Opening Address - June 2023
The NPA has always been near and dear to my heart. If you asked me what branch of the executive is my favourite this would be my honest answer. The excitement of an update operation, the strategy, the sense of purpose, even the history, I love all of it. To have the chance to lead the NPA is a great honour to me. All of this is to say that I am grateful for @Gorundu's confidence in my abilities and I hope to fulfil them.
This term we will place a great emphasis on recruitment. This is something that spans many parts of what we do. We need more regular operations, especially update operations, to train our soldiers in a variety of tactics and methods. In addition to this, our training materials are in need of some TLC. While they are a great resource, many of them are out-of-date, needlessly wordy, and need some revisions to ensure that trainees can use them to their maximum potential.
We also ought to place a greater focus on recognizing our soldiers' accomplishments. This can come through in operation reports, which you can be sure we will be doing for every mission we can, our ranks system, awards, badges, ribbons and more. We have a highly creative leadership team already assembled in the NPA and a lot of great ideas already floated that have yet to be tapped for their potential.
Looking more broadly–the gameplay landscape is changing. It almost feels unnecessary to say that, with recent developments from overseas that have greatly affected us. In this changing world, the NPA is a critical element of our role, our voice and our influence on the world stage. From regional security, to World Assembly votes, to even matters that seem like they're purely internal, it's all interconnected. The NPA is a crucial piece in our approach to all of it. It's a bit of a cliché to say that, but with military gameplay it is literally true–every single endorsement really does count.
So, what about that recognition? Well, even though we haven't done any ops yet under me, we've done a whole lot under my amazing predecessors. So without further ado, I'd like to unveil…
Rank Userbars by the incredible @Kaschovia who designed all of them himself!
Wear them with pride in your forum signatures!
Also by Kaschovia, we have new ribbons for operation counts! These will join our existing ribbons.
Here is your ribbon for 75 operations:
…and 50 operations!
That's all I have for now. Let's make this a great term!
Comfed
Minister of Defence