proper newb and not just a guy who is pretending to be one, I would direct the SEA to keep an eye on them so that they can lead them around the ship and help them go groundside afterwards.

When do you believe it’s appropriate to use a Battlefield Execution?

From my experience battlefield executions demand quick thinking on your feet and because of that it is important to understand that these are LAST RESORT A.k.a You are not going to shoot Delta SL because he repeatedly doesn’t follow your orders (It is reasonable in specific situations however I.E Delta alert, Hijack) instead you should always consider following the procedure, which is, talking to the person in question, calling MPs if they keep repeating their actions after a warning and detain the marine, if the marine shows clear hostility, then BE away (for example, punching, shoving repeatedly will warrant a BE) but it is much better to keep the BEs are something that allows the CO to protect:

Himself
Those around him
The operation (this includes also your command or leadership status)

The latter is very fidgety for many and this is where the line can be blurry because of what can be interpreted as a threat to the operation, but I interpreate it as this: “A personnel resource that is unpredictable, that has open malicious intent behind their actions which often involve grave consequences”

So basically if Delta SL tells me to fuck off or “Command’s useless listen to me” it isn’t a good reason to BE, AGAIN, sure, SLs are bound to follow your lead no matter what, but I am sure that it isn’t a situation that demands a “Last resort” like BE, BEs are good to make people fear going agaisn’t your word, but it SHOULDN’T be the only way to solve every single situation that occurs.

Give some examples of when you would or would not use Battlefield Execution.

I will give some examples from my personal experience

A MP gets shot several times within my sight with the intent to kill the MP, BE granted under the grounds of possible sedition, killing authority figures, that and the PFC being a threat to me and those around them

During Hijack a SL is giving the men conflicting orders through the entire hijack, several warnings from me have been dispatched and none have been taken into consideration, when I find the SL I tell them to stop so we can talk and he ignores me, forcing me to chase them to stop them, they don’t abide, BE granted under the grounds of desertion, I have patience but there are limits to it as well.

A SG is seen spouting nonsense during briefing, but when they start using the Mutiny word and firing their gun at a crowd with IFF on people begin to get on their edge, I tell the SG to cease, but they do not and begin to insult senior officers, I would order MPs to arrest the SG under charges of hooliganism, insubordination and disrespecting a superior officer, I would not BE as it wouldn’t be an inmediate threat to me or to anyone around us, however if there are no MPs around I would BE if they begin to resist and “one up me” creating chaos midbriefing is something intolerable

An event occurs where the CL is seen talking with the CMO with PMCs, minutes pass and the CMO is nowhere to be seen along with a researcher, further investigation shows that there’s a MD going off behind the CLs secret wall and the men who are guarding the CL are being pushy and trying to keep me away from all of this, I would call MPs to investigate further the situation, I would NOT BE the CL under the grounds that there are no immediate threats and no concrete proof, however if the investigation turns up to confirm the worst, the BE would STILL not be done, as it is the MPs job to arrest the CL, however if the CL is hostile and has been resisting the arrests, then it forces my hand to BE them.

[Me_Bigsnail]

my playtimes
i am doing this app because i was inactive and got purged so idk if i should also have added the CO playtime with the XO ones

[Rem1]

Gestas is not only a previous WL holder who’s now returning, but who also seems to have hit us with a 23 page story and who my experiences with have always been nothing less then stellar.

Huge +1, give the man his WL back

[DukeofCagliostro]

This man is an OG and would be a boon to the WL.

[LizCross]

I’m not going to give you a proper review round at the moment, because I have some words to say about you from the experiences I’ve had with you in the past.

You are one of the most unhinged (positive) and interesting commanders I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing with. You are competent as hell; and prioritize the fun of your command staff.

Your roleplay is also very consistently good. Less of the stoic, quiet commanders I’ve come to known and dislike. You are bombastic and fun. Win or lose, you’re a commander I love to see.

Easiest +1 of my life.

[NekoSam]

-1

As a CO whitelisted myself, Im not quite sure I can support someone who berates his troops for commiting a mistake, no matter how much they deserve it or not. Especially if they use an ANNOUNCEMENT out of all things. I understand at times it can be frustrating when marines does something stupid, and venting off in say chat around CIC can help keep a good mental- But to ANNOUNCE it for all marines + deadchat to see? I can’t get behind that.

I can agree it would make for good RP to berate someone in person, calling them a maggot or whatever with the clear intent to act like a disgruntled officer punishing a private for doing something stupid like blowing up a toilet. But pretty much insulting a handful of soldiers who died fighting? That’s a nope from me.

Leadership skills were…Heh? It was mostly calling things out instead of proper leading. Nothing specifically against it but marines were mostly all spread out and disorganised. I can’t say I actually knew where to go, what to do and stuff. It was mostly “Queen in X spot”, “west flank” and things. People in deadchat were also complaining about the XO, but its deadchat- Always prone to complaining over there.

I understand you might’ve been a CO at one point, so that must mean im missing something. Though once more- I genuinely cannot get behind a commanding officer who would act like that towards his own soldiers. Talking shit about your marines is a sure way of getting yourself in trouble, or at worst mutinied.

Maybe this was just a one time thing, the round WAS rather tense, and I would’ve also been reasonably tilted. But to go ahead and essentially insult your own marines?

It’s a nope from me. You can do better im sure, but that ain’t it. This -1 should be taken lightly, as we all have moments of weaknesses.

[DevinXoptoh]

Having played xeno agaisnt Gestas, I fail to see a lack of… planning.
On a round on chances, xenos forced marines out of reactors, but apparently the only orders they got were “run”
This led to the capture of atleast fifteen marines which… turned the tide to marines and eventually they run the round.

I’m also concerned about your lack of SO hours, 2.7 hours seems… concerning for general overwatch, While you have hours in XO and SL, the lack of hours in SO and MP roles is concerning for your knowledge of both overwatch and Military law.

[Me_Bigsnail]

Yes, I did that announcement, and yes I berated those two marines, why?
Because they did not follow orders
I was the only person in CIC at the moment, SADAR had spent majority of a 2 hour long round to go around chasing runners and the Foxtrot grenadier had gone to security towards Sensors towers when I had told them NOT TO GO THERE.
Maybe if you had showed that other screencap with the announcements where I said “Hey guys don’t go to sensors towers or you may die!” you could have given a clearer picture beyond the “Oh man, the XO said mean things to marines for no reason!”

So yeah, I did it, and I have no regrets, the whole “lack of planning” is again, marines not following orders, I had given the order to flank, to OB, to use CAS, to use mortar, I got nothing, so in a sense yes, I let them do their own thing later on in the round. I amended things by letting the SO deploy, sadly they died.
So I will accept that you can say I am mean to people, but I won’t accept that I don’t plan my games or give orders, because I sure as hell do.

And another thing before I forget, I told the Foxtrot spec to go SADAR to finish the job at the generators, they picked Grenadier, they woke up, picked grenadier, and died an useless death, so again, I am ordering marines, marines don’t follow orders, and I berate them in that single announcement, thanks for reading my blogpost

[Dragoon47]

Hello there, I was the initial marine that left FOB without orders. My squad (aSL) was screaming for assistance on the radio, and said that if they had ammo, they could hold the Sensor Tower; it seemed they weren’t going to leave it. Not wanting to be the sole survivor of the squad, and feeling a little sorry for my squadmates, I set off after them with two ammo boxes and little idea of where I remembered seeing the tower. Eventually I was joined by Foxtrot members, including the Spec, which was not intended. By the time the Foxtrot members reached me as I was finally heading in the right direction to the tower, my squad was dead (I did not know this), and we were set upon by multiple T3s and murdered immediately.

All this to say that I found the announcement a little funny in that the CIC’s impotent rage is at least a little human, and preferable to silence. I will say that “every man for himself” is certainly a choice for a retreat order.

I’m not here to vote, since I don’t have, or don’t remember Hind that much outside of this round, but I did want to note that as the target of the salty announcement that my honor is being defended on, I didn’t take silly spaceman rage announcements personally, and generally assume that characters are angry, and not the people.

[Me_Bigsnail]

Yeah man no hard feelings it was just a long ass round, I had dogged through a whole morning with no sleep and said “Alright time for a “quick” XO round then sleep”

Bad fucking idea, it was a 2 hour long back and forth round (In Chance’s Claim, with no CIC, COOL!) and we were close to winning, sadly marines flopped, HARD, at the generators push and my sanity was running out.
I want to say though, you guys staying and pushing to Sensors tower was a bad idea man, like, you were told to route back to FOB for a reason, but again, what stays in the round stays in the round.

Now what I really fucking hate, and no joke, is when people think that I don’t play my role properly, and I take all the flak even when I do my best efforts at making you all win, like DAMN, I get being a XO or CO is about taking all the responsibility, bet, but you CAN’T tell me that I am not doing my best at pulling your heads out of the sand and use everything you have to win, that scenario at the senors tower? I bet someone thought “Wow XO is so bad, he made marines push to Sensors tower” when I told them to move to FOB and so on.

It is what it is tho, and I am cool with you, I just wanted to clarify my feelings here

[osmos]

I personally don’t mind and xo/co chewing out marines for overextending or another legitimate reason. I think it adds personality and would be preferrable to CO’s that like to overexaggerate or obfuscate current events.

I’ve been under Hind a bunch of matches and I think they have improved greatly over the last months. My biggest gripe before was that their announcements appeared to be more suggestive rather than clear demands. I believe they worked in that aspect in being more authoritative and personal.

The times that I have asked questions to Hind when they were XO have returned prompt answers to me. I remember one time asking command if requisition had enough staff to not hurt the operation and them asking in req comms on their situation. This is what a like a lot, there were too many times when I’ve asked other xo’s questions, and they just go radio silent.

So, in the aspect that I care most about is winning, I believe their ability in commanding is good and suitable to be in the CO WL.

+1

[Flatulent]

@osmos

I personally don’t mind and xo/co chewing out marines for overextending or another legitimate reason. I think it adds personality and would be preferrable to CO’s that like to overexaggerate or obfuscate current events.

I second this, but I don’t see Hind as deviating from the baseline as much as NekoSam mentioned.

Solid CO app, let this guy frag with M46C already.
+1

[stalkerino]

@Me_Bigsnail

I told the Foxtrot spec to go SADAR to finish the job at the generators, they picked Grenadier, they woke up, picked grenadier, and died an useless death,

get a grip
-1
your idea of thinking is scary and i wouldn’t want you near a whitelist, or staff, or any position of power or respect

people will go whatever they want as whatever they roll because the game is designed to give them the choice to do so

i’d personally consider warning you for being a dick if i ever saw that happen

[Me_Bigsnail]

Fun is fine, but if I woke up a spec, I expect the decency to at least tell me “Hey command, I suck at SADAR, I’ll try going grenadier” or “Command, can I go grenadier instead?” but no, they woke up, wordlessly picked grenadier, didn’t do ANYTHING to let me know the kit they chose (I had to personally check cams, thinking foxtrot spec cryo’d or something) deployed, ignored orders and then died.

@stalkerino

i’d personally consider warning you for being a dick if i ever saw that happen

Why are you making it sound so personal bro, it was a simple order, through and through, if the player thought it wouldn’t be great for him to go SADAR, then fine he can do it, I really am not that try-hardish as I make it out to be, people want their fun and I can respect that, but the crux of the problem is when people start abusing of having their own fun and forget other people also want to have fun, do you think that the other marines who were holding on at generators would have fun if they found out that the SADAR that would turn a desperate situation around wasn’t actually a SADAR but a grenadier?

Yes, he rolled the lucky snowflake role, and yes, he gets to decide his kit, but I also have a duty with others to direct them towards victory, why? Because winning is just as fun. If he thought he’d do a bad job as SADAR, then again, why not tell me? If he wanted to go grenadier, again, why not tell me? If he wanted to win the round, again, why not follow my orders? He was observing the round, he knew it was a desperate push, so why did he not at least tell me what he was about to do?

On another note, too bad! I already had all three WLs in the past, and never got in trouble as a CO, please speak from your experiences with me in-game rather than picking up a comment and basing the entire application from it next time.

EDIT: A note on the last paragraph I sounded corny, yeah, but honestly I found your comment like a threat and distasteful, I don’t want to get mobbed over ONE round over the thousands I’ve played (I’ll go play more on the weekends hopefully)

[Sandvich123]

Just advice

Winning should not be your number 1 priority of co at the expense of others. We are players we don’t have “duties”. We’re here to play a cool role while respecting others players fun even if we have fake military rank.

Don’t get defensive even when you feel it isn’t your fault. It makes you look bad and doesn’t exactly say “I can be trusted with the ability to BE if I get into a heated argument”. You know better than anyone COs get a lot of flak over BS and you need thick skin. Above isn’t really proving that.

If you get CO, something like that announcement can turn into a big mess for you. Minor stuff that was let go in the past isn’t anymore.

The last answer for BEs was shaky but legit, but watch out with BEing dudes when you can arrest them with a Mp nearby even if they’re being a lil hostile. BEs are a lot more watched now and are meant to be as an ultimate last resort tool now.

Take the advice or leave it I’m not a councilor so my opinion doesn’t matter much.

Good luck hope to see more of you in game so I can drop a fat + soon

[Me_Bigsnail]

Yeah I get what you mean and I don’t see a problem with being told certain things I do can be wrong because really, I like when people give me constructive criticism, but when someone shows up and says “I’d note you for being a dick” and “I never want you to see you playing any WL roles or being trusted with any staff rank” I felt like I was just being thrown hostilities over a round that doesn’t reflect 99% everything I have to offer.

I legit nearly withdrew just because it hit me the wrong way tbh

As for your advice, yeah, I get what you mean, but at the same time I want people to communicate, its frustrating being in a 2 hour long round and having to witness someone going dark on comms as an important role just so that they can have their fun, I guess my attitude on the game is old but I like making people work as a team to achieve a glorious win, sometimes you have to order people in a specific way to do that, but again, maybe I just follow outdated logic.

Anyways enough yapping this is a CO app not a soap opera, back on the topic.

[smellyhippie]

I would like to bring up Wednesday July 31st. Round ID 23309. On this day, in this round. You were the Executive Officer. During Briefing, You gave each squad a one word order for what they were to do upon landing at the LZ. For Alpha you said “COMMS.” The map was Chances claim. As my character Dean, I requested the tacmap be updated before we took off. I hope you are beginning to see the issue now, because it gets worse. Upon touchdown, Alpha Leader found themselves at the frontlines instead of at comms. The tacmap was still not uploaded. Yes, the comms units on Chances can only be in exactly three spots. That being said, this is information all of us take for granted, as the Alpha SL was new. They also had no idea which comms unit they needed to be at.

Upon noticing the Alpha SL at the frontlines, you ahelped about it. I asked him why he was there. He did not know where to go, because his only orders were “COMMS”. There was no tacmap for him to follow. He later quit the game because he felt pressured.

[Me_Bigsnail]

I don’t remember this round tbh
But I do update tactmaps, maybe it was a mistake I made before posting this app? I used to be more washed up than now, so I am not sure, I do admit that if I ahelped to a newbie SL then It was too overboard, I tend to tell people where things are so that they don’t get lost, so I’ll apologize about that, my bad og

[smellyhippie]

Fair enough, you aren’t wrong, it was a bit ago. I don’t expect people to bend over backwards for new players, but I also hate to see them drop the game due to frustration. If I had one take away from this, I’d hope in the future that we can all recognize when someone new needs a hand. I believe we’re at our best when we’re learning from other men’s mistakes, but inevitably we will all fuck up ourselves.(Without fail, I myself did something insanely dumb right before or during every application I made with this community.) I’m glad to see you were able to take this in stride. I accept your apology, and I wish you good luck on the application.

[Pablo_Excavator]

Application looks solid, replies to criticism I don’t really mind considering it is your application and you were preivously a CO. Also these -1 comments just appear to berate you over the tiniest little things that a CO player most likely wouldn’t get spoken to, such as how you speak to marines that disobey your orders personally I think that insults is the best way to catch someone’s attention. Also regarding Smellyhippie’s comments, I can see why you would do that considering your probably burnt out from playing XO for the app so do take a mental break once in a while. Overall I’d like to know your timezone and at what times you play since I can’t recall when you’ve XO’ed for me yet. I’ll take the word of the other +1’s and hence a +1 from me.