My fellow South Pacificans,
 
I come before you today to seek your vote for Minister of Defense. If elected, it'll be a short term up to the beginning of June, but I'm hopeful in advancing our military during that time regardless.
 
My Background
I enlisted in the SPSF in mid-January. While that makes me a bit of a newcomer to the military gameplay scene, I'm confident that the 50+ updates I've attended since then have given me the experience needed to fulfill the duties of the Minister of Defense as the civilian leader of the military.
 
If elected, it would also be my first experience serving in the Cabinet. I have my own ideas and plans for the term, as detailed in this campaign, but I also welcome the opportunity to learn more about the inner workings of our executive.
 
My Goals
My goal for this term is simple: to build a more robust, sustainable structure and culture. A robust system is one that is both resilient and adaptive in the face of change. A sustainable system is one that is long-lived and can be easily maintained for the future.
 
The frontiers/strongholds update will undoubtedly pose new challenges, even with no timeline on when it will arrive; conversely, the length of this term limits my realistic expectations for what I can accomplish. Irrespective of these circumstances, however, it is critical that changes do not merely come from the strength of personal determination. Instead, the SPSF would benefit from a clear focus on service member participation — the lifeblood of any military. There are two key components to this: the motivation to participate at update, and the technical knowledge to participate effectively.
 
On the first front, a sense of community is critical. Our operations may be conducted regularly in partnership with other defender militaries, which has allowed for a more powerful and flexible operational structure, but the SPSF should also develop an unique culture that expands beyond general affirmations of defender principles. I aim to check in more regularly with service members both on- and off-update to address any questions or concerns they may have.
 
It's also important to recognize the contributions of service members as they occur. Participation at updates is already being recorded. Organizing these reports into SPSF records enable us both to accurately assess levels of participation among service members and to recognize the accomplishments or efforts of those who stand out.
 
On the second front, the SPSF could benefit from more streamlined infrastructure. Our existing guides are well-written, but also long and detailed, while glossing over tools that are commonplace among defender militaries and arguably a necessity in the current state of MilGP. A simpler, more concise onboarding guide that directly provides new trainees with steps to get involved would prove more useful, encouraging them to join at update sooner and begin learning through experience.
 
My goal is for these reforms to build upon the work that previous Ministers of Defense have already done, expanding upon our existing infrastructure. A stronger and more consistent updater force will empower us to respond to threats and new developments whenever and wherever they occur.
 
Conflicts of Interest
My main nation is Esfalsa. In the South Pacific, I am currently a Legislator in the Assembly, a soldier/officer-in-training in the SPSF, and member of the wiki team in the Ministry of Engagement. Of less relevance, I am also an editor of the modern tech map used by our RP community.
 
I do not hold, nor have I previously held, any positions outside of the South Pacific.
 
In the interests of full disclosure, I joined the United League of Nations as Cordia around October 2018, with the intent of becoming more involved with the region as a community for GA resolution authorship; ultimately, I did not involve myself in either of those pursuits.

Esfalsa | NationStates | Wiki | Roleplay | Discord

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I'm pleased to see you run for Minister of Defense! Your priorities are in the right place and your presence at updates has been consistent and your skills and understanding improving. "Building community in the SPSF" has long been a priority of past Ministers, and I think it's worked to some extent, but as with all things it's a constant and ongoing process. I hope that your perspective, as someone with long and deep roots in TSP that transcend just r/d, will help with this project.

Two questions for you:
1. Minister Moon (prior to his election as Prime Minister) campaigned on a greater emphasis on publicity and promotion. Do you share this commitment? Do you have any ideas for how to actualize that commitment?

2. You say you want to promote recognition of service-members' accomplishments. We already have the SPSF Member Records system established during my tenure as Minister. How will you differ from that system to better achieve your goals?

Minister of Foreign Affairs
General of the South Pacific Special Forces
Ambassador to Balder
Former Prime Minister and Minister of Defense

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Thanks for the questions!

I think publicity and promotion can take a few different forms, but my personal priority would be keeping the Assembly and the region informed. The Minister of Defense, as the elected, civilian leader of the SPSF, has a responsibility to keep legislators and citizens informed of what their military is doing and why. On this front, I'd like to expand public SPSF messaging with more context about operations, expanding sources of information such as informational dispatches, the Ministry of Defense Office, or member records, with summaries of what terms like 'update report' (or even just 'update'), 'detag', or 'chase' mean. My hope is to keep the Assembly better informed of SPSF operations and, hopefully, to also offer a glimpse into the mechanical side of R/D for those who are interested. While the mechanics of R/D shouldn't take precedence over the ideology and politics behind it, I do think it's important for the sake of transparency, and to add greater context to discussions about those ideologies and politics, to translate our defender principles into what it means for day-to-day operations.

On the topic of those service records: they work fine as they are now. What I'd like to do is to update them more regularly (ideally with a tool of some sort) and to recognize service members whose achievements stand out. I'll be the first to admit that it's nothing groundbreaking but I do think it would help build a more distinctive sense of an SPSF identity.

Esfalsa | NationStates | Wiki | Roleplay | Discord

(This post was last modified: 03-26-2022, 01:49 AM by Pronoun.)

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