December 2010 FISD Newsletter

December 2010 FISD Newsletter

In this Issue...

1. From the Commander

2. Imperial Command Memo

3. From the Membership Officer

4. From the Intelligence Officer

5. Command Intelligence Memo

6. From the Front Lines

7. From the Provost Marshall

8. From the Communications Officer

9. General Order No. 1

FISD News

From the Commander

Greetings Troopers! This is the last newsletter of the year and as is tradition for such things, a time to look back and reflect upon our labors. Also, it's a time to look forward as well to new things that your FISD staff has in store.

Some notable recent changes include a re-organization of the staff to reflect the current needs of the detachment, change in focus of the Academy, the publication of our CRL's, and changes to the forums to make the information you want to find easier to access.

The Academy is renamed and is now The Imperial Reception Center to better highlight it's primary purpose: helping new members enter into the world of stormtrooper costuming and get up to speed, and equally to help existing Legion stormtroopers keep abreast of the latest information in how to keep their costume up to date. I'd like to invite each and every one of you to take a look at it and let us know of any areas that we missed, or that you'd like to see more information on.

If you haven't visited FISD recently, the forums for builds and EI have also been updated to make those threads easier to find and search against.

2010 has been a year of heads-down hard work by the staff, and the benefit is that we've accomplished a tremendous amount of work:

1) Imperial Reception Center: built and fully operational.

2) CRL's: published more than any detachment save SLD.

3) Creation of the FISD Monthly Newsletter.

4) International areas of the forums in Spanish, German, Italian, and Chinese.

5) Breaking the 100 EI barrier for the first time.

6) Support of Celebration 5 in Orlando

7) Forum upgrades and 30th Anniversary ESB skin

8) FISD Trading Cards

9) Many other initiatives!

Thank you to everyone for making 2010 a phenomenal year for FISD! Especially I'd like to thank the staff and the members of the Imperial Propaganda Machine for their tireless work in making all this happen.

Looking forward, it's been said that all work though and no play makes a stormtrooper a dull boy, and after so much work it's a welcome relief to look forward to a more relaxed and laid back 2011.

In keeping with this spirit the tagline for 2011 is "FISD: Set for Fun". The staff is already at work cooking up cool and exiting projects for the next year, which will coincide with FISD's 5th Anniversary. As always, you the members are our best source of ideas, and we welcome any suggestions and feedback you have.

With unquestioned loyalty,

Paul C. Hoeffer

TK-8020 "Daetrin"

Imperial Command Memo

Welcoming New Staff

Greetings troopers! We are pleased that four new troopers have joined the FISD staff, and are looking forward to seeing their excellent work continue as they work to make the FISD even better than it already is. Please join us in making these troopers feel welcome as they start their work:

Damian Vila

Dmian

TK-7388

FISD Detachment Webmaster

Alexander Meyers

NoVATie

TK-5597

FISD Membership Officer

Mason Carson

dashrazor

TK-4603

FISD Deployment Officer

Jason Kreis

TK-J

TK-4625

FISD Tactical Officer

A complete list of each officer's duties can be found here: http://forum.whitear...hp?showtopic=40

FISD would also like to pay our sincerest respects and thanks to our outgoing officers for their lenghty and dedicated service:

Billy Haggis - Membership Officer

Aaron Fimister - Webmaster

Billy has been a tradition on FISD for almost as long as there's been a forum. His wit, enthusiasm and excellent explanations of the complicated in graphical form are legend. He'll be sorely missed!

Aaron's contributions to FISD could fill a page: new forum graphics, creating the Reception Center, graphics for all sorts of merch and awards, not to mention the EI certificates we've all come to enjoy. He is a singular talent, and we wish him the best.

From the Membership Officer

New Recruit Welcome Packet

Hello from one of your new staff members on FISD. My name is A.C. and I am the detachment membership officer. My primary goal is to provide new members with information to help them get off on the right foot towards becoming Stormtroopers in the 501st Legion. I am sure that there are pieces of information we wished were available or more centralized when we were getting started with our costumes and the idea of the FISD Welcome Letter, which we are officially rolling out is to give our new members these valuable and time saving tips. Of course the letter can only cover so many things, so additionally we will be introducing a TK Handbook, containing all kinds of tidbits and information to help ease the learning curve here on FISD. I am looking forward to working with everyone here and would like to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday.

With unquestioned loyalty,

A.C. Meyers

TK-5597 "NoVATie"

From the Intelligence Officer

Featured Tutorials and Tips

Seasons greetings troopers! With the winter months ahead, we will likely spend time with family, reflect on the past year, and probably squeeze out a few hours over the holidays to work on our costumes! Here's some of my favorite tips and threads over the course of the last few weeks.

Mike TK4510 offers his step by step helmet assembly tips in the form of a downloadable PDF file.

http://forum.whitear...showtopic=13069

Jesse TK4702 has been modifying his helmets and making the inner structure more rigid using liquid resin. This overview is a great step by step tutorial on how to modify your helmet.

http://forum.whitear...showtopic=13151

A discussion on modifying and "blacking out" the interior of your helmet

http://forum.whitear...showtopic=13087

A discussion thread and tips from Mark / Sskunky on assembling mic tip kits

http://forum.whitear...showtopic=13645

Here's a tip from Pat / Quebectrooper on modifying your AM or FX oversized hand plates. Pat trims down the hand plates and applies a return edge.

http://forum.whitear...showtopic=13491

Here's an accompanying video tutorial on creating a return edge using a heat sealing iron (demonstrated on AM hand plates)

http://forum.whitear...showtopic=12972

A discussion thread on the "rank" for ear pieces

http://forum.whitear...showtopic=12217

Erv's (Plecter Labs) amazing E-11 blaster

http://forum.whitear...showtopic=13534

Modifying your blaster and drilling some new holes? Here's how to get some clean edges on those barrel vent holes.

http://forum.whitear...showtopic=13292

Modifying your AM kit thigh tops to make them resemble ANH style armor

http://forum.whitear...showtopic=13513

With unquestioned loyalty,

Terry Chui

TK-2886 "pandatrooper"

Command Intelligence Memo

Get To Know Your FISD Staff

Welcome troopers! As we end 2010 and begin a new year, we'd like to introduce a new feature to the Imperial Reception Center called "Staff Profiles".

