SA Compton Interview
XO/SA Compton was gracious enough to take time out from work and participate in this interview. We thank him for his help!
MAJ Troutrooper: Hi! Thanks for doing this! It really means a lot!
SA Compton: No prob. Feel free to ask me anything you wish.
Here goes: How did you get involved with the EH? Were you recruited by someone (who?), or did you stumble onto it by accident?
I first found the EH after I had bought the original TIE Fighter game back in '95. I loved the game, and wanted to find out more about it. So I searched the files on AOL, and stumbled across some EH Newsletters. I think this was about the time NL 21 came out. I checked out the club, attended a couple meetings, then joined. And I've been here ever since.
What kept you here in the EH? So many pilots join, yet only a small percentage remain and even fewer reach any sort of command position.
Basically what's kept me in the Fleet for over five years is my love for Star Wars. I've been a huge fan since A New Hope came out. I'm one of those guys who can tell you exactly where I first saw the movie when I was a kid. The EH is responsible for my Imperialistic opinion on things. Plus, once you have people calling you Admiral, it's kinda hard to let that go. When I was a kid, I wanted to be Han Solo. Now I want to be Darth Maul.
I don' t think rogaine can help grow horns, though :)
That's okay, I have a friend who does makeup effects.
Yeah. That pic on your website is very realistic. Almost scary
Only almost? Must have been an off day. I did that makeup myself, by the way. White Tiger took the picture.
Former CHS White Tiger?
The one and only.
Well, we have a White Tiger in our wing.
What's the e-mail address?
white_tiger_7@hotmail.com
Hmm. Don't think that's her. I may have to lay some smack down. :-P
Speaking of wing VIII, you were once XO-CMDR/SA Compton/Pi. How did that work out?
It worked out pretty well for a while. What happened was that for one reason or another, the Colossus was bleeding pilots. The powers that were decided to consolidate the squadrons aboard the Col, which meant closing some of them down for a bit. One of the squads they wanted to close was Pi. Since I started off in Pi (I was originally Pi 2-3), I REALLY didn't want to see this happen. So I volunteered to command it, personally.
Some folks have said that having me aboard the Colossus helped revitalize the ship. I'd like to think it was the hard work of all the pilots and flag officers aboard that made brought the Col back from the dead. Ari, Theo, ZysFryar, Drake, Wlodek, EH Member, all those guys put in a lot of work.
What sorts of things did they do to re-invigorate the COL?
Well, for one thing Pi, along with the rest of the squads on the Col, flew a hell of a lot of missions. Add that to the fact that the pilots aboard the Col got active in just about every way you can be active in the TIE Corps, it led to the Colossus being the first ship to earn the "TCCOM's Own". I can't tell you how proud that made me.
Shifting gears a little, what is the XO's office currently working on?
The XO's office is currently working on getting out NL 69, which is horribly overdue! And that raises an interesting point. The number of NL submissions has dropped dramatically over the past few issues. I'd like to encourage everyone in the TC to submit their fiction, original art and whatnot so it can be included for the enjoyment of the entire Fleet.
Hmmm…the number of submissions to the BC has remained about the same (perhaps a slight increase). Any reason for the drop-off?
I'm sure it's partially because I haven't done a good job of getting them out on time. Another problem is that I need a reliable Command Attache who can post regular reminders where people can find them. And yes, that IS a call for pilots to apply for the position. :-)
You were once CA:XO under FA Havok, correct?
SA Havok, yes.
Looking over your record, you practically rocketed to admiralty (1 year in the EH as a rank-and-file member). Do you think an average member can reach such lofty heights in such a short time as you, or were there special circumstances regarding your ascent?
