Commanding Officer Application - Cobraman
What is your BYOND key?
Cobraman
What is your Discord ID?
cobraman
What is your timezone in UTC?
UTC−05
Player Name You Use Most?
Aden McClymonds
Ban Appeals, Whitelist and Staff Applications:
N/A
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 am familiar with both XO and SO positions. I have played a bit of CMO. I have a good amount of experience with being Queen is that is considered a command role. I actually played CO before it was a whitelisted role, back in the old days when you had squads lined up at req for assignments.
Hours in XO:
66.5
Hours in SL:
25.7
Character Information:
Why did your character decide to become the CO of a ship?
Aden McClymonds did not have any great love for the USMC, or vice versa, hate for the people he was helping kill. He simply really loved being an officer. He enjoyed working with people, and people seemed to enjoy working with him. For Aden, it was simply the natural career path of an interstellar marine officer.
How did your character attain the position of CO?
Aden McClymonds was not a lot like the other COs he met. He had no great acts of heroism, except the normal extraordinary act which were part of the job. Instead, Aden was simply reliable. As a career officer, he needed to promote. After a particularly hot headed CO wanted to nuke a planet, the ship’s W-Y Liaison and Aden, as his XO, talked the CO down from destroying the company’s high value planet. Seeing Aden’s value, the W-Y Liaison put in a good word for Captain McClymonds, who soon enough found himself assigned to the USS Almayer as a Major.
Provide a short story of your CO.
Aden McClymonds was laying on his deathbed. A long and illustrious military career was summarized by a shadow box hanging over the bed where he lay. Almost 30 years of metals and ribbons. Learning to one side, he spoke into the tape recorder.
“This is the autobiography of Aden McClymonds, retired officer of the United States Marine Corps.” A deep sigh followed on the recording. His life as an officer had meant everything to him. “I am dying from the genetic deconstructive virus. I was infected during Operation Scout-Latitude-Seventeen when a CLF operative infiltrated the CIC and infected myself and the MP when we caught him attempting to assassinate one of our informants.” Another pause for breath, the virus was starting to turn off the genetic code in his lungs again. He hit himself with a hydro and continued, “With my limited time, I will refrain from retelling my childhood days. Instead, I’m going to start from the middle: The day I got drafted.”
A look of calm washed over Aden, the memories seemed to leave him as he told the story. He would finally find peace at the end. “I was 21 at the time the CLF attacked my planet. Being a fit male with rifle training, I was pressed into service. What should have been a 7 day battle for the CLF turned into an 18 month slog. Because I wasn’t formal military, they gave me FOB duty. I got a yellow helmet, and apprenticed with the Comtechs. About 6 months in, the squad guarding our communications relay was destroyed. I was sent to repair it.” Aden had managed to keep that welder almost 50 years later. His last surviving battle buddy would later claim it, and pass it down as an heirloom to his family. “We only had a Fire Team leader with us at the FOB. Eventually, our Squad leader got killed in an ambush. So the FTL got promoted, and I got his fire team position.” Aden winced remembering the death of his first Squad leader. Sgt. Blussing. Sgt. Blussing was leading a small group of men to the comms relay after it was repaired to relieve Aden’s squad, but was caught by the CLF on the way. The last thing he saw of Sgt. Blussing was a MEDIVAC stretcher being lifted into the air. The FTL grouped the survivors of Sgt. Blussings element and got them back to the FOB.
“We fought like hell” Aden remembered, in equal parts fondness and sadness, “We lost a lot of good men, but the USMC came and picked us up. Apparently I had been drafted for a 4 year term as infantry, and I wanted out. I had seen enough killing and violence. The CO wouldn’t let me go though. That’s when I got good at paperwork. I applied to the Interstellar Naval Academy, who accepted me. The CO, reluctant to tell high command he denied one of his men a chance to go to the Naval Academy let me go.” His academy diploma hung right next to the shadow box.
Aden began gasping again. He knew another Hydro hit would put him dangerously close to ODing on mutadone, but he needed the time to finish his story. The hydros click could be heard prefacing his story, “I didn’t want to go back to being a grunt, so I worked hard to commission. However, part of me missed the action of combat. I would daydream sometimes about leading men into battle from a forward point. That’s when I knew I was broken. Those 18 months had changed me. I couldn’t live a normal life, only tame the new one I had been forced into. I commissioned with the goal and intention of saving people when I could. This wasn’t the life I picked, but some marines did pick this life, and I had to stop them from using other people to act out their war fantasies.” Aden had seen plenty of people, Officers and Enlisted, die or get others killed trying to make history. “Don’t take this to mean that I didn’t love the military or being an officer, whoever you are listening to this. I worked hard to be promoted, but it always haunts me. Am I just like the others, who wanted to play the hero, or did I want to leave people better than I found them?”
Aden’s voice began lowering as the mutadone was no longer able to keep his body together. It would still slow the virus and buy him time. He switched to using the Dexlain hydro the doctors gave him. “I remember my first command. The USS Regonald. The Bravo guys and us got along well, so I ended up Overwatching for them mostly. I learned to work on my paperwork. One day the XO got into a fight with the Bravo SL over some point about the FOB. It was me, the XO, and the Bravo SL in a room. The XO, a Capitan Malvin, assaulted the Bravo SL, Sgt. Grey. The XO offered to transfer me to a better ship with a promotion to boot if I testified against Sgt. Grey. Instead, I testified against the XO. Apparently the XO had some friends which got offended and transferred me to one of the most dangerous jobs in the fleet. I was an SO for a Special Operations detachment of engineers. We would drop on planets without landing pads and they would have to build them. There were a few close calls, but I don’t recall ever leaving anyone behind.”
