Tides of War

And get this, I think as news leaks out on how we are settting our stall out, and results pick up ... I am betting we will attract more pilots, and not rookies .... Think on that ... whats our policy there ?

Up to this point.. we never took 'experienced' pilots and the reason was simply: We don't need pilots coming in and telling us "how they did it on another squad" .. and trying to take over the BSS. So far.. all new pilots have no predefined "bad habits" as REAL rookies and we have been able to grab onto good personalities.. etc

We did try to get a few 'select' experienced pilots that were known to be good guys, but that didn't workout.. and maybe for the best.

Yes, now that BSS has some performance.. and continues to establish itself as a squad to beat .. maybe we will get pilots that want to jump ship or 'transfer'. Our policy in the past: No Thank You. Our Policy now: ?? maybe .. maybe not. Evaluate each on its merits??

With the New Pilot training problem I am 'trying' to get off the ground .. and with the new wing of ToW .. Air Assassins .. we need to all address this and understand.

I don't have the answers .. only the questions and comments. This is something we need to have a lead from on Joker.. and well as input from Burton and Tbar. Brainstorming.. so we can come up with a good policy.

My Brainstorming .. to this point .. with admitted weak points.

> When a Pilot applies to the BSS .. it is my suggestion they be informed to create TWO tags.. one AA_Name for the BSS training squad .. and a BSS_Name for thier position and status as a BSS member.

> BSS should accept them into the BSS squad so they 'can' fly matches

>AA when it gets listed .. should also accept them. They will be listed on TWO squads.. but its legal so long as they never to a league funtion as a member of the AA..

> They should get all the normal welcome letters etc for the BSS .. but not the BSS forums password...not yet. Let them communicate in the AA HQ section. Joker and Burton can have access to the AA HQ on the forums..

>They should be given the normal TS information .. encourage to join either channel. There will be times that they should NOT be on BSS channels .. we will handle that when it comes up.

> AA will have some good pilots.. I plan.. where/when I can to make sure those pilots get a personal "invite' to be a regular pilot on the BSS.. i.e. War Flight Status .. no longer 'rookie' or 'training'.

more.. as I figure it out

I agree with most that Tbar, accept the the league play. Unless I'm missing the point, I think they should fly as AA in league functions to get there feet wet in competitions. If the fly in a league they just have to stay with it until that league is over. Then maybe we can talk about transfer to the BSS on the next league.

There is a lot we can do here. I'd be interested in what Burton thinks.

JoKeR

JOker,

I think I muffed up my post in a few area, hope you can read all those typo's

When I say AA .. I mean Air Assassins. Now I see that when we refere to AA on any forums etc, it might be confused with AA for Air Attack. I'm gonna have to figure a name adjustment for the Air Assassins .. maybe IAA for Independent Air Assassins or something.

Anyway..

AA is a training pilot program team. I want to do it under the USAAC, but that might not work out or take to long to get it off the ground. So I'm putting it under the wing of ToW and BSS right now.

Reason for Two Tags .. AA and BSS. .. is so they can fly league play if they are far enough along, in which case they would fly as BSS (possible they might belong to another squad as well). AA as a squad is gonna go the 'friendly fire fights' route and try and establish a 'junior league' .. I think right now all that is too agressive, so the AA is simply BSS Training squad. Hopefully a USAAC training squad. We shall see.

Yes, nothing to disagree with in the thoughts so far.

I want to dwell on this for a little while, think it through a little. I have been here many times with many "team" games/sports/clubs.

I am not so concerned with, the process of 'how' they are introduced, gated, into the squads. My mind at the moment is on the more strategic issue of what we do when real, REAL, good pilots approach us.

For sure if they have a history of being troublesome - we don't want them - whoever they are however good they are. I would like to consider how we feel about the ideal, really talented, BSS shaped candidates - there are a few out there that fit our ethos - and by definition these people will therefore be attracted to us. I forecast this will be sooner rather than later.

Its tempting to welcome great pilots and raise the bar, fast forward and win more etc. But I like the idea of developing the squad we have - sticking with the guys that have got us this far. We know the BSS is in transition from rookie to contenders if you like, and I still think with subtle leadership, a light hand on the tiller, and sticking to our core values most of the issues resolve themselves.

I sense the need to make some high level strategic decisions, of course you may have already been here and worked this out and I just need to understand a little more about BSS. Although I think we need to answer questions we haven't had the luxury to face yet... for example.

Squad size. The days of forfeiting matches should be behind us now. So just how many active, reliable pilots do we aim for? This simple question helps address the above issue, and others. We may conclude we have vacancies. We will see natural attrition, and some of the current squad may not like the subtle changes to the new BSS that emerges, though the way things are developing - although I doubt it. So we may have space for new pilots, and therefore we can be patient and should the right candidate present themselves we are able to take them on without compromising the guys that got us here.

So, this is where my heads at. I like big picture thinking and at this moment I think some decisions need making, if you guys have already thought this stuff through, then I just need to understand your thoughts. Otherwise we need to take a moment to make sure we have answers to the biggest questions. The rest will flow.

Maybe were a little premature here, but you guys should be congratulate yourselves that we are considering these types of issues... BSS is coming of age This could be the best run squad in AA, and multinational at that...

Hey !! We could franchise this model, make a fortune and retire early

B

This could be the best run squad in AA, and multinational at that...
Hey !! We could franchise this model, make a fortune and retire early

B

sorry.. but.. Tbar has a patent on the 'model'

Burton, I think the ideal size for us with active pilot is possibly 15, but no more than twenty tops. This is for true active pilots, that practice and attend matches on a regular basis. I think with this amount if go into another 2 squad, we can pick and chose our pilots by the planes they are better in.

To give you and idea of what I'm talking about, some pilots are very good in spits and others in k4's, and some are good in both.

So we put our best pilots in the planes they are good at. Let's say Tbar, Zarn, Tango, Coldfire, Burton, in Spits. JokeR, Jonny, REW, Talon, Commanche in K4's So now we have 10 show up for a match, The other team has only six and we have match that number. SO first round we are n GB, all of our top Spit pilots are in and one of our GE pilots will fly in a spit. Hes not great but can hold his own and we have a strong team on the field.

Second half it switches the GE pilots are in and we take one spit pilot with us. Again we have a strong team on the field.

That's what kind of what my vision is for now. My ultimate vision would to get all of out pilots equally good in all planes and we field two teams at league events and take 1st and 2nd place is my goal. Can we get started on that today??

As for the total number of actual BSS active pilots right now I think we stand at nearly 12. Out of those 12 we had 10 who showed up for matches last month. I'm think 15 is a good number to shoot for.