Commanding Officer Application - Spypig23
What is your BYOND key?
Spypig23
What is your Discord ID?
spy23_
What is your timezone in UTC?
UTC +10
Player Name You Use Most?
Steve Murphy
Ban Appeals, Whitelist and Staff Applications:
As a new player in 2018, I was job-banned from CE for two instances of mid-round SSD. About a year later, I successfully appealed, but I can’t for the life of me find the actual post.
Have you been banned in the last 3 months?
Nothing beyond an accidental EORG
If so, why?
Command Knowledge:
How familiar are you with command positions?
Extremely, in both ship-side and ground-side command roles. Starting with shipside command, I am more than capable of managing CIC alone or with a crew (as comes with a low pop timezone) having what is approaching 200 hours on SO, much of which was spent as aCO of the operation. I am a competent doctor/CMO, with most of my hours in both being unrecorded, and my HM experience filling the gaps. I am decently good at handling the Req department, with 10 hours on CT in which I often was completely alone.
Although I only have 7.4 hours recorded on MP, I played almost all of my MP and CMP hours unrecorded, and to prove this I am willing to entertain any and all ML questions, no matter the complexity, to vouch for my competency.
In terms of groundside command, while my measly 80 hours of SL may not seem like a whole lot, my 391.7 hours on HM make the flow of battle almost second nature to me. Half of a medic’s job is assessing the health and stability of any marine front, a skill I have adapted very well to Squad Lead. I am not very good at coordinating CAS strikes, but I make up for it with a fairly sound ability to place OBs and Mortar in combat
As a Commander, I first started playing SO under Windhealer back in the day, before taking a two-year break, and starting to test the waters with XO. I’d say it was CO Hange, Richblood, and XO Chyler whose styles have most strongly influenced me over that time
I will note that, due to my unfortunate positioning on planet Earth relative to America, Steve Murphy has almost always been on low-pop CM, meaning that community recognition may not come as readily as it would for other applicants, and to keep it in consideration through my application
Hours in XO:
110.1
Hours in SL:
77.7
Character Information:
Why did your character decide to become the CO of a ship?
Murphy is a character brought up to understand the burden of hard choices. He recognizes that, in order to do what is ultimately the right thing in his eyes, someone must bear the responsibility of getting blood on their hands in the process. After experiencing the loss of his colony in a UPP bombing run, an attack Murphy had a hand in instigating through his efforts to secure the freedom of the planet from its occupation, he turns to the USCM as a means of not just revenge, but also to redeem himself for his inability to save his family and home on LV-440. Despite knowing that the UPP and USCM are analogous in almost all ways, Murphy chooses to sacrifice his conscience and fight for the lesser evil to bring about the downfall of the UPP, emboldened by the horrors of his past.
Murphy pushes himself to the position of CO, because he views it as the only true path to avenge his father’s loss, and vindicate a mistake he made that ultimately caused it
How did your character attain the position of CO?
Murphy, after fighting for the independence of his colony on LV-440 in something akin to an a CLF cell (although not affiliated with the group), was enlisted to a special task force within the United Americas Intelligence Directorate (UA-I), utilizing guerilla warfare to rid the planet of its UPP occupiers.
Following a failed assassination of a high-ranking UPP officer in the region, Murphy’s team directly instigated a UPP bombing attack on the very colony they were fighting to liberate, destroying it and killing a majority of its residents.
Set on revenge, Murphy leveraged his time in the UA-I’s clandestine “Horizon” team to join the USCM officer training program, eventually being promoted from 1st Lieutenant to Captain following his participation in Operation Canton.
Provide a short story of your CO.
My document is split into 3 parts, and written to be read IC by a USCM Major reviewing Murphy’s promotion. While it is formatted to be a report, sections often turn into 1st person stories, which you should imagine like a flashback in a movie
- The first part is almost all worldbuilding, and is very short
- The second part is an epilogue for Murphy as a character
- The third part is the longest, and the meat of the story
Command Actions:
When do you believe it’s appropriate to pardon a prisoner?
Throughout my time as XO or as SO, I have yet to find a case where I believe Steve Murphy would issue a complete and full pardon.
Generally, Murphy views the law as something that is pretty cut and dry, believing that regardless of intention, consequences are a price that must inevitably be paid. That being said, I do understand that there is always room for a bit of leeway with ML when it comes to intent, as well as the ill-defined spirit of the law.
Nine times out of ten, Murphy will prefer an appeal over an outright pardon, as he views them as a much more robust and considerate legal tool. However, an appeal process can occasionally be difficult to conduct in a timely manner, as the process of arrest is often quite challenging, particularly when a Marine is involved. As such, I think Steve Murphy may be willing to pardon prisoners and issue arrest cancellations on hyper-specific and rare circumstances.
Such circumstances often involve different flavors of insubordination, and various minor crimes vaguely carried out in exceptional situations where individuals shoulder the responsibility to ‘do the right thing’ when the law fails them. A VERY vague term that I will clarify in my examples
In all of my over 300 hours in CIC, I have never found a situation where CO Murphy would consider a pardon of a Major crime
Give some examples of when you would or would not use pardon.
Our sole QM is discovered to have illegally modified an ASRS console at some point during the operation, potentially having allowed dangerous black market supplies to circulate onboard the Almayer. Murphy can understand how a restrictive budget could justify this action as for the ‘good of the operation’, but finds the risk to his vessel unacceptable, and cannot forgive a high-ranking officer (at the time) for knowingly acting in such a reckless manner, for such little return to the Marine Corps (a few dodgy, potentially defective firearms). As the XO at the time, and as CO in the future, Murphy sends an MP to the Req department, charging the QM with minor Damage to Government Property, as well as minor/major Contraband depending on the nature of what the QM had ordered, if anything at all. Murphy would verbally order the QM to comply with an NJP to repair the modified ASRS consoles and perform 15 pushups, plus prison time depending on the magnitude of the Contraband charge. Should the QM refuse (and cuss out me as the XO, which they did at the time), CO Murphy would have them arrested, having them serve a complete sentence in the Brig, waving the DASO, and assigning a member of shipside staff to Req (ASO, SO or willing MP). Murphy would NOT exercise a pardon in this situation.
During a slow-moving Hive assault on New Varadero, a small team of Bravo Marines organize an unauthorized flank behind enemy lines, with the XO/CO noticing the movement and ordering an immediate withdrawal. The team, as is expected, draws the attention of the Queen and is quickly surrounded by Xenomorph forces, becoming unable to return to the FOB before they can comply with the Commander’s orders. Despite the seemingly certain doom of the team, their accidental effort to distract the Hive had allowed the frontline to slip through the token Xeno defensive line, and kill the Queen whilst she attacked the Bravo flank unit, ultimately proceeding to crush the now disoriented hive. CO Murphy, assuming he is on the ground with the Marine front, would pardon each member of the team of Major Insubordination, and deliver a stern speech about the absolute idiocy of their maneuver considering their abysmal numbers, before clapping them on the back, and sending them back to base. (Real scenario experienced as an XO)
During an operations briefing by the XO, the CMP walks down the middle of the hangar, points at the XO, and announces they are under arrest for minor Damage to Government Property, alleging they broke a window in the OT department. The entire Marine Corps begins pointing at the CMP and body blocking the Captain as they move to make an arrest. CO Murphy (a Staff Officer at the time), directly asks the CMP to “allow the Captain to perform a briefing before pushing the charge”, understanding that an arrest in front of the Marines would not only hamstring the momentum of the operation, but may also result in the CMPs cannibalization at the hands of Delta squad. The CMP refuses the suggestion from Murphy, and proceeds with the arrest as the Briefing devolves into chaos. Considering the ridiculousness of the crime in question, CO Murphy would issue both a pardon and an arrest cancellation for the XO, allowing them to continue their briefing. The CMP would then be placed under investigation for the borderline seditious manner in which they conducted their arrest, and be reminded of sensible arrest procedures.
When do you believe it’s appropriate to use a Battlefield Execution?
As a concept, a BE is a tool that is wielded for OOC, but mainly IC reasons, of which I’ll speak about my philosophy on both.
Beginning with the obvious side of a BEs use, maintaining the stability of a round, and enforcing behavior in an OOC sense is pretty cut and dry. Steve Murphy would exercise a battlefield execution on obvious griefers, marines demonstrating overt racism or sexism, and in response to an instance of sexual harassment. These are all OOC standards of behavior that a commanding officer is expected to crack down on, of which Steve Murphy would have very little tolerance of
In an IC sense, the motivations for a battlefield execution are drawn from the backstory of Steve Murphy himself, and he would have little tolerance for the following points;
- Gross negligence resulting in the deaths of multiple people, where it could have easily been avoided, which I will expand upon in the next section in specifics
- Any realistic threats to Murphy’s person
- Instances of mutiny
- Deliberate efforts to disable the functionality of the Almayer to hinder the operation at large
- Gross negligence resulting in the death of one or more senior officers
- Actions motivated by cowardice, resulting in the deaths of multiple people (this is a grey area, and I will provide a specific example of what I mean)
Give some examples of when you would or would not use Battlefield Execution.
NOTE: Most of these examples are drawn from real situations Murphy has been in, and I have included some comments below some scenarios explaining how the CO at the time responded, and how Murphy’s response would align with or may differ from the actual. Furthermore, since Murphy plays mostly low-pop, some responses may differ depending on the presence of MPs in the round
A CAS pilot fires on a lase/flare, misdialing their attack, striking and killing a majority of a marine front. This instance would NOT warrant a battlefield execution. Murphy as a character is aware that mistakes happen and can acknowledge that, while a stupid thing to do, a frontline air support environment often allows for catastrophe at the hands of even well-trained pilots
A CAS pilot fires on a rappel flare during an FOB siege, heavily damaging FOB, and ultimately resulting in an evacuation being called. (NOTE: this is NOT the same as accidentally clipping the outer cade lines of FOB in a strike, it must specifically be a RAPPEL flare). This instance WOULD result in execution, as the pilot would have been repeatedly communicated not to fire upon this flare, as well as having the ability to check the flare on a camera before striking. This fits within the threshold of gross negligence, and would not be tolerated by Murphy
An SO firing on OB coordinates without permission from the XO or CO/firing on FOB coordinates accidentally during an operation, either of which resulting in the deaths of a majority of the marine front. Either of these situations would warrant a battlefield execution, or an arrest depending on the availability of MP staff, Murphy would NOT deputize a fellow SO for an arrest, citing a conflict of interest (I play low-pop, so I have to specify)
During an evacuation of FOB into the Alamo, where no pilot is onboard, Alpha SL locks all the doors to the dropship with at least half of the marine force still fighting outside, and the LZ not yet faltering or overrun (a fighting retreat onto the Alamo after an FOB breach). They actively refuse to reopen the doors until directly threatened by the commander, causing the loss of a majority of otherwise recoverable ground-side personnel, later admitting it was motivated by cowardice (real scenario I experienced as XO). Depending on the availability of MPs, they would either be arrested, and executed by firing squad, or battlefield executed as soon as practical.
During briefing, a Pyro flames half of Bravo squad by accident, critically injuring multiple FOB Engineers in the process, and greatly disrupting the flow of brief. Although extremely negligent, Murphy would likely NOT feel that this situation warrants execution. Instead, if an MP was stationed at briefing, the Pyro would be promptly arrested in accordance with ML. If an MP were not present, Murphy would make a point of shooting the marine ONCE in the chest, as both a warning shot to ‘cut the shit’, as well as to regain the flow of the briefing, and the operation as a whole. (This is a real scenario, and due to the round being in low-pop ‘street rules’, XO Murphy shot them once in the chest, to which they responded “Fair”)
Following a successful groundside operation, a joint force of CIC staff, the MP department, and lost puppy Marines move to exterminate a now redundant Research corrupted hive. During the confusion, a marine with a HPR on burst mode unloads upwards of 5 rounds into one of my SOs, mortally wounding them, with no apparent Xeno contacts in their firing line. CO Murphy’s response to this would heavily sway on the rank and experience of this Marine. As an example, if this marine displays typical hallmarks of ‘baldness’ and is clearly apologetic or confused at what they had done, Murphy would spare their life, pardon their crime, but confiscate their firearm. If this marine is known to Murphy (IE: A.W. Claymore blasted one of my LTs), wore a service medal of either gold or platinum, or was any rank above PFC, Murphy would execute them for their gross negligence during a combat operation. (I witnessed this as an XO, despite the marine being of visibly low experience, the CO at the time chose to BE, something I likely would not replicate)
During a CIC Conference Room briefing, Bravo SL comes up behind CO Murphy, and declares that they bet they could “draw faster” than him. Proceeding to quickly pull out their rifle after a moment’s hesitation, unclear if they intend to fire, and pose a threat to CO Murphy’s person. Murphy would warn the sergeant that such comments serve as threats to the COs person, and warn him NOT to draw his weapon, directly telling the SL that he would face immediate execution should he do so. (Witnessing this as an SO, the CO at the time wordlessly stared at the SL, failing to warn him not to draw, and performing a BE once he did. Murphy would NOT replicate this approach, and the warning is KEY)