Aden began having trouble swallowing, he hastened his storytelling, “From there, I SNAFUed upwards. There were only two officers on the ship, myself and the CO. Because of this, I was marked as “Executive Officer.” However this worked, I have no idea. But, once it came time for me to transfer, I was made the XO of an Infantry Platoon. There I worked against my CO to minimize our marines turning into Heroic stories. One time, I believe it was on Kanthal V, I stopped him from nuking a Whey-You planet that they wanted to keep. The Liaison I had worked with for some time told W-Y about me, and they pulled strings with the USMC to make me a CO. I remember the Liaison calling me into his office and sliding me the paperwork to apply.”
Aden’s time had run out, his body began breaking apart as the virus took hold, “I always tried to do my best as a CO. I wanted my marines to come back. Sometimes that meant paperwork, but I was good at that. Sometimes that meant the cost of a mission was too high. USMC high command seemed to agree with me, or at least not want to punish me when I pulled out. In the end, I’m dying for the corps. By breaking that vial, I saved thousands of marines from dying. I knew the information that CLF would give us would save marines.”
A long pause. Aden knew he had one final statement to make that he hoped the world would remember him by. He wanted people to understand what being a CO meant to him, and why marines trusted in him. With his last breath, he said “I died for my marines, a good CO should always let his pride die before his marines.”
And with that, Aden’s brain shut off. The doctors who were isolating him came in once the virus had killed itself. A funny perk, the genetic degrading virus was imperfect and eventually destroyed itself. A military guard covered the roller bed in the USMC flag, as Aden was rolled to the mortuary.
Command Actions:
When do you believe it’s appropriate to pardon a prisoner?
The prisoner is innocent of the crime(s).
The prisoner is guilty of a much less serious crime than charged.
The prisoner is guilty of a minor crime, such as petty theft, and the victim does not wish to press charges.
The prisoner is guilty of a minor crime which did not cause lasting damage, the prisoner shows remorse, and promises to fix his mess if applicable, with victim approval.
The prisoner is guilty and committed the crime for a good reason, for example breaking and entering to save someone’s life.
The prisoner is guilty of a major crime, but lacked the proper mens rea to commit the crime.
Give some examples of when you would or would not use pardon.
An Ordinance Tech accidentally blows up a bunch of marines in briefing while handing out grenades. I would pardon this only on the ground the ordnance tech uses his own materials to repair the damage, undergoes some remedial training from a more experienced OT if possible, and does not take chemicals into the briefing hall again.
A Private throwing a chair which hit an MP, without intending to, and lightly damaged the MP. The MP then charges him under Assault with a Deadly Weapon Charge rather than a more appropriate charge like Hooliganism. I would use a pardon here because the charge neither matches the mens rea or the crime.
A Private disrupts briefing, insults the MPs, and runs around accruing several low level charges. I would not pardon here because the Private needs to learn a lesson about how to behave.
A Staff Officer attempts vigilante justice against said marine from before, but without approval. He pushed the marine down, and over the course of the fight uses his knife. The SO is charged with Assault with a Deadly weapon, Disorderly Conduct, Interference because he was blocking the MPs from reaching the private. I would not pardon here because the SO intentionally committed all the actions, and should have known that they were illegal.
When do you believe it’s appropriate to use a Battlefield Execution?
When a Marine or other shipboard personnel present a clear and consistent danger which is not mitigated by use of the prison, and rises to the occasion that lethal force should be used to protect marines, or government property.
OR
The crime committed was so heinous and against basic human and military morals no other punishment would suffice. There can also be no question of the facts involved.
E.G.
A Squad Leader is refusing to take his men outside the FOB wire, and is instead attempted to convince the other squads to flee from the front. Once the MPs find and arrest him, he is constantly problematic, breaking out of prison, and constantly subverting the operation by cutting power to the CIC among other actions. Because he consistently broke out of prison, and presents a clear and consistent danger to the operation, a BE is appropriate if no other alternative can be found.
A Pilot Officer, during a FOB evac, locks the doors to the Alamo and refuses to open them until he can cycle for fear of dying to xenos. This was despite being ordered to and having the ability to take off. He would receive a Battlefield Execution because there can be no disputing the facts and such actions offend the very core of military morals, such that no other punishment is fitting.
Give some examples of when you would or would not use Battlefield Execution.
A researcher steals a monkey, plants an egg and makes a non-Green xenomorph queen (after asking and was ordered not to) which escapes and kills several marines. I would use a BE here because the researcher showed a blatant disregard for human life, knew the risks, and took them. This meets the criteria for the “heinous and against basic human and military morals” test for my BE.
A scumbag private continuously disrupts the operation, including jailbreaking prisoners. If the damage can be fixed by the CE or MTs, and the private can be contained safely, I would not use a BE. If the private irrevocably damaged the prison, such that it could not contain him or the other prisoners, I would use a BE because it meets the " clear and consistent danger which is not mitigated " criteria. I would not BE the other prisoners unless they committed actions which would pass either test.
A medic disregards orders, deserts, and hangs out in a bar he makes in the FOB, encouraging others to do the same. He fights, without using lethal force, against the MPs sent to retrieve him. Once he is shipboard he does not cooperate with military police, but also does not attempt to break out or cause other disruptions to the operation. I would most likely NOT BE him as he does not meet the standard for either test. If he amassed a large following and attempted to form a sort of rebellion for peace, I would BE him then because it passes the second test.