Every few weeks, we will feature a new FISD staff member in the spotlight.

With all of the recent staff updates, we thought it would be a good idea to introduce FISD members old and new to the individual staff roles, as well as create an opportunity to get to know these troopers a little better on a personal level.

We hope you enjoy reading these new profiles, and gain a better understanding of what makes an FISD staff member tick!

With unquestioned loyalty,

Terry Chui

TK-2886 "pandatrooper"

From the Front Lines

Celebrating the Season, TK style

We asked our members how they celebrate Christmas, and they responded! We'd like to thank everyone who submitted photos, which can be viewed by visiting the FISD thread. Here are the top staff picks for photos of Stormtroopers that may give Santa a run for his money.

Submitted by Scott, TK-1491, TK1491

Submitted by Pablo De Biasi, TK-8377, TKDUEUNO

Submitted by Mark, sskunky

Submitted by Allen Shortt, TK-6924, Spudtrooper

From the Provost Marshall

Security Memo

“Sometimes, it’s not what you say – it’s how you say it.†Ever heard that one? I have – most commonly from my wife. And you know something? It’s absolutely true. Most of us have firm opinions on one thing or another, be it politics, religion, finance, or white plastic. But if you hope to convince someone else of the merits of your beliefs, you generally need to do at least two things: (1) understand their point of view, and (2) make your case in a way that they can accept. It doesn’t matter how “right†you think you are and how misinformed, uneducated, or just plain wrong you think your target audience is, if you make your case in a condescending, holier-than-thou, “Can’t you see that I’m doing you a favor, you ignorant sod!†approach, forget it. At best, you’ll run into a wall. At worst, you’ll create the opposite of the intended effect. Many of us Americans like to sarcastically refer to this approach as being “politically correct†or not "telling it like it is", but I like to think of it as one of the fundamental tenants of human relations – always put yourself in the other guy’s shoes before presuming to tell him how to walk. Remember – we are an international forum. We have members from every corner of the civilized world, each with different backgrounds, cultural norms, and means of expression. I’m told that 80% of person-to-person communication is non-verbal (volume, tone, inflection, gestures, facial expressions, etc.). Since we are obviously don’t have the ability to express ourselves via non-verbal means (yes, I know typing isn’t the same as speaking but the point is the same), what we say/type and takes on even greater meaning. Techniques like using all caps, bold text, underlined text, and emoticons help if used properly. But in the end, it’s simply a variation on the Golden Rule: speak to others as you want to be spoken to.

Happy Holidays - and keep on troopin’ on.

With unquestioned loyalty,

Brian Robinson (tkrestonva)

TK-2918

From the Communications Officer

Field Report: Troopin' For Tots

This season is always busy for everyone, with a flurry of buying Christmas presents, putting up decorations, and preparing for what is undoubtedly the big holiday of the year. However, in this time of shopping, travel, and general rushing about, Garrison Tyrannus, of which I am a proud member, seized an opportunity to give Toys for Tots a big hand in their goal of making Christmas a little merrier for some less fortunate kids.

Garrison Tyrannus at the Reston Town Center Holiday Parade, November 2010

In a marathon effort, Garrison Tyrannus has worked through three troops in space of a month, with a fourth planned a week prior to Christmas. Starting with a Thanksgiving parade that was coupled with work with a local restaurant that had pledged a generous donation to Toys for Tots, the troopers then stood outdoors in sub-freezing weather at a second troop, during which a huge number of donations were taken in, with a D.C. area radio station providing media coverage. Less than 24 hours after that, the Garrison again assembled from across the state of Virginia, and undertook a six-hour troop at a Toy's R Us, during which three large bins and a shopping cart were filled. Additionally, the Garrison donated over 200 books that they had received as a donation from an early fall troop, and went on a shopping spree with the donation from the restaurant. They filled a cart with Star Wars toys of all kinds, and added these to the already overflowing bins, causing the U.S. Marines who were collecting the toys to make several extra trips to retrieve all of the donations.

Garrison Tyrannus at a Toys for Tots drive at the Fairfax, Va. Toys R Us, December 2010

To finish off this effort, Garrison Tyrannus will be assembling again on the 18th of December to troop at a LaserNation Laser Tag Arena that, due to Garrison assistance, has been working with Toys for Tots the entire month of December. The troopers will play tag in armor with the kids, pose for pictures, and help encourage patrons to take advantage of LaserNation's offer to exchange free games for donations. What a way to celebrate the season!

Garrison Tyrannus at a test run for the LaserNation Toys for Tots event, November 2010

Want to see your Garrison featured in the newsletter? Message your after-action report to Debater2nd on the FISD with your TK-related event story.

With unquestioned loyalty,

Dan Brown (Debater2nd)

TK-2618

General Order No. 1

From the Command Staff