Commanding Officer Application - ItsMarmite
What is your BYOND key?
ItsMarmite
What is your Discord ID?
itsmarmite
What is your timezone in UTC?
UTC+0
Player Name You Use Most?
Oswald Aalto
Ban Appeals, Whitelist and Staff Applications:
N/A
Have you been banned in the last 3 months?
N/A
If so, why?
N/A
Command Knowledge:
How familiar are you with command positions?
I am very familiar with the inner workings of CIC, and how the Chain of Command interlinks with both shipside roles and deployed marines. I see Command positions as fulfilling a similar role to support roles such as Combat technician and Hospital Corpsman - while it is the job of the marines to ‘win’ the round, Command’s role in assisting marines to win is to facilitate damage control and respond to situations appropriately with their gained experience leading over numerous rounds to allow the marines to have as much fun as they possibly can with their rounds. Sometimes marines will lose, and that’s okay but Command positions still exist so marine players can feel supported and know that ‘someone’ has their backs – in ideal situations.
Hours in XO:
Hours in SL:
Character Information:
Why did your character decide to become the CO of a ship?
Oswald believes that serving the United Americas is a great patriotic duty, and a way of paying back the benefits he believes his family has received from emigrating to the UA. To him, rising up in the ranks was not a personal endeavor but an act of service to his country. Rising to the rank of Major to him was just a matter of further serving his country.
How did your character attain the position of CO?
A second generation Estonian migrant to America, Oswald Aalto has always had a strong hatred of Communism instilled into him, this hatred stemming from his father’s original migration away from UPP territory on political grounds. This hatred of the UPP, and loyalty to the United Americas brought about a great sense of patriotism in the young Oswald who enrolled in Officer training upon leaving schooling- graduating to the rank of Second Lieutenant. Originally working as an Intelligence Officer providing counter-intelligence for UA efforts to stomp out colonial guerilla organizations. His success would land him a comfier position onboard the USS Worcester as a Lieutenant managing the Second Platoon- eventually taking up Captainship of the Worcester upon the rise of Major Isabel Lopits as her replacement.
While manning the Worcester, Oswald took part in the planning and implementation of numerous supply runs through unsteady territory, contributing to a number of successful operations. Upon a position opening up upon another vessel, a recommendation was put in for Oswald based off of his steady hand onboard the Worcester and he was promoted to the rank of Major. By no means was he some grand war hero, but a patriotic man determined to doing his best, in the right place at the right time.
Provide a short story of your CO.
Command Actions:
When do you believe it’s appropriate to pardon a prisoner?
Pardons are a difficult one; unlike appeals which are a lengthier process in which evidence is examined on a crime-by-crime basis to determine if the offender was guilty- pardons accept the guilt of the offender objectionably and regardless of this guilt rid them of punishment. To pardon someone, a Commanding Officer must put a CONSIDERABLE amount of trust in that person to not repeat their crime and to do so must require a good reason. While it’s impossible to list every single situation where a pardon would be appropriate, I feel the best way to demonstrate my thinking here would be to narrow down some base minimum conditions for considering a pardon.
The crime itself was not significant. Minor crimes such as failure to follow procedure or hooliganism depending on the severity of specific incidents. Major crimes, while valid to pardon, would be very unlikely for Oswald to consider a pardon due to the escalation between minor and major crimes. Minor crimes such as hooliganism, intoxication and trespassing without greater context tend to be your usual misdemeanors misbehaving marines commit, whereas major crimes such as subterfuge, disorderly conduct, and neglect of duty not only bring that marine into disrepute but threaten the stability of the Falcons and their public perception. Some goofing off can be excused under outlined circumstances, it happens but when that goofing off begins to threaten the integrity of the operation, and the authority of the chain of command then each incident degrades his authority less and less. Balancing the manpower boost from a pardon, with the weight of the law is important; if anyone can get away with anything because of needed manpower due to the existence of pardons, then arrests hold no weight. It’s important for a CO to be able to balance the needs of the operation with the needs of the station crew- the Almayer exists outside of the boundaries of the PVP round we’re playing through, so that roleplay should not be ignored.
The crime was a first offense, if the offender has offended before and continues to hop in and out of MP custody its a clear display of a lack of trust. As a Commanding Officer I would be directly responsible for the actions of anyone I pardon, if that person then reoffends- that is on my head.
The operation would be impeded drastically by the further imprisonment of the imprisoned. This qualifier is very population dependent. If we are in a situation where we are in desperate need of corpsmen, and one of the few corpsmen is locked behind bars. The pardoning of a corpsman who had met the above two qualifiers would reduce the amount of deaths and allow us to recoup our losses.
