DEBATE

"What ONE characteristic is MOST important in making a good CMDR?"

Introduction

Straight away this debate was hit with…“no one quality will make a CMDR,” by VA Ari. That theme seemed to carry on through out the debate, and I must agree!!!

A good CMDR must have many qualities, and a good balance of those qualities helps even more. I admit the phrasing of the question was a bit dodgy, but it was done to just stop you from making a huge list of everything a good CMDR does. There are many things that a good CMDR does for their squadron, but we wanted to focus more on the main qualities.

Now that these Commanding qualities are known, I will now go through them one by one, explaining why these characteristics are important and giving a few EH members opinions on it.

Communication

Masses of people said that communication was the best characteristic of a good CMDR. This was far and away the most mentioned quality. It was kinda split into two categories; getting you orders and points across easily, and chatting to the pilots under their command.

It was mentioned by CM Raven Arestar that it is was best to explain something “without someone going HUH?!?!” I can understand that. You want your pilots to know everything quickly and easily, and not have any problems understanding what they have to do. If not, you could just keep on having to explain something for so long, that by the time the pilot understands it…it’s too late!

COL Ricaud also agrees with that, but carries it on to say that CMDRs could even “inspire their pilots simply through the act of speaking” if they were good getting their “thought’s and feelings” across well.

Communication does help you to get to know your pilots too. You could regularly send emails back and forth, chat on IRC or ICQ, discuss topics on message boards, and just generally build up a repertoire and friendship with the pilots under your command. Actually, that brings us nicely to the next characteristic…

Friendship

CM Jourdain and one of the pilots under his command, LT Dvader are obviously good friends in the EH and respect each other mainly for these reasons. CM Jourdain pointed out that “a squadron that communicates a lot will always be stronger that a squadron that doesn’t talk but fly individual missions all the time.”

That was a good point, and that would have been enough to get his quote in this article, but it’s what LT Dvader said that strengthened CM Jourdain’s point. After LT Dvader explained that he agreed with last point, he the raved on his CMDR by saying things like, “TO ALL CMDR'S!!! I SUGGEST YOU SHOULD TAKE A LOOK AT CMDR JOURDAIN FROM COBRA SQUADRON!!! <explanation marks have been shorted>” That’s how much Dvader respects his CMDR because of his friendly approach!

I must admit that friendship is what has kept me as a pilot in Beth Squadron for over a year now. I have built a friendship not only with my CMDR, MAJ Sequoh Marden, but also with everyone else in my squadron. I would like to think that’s what kept Sequoh in Beth Squadron when I was his Flight Leader.

LC Ace Pilot points out though, “You have to find that middle ground between being friendly and laying down the law.” I think that the way of doing that is explained by a quote from CM Troutrooper, “A CMDR must gently prod, encourage, support, and most of, be patient,” although, “A good swift kick to the keister every now and then doesn’t hurt.”

Reliability

If a CMDR says that they are going to do something, you have to know that they will do it!!! For example, “Losing pilot's BSFs is a big NO-NO,” says CM Raven Arestar.

If a pilot can’t trust their CMDR to do these things, then all respect that they had for them will go right out of the window. You could be the nicest, friendliest CMDR in the world, but if you can’t be trusted to do your duties then you’ll be looking at a demotion back down to a pilot again.

Activity

“A CMDR should first and foremost be active. I mean very active.” This seems a bit of a no-brainer, but I still need CM Dark Talon to remind me for this article.

You have to be pretty active to do all of the stuff a CMDR has to do. Fill in forms, write reports, keep you pilots busy, do everything else in this article and so on. You have to be even more active to be able to get this stuff done as soon as possible.

Not only do you have to do you duties as CMDR, but you also have to be a damn good pilot on top of that. A lot of people mentioned that you should lead from the front, and COL Ricaud put it best when he said, “Ask your squadron to do something you can't or won't do yourself, and you'll rapidly lose their respect.”

Serve Your Pilots

It helps to be selfless. You may be in command of your squadron, but it is you who serve the pilots in it. As CPT Jahan Kalar says, “The best way to remember this is to realise that a CO is there to serve their subordinates.”

A good CMDR should be there for their pilots at all times. I’m not saying that you should be on IRC chat 24 hours a day, but you should respond for any requests from your pilots as soon as you can.

When you do something for your squadron, you should think “Will my pilots enjoy this or help them in any way?” rather than, “This will really make me look good to the boss!!!”

Also, LT Stele Pellaeon notes “There are few commanders who can actually make it fun,” and making things fun for your pilots is what the job is all about. Remember that this isn’t a proper Navy, and the pilots don’t have to fly missions if they don’t want to. A good CMDR should make the attempt to cater for the pilots and make it as fun as possible, rather than a chore.

Other Qualities That Didn’t Make The Final Cut

It’s not that these aren’t good qualities, CMDRs should have these too, it’s just that I can’t think of anyway to write a handful of paragraphs about them separately :o)

MAJ Kermee thinks, “A CMDR needs the respect of their squad above all else.” Actually, quite a few people mentioned this, but it didn’t make the final cut for one reason. To gain the respect of your pilots, you have to be a good CMDR, but to be a good CMDR you need to have the right characteristics that are mentioned here. Really, this whole article is about gaining that respect.

“Make the squadron as Star Wars real as possible.” Again, another good thing to do, and it’s a good point by CM Raven Arestar. Is it really that important though? Really, it just a nice touch to add, as is having a “good website.” I mean, it’s a nice touch, but what’s the point of having a website if no one is going to read it (<cough> or newsletter).

And I don’t think I have to explain why this one didn’t make the cut either, “Another good trait might be to have the name Fondor...”

Wrote up by CPT Werdna Elbee

Debate Board: http://www.sitepowerup.com/mb/view.asp?BoardID=114602