Delegates:
On The Military of The North Pacific...
Since Transilvania and Scotland there has been critism of The NPA, despite the raw data from kiwi showing the NPA is mostly a detagging and regional support outfit, while raiding has been on the rise lately, data has shown it to be 13% of the operations tied with liberations. With Tyr's Hand Political party made up of key commanders of the NPA calling for increased independence of the Military to act unto itself on it's day to day affairs and answer to the Minister in charge of Defense and no mention of the Delegate in their platform except to state (paraphrase) "should the NPA be at the whims of the next delegate?"
What role does the Delegate play with the NPA? Should a Delegate have a hands off approach and let the Defense Minister run the Military independent of the Government? Or does the Buck stop with the Delegacy and the MoD and NPA answer to the Delegate and the region?
The role of the Delegate in relation to the NPA is that the Delegate is the Commander in Chief. This means that the Delegate is ultimately responsible for the actions of the NPA.
The NPA should be allowed to run its own internal affairs with relative freedom as to its own organizational and policy affairs. However, the NPA should not be so autonomous that it is allowed to act in any way that is potentially damaging to the region. The NPA should have a clear mission as a whole. That mission should directly support the security and prosperity of the region. Military actions should have a clear objective and that objective be of strategic value to the region. No military action should be arbitrary or be an action for the sake of action. There are plenty of valid missions to engage in that are directly related to the security of the region than to waste time and resources on random actions without strategic value.
The buck stops with the Delegate.
What Role should the RA play in oversite? Should it not be involved at all? Except in things otherwise stated in the legal code? I.e. the ability to hold a vote to recall forces.
The RA has the authority to declare war. The RA is completely within it's bounds to establish things like oversight committees if it should choose to do so. Should the RA get involved in strategic planning of military operations? Not really - that is the domain of the chain of command of the NPA and the Delegate.
What would you do to enhance a positive image of the NPA?
And how would you help the Defense Ministry to get more active involvement among TNPers?"
I would increase recruitment activities and create military exchange programs for the training of foreign military organizations and the study of foreign military organizations' strategies and tactics.
Kiwi recently suggested the ranking structure may need some overhaul. Do you agree? And if so what rank changes would you recommend?
I agree that there should be an overhaul in ranking structure and that the structure be related to creating a clear chain of command and specialization of functions. For instance, you could create 'divisions' that specialize in defending, raiding, etc.,,, that are responsible to an executive chain of command so that their activities can be better coordinated and exercised. An organizational 'ladder' is needed if you intend to get the NPA numbers up into the order of 100 or more nations.
If you have 100 nations in the NPA, you could structure it like a brigade with one or more battalions of several companies, and several companies arranged in platoons or fire teams. The organizational ladder should reflect and change with the number of nations in the NPA so that operations can be carried off in a more efficient and effective manner. (Old military man, me.
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The North Pacific Navy Bill.
What are your feelings about this? Should the NPA be renamed with a Navy Theme? Or do you support a seperate branch of TNP Military being formed? Would or Could a seperate branch help bolster membership and spur other TNPers to get involved?
It would largely be a duplication of services unless the Navy serves a different type of mission than the NPA. A 'Navy' could be a good regional promotion if it consisted largely of puppet nations that go about the NS world as a PR scheme.
What do you feel about Tyr's Hand? And the military leadership so adament about operating independently from the executive government? Or the perception of that aim atleast.
Tyr's Hand has a lot of good ideas and I understand their concern. I do not think that the NPA should operate independently of the government. The function of the NPA is to defend the region and the region's interests. Within the scope of that mission, the NPA can operate with relative autonomy under standing orders. As I said earlier, random actions for the sake of activity can lead to some nasty problems in the foreign affairs area if those random actions do not fall under the scope of the NPA's mission.
Military operations should have clear objectives be conducted for objective reasons.
On Regional Participation and Newcomers.
What role do new players fit into in TNP? Should n00bz lurk more or be able to participate right away?
Lurking is OK by me. But I would like to see lurkers become more involved in general. Perhaps as members of the NPA.
I also think lurkers could be drawn out to participate a little more with a Delegate such as myself. I know how to pique the curiosity of lurkers and draw them out to participate.
With around 5,000 nations in the region, how do you encourage more players behind said nations to get involved in the regional forum and government? R3n has suggested a home affairs department. Do you think such a program would be successful? Why or Why Not? And do you have any alternative proposals?
A Home Affairs department is a duplication of services. A voluntary program that encourages the better known citizens of the region and government to get active on the RMB is a better idea.
On RA Membership.
Do you feel regional government being open to all who wish to participate is a good thing? Or as Vice Delegate Candidate Flemingovia suggests a hinderance? Do you Support Flems idea to reject every RA Applicant in the future as a "security threat" and trigger the RA body to vote on if they want the applicant in or not?
I think an all-inclusive government that is open to universal participation is a good thing. I also believe that we need to put into place some kind of safeguards to make sure that these people maintain a certain level of activity before becoming RA members.
As for the RA to vote on the admission of RA members - it smacks of elitism. I would rather have an activity level requirement of new nations first before admitting them to the RA. We want people to not just show up and vote, or show up and vanish. We want them to be active first before they join the RA.
Perhaps some kind of 'naturalization' test before RA membership is granted to show that the applicant knows something about how the government is structured and how the Constitution is (supposed) to work. Such a test could be designed by those interested in being Professors at TNP University.
Vice Delegate Race
Do you have a preference on who gets elected Vice Delegate - whom you serve with? Who?
I would like to see Flem as Vice Delegate if I am elected Delegate. The differences between us would make for a very lively interaction that would, all things considered, would be different than anything else TNP has seen before.
With any other candidate for Delegate other than myself, I would suspect that Flemingovia would function purely as an obstructionist as I don't think that the other candidates seem to take him too seriously as a candidate for Vice Delegate. A Roman-Flemingovia team would be different, that's for sure. So different in fact that we might actually see some real change for the better. And I would guarantee it would be fun for all involved.