How to get an FISD Achievement Award

[Daetrin[Admin]]

Just a quick question (sic). I would really love to earn an achievement medal. How would I go about doing this?

 

I got the above via PM, and thought it worthwhile sharing my reply. I hope this helps make this more understandable - in the end since we are all volunteers, the only real way we can say "thank you!" to our members for their measurable and selfless contributions to the members of this detachment and it's mission is via pulblic kudos.

 

There is no one single thing that I can point to. Looking at past recipients, they tend to fall in to three categories:

 

1. People who have repeatedly - and my repeatedly I mean over the course of months and months - not just here or there - helped new folks get up and running by offering advice and tips. tkrestonva, pandatrooper, billhag, rick330, roguetrooper all fall in to this category.

 

2. People who pioneer new costuming techniques in some fashion. This can be Karin for popularizing and making accessible accurate hand guards, firebladejedi & tkittel for belts, etc. TM also falls in to this and the above category - he's been a huge asset to the body of knowledge we call stormtrooper costuming. Another example was dashrazor for pioneering the Incinerator costume not only via his hyper accurate build, but also in providing clear documentation & a roadmap for others to follow.

 

3. People who have done a special, highly needed service to FISD. One example was forlornhope for creating very good TKC visual guides when no one else was willing to step up to the plate, and this then allowed the TKC costume to be able to be done by others. Roguetrooper will soon also get a second award for stepping up and getting all the CRL's to a consistent, accurate state even though he's not on staff. While this seems simple, it's probably near 30+ hours of work to get right, if not more.

 

In call cases it's people giving selflessly of their time and talents to help others - new or current members - with their journey in to stormtrooper costuming, and to the body of knowledge of stormtrooper costuming in general. Our unoffical motto is troopers helping troopers, and this award is in recognition of their being a living example of this.

 

It's also good to remember that you don't have to be an "old timer" to qualify.

 

Here was their second question:

 

Thanks Paul. I need to have been here a lot longer and build up far more knowledge than I have at presant to be able to advise and help others. I feel a little stupid for asking now when you consider the skill and expertise of the members that you mention compared to mine. I will continue to do my best at FISD and hopefully be worthy of an award in the future.

 

And my thoughts on this:

 

I guess I don't see it that way. None of us came out of the womb knowing anything about this hobby, and helping others on the basics doesn't require advanced skill or encyclopedic knowledge - it just requires a willing and kind heart. There are many on this forum who are artisans in the extreme, but just don't have the wherewithal to help out new folks. You're an FISD Centurion - you know all there is to put together a solid costume.

 

Also, you never know when the opportunity could come up. The TKC reference was a case in point - we'd been asking for help for many months, then one new guy with like 50 posts shows up and gets it to done in a few days. Instant Achievement Award!

 

In the end, it all comes back to one of the first posts I ever wrote "Why a Stormtrooper Detachment?" (http://forum.whitearmor.net/index.php?showtopic=20), and our appreciation for those who go above and beyond in contributing to this mission.