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From the DL Around the Detachment Expert Infantry is Easy FISD Website Update EIB Statistics Trooper of the Month Troop of the Month Greetings Troops, This has been an exciting month for the Legion, with Celebration VI in Orlando, Florida, the 15th anniversary Imperial dinner and bash, Dragon Con in Atlanta, GA., and then the announcement for Celebration Europe II in Germany for this coming July, and in 2014, the return to Orlando, Florida for Celebration VII. It was great to be able to meet, face to face, with all of the TKs. By the turnout at Celebration VI, it was easy to see how the numbers are growing with the EI and Centurions and how everyone is taking pride in the Stormtrooper. I was truly proud to see this because the Stormtrooper has been kind of an underdog when it comes to costuming excellence. So a big salute to all of you for going that "extra mile." Also, I would like to convey a special thanks to Brian Muir and his wife Lindsay for taking the time to be a part of the TK photo shoot. Brian conveyed to me later that it was an honor for him to be a part of that and to thank all of you. Just a side note about the FISD brochures: we had 2,500 of them printed for CVI and by the last day, when I was helping break down the 501st room, there were less than a quarter of the 2,500 brochures left. I was informed that it was the number one hand out at the information desk in the 501st room. Will be making this brochure in a PDF form so anyone wanting to have it professionally printed or be able to do it on their home PC can do so. I also want to take the time to say how proud I was of and to thank the staff members that were at CVI (Ingrid, Brian Robinson, Terrell, Luis and Paul) for their unquestioned loyalty and dedication, and tireless efforts in getting the word out to everyone they came in contact with about whitearmor.net. If I could give you all a bonus, I would. I believe that the White Armor panel that was held on Sunday at CVI was a success and wanted thank Paul, Brian, Ingrid, and the TK models: Tim, Nicky, Diana. There were only a few chairs that were empty, which meant a lot of people were truly interested in becoming 501st. I hope that we do this for CVII, because I am already jotting down ideas for it. I would like to announce that we have four new staff members that will help moderate sections of the White Armor forum. The FISD is a very large site that requires a lot of help to ensure that it is on track. The title for the new moderators is "Imperial Sentry." This team is headed up by Bobojuice and Matt Black. So please give a warm welcome to the newest members of the FISD staff: Mark (Captsafe66) Matthew (samskara) Tim (TrooperTim) Joey (TK-2126_MD) We will be looking to add a couple of more people to this new team. In other news: The phase III, TK CRL is being worked on and we have a Trooper, as I write this, working on the model. Plus, the other TK CRLs with better verbiage in the updates should be coming out very soon. It has been an arduous task, but it is something that was not taken lightly nor could it be done correctly in a short span of time. There is a lot of work to do before the end of the year and we will be seeing an influx of new members wanting to join the TK ranks. I ask all of you to give them a warm welcome and a hand in finding their way to becoming a Stormtrooper, as our unwritten motto states, "Troopers helping Troopers." So, everyone to your post! With Unquestioned Loyalty, Tom Gardner TK5940 “RogueTrooper†Executive Officer This month saw a rise in reported field training exercises, which gives a strong boost to the FISD community. Thanks for posting, and keep 'em coming. The staff has been busy with CVI prep and other business, and appreciates those who held down the fort in our absence. We had a staff meeting in person on Sunday morning (8/26) with Luis, Paul, Tom, Terrell, Brian, and Ingrid and tried to skype in to the others but couldn't make the connection happen. In any case, it was a decent breakfast and a good opportunity to meet f2f. We had a great representation at the White Armor panel, Troop-athlon, and the Shoot-a-Trooper charity booth supporting the Peter Mayhew Foundation. Thanks to all the troopers who gave their time to help out with these important events. Public Relations - our online communities are becoming quite active. Share your missