Jump to content

Janurary 2014 Newsletter


Kessel Run

Recommended Posts

 
7AmQEyU.jpg
 

From the Detachment Leader
Around the Detachment
For the New Troopers
Troop of the Month


 
 Troopers,

 
The staff of the 1st Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment (FISD) managed to get caught up again in the holiday silliness and miss December’s newsletter. I once again apologize for the lack of communications from us. It was a busy few months since the last time we reached out to give you an update on the Legion’s largest detachment with most active forums. 
 
Legion elections are fast approaching. It is with more than little sadness that I announce I am not running again for Detachment Leader. Darth Life has had me in a force choke during the latter part of my term and I feel that the detachment has suffered from my absence. I do not see my personal life getting any less complicated, therefore I will not throw my hat back in the ring. If there is a member of FISD that is thinking about running please reach out and ask me questions. There is quite a bit more to being DL than appears on the surface. I promise to keep your inquires confidential as necessary. 
 
From the FISD news desk, the first Expert Infantry Badge (EIB) related achievement of note is Todd Maxfield-Matsumoto (Toddo/TK-6647) was the first to be awarded five EIB badges. Todd, one of Garrison Titan’s GMLs, seems to be some sort of Star Wars costumer hoarder. I am not sure what manner of support group he belongs in, but hopefully he has reached the first step of admitting he has a problem. According to his 501st profile Todd boasts twenty-four costumes. Of the twenty-four, five are TK and they are all EIB approved. 
 
Of the five two are worth highlighting. First is his Skytrooper. For those who are not familiar with the Skytrooper it is a TK with a jetpack as seen in the Disney’s revamped ride “Star Tours.†His Skytrooper is amazing even if you don’t think out the fact that he put it together based on poor quality videos, screen captures, and an action figure. Sometime soon I’ll be using photos of Todd’s costume for the CRL
 
 

The other of Todd’s EIB I want to highlight is his ROTJ. For most of us in the detachment, and probably the Legion too, the rubies Stormtrooper is known to cause mental anguish and heartache any time we see it. This licensed and store bought costume is so inaccurate that there is specific mention of it in the FISD costume requirements. Somehow Todd has managed to modify a rubies TK into not only into an approved costume but something worthy of the EIB award. I was stunned when I saw the application for the first time. 
 

 
Here are the links to all five of Todd’s approved Expert Infantry applications: 

  1. Incinerator Trooper
  2. A New Hope - Stunt
  3. Expire Strikes Back
  4. Skytrooper
  5. Return of the Jedi

The other EIB news story that came and went without any fanfare was our 350th Expert Infantry EIB winner. While we are now at 355 as of this writing this letter, I do not want to forget to congratulate Michael McDermott (TK-51508/McDNet) for being awarded this totally random distinction. 

Why is the number 350 at all interesting? It is significant because of how low it is relative to the number of total TKs in the Legion but also the compared to the previous year. My rough calculations (not including second and thirds and only counting first awards) put us at 99 EIBs awarded in 2012. In 2013 we only had 55. These numbers are a little difficult to not take personally but I am the one accountable for this dramatic dip from the previous year. In years 2011 and 2010 there were both 52 EIBs approved. Is it possible that 2012 was an anomaly due Star Wars Celebration or a general increase in the popularity of the Legion? Or did FISD become complacent with the growth of the program central to our mission? I guess the answer comes from a little bit of both reasons combined with some visible tumult within the FISD staff. 
 
Here are some statistics taken from a post from FISD’s founder Paul Hoeffer (Daetrin/TK-8020) where he throws down the gauntlet for 700 EIBs in 2014. When you look at how EIB fits into the larger picture you will understand my Paul is pushing FISD to step up its game in the coming year. 
 

Daetrin, on 14 Jan 2014 - 2:46 PM, said:snapback.png

Daetrin, on 14 Jan 2014 - 2:46 PM, said:snapback.png

On 1/15/2014 at 6:46 AM, Daetrin said:

There are 2526 TK's in the 501st.
There are 352 EI's for 14% of the Legion TK's.
There are 110 Centurions, or 4.4% of the Legion TK's, or nearly 1/3 of all EI.
 
Our goal is to get to at least 33% of the Legion to EI, or to about 842 EI.
 
In other words, getting EI to go Centurion is not the problem. Getting base TK's to go EI is, hence the coin for EI, as this is the metric/behaviour we're trying to change.
 
So our push for 2014 should be to double the EI's from 350 to 700. I mean if every EI got just one other person to go EI, that would be a huge accomplishment for the Legion, especially now that LFL is starting to judge applicants for some Legion events.
 
Glory, honor, empire, blah blah blah. In the end it's about pride in our costume. The "backbone of the Empire" should be the best looking costumes in the Legion, no?

