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[Threat Doc]

In this OpEd, I speak about my mercenary combat command/unit, but really this is meant to apply to any Commander in the midst of recruiting. Also, when I'm using familiar terminology, such as 'you', I'm honestly just speaking in general.

These last several weeks, as I've been working recruitment through these forums, I've noticed people want a more personalized approach, they would like to be "wined and dined" and made to feel special before even looking at anything I have on offer within my mercenary command. That's not what these recruitment posts are here for; I'm not your boyfriend, your fiance, or your husband, I'm a Commander, a leader of individuals seeking to be in something greater than themselves -someone with eighteen years of real-world leadership education and experience-, to be something more than what they are, right now. I'm a Commander of people seeking to be part of a team, to learn the strengths, and compliment them, and weaknesses, to overcome them, of their Lance and Company mates, and I have been developing a program for Armageddon Unlimited, almost as long as I've been working in leadership positions, to help new MechWarrior's achieve that goal.

I have also heard it said that the friendly, direct, unique-individual approach would be better than just slapping my shingle and calling people to join AU, because you get more flies with honey, and you get more friends if you act friendly, and blah blah blah. I am not your friend if I am trying to recruit you, I am a Commander, a leader of people who have become my friends, and each of whom I'm proud to call friend, whether in the general sense of the word, or something deeper. My job is to increase the numbers of Armageddon Unlimited, to provide an environment by which you, the individual MechWarrior I am attempting to recruit, can come and find a place to be within this specific game, this game universe, and in the leagues and/or MMOGs we might join from here out. If you and I become friends, or at least colleagues, some time after you join AU, then more's the better, but understand I have a unit to run and, though you and I may be friends, and have a good time together, my job as a Commander is to guide the unit and, when you need to jump, and I tell you to jump, that's damn well what I expect to happen.

I have been in the professional world for a while, now, and I'm here to tell you that I've become friends with every single boss or supervisor I've ever had; the making of those friendships was a result of witty banter, having a little bit of fun on the job, and not being huge douche's to one another. However, the KEEPING of those friendships has come of a result that, when asked or ordered to do something by those same people -because I understand well the line I cannot cross-, I knocked it out. It wasn't about friendship, at those points, rather it was about duty and honoring my friend by helping them to succeed. It strengthened the friendship, every single time, and it gave me promotion opportunities I otherwise might not have had, but I figured that, if I would rather screw around and be an idiot with my friend, that not only was I soon going to lose my job, but also my friend, because I did not honor them. So, you see, I have a basis for what I'm saying, here.

Finally, I have heard it said that some people don't want to play in big units. You get lost in the shuffle, or you get ignored by your commander's that are higher up than your immediate supervisor, or you just don't feel at home. Well, let me clue you into a couple of things, sparky; first, at its height of play, the BattleTech tabletop game had 25,000,000 (that's right, twenty-five MILLION) players in more than 25 countries around the world. Though millions purchased each of the MechWarrior, MechCommander, and MechAssault computer and console games throughout the years, however, the largest overall multiplayer community for any of those games has been averaged at about 73,000.

There are already almost 600,000 accounts for this game, and the PGI team have said there are more signups to the game, itself, if not also to the forums, and there are accounts that have never been posted on, ballooning that number to immense proportions. However, at only 450,000 live accounts, that would be 100 players each IF there were 450 units being made for the game: House, Clan, Merc, Periphery/Pirate. There are not, nor is there likely to be, that many units in the game, but never-say-never, right. Once Community Warfare gets going, I suspect there will be thousands of returning members and hundreds of thousands more signups, unique non-alternate accounts, if not millions, and you're talking about huge numbers, here. Armageddon Unlimited has intent to fill three Regimental Combat Teams, that's 324 people, and then if there are more coming to us, we'll decide whether or not we're going to cap, or attempt to grow even larger.

My job is to get our numbers up, and then have you MechWarrior's come to the unit and make friendships for yourselves, whether it's only with one-another, or it's with me as well. My job is to be a focus for everyone to understand what's going on, what we need from training, from drops, and to try and get you to want to succeed within Armageddon Unlimited, if you come to AU. If you are a good shooter in the game, that's fine, you save people's butts, you get more kills, higher XP, we get to win more, and you're the go-to guy on the battlefield. However, that is ONE OF FIVE aspects of development in AU, and my job is to attempt to get my people to act in those five aspects, whether they know they're doing it, or not. Each of those aspects helps develop you, as an individual, helps develop your knowledge and understanding of the culture of AU, helps build one-another up and helps to build AU.

EVERY organization has a culture, whether it's a simple "come play and have fun" mentality, or it's "come to play and have fun as a team, learn stuff from AU and from one-another, and let's build a real organization". EVERY organization has a vision of the future, I certainly have mine, and EVERY organization has goals to reach it. In AU, these goals are organization-centric, but they're also sub-element and game-type-centric, and they're also individual-centric; by improving yourself at the individual level, you also improve your game-type friends, your sub-element friends and, as they continue to improve, the organization-centric vision and goals begin to congeal, to come into focus, and you have a better organization.

So, don't ask me to wine and dine you, don't try and get me to be your friend right off, I don't know you, but rather understand that I am trying to get you into a mood and a mode of thought that will entice you to join AU, not because we want or need to be the biggest merc unit out there -we likely never will be- but because I am trying to build something that's bigger than I am, bigger than you are, that will be the type of environment you want to be in, to have friends and/or family share time with you in, that you can be proud to call your own, and/or proud to call a home away from home. I may get to know you, we will more than likely become friends and, if we don't become friends because the unit is too big, you will still have friends within the group of people you're working and playing with. Continue trying to succeed, continue making your career within AU about what you want to accomplish, because as you work to accomplish things you are also working to improve Armageddon Unlimited, and I could not ask for better than that.

Those of you who want more BEFORE I get you inducted into AU are barking up the wrong tree, because that's not what I'm here for. Get over it, get in the unit, make friends, come and have fun AND make part of your life about your unit.

There are bound to be a few folks who disagree with the way I've written this OP, but I think all of the Commander's out there will, at least, agree on the basic principles I've written, here. If YOU want to argue about it, that's on you, because I will not answer cross posts; thank you for understanding ahead of time.

[IraqiWalker]

I have to admit, more and more people like to think they are special, when in fact only one in a 100 million gets to be special. It's a huge problem that needs nipping at the bud. Preferably after puberty.

[Egomane]

Nice post!
But it belongs in your units thread, as it is a topic specific to your person and your unit.

Closing!