In previous Q2&A posts we’ve went over our ranking structure and what it means in reality, as well as how to join the Captains Table and become part of Q2’s valued leadership team. But every now and then, we have someone who’s ambitions are a little higher and those Admirals bars seem very appealing to some.
In the Star Trek Universe what Starfleet is and how it operations tends to deviate from script to script. Sometimes its a strict military structure, sometimes it’s an idealistic job and sometimes it’s a peace keeping armada where you can become captain on a whim. It works in the greater context as a futurist navy where you earn your way to the top, or without the up and out rules of most navies, stay where you are and work on where you best fit. Q2 adopting that structure as a basis of membership back in the 70’s was straight forward. The more you contribute, the more you advance up the zipperole, lickity split with the top of the ‘career path’ being Admiralty and operations overall. In Q1 there’s a similar structure mixed with a voting system where administration is selected by the membership. For Q2, things are a touch different and lean more towards how Starfleet is portrayed on screen now by sheer accident.
The Admiralty Board is the ‘top of the ladder’ and sits right at the top of the chain of command. Which makes it all sound more serious than it is. With Q2 largely being a collection of groups of people across a vast distance, the board’s job is to keep things aligned and ticking whilst dealing with all the boring – and occasionally expensive!- stuff that keeps the larger organisation running. In terms of leadership, Captains on the ground have more fun with more regular and face to face interaction with mostly localised members that can often become life long friends. Fleet Operations is largely administrative, maintaining we hold up to all legal and regulatory requirements, a lot of paperwork and processing, day to day maintenance, problem solving, occasional mediation and generally far from fun. Theres no alignment to any group and a responsibility to support and attend to every group and matter through their leaders.
The board also inherit any financial responsibility – this site as an example – and in a money-free environment, often will cover costs or make arrangements for any outgoings that are needed where we can. The board also needs to have a balanced knowledge of how SFC works and why it’s been put together the way it has, as well as a relatively good understanding of the clubs history on top of procedural knowledge.
Board members aren’t voted in, but selected. At the top is the Director of Fleet Operations (DOPS) which is a role carefully passed on by the outgoing DOPS. An outgoing DOPS knows the role, and knows the people helping them organise things and uses the knowledge and trust to select a successor to take their place; either to enact massive change or keep a continuity. Or both! Once in place the new DOPS selects their administrative team just as any similar real world role would, again using the trust and knowledge of people as well as offering and accepting members who are willing and able to contribute to the larger scale operations of Q2 life. Some roles carry over, some don’t.
Numbers within the AMDB change over time. For some time now the magic number has been to have three people with varying responsibilities on the board – a nice and small number to make sure things pass efficiently and offset so that we can arrange things with two thirds with DOPS having final say if anything comes up for debate we can’t settle on.
Making up the board currently is Mark Mitchell standing in as DOPS. Mark was appointed by the outgoing DOPS per tradition and was selected to oversee Q2 following Scott Arlow’s long time in charge. Mark had previously worked in leadership with Q2 as a local captain as well as the originator of the Director of Administration role and has a wealth of experience on all levels.
James Tyler/Marczynka (its complicated!) was appointed in a previous administration as Director of Fleet Communications and held the position for several years before – somewhat accidentally – becoming de facto Director of Administration. Following in the footsteps of Tom Burns, who passed down both roles, James came on board with outside experience after being a (perhaps too) vocal member of the Sovereign.
Rounding up our current trio is Scott Arlow; Scott had been Director of Fleet Operations for eight years before passing the baton. Having been a CO of more than one unit across more than one region of the UK, Scott has been through the gauntlet of SFC membership and after overseeing a massive fleet divergence program felt confident enough to step away. Then we brought him back in by sheer accident to pull in his decades of club experience. Currently holding the honour role of Chief of Staff, Scott has the luxury of being an active participant in board matters but gets none of the paperwork!
Not every member will have regular contact with the board, which is to our detriment most of the time. As Admin processing everyone’s information early on, it’s usually Admin you’ll know more than most; especially with the site currently run by the same person. But behind the scenes Admin is only one part of the puzzle with Scott advising with experience and Mark using his balanced approach to making sure things run smoothly and don’t get out of control -particularly approving new units, change and policies to maintain Q2’s operation.
Collectively our job isn’t to be the Badmiral we see on TV or just point to fake pins on our collars that we bought on eBay. Our job is to serve the clubs in taking out the boring bits, the hard pars and offer our time and services to ensure every part runs smoothly together – and if it doesn’t, fix it. And with things changing all he time, our to do list never ends! But in essence, despite the ‘rank and title’ as it were, our job is for the club. Whether it be an Ensign or a Captain who needs us, we’re there. If you want to build your own new unit? We’ll take the walk to the chair with you. If you’re looking for help in media contacts? We’ll help. If you want to know why we don’t have Marines or Section 31 like some other clubs? Well, we’ll likely open a bottle of green stuff and tell you a tale of how someone ruined that for everyone.
The most important member of the club is, well, everyone. Our jobs aren’t to follow the military way and demand respect and salutes. Nor is it the Star Trek way where we’ll suddenly become evil. It’s to make sure each and every member gets out of Q2 what they need and want to get out of it and make sure that a new Cadet and a Captain are always on equal footing.
Being on the Board isn’t typically something we have open to apply for. But as the years move on we’re always looking towards the Next Generation to lead the next fifty years for Q2 and what it means for us all. While the board is by selection, we’re always on the look out for people who can take the first steps and show their potential to potentially lead Q2’s Admiralty and contribute to the operational level between all elements of Quadrant 2.
For those looking to make that leap, or interested in contributing more to the membership, our second wave of Fleet Support applications will be opening soon and we’re eager to see who will help shape the next era of Quadrant 2…
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