Squad Leader Guide

“	"A Squad Leader is, by definition, the "leader of a Squad".	”
—Peacemaker

The Role and Duty of a Squad Leader

“	"Soldiers' ability to sustain themselves and their fellow soldiers during periods of high stress is built upon rock-hard confidence in themselves and their leadership chain beginning with fire team leaders or the noncommissioned officer of their section. What we have learned and relearned in our Army is that unit cohesion and teamwork are what give individual soldiers the confidence to use initiative, to be resourceful, and to be all they can be. A soldier always wants the best to be at his front, rear, right and left, trained to stay there regardless of what may happen. A special bond develops when leaders live their lives following the fundamentals of leadership."	”
—SGM Glen E. Morrell

Squad Leader's Duties:

• Keeping his/her Squad active and well informed about what is going on in and outside the Squad
• Maintain a high level of communication between troopers and yourself
• Planning and executing Squad Events
• Keeping the High Command informed about his/her Members and Overall Progress of the Squad's Activities
• Acting Maturely and Setting an Example

Activity

“	The only test of leadership is that somebody follows.	”
—Robert K. Greenleaf

New members will have a lot of questions and you, as the Leader, will be the point of reference for them.When troopers are placed in your squad they want to talk to you, be available. Always try to keep yourself informed about what's going on in and outside of your Squad. They will thank you with activity.

Your first step when a trooper is placed in your squad is to send them a welcome PM. Give them all the information they need. IRC channel, Story Info, Report format/policy/day/to whom. When they do make it to IRC make it a point to personally introduce them to the rest of the squad and look out for them in the main. They are in your squad now and nobody screws with troopers in your squad ;)

To maintain activity is more difficult. Real Life will always win when you fight it, so instead be supportive. See if there is any way you can make it easier for the trooper to post. Give them a quick summary and/or suggestions so they don't have to feel pressure to read the story word for word. Remember those days when you were a trooper and feared that PM that started "I'm going to have to ask you to change something in your post"? They are still there. Its not always laziness, most of the time they want to hang on your every word in a story, but today they can't. If you help them they feel like they have contributed and they keep somewhat up to date with the story. A trooper that gets three days or more behind in a story tend to lose interest. Yes its that fast, so keep it in mind.

Ask for suggestions from your troopers, all of them, even that PFC that loves to carry six weapons and shoot twelve enemy's in a single volley every damn story. You've all met a trooper like that by now, and you will all have him or her in your squad at some point. But we will talk about how to tone down Duke Nukem in a moment. Get everyone opinion you don't have to go with it, but they like to know that the design of that building in your story was in some way their doing.

Communication

“	"You don't lead by hitting people over the head - that's assault, not leadership."	”
—General Dwight D. Eisenhower

Staying in contact with Squad members is a very important and sometimes time-consuming task. Due to the different Time Zones members of a Squad can be in, you will have to rely on different programs to do this, such as IRC, E-mail, Messengers, Forums, and in-Game.

Try to find a common ground for all of your members to use. Nothing is more frustrating than being a highly ambitious Squad member and having no contact with Squad comrades or the Leader. Find alternative ways to contact them in case Comnet or IRC goes down. Have a current email account or AIM/YIM/MSN that can be utilized. Just make sure you have a plan and you are ready to execute it if the need arises.

This is one of the fastest ways to lose members. Don't let it happen. Stay in contact. I can't say it often enough. Communication is the main part of successfully leading an active Squad. Everything else builds on this.

Stay in contact with the High Command. The Leader should know their members best and the HC will want to know about them through you. Inform the HC about Events, on-going Stories, and any Gaming going on. Give them something to report on at meetings. Also, never be afraid to inform the HC about a Promotion or Medal for one of your Members when you feel that he/she deserves it. You need to put all of this information in your weekly squad report for the commanders comnet.

Planning and Executing Squad Events

“	Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.	”
—George S. Patton

Plan and execute different activities for your Squad: Stories, Games, or even Parties on IRC. Try to find ways to keep your Squad Members happy and make your Squad attractive for other VE Members. Nothing speaks of success more than hearing from VE Members outside of your own Squad how they would like to be a part of YOUR Squad. Always be thinking of more things your squad could be doing. Never say to yourself, we can just wait for [blank] to start. Your squad should not be without direction for more than a day. Find something for them to do even if its just offering IC's for sprucing up their wiki.

Speaking of wiki's make sure you keep yours in a presentable fashion and if you can't pay someone to do it. You are an SL now, and your wiki sets an example for your whole squad. Also make sure you look over your Squad wiki and keep it updated.

You don't need to plan everything. Go ahead and delegate work. Make your members really feel like part of the Squad by giving them certain responsibilities, such as special jobs in story, website administration, or whatever else you come up with. Be cautious with delegating these responsibilities, though. Don't assume you can sit back after you've delegated everything, or else you will encounter mutiny and find yourself once more as a Squad member.

Squad Stories

Its now your job to plan squad stories. This is a fun task but requires a couple things to be successful. The first thing is reflection. As the story progresses pay attention to what troopers enjoy and what they don't. This can vary from story to story even depending on whose in your squad.

Be flexible! Don't plan every detail of a story. Have a general idea of where you want the story to go. I try to come up with 2-3 "checkpoints" that I want to steer troopers towards as the story progresses. Have a general plan, come up with some contingencies, then go for it.

From Riquimo's guide: "Try to have some flexibility versus the yellow brick road, give your troopers multiple ways to accomplish an objective. This allows them greater freedom of movement and choice, and they will feel more in control of the situation that way. At the same time, limit their options. If you give troopers an endless array of choices, they spend endless amounts of time debating those choices. Narrow it down for them, offer them a short list of options for how to go about doing something."

Always give feedback, good and bad. If you have been giving them good feedback consistently, they will be far more willing to listen to your constructive criticism. As SL you should be on top of the quality of their posts, because you want to help them now so you can win the comps later ;)

Set an Example

“	Soldiers expect the noncommissioned officer to be technically proficient, up front, and honest with them. Soldiers must know that NCOs care, that they can approach the NCO for guidance and direction, and that NCOs can make things happen when a difficult situation arises.	”
—SGM Glen E. Morrell

Being an SL doesn't mean that all the fun has to end. It does mean that you are now someone that eight people look to for guidance and support. If you are saying things that could be offensive in IRC, you could be offending your own squad members. Also you need to be someone who is approachable and familiar with the people in your squad. If they have a problem they should feel that they can come to you for advice or a resolution to the problem.

Everyone has a bad day, hell most of us have bad weeks. The one thing that will demoralize your troopers is you bringing those negative words into a PM or IRC. If you don't feel like answering their questions you have two choices, do not come on IRC that day or find a nice way to say that you are too busy right now. You will be surprised how one bad conversation can burn bridges permanently.

Your activity also sets an example for trooper to follow. If you only sign on the site once a week and post once a month, how can you expect them to do more? Can you even know whats going on with them, the story, VE in general? No. Sometimes its hard to keep up even if you sign on every day. Set a goal and stick to it. Have an idea? Write up a personal story, invite some members of your squad to write with you even. Don't ask them to do anything you are not doing yourself. And if you are doing it, make sure its epic so they have a standard of epicness to reach for.

Writing

“	Easy reading is damn hard writing.	”
—Nathaniel Hawthorne

Hi welcome to the Vast Empire, we are a writing/role-playing/fan fiction club, so yes you should know how to write well. None of us expect Shakespeare to walk through the door, a nice Hemmingway wouldn't hurt though ;) In all seriousness, we are primarily a writing club and our SL's and above should reflect that. You are now in a front line position to set the example for your squad to improve their writing. This means you need to have a grasp of the writing process yourself.

Troopers will automatically try to mimic your writing, not sure why but it always seems to happen. Be aware of that and make sure you are proof reading your posts. Proof read their post too. Instill a pride for posting quality rather than a pride in the number of posts. Reward them for their efforts to improve. Make sure your criticisms are constructive, and presented to them on an equal basis as praise. Everyone should be praised for posting, even if you have to make them re-write almost the entire thing. They just spent at least 30 minutes writing something for a story you created, keep in mind that their time is just as valuable as yours when you speak to them, always.

As for godmodding, don't let it happen in your squad. We don't want to see it in Comps or Platoon stories so nip that when it comes up in squad stories. Remember the limitations of your troopers training (including any specs they have completed), physiology, psychology, and the limits of their weapons.

Nobody wants to hear that they need to improve, but if you have established respect with a trooper they will listen to you and thank you in the long run for your time.

Wait, what do I have to do?

You do have a couple things that you have to do as a Squad Leader.

• Submit a weekly report of squad activity. Your report doesn't have to be in a specific format, just a general update on your squad.
• Maintain your Squad Channel on IRC. Just make sure you are the owner, the topic is up to date, and the channel stays registered (must log in as owner at least once in 30 days)
• Maintain your Squad's Wiki. It doesn't have to be 'amazing' just at least up to date.
• Be Positive! Even if you have no clue whats going on and hate the story, never tell your squad such things. If I see a post on a squad topic that says anything along the lines of "uuuuuuugh I have no idea what's going on, this story is dragging, just do whatever." You will have words with me. Why not ask your Platoon or Company commander for assistance? Work with your ASL, see if together you can get the story back on track without nuking your squad morale.
  
  

In conclusion

If you read this and still have questions, ASK! Find someone who has been where you are, which is probably every one of your superiors. This is one of those times when there really are no stupid questions, ASK ASK ASK! Can't stress this enough.

“	"Being the SL of a Squad is not always a gratifying task. Sometimes you have to do things which you don't like, such as placing a Member on AWOL status after a certain amount of no contact, demoting a member, or even kicking a member out of the Squad. These things have to be done occasionally, but always keep in mind: we are not the real military; we are a Gaming/Story-Writing Community. Stay friendly in what you do and how you do it. We are not here to make enemies; we are here to make friends. Be an Officer and a Gentleman or Lady."	”
—Peacemaker