There is a clear and immediate need that the pardoning could quickly resolve. Just because the person would be helpful to have around doesn’t mean they get a free pass to go around insulting officers or lying to the MPs. They are still fully guilty of their crimes, but if them no longer being imprisoned will mean less people will die in the immediate, and the task they would need to handle cannot be delegate to another
Give some examples of when you would or would not use pardon.
During the briefing, the Demolition specialist starts wrenching chairs to turn into metal and is detained by the Chief MP. He claims that as he is the SADAR and one of the only specialists he should be pardoned. Oswald would not pardon the specialist, his status as a limited role does not qualify him for immunity to marine law.
We are presently bogged down at our Hospital FOB on Hybrisa Prospera, and the FOB needs to be built up further due to limited cadelines. Most of our combat technicians are dead or captured due to issues with a notorious burrower. We do have a living Delta combat technician currently imprisoned for assault. During his failed appeal he makes a number of comments towards the Military Police about what he is going to do when he gets out of the brig. Despite the pressing need for a combat technician at the time, this combat technician is untrustworthy and could potentially lash out at others at the FOB if a pardon was granted. Oswald would deny his pardon, and look to other means of building up the FOB, likely in the form of deployment of a Staff Officer or two- or if all else fails considering evacuation.
I arrive late into a low population round to find there is no XO, no SOs and the CMP is in charge of the CIC, having been manning the operation in my stead for roughly the last five minutes prior to my arrival. I quickly find out that the ASO who was previously manning the operation had gotten drunk after a Queen flank wiped out Alpha squad, and the marines had been forced to pull back to the FOB while the ASO made repeated announcements about how sad he was at the loss of life. There are now issues with requisitions, and the ASO’s sentence is still ticking along, guarded by a secondary MP in the stead of the CMP. The ASO calls for a pardon on the grounds that his departments need oversight and he was stressed dealing with everything. Oswald would not pardon the CMP, as his behaviour was fully unbecoming of an officer acting on his behalf, delegating the CMP to oversee the requisitions situation while Oswald takes the bubble to try to salvage the operation.
It is lowpop on LV 624- the Queen has decided to make a hive in hydro which we have very quickly managed to clear through however in the process five marines have (due to rushing ahead and not paying attention) gotten facehugged. Our only doctor has been detained by the MPs for smoking in the medical bay. Oswald would pardon the Doctor and order them to resume immediate surgical duties for the sake of the lives of the infected marines so the operation could resume.
Halfway through the operation requisitions finds itself raided by the CMB as a result of ordering a large amount of contraband. The resulting investigation leads to the Quartermaster and his Cargo Technician detained. With the FOB in a desperate need of metal, and no one available to send any further down due to the lack of a present ASO a maintenance technician begins to deconstruct briefing without any announcement for Shipside Deconstruction to assist Bravo. Given the circumstances, and the heart of the maintenance technician being in the right place Oswald would pardon the maintenance technician, and delegate an SO to assist with requisitions until further staff become available to assist with requisitions.
During a deployment to rescue the survivors of the USS Hanyut a group of marines become impatient with waiting for the Alamo to cycle them down to the FOB and arrange a paradrop with the Gunship Pilot. A signal flare is arranged with the Bravo SL who allows the Normandy to lock onto the signal. The pilot, however, does not lock the signal for paradropping and instead fires directly onto the FOB. Miraculously no one is killed but all of the ammunition laid out next to the Alamo is ignited, causing an ammo cook off. MPs are dispatched to detain the Normandy pilot who apologises profusely. Upon an investigation, it’s very clear that the pilot is new and made a mistake, and now we are lacking not only CAS support but someone to run medevac/fulton services for corpsmen and the intel team. In this situation Oswald would consider pardoning the pilot. Mistakes happen in any new role, locking someone clearly apologetic up for a misclick has the potential of discouraging them from trying the role again, especially when they’ve shown themselves more than willing to own up to their mistake and move on from it to help us with their much needed duties.
When do you believe it’s appropriate to use a Battlefield Execution?
I will preface this section with a brief statement that may bring some context to my answers- I don’t really like Battlefield Executions and feel they should remain a last resort when all other solutions to a problem have been exhausted; ultimately no one likes being round removed and being able to two click perma a player to ‘remove’ them from a situation ultimately takes away from the role of an MP while reducing overall checks and balances without admin intervention.
I believe ultimately Battlefield Executions are appropriate when either server population, or other means of delegating the handling of the situation are unavailable- be that due to a lack of MPs, a hostile environment or the need for expedient handling of the situation, As the Commander, the Commanding Officer may employ the usage of battlefield executions to ensure that the round can continue for marines without being impeded by grief or unintended misuse of policy be it authority granted by a role or a clear malicious reading of procedure to subvert the Chain of Command (and my own authority as a Commanding Officer).
