Log Feil 8416-2237

[Feil]

This is the first personal log of Cadet Feil.

It has been a strange journey to where I am now within the TSN. It started by an aggressive recruitment by Aramond. I was told to come onto the ship to play billiards, next thing I know I’m waking up in a bunk with a hangover, being told my request to join the TSN as been accepted, a full load of books and papers shoved into my arms. I was told when class time is, when I’ll be expected to do work on SIMs, and told that in my drunken stupor I picked Helm and Science as my primary and secondary stations.

My first field training found me at the Helm of the TSN Phoenix, with Commander Expree as CO. I immediately liked Commander Expree. He allows his crew to find joy and satisfaction in their duties and trusts us to know what to do.
While crewing on the Phoenix I got it into my head to start a rivalry with the TSN Hawk, as both ships were Light Cruisers and I know from my civilian life that healthy competition can lead to individuals pushing themselves for personal glory.

Nothing ever came of this, shortly after my joining up the TSN Hawk was destroyed in combat. The Phoenix had the honor to pick up the life pods, along with the Raven. No crew were lost.

With the loss of the Hawk, the Hydra lost sometime before my joining the TSN, and the Excalibur, the Manticore, and the Valiant currently resting in dry dock for whatever reason, the 4th Light Division got some new ships to fill in the empty slips:
The TSN Eagle, a mark two Missile Cruiser, and the TSN Dauntless, a brand new Escort Carrier.

I had the privilege of being part of both several shake down SIMs and a mission with the Dauntless as a pilot. Something about the freedom of being in a fighter appealed to me. I was Fighter 3(of 3) and took the call sign: Klimer, in honor of a classic dogfighting action movie.
My experience was overall positive. I was even invited by CO Verok to discuss my feelings on how the fighters flew, their strengths and weaknesses, and how we could best incorporate them, and the Dauntless into the fleet.
Previous commitments kept me from being a part of that discussion but my thoughts were laid out in a open letter to my superiors to seemed to take my recommendations to heart.

The next week I found myself put aboard the Dauntless again. This time I was shown that in the TSN experience counts for a lot. As I had the most flight hours of any of the pilots I was made Fighter 1 and Wing Commander.
In the SIMs and Mission that followed we cleared up some things about the proper procedures to use when flying and commanding fighters.
We learned that while Blaze was able to be CAG and Sci for the Dauntless on the first run, that he was an exception and not the norm.
As such Lt. Kennon Far aka. Cannon Fodder, acquitted himself adequately in the role.

After the mission ended a long discussion was held. Most notable of the speakers was Lt. Cmdr Allard, designer of the Allard starfighter, and Cmdr Varok, Captain of the Dauntless.
The conclusions were that when the Allard fighter replaces the TSN XA fighter, it might have to be upgunned. The reason being that it takes a minimum of 8 Officers to crew the Dauntless and provide its flight deck with 3 pilots out of a max of 5 fighter pilots.
These numbers point to a step down in firepower and operational ability when compared to any other 2 vessels of the 4th Light Division being deployed.
The second conclusion is that the CV has to have a crew that works together even more seamlessly then what is asked of the bridge crews of the 2nd Fleet. Everyone needs to communicate with everyone else and the right information needs to be given promptly. With the possibility of so much cross talk words do not need to be wasted.

After completing an assignment as Wing Commander, I’m eager to do it again. Leading my fellow stick jockeys into battle was an experience I want to have again and again.
Commander Varok stated that he doesn’t think fighter pilot should be any Officer’s primary specialty. While I agree, I’m always ready to step up when someone is needed to do the job.
I just hope I can start to advance the ranks and take my exam to become an Ensign. While my fellow Officers might not think less of me, I want to climb the latter. Being a Cadet and Wing Commander might make me look like a promising Officer but I feel my rank and station didn’t jive. I felt like a little kid playing dress up.

Finally, I had an unprompted set of Simulator runs with Ens. Garion, Lt. Hall, Lt. Cmdr. Allard, and Capt. Evans.
This started out with me pointing out the Fighter Pilots still need reference images so visual confirmation can be made on the fly of enemy vessels.
Lt. Hall, at least I think it was Lt. Hall, pointed out that ONI had already prepared training material under a year ago for all Officers and it only needed to be requested.

As great a resource as this is I pointed out it’s missing the Torgoth and Caltrons.
Hall launched the Simulator for us with the Dauntless so we could get the images needed. Sadly that never happened. The mission in the simulator had us fighting Skarrans and Kraliens. The battle was going alright, until the sim crashed.

At this point someone suggested we try another of the 4th Light Division’s ships. Lt. Hall suggested his ship, the Lancer. Most of the Officers present had never set foot aboard the Lancer or any Interceptor class ship.

Ens. Garion fell in love with with the speed of the Lancer, often to the determent of the mission, as he’d underestimate that speed and go shooting over the point at which he as asked to stop. He also spent at much time in reverse as he did going where he was pointing.
It was a hard battle with no EMPs or Nukes to soften targets but it was manageable.
The experience left most the Officers wanting reassignment to the Lancer. Lt. Hall just laughed. I think there might be a line.

The last vessel used in SIM was again suggested by Lt. Hall. It was an interesting learning experience.
For training purposes I was made Captain. It was a rough experience and thankfully the rest of the crew knew how to do their jobs to perfection without much instruction.
I was able to get into it by the end.

Going to be arriving to my Duty Shift early to try and make some progress on my training guide for pilots, also ask some questions regarding medals. There have been none for any campaigns in the last year.

[Matsiyan]

// Nicely done! Always fascinating to get a different perspective on what is going on.

[Feil]

//Thanks Maysiyan. I hope other people found it as interesting as you. If you noticed I didn’t mention the ship for the final sim. That was on purpose. I think Hall pulled some ONI weight for a special training session.
And now I’m wondering about the PT requirements for the TSN. How fit are we asked to be to sit on our asses all day?

[Adele Mundy]

//Very cool!

[Matsiyan]

// I feel somewhat violated that another crew took the Lancer out. But I do understand the speed addiction/overun issues as I briefly helmed her today.

I think that sharing some of Cadet Feil’s PT experiences would make fascinating reading in a log, especially if he compared his routine with his experiences of other crew’s routines.

[Author]

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