 
How can FISD rise to Paul’s challenge? Please share your ideas in his thread about the March to 700 Expert Infantry in 2014.
 
The last tidbit of news that may have slipped through the cracks is an amazing new space trooper in the UK Garrison. Alex Howard (Dacrates/TK-4166) built a Spacetrooper, or Zero-g Trooper, backpack with a strong attention to detail. Picking up where John Danter left off, Alex takes this little known TK to the next level. Similar to the Skytrooper, the space trooper details are gleaned from fuzzy screen captures, behind the scenes photos, and an action figure. Congrats Alex on a fine bit of craftsmanship. 

 

 

 

 

I cannot say enough that my PM inbox door is always open. Feel free to reach out to me anytime with any concern no matter how small.

 

With Aloha and Unquewstioned Loyalty etc

With Unquestioned Loyalty and Aloha....

Eric Brager
TK-9674 "Darth Aloha"
Detachment Leader



 

 

         
Current Tallies:edited

  • Centurion Awards: 107
  • Expert Infantry Awards: 355
  • Fire Teams: 15
  • Attachés: 0 new
  • Twitter Followers: 1261
  • Facebook Followers: 2272

We have a new INSTAGRAM account - follow us at "501stFISD" for (un)official photos.


Keep up the good work, Troopers! 
 
With Unquestioned Loyalty,

Ingrid Moon
TK-6818 "LadyInWhite"
Executive Officer

 


 
For The New Troopers
 
RESEARCH, you can never do too much research, apart from the deciding to purchase armor this is the next most important step. Read, read and read again and when you think you know it all read it once more.
 
Look through the How To's and Tutorials , most of the Information you need for your build is there, If you can't find something in particular, then use the search button. This feature is one of your most valuable tools on the forum. Here are a few tips to increase your change of finding the information you need on our forum.
 
Build threads can also be a great help, and most of the problems you may encounter have probably already been addressed and dealt with in one of these threads. If you want to be really sure you are heading in the right direction, then look at some of the EIB and Centurion threads, these people have gone the extra distance with their builds, and there is no reason you cannot as well.
 
If you still can't find what you are looking for then ask, there is always a friendly TK or two standing by to help.
 
If there is a wait time for your armor, you can still get ready for it's arrival, with all the extra's you will need, accessories, tools, elastic, snaps and so on.
 
Building armor is not as daunting as it first seems if you do the research.
 
Good luck on your TK journey
 
With Unquestioned Loyalty,

Glen Rhodes
TK-85421 "gmrhodes13" 

Imperial Attaché
 
 


 
What an amazing showing of field reports last month! So many commercials, birthday parties, cons, parades, holiday promotions... how can we choose?

 

Charity is always an easy win, and having done many toy drives last month in my TK and other uniforms, I have a soft spot for these. This month's Troop of the Month is the Toys for Tots USMC Lego Weekend. Great job helping bring awareness and joy to the underprivileged recipients of the toy drive!

 

gallery_15432_48_10251.jpg

 

You can see all the other fun troops shown below by visiting the Field Training Exercises! And don't forget to report your own adventures on Planet Earth, even if its weeks or months later.

 

gallery_15432_48_465508.jpg
 
With Unquestioned Loyalty,

Ingrid Moon

TK-6818 "LadyInWhite"
Executive Officer


 
Don't Forget We're on Facebook and Twitter!

Facebook: www.facebook.com/whitearmor
Now with "tip of the week" and other ongoing discussions. If you're on FB, stop by and say hi, ask questions, and share stories!

Twitter: www.twitter.com/FISD501st or @FISD501st
To find out what the Emperor's dancers are up to at any given moment, follow FISD on Twitter!

 

Instagram: www.instagram.com/501stfisd

 

With Unquestioned Loyalty,

Sam Kisselburg
TK-85254 "Kessel Run"
Public Relations Officer


On behalf of the 1st Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment Command Staff.

End Transmission.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great newsletter.  Thanks to the staff of FISD for consistently maintaining a great detachment and newsletters that reflect it's quality.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for doing this guys! I was laughing at the GML bit. 24 costumes! That deserves therapy.... for being AWESOME..... 

 

I'll try to get our game stepped back up on EP!C Fire Team photos for the field exercise stuff!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Those field training exercises pics are great.  What a fun, awesome group to be a part of.  And I can't belive that that's yet another section of this website that I had never looked at before!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you, yet again, for the newsletter!

 

Always an enjoyable and informative read, and this month is no different.

 

Looking forward to February's!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great newsletter.  Thanks to the staff of FISD for consistently maintaining a great detachment and newsletters that reflect it's quality.

Thank *you* for being inspiring to others :)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...