Well, there were indeed special circumstances in my case. Since I joined the EH simply to fly a TIE, I was lucky enough to get onto Havok's staff of Tactical Assistants. My job was basically to test the new Battle and Free Missions before they got sent to the Fleet. I think there were originally three TACAs. Then they created the Command Attache positions. Havok offered me the job, since, as he put it, I was the only assistant he had who ever did anything. I actually had to take a couple days to think about it. My goal from the time I joined the EH was to command my own Star Destroyer. Yes, becoming the first CA:TAC meant a jump from MG to VA, and outranking the Commodores, but I wasn't sure I wanted to give up my goal. Then Havok asked me if I was crazy. I realized I'd be an idiot to pass up an instant Admiralty, and took the job.
And this was 2 days after becoming Vanguard's WC?
Yes, yes it was. I hadn't even had time to empty my bags before I was shipped off to the newly-completed SSSD Sovereign.
Must have been kinda awkward.
Not really. RA Zeus was pretty understanding, even if it meant all of a sudden she was saluting me, instead of the other way around.
This is kind of off-topic, but I have to ask: TC-TIE #43, "Havok's bouncing baby boy battle". Will it ever be completed?
LOL Yes, yes it will. I just have to find the mission files.
What is the story behind that battle anyway? It's been up there for ages, yet it is the only battle no one can beat.
The story is that SA Havok and his wife were expecting their first child while I was his CA. I thought he'd get a kick out of a Battle to commemorate this momentous occasion. The fiction was posted in an NL a while ago, and I forget why I never actually submitted the missions.
So after being the CA:TAC, then CA:XO, you became FO.
Yeah, that was a big surprise to me. I had been passed over for TO, and thought I'd be stuck as a CA for a while. Then I got an e-mail from the GA offering me Flight Officer. I knew it was about the toughest job in the Fleet, but it meant I'd outrank all but 3 people, so I took it. :-P Well, I don't know if I still have the record, but I was FO for 13 months. Mind you, this was before the Fleet Systems Engineer had created his KFO program.
KFO program?
Kawolski Flight Office. I don't know if he still calls it that. When I started, I had Word95 documents that were the official Roster. I had to go in and manually update them every time a pilot joined, quit or was reassigned or promoted. This was a LOT of work. And kinda nerve wracking, too, since I had to be really careful with what I was doing. It wasn't until I made SA Kawolski my CA:FO2 that he started working on the KFO, which was a DOS program that began to automate the Roster process. Needless to say, the KFO made the job of FO a LOT easier. Yeah, that Kawolski is one sharp cookie. I doubt I'd have been FO as long as I was if he hadn't made that program.
Any insights as to why (besides RL reasons) our past few FOs have been so short-lived?
I think they probably didn't realize just how much work is involved in the position. It's a lot of work, and most of what you do goes unappreciated. Some people just can't handle that.
From FO, you went onto XO, correct?
Nope. I was TAC for about 6 months.
Duh! My bad
I think I hold the record for "Tactical Officer who approved the fewest Battles."
Hehe! Did people not send in battles or were you busy doing other projects?
Honestly? Most of the Battles that were sent in didn't work. Very few of them met even the most basic requirements to pass muster. I tried to work with a few of the designers to improve them, but like I said, few got released.
Then, after 6 months you THEN became XO
Yup. Havok finally retired, and it was between Khyron, Paladin and myself. I had already started doing the NLs, so that kinda gave me a leg up on everyone. Plus I had Havok's personal recommendation, which helped a LOT.
Cool. Paladin and Khyron have done well for themselves in other positions
Yes, yes they have.
What is your favorite part of being XO?
The fact that only one guy in the Fleet can tell me what to do. I'm kidding. My favorite part is that I'm actually in a position to do something good in the Fleet, and to make changes that are needed. Whether or not I've actually succeeded at that is probably a subject for debate. Plus, telling folks in RL that you're part owner of the largest Star Wars club on the Internet doesn't hurt, either.
I've heard some vague rumours regarding your resignation from XO. Are these unfounded jokes, or might we be seeing a change in CS-2?
Heh. Funny how these things get started. I might as well announce it here. I am indeed considering stepping down as XO. Note the key word there: CONSIDERING. I don't feel that I've been giving the job the time it needs, as evidenced by the lateness of the NL. So I've decided to throw myself back into the job. I will try and work my tail off, being the best little XO I can, for the next handful of weeks. I think this will give me a better perspective as to whether or not it's something that I'd like to continue with.
Sometimes criticism can actually be helpful.
Oh, I agree. Criticism can be a beautiful thing. Unfortunately, most people do not know how to criticize properly.
Especially on IRC :(
True.
Well, you've been in the EH for 5 years now. What changes have you seen in the EH? I know that this is kinda vague, so basically I'm looking for major changes.
Well, the biggest change I've seen is that of size. When I first joined, the EH had just a little over 200 members. Now we're back up to almost 3,500. Also, the EH started out as AOL only. Now we've got multiple domain names, and members in dozens of countries.
Going over some of the first EH NLs, it seemed that the EH was almost exclusively RPG-based. Has this changed? If so, how?
Actually, the EH started out exclusively as a TIE Fighter club. The sole aim of the Fleet in the early days was to fly the game TIE Fighter. Heck, I think we even posted the first edited missions for TIE on the 'net. For a while, the only way to join the EH was to complete the first seven Battles of the game, and send your pilot file to GA Ronin. The current TIE Corps really hasn't changed too much since the EH started. It wasn't until later that the Sub-Groups, starting with the Dark Brotherhood, were formed.
How have the SGs changed the focus of the EH?
Well, some people just don't like space flight sim games. By adding the SGs, we opened the EH up to those people who were into other games, and other ways of pretending to be a part of the Star Wars galaxy. I think it's made the EH a more well rounded organization.
Where is the EH currently on the EH timeline?
On the Star Wars timeline? The EH more or less moves in real time along the Star Wars timeline, with the destruction of the second Death Star matching up with NL 18. This puts us right about when Thrawn is making his push into the New Republic. But since we're working in fiction, we get to play fast and loose with that.
Have you, the ex-Baron, been flying recently?
[Editor's note: MAJ Troutrooper passed SA Compton this week in the FCHG rankings]
The ORIGINAL Baron, thank you very much. Well, I was the first one to have the title. And no, outside of the TIE League competition, I haven't been flying at all. Funny you should mention that, though...I've been playing a lot of Diablo II. In this game, I named my character Jahn_Compton. For those who haven't played it, you get a title for each difficulty level (normal, nightmare, hell) where you kill Diablo. When you kill Diablo on hell, you earn the title of Baron. So once I did that, I could once again call myself Baron Jahn_Compton. :-P
What other activities do you do (as in hobbies in RL) besides EH?
Gah. Let's see, WT and I have been dating for over 2 1/2 years now. I think the Lord she's not high maintenance. :-P I'm a Supervisor at work (which is how I'm getting away with doing this interview right now), and every once in a while that runs into my time at home. I'm Regional Director for Alpha Rho Chi, the national architecture fraternity (www.alpharhochi.org). I play on two different softball teams every week. I'm really active with various fantasy sports leagues. I'm a rabid comic book fan - I have over 10,000 comics. And I hang out with my friends almost every weekend. Other than that, I don't do all that much.
Did you meet White Tiger through the EH?
No, WT and I were dating before she joined the EH. Dating someone and getting them to join the Fleet is a GREAT recruitment tool, by the way.
Any favorite comic books?
Hitman, anything written by Brian Michael Bendis (visit his site at www.jinxworld.com), anything written by Garth Ennis and Warren Ellis, Authority - nearly anything that's dark and has a twisted sense of humor.
Have you upgraded you Sienar Fleet Systems Pinto yet? To perhaps, a KDY Toyota Tercel? :)
Actually, Sienar was kind enough to hook me up with a 2000 Saturn SC-1. :-j WITH the sunroof, of course.
So you can soak up those gamma rays? :)
Hey, any sort of color helps when you're THIS white.
Last question: Any words of inspiration for the troops?
Yeah. Stick to your guns. Watch your buddy's back. Do your job, and if you get a chance, help someone else with their job. We're all in this together, folks. Let's kill some Rebels.
Thanks for your time, Sir!
Not a problem!