Good Afternoon,
After a week-long wait (I’m sure all of you were surely sitting on the edge of your seat!), I have finally come to appoint the new Minister of Defense. Before I say that (sorry, sorry, one more minute!), I would first like to say a few words about the outgoing MoD. ROM has been absolutely scintillating in their tenure as Minister of Defense. They have completed (so far as I know) the administrative backlog, worked with me to get things up to speed with new procedures, and been valuable in taking the battlefield along with others. I expect fantastic things from my Ministers, we all should expect excellence from them, but ROM blew my expectations out of the water. In recognition of their service and for the other areas of experience (and expertise) they have to offer, I have decided to appoint them as an Advisor to the Delegate. Their service will not be limited to Defense anymore, though they will continue to help the new Minister of Defense in their duties. They will serve in the Cards Ministry, they will help us with Culture and they will help us with FA. I’m sure that ROM’s unique blend of skills and ability to help out quickly will be a boon to the team and to the region. I cannot wait to see what they are able to do.
Now, for the moment you’ve all been waiting for. My Minister of Defense is a relatively untested figure in the North Pacific, but she has honed her skills outside of the North Pacific for a long time. She is kind, she is incredibly smart, and most importantly, she is the most talented military organizer and commander the independent sphere (and quite possibly the whole game) has right now. She has been an absolute joy to work with and get to know these last six months we’ve known each other too. I, of course, am talking about the one and only erstwhile President of Europeia, Icarus. Icarus is our new Minister of Defense.
When I approached Icarus about the job in December as I was working through my Cabinet picks, I did so out of a sense of conviction: the NPA was in trouble and it needed someone with experience building a modern military from the ground up. Our Army needs someone not just with experience in modern military gameplay and not just a competent bureaucrat, it also needs a cheerleader and a fierce advocate for it. It needs someone who knows what it’s like at the ground floor and what it’s like in the situation room. I believe Icarus embodies every single one of these qualities and folks, I could not be happier that she said yes to my offer when I mooted it. Icarus has formally entered the Army, and given too her recent promotion in Europeia and given my explicit authority under Article IV, Clause 1 of Delegate Directive 5, I immediately promote her to the permanent rank of Major in the North Pacific Army (translated from the Europeian rank of Commodore).
@Icarus, @Rom, please take your oaths immediately. We have lots of work to get done and I’m sure you all will be invaluable help in getting us where we want to be in May.
