RS Reorganization
The RS Reorganization was a series of major structural changes to the Rebel Squadrons that began in August 2006 with the creation of the Alderman position on High Command and ended in May 2011 with an announcement by Fleet Commander Kirghy Lommax that the remaining RS fleets were now retired units. The reorganization was a major undertaking by the High Command and involved considerable theoretical discussion and revision to the Bylaws.
Why reorganize?
For most of the history of the RS, the structure of the organization remained constant. The High Command was comprised of all the Fleet Commanding Officers, who together elected the Fleet Commander. Each Fleet Commanding Officer (or FCO) led a fleet and each fleet was broadly dedicated to a single gaming platform, such as X-Wing or Jedi Knight. Fleets were comprised of at least two wings, and each wing was comprised of at least two squadrons. Members who wished to play multiple games would become members of multiple fleets; for instance, to play both X-Wing and X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, a member was required to be in squadrons in the Patriot Battle Fleet and the Renegade Fleet.
In the early 2000s, membership in the Rebel Squadrons numbered in the hundreds. As time went on, however, membership numbers decreased and more and more members held multiple appointments throughout the RS. Over time, High Command reached a consensus that the leadership structure of squadrons, wings, and fleets, was too cumbersome to lead the smaller RS. In addition, the Fleet Commanding Officers were appointed by the Fleet Commander, and subsequently, the Fleet Commander would be selected by vote of the Fleet Commanding Officers. This structure was prone to instability; the reorganization attempted to address this by altering the overall organizational structure of the RS.
Major points of change
The RS Reorganization cannot be thought of as a single event, but rather a series of actions that led from the original structure of the RS to the current setup. Some of the major items that were changed were:
- In August 2006, Fleet Commander Licah Fox proposed the addition of voting High Command members who were not Fleet Commanding Officers, to bring a more global view to High Command. From this proposal, the first Aldermen were selected.
- In November 2006, wings were made optional at the discretion of the FCO, and several fleets reorganized. Notably, the Renegade Fleet and the Intrepid Battle Group were merged into the Vigilance Starfighter Group, and the Patriot Battle Fleet accepted Retribution Wing into their organization.
- Throughout mid-to-late 2009, many discussions were held by the High Command regarding the role of the Council of Justice (CoJ). This resulted in a substantial restructure of the overall RS organization, in which the CoJ was established as a separate body from both the Fleet Commander and the High Command.
- In February 2010, another substantial revision to the Bylaws passed, which provisionally eliminated the role of Division COs (a new title for Fleet COs) in the RS and consolidated the entire organization into a single fleet. The changes were set up to only go into final effect when approved by the RSFC.
- The judicial system of the RS was updated in April 2010 to reflect the new role of the CoJ and to clarify the chain of command and judicial processes.
- Several "dry runs" were conducted throughout the rest of 2010 to tweak scoring systems, identify issues with the new potential structure, and figure out what challenges would be faced in the new RS.
- On 05 May 2011, Kirghy Lommax, the RSFC, certified that the transition was complete. All existing fleets were stood down and the new structure and bylaws went into full effect, essentially completing the reorganization.
Results
The major changes that occurred as a result of the reorganization were:
- The addition of aldermen to the High Command as voting members, providing a new balance to the HC voting pool
- The establishment of a separate Council of Justice, with some powers specifically reserved only to the CoJ
- The elimination of the fleet->wing->squadron structure and unification into a single fleet of squadrons
- The removal of links between your current squadron and the games you participated in
- An increased focus on the social aspects of RS membership, as opposed to the gaming aspects
