Attention to order:
The last year has been a year full of changes and new adventures for the 508th community. We would like to send you off on your Holiday with a recap looking back on where we’ve come from to where we plan to go.
On November 23rd, 2017, in a WhatsApp chat, Guardian asked Hawkeye:
A decision that would change the course of the 508th.
With that we started knocking the dust off the website, updating Discord, and actively searching out the right people. Going by the date of when their Enlistment forms were submitted (which isn’t perfectly accurate so sorry if I missed you), our first couple recruits are still with us today; Olekander (08Oct17), Benji (16Dec17-Happy Anniversary!), Clutterman (23Dec17- 1 year of Clutter’m hard), and many others in the following months. So with enough starting members, we held our first BCT on the 2nd of February 2018, and the [508th_PIR] was re-deployed.
Since then we have grown from four to eight to sixteen to our current count at approximately 50 active members. We promoted our first Warrant Officer. Plus Allied Members, plus Friends of the 508th (internally Fot5 is your assigned abbreviation), who are essentially members in all but title. Thank you to those that always volunteer to play Medic. And those that raise their hand first to make that long logi run. Thanks for hanging around with us and putting up with our mil-sim, or wait not mil-sim complex?
]NG[ + 508th| Tacticool Teamwork (ENGLISH)
This would be a turning point for our group. Our first alliance in Squad with ]NG[ and [SR] would allow us not only to host our first server, but start to seriously work towards being a group with a competitive squad to play in tournaments.
The server has been extremely successful. Consistently ranked in the top 10, and several times in the top 5 servers in Europe. This has been due to many hours spent by all of you, seeding, working admin, and donating. Just to throw a few numbers out there, time spent on server:
- Olekander: 963:10 (that’s 963 hours, and 10 minutes, not 963 minutes!)
- Pirate: 606:24
- Battle: 525:52
- Mats: 505:37
- Vahe:477:19
- Zahler: 446:10
- Kadone: 387:52
That’s anywhere from 16 to 25 days, on the server. The list goes on, and includes many Allied Members and Friends of the 508th. This all could not be possible without all of you contributing, and like I’ve said before, the entire Squad community thanks you.
Classic Banner from Project Reality days…
While we try not to discuss funding and donations often, the reason being is that we think that having fun in the game should come first and donating should never seem obligated to be a member or participate. Since we have started the server, we have meet the required funding goal every month, and currently have enough in reserve to continue funding the server into the future.
As we continued playing in matches with our allied members, there was a potential seen to start a more competitive style of gameplay. Under the leadership of 2LT Olekander, ]NG[ General, and countless others, ]LX[ was formed. With this our members were given a chance to take Squad to another level of intense competition, where they have been extremely successful and moving up in the rankings. Today CPL Vahe continues to be our 508th lead with this alliance.
Over the year we have seen many changes to how we process and handle new recruit training. Our BCT has just been revised for the 4th time this year and TRADOC is looking to hold a BCT after the holidays. Don’t worry if your in the Blue-Phase or a REC. We will continue with your career progression and get your BCT in when we can.
Our old forum based application process notification
TRADOC is also continuing work on AIT, AIT II, Vehicle courses, NCO courses, Mortar courses, and many others. As we grow and get more members active in TRADOC you can expect these courses to run more often. In the past training together is what separated us from other clans and allowed us to be more efficient and effective on the field. For the Recruits and Applicants we thank you for your patience as we try to schedule these.
Along with new training courses we also have a goal of hosting more community events. Often the biggest obstacle to these is finding a time when as many people can join the fun and reaching a high attendance level. Some events we have on deck include a pistols only match, VIP, Capture the Truck, and a few others up our sleeves.
The last pistols only event we held on PR.
A proud moment was watching our community come together to support one of our members. People from all over the Squad community, not just 508th helped out in one of the greatest secret plans in our history. I think we all had a hard time keeping this channel secret for as long as we did. And it was said many times, by everyone, but again Olek: Thank you, we wouldn’t be where we are today without your leadership.
Yes, still rising…
Some other changes are coming to Discord and the website over the next few months. While we are always fine tuning both, there will be an effort to make more available on Discord. The forums are currently being made more streamlined, and we are still working on chasing down the website logout bugs. The size, goals, and style of the 508th requires more tools than just Discord can offer so we will continue to use the website and forums to help us organize.
Another big change was to our tags system. The traditional [508th_PIR] wasn’t working with Squad like it did with Project Reality, so it was time for a refresh. After months of debate, polls, and delay we finally opted for the new tag, to preserve some of the old, and set us up for the new. On October 10th the new tag system was announced. 508th| would become our new image, while 508|RNK- would represent us as a team on the field. Rank assets were updated, our 508th shield was refreshed, and next will be the banners found around the website. Also in the works is an award system for achievements and completed training on and off the field.
Where do we go next.? That’s a good question. We have several paths we can take. One of our goals is still to grow the North American member base. A North America based Squad server has been floated in the past, but as you know the man power required to admin one server is a lot. With enough members a dedicated Armor section. Then with Helicopters a dedicated Air section. As Squad develops, we will adapt and change.
We have the resources to get some ArmA 3 events in the works as well, and will hopefully be able to host some Ops in that theater.
We have more tournaments ahead, more community events, more games to explore… Post Scriptum I’m looking at you.
Enjoy the Holidays and New Years celebrations. Traditionally it’s a slow time of year on Discord, but perhaps this year will be different.
And finally to everyone, Thank you. For all the hours seeding, for all the hours behind the scenes working admin. For all the time spent organizing matches. And for the patience with us as we keep building this community up.
