Change of Command

Those who joined today’s squad night already know, for those who couldn’t: I’ll be stepping down in my role as the acting Commanding Officer of WHIPS.
Almost to the day, it has been 2 years since WHIPS opened up for recruiting

Starting recruiting back then was my last attempt to stay with the game and not to unsub.
I liked the idea from the beginning and I was so hyped that I reserved a domain and started to install and run the forums the very same night.

I spent another few days getting to know phpbb, designing the forums, designing roles and permissions until I went public on psforums to let everyone know what my intention was and of course to get the first recruits on board.

I was looking for vets who felt the same way, who were on the verge of unsubbing.
First user to join the new boards was NY75. I was texting with him via WhatsApp prior the squad opening, so I knew I had his support and I knew he was about to unsub as well.

Eesti followed the day after…I was not sure if he would…but I knew if he would it would be epic!

With Eesti not only a few more Iron Wolves came through the door, like NJ, Majes, DrLoo, Hastien, Guikx, Shini but Mwittman from KGW and Voro and Syd from 250H as well.
In fact, one of Voro’s 2nd accounts, Priscilla, was the very first additional WHIPS member, next to Dilys and myself. She used that account whenever she needed time to cool down from HC or 250 :p
So she really is our unofficial first member :p

Then there was Dilys. I think we were active for roughly a month, or a little less, when she logged on the first time again. I did not discuss anything with her prior opening up WHIPS for recruiting.
So my heart kinda stopped beating when I saw her logging on and I thought “uh oh, I’m in trouble now”. Needless to say that she was fine and very supportive.

I only want to name one more thing from the early stage of our “new” squad and those who were around back then, most likely still remember. Axeinc. A very special character.
Whenever someone asked me what the requirements were in order to join the squad, I only replied “No drama!”.
But Axeinc brought so much drama that I think eventually Majes invented our slogan “No whining, just killing!” Axeinc was the first squad member to be manually removed.

This all was 2 years ago. In those two years we had tons of moments of joy but moments of grief as well.
Whats the greatest thing for a squad CO you might ask? The greatest thing of all would be to have given the pleasure to in some way meet all of you and get to know your story.
Even though I never have met anyone of you in real life I still feel very close to a lot of you. Feels like we have known each other for an eternity.
That’s why as well it even was greater to see squaddies to step in for each other. Be it for Hastien when Hvyoutput passed away, NY when his wife passed away or DrLoo when he had his tragic accident.
This means a lot as it means it is more than just a bunch of guys playing a computer game.

Having to do deal with death is always not easy. Dealing with Hvyoutput’s death as the squad CO was the most challenging part in my “gaming career”.
Not only was I griefing as everyone else in one way or another but I as well set myself under a lot of pressure for the ceremony.
I probably will never forget that Chyrenz screwed me over in organizing the flyby for Hvyoutput but then again the situation showed how beautiful this community is. We had a lot volunteers, axis and allied, on the scene within minutes doing the flyby.

It took a while to accept that he is gone. It definitely was the toughtest time for me as your CO.

While the last two years included a lot of fun I unfortunately have lost the energy to continue as active CO.
Every squad needs active leadership or it will fall apart sooner or later. I’ve witnessed it by just watching so many squads going down during my 13 years of WW2OL.
I want to see the squad to succeed and I don’t want to stay in the way.

Thankfully Majes99 accepted his new role as acting Commanding Officer of WHIPS. He has proved himself many times to the squad as a valuable leader. So I have no doubts that he will do great!
But with that I as well want to hand out a warning to everyone. The squad cannot be managed by a single person. Everyone, from CO to XO, to recruiter, member and recruit, everyone has to invest to make this happen!
You cannot rely on a single person to deal with everything.
In the past two years we always had the same handful of people being active on the forums, trying to move the squad forward. Unfortunately those few are the minority of people we usually should field with a roster of 100 or more squad members.
And those few active will burn out at some point as well.

It would help tremendously if everyone would be more active and ask if help is anywhere needed.
I just want to remind everyone that we never managed to field a single additional recruiter because no one cared besides the few who already fielded other roles and positions.

Every single one of you is responsible to keep the squad what it is! Majes will not only need active XOs but active members as well. Help him out, be active on the forums!

Having said that, I wish Majes and the squad all the best for the future! I know the squad is in good hands.
I will assume the role of Co-Founder and will consult the senior command. I will remain with the squad.

See you on the battlefield!

 

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