To summarise at the risk of quoting the code of conduct, a Battlefield Execution is used when a situation must be handled quickly, where other means are unavailable. When I, or others around me are at danger, or when its expedient use would greatly aid the operation in times of stress such as the sabotage of the operation from within be it through sabotage of the ship’s operations, my authority or otherwise.
Give some examples of when you would or would not use Battlefield Execution.
An Alpha Rifleman is disruptive in briefing and despite warnings from present Military Police he is continuing to yell out ‘BORING’, spam tapping the glass In a continuous attempt to attract attention to himself and disrupt the briefing. While I could rightfully battlefield execute the rifleman, providing there were military police on standby, Oswald would instead have him detained to undergo the correct legal process. Regardless of myself being allowed to do it, it would not fit in the character of Oswald to kill a Private for being rude in a briefing area.
During a regular operation on New Varadero a member of the CLF sneaks onboard the Alamyer and is detained by MPs. Due to the inexperience of the MPs, this CLF member manages to easily escape, killing the Warden in the process and rushes into CIC before being detained personally by Oswald, alive. While he is within my custody, and eligible for battlefield execution I feel it would be more fitting to allow the legal route to take its place with my supervision. Ending the CLF player’s round with a sudden one tap stun one tap perma may be the quick and easy route to ending the problem, but I feel it would be simultaneously unsatisfying for the CLF member, and the MPs. Giving both parties a chance to undergo the correct process could allow for further roleplay leading to the end of the CLF players’ round, surrounding last rights and the execution process.
During an operation, the marines have been deployed to the Trijent Dam. I have not deployed with them due to a relatively inexperienced CIC, and I am helping them guide through the operation. During a push, a Staff Officer suddenly fires an OB on a random set of coordinates without checking in with either myself or the XO on the demands of the Delta FTL. Thankfully, this only results in three marines being gibbed, and not the entire front. When spoken to and asked to explain, the Staff Officer gets uppity with myself and the Captain saying he was told to fire, so he fired. Understanding that the Staff Officer may lack the experience handling OBs, and may make this mistake again in the future Oswald would opt to call the MPs in to make a discretionary detainment arrest instead of using a BE. A BE is a very final way of punishing the Staff Officer’s mistake whereas the use of a discretionary detainment would allow me to temporarily lock him away to prevent further catastrophe before returning him to the round.,While the deaths caused by the early OB and little warning were a result of him pushing ahead, ultimately they were coordinates provided by the FTL. A discretionary detainment would allow me as the CO to delegate the operation to the XO and other SOs for a moment to take the offending SO aside and explain how and why we manage OBs as we do.
I am deployed to the FOB during a siege, we’ve managed to kill enough of the xenomorphs that we’re in a position I judge strong enough that we can push out to reclaim communications. I order Delta Squad to push with me to comms, but the Delta SL protests and tells his squad that my orders are ‘going to get us killed’. . Despite a second attempt to rouse the squad’s spirits, the SL is adamant and refuses. Oswald would battlefield execute the SL in order to preserve the Chain of Command, and announce the battlefield execution with my tablet, ordering CIC to assign a new Delta ASL.
During a critical part of the operation, the power in CIC suddenly goes out- a brief investigation reveals that a maintenance technician who was denied deployment by the Auxiliary Support Officer has begun to sabotage Almayer’s power to get back at his superior. To ensure a swift resolution to the situation, Oswald would battlefield execute the maintenance tech to ensure the Alamyer is not critically sabotaged any further, and CIC staff can resume the operation as previously intended to recoup any of the damages caused during the outage.
During a deployment to Solaris Ridge, I’ve noticed the Squad Leads are a little on the cowardly side and decide to deploy to help them push the marines forward with a little more gusto. After a successful OB manages to break a chokepoint, Oswald orders a charge into the caves to secure ground, watching from the distance while communicating with the XO regarding the progress of the operation and what needs to happen next. Suddenly the Queen appears from around a corner and screeches to little success, marines shaking up the stunned, however a Charlie rifleman suddenly sets up an M2C at the sight of the Queen and starts gunning down the charging riflemen resulting in a number of casualties. Despite seeing the casualties mounting in front of him, the marine continues to fire the M2C. Oswald would employ a battlefield execution against them to recover the operation.
As a side note, while I believe this an obvious thing for clarity’s sake a Battlefield Execution should almost never be used on a new player outside of instances of clear mass grief (ala joining roundstart and shooting everyone they can reasonably click their mouse on). A Commanding Officer is (in theory) someone a new player should be able to look up to and trust just as much as their Squad Leader and having their round immediately ended by such a player when they were excited to learn and play because they were a little lrp or disrespectful is a sign of a lack of patience. I’m not a moderator, it’s not my place to minimod people’s RP levels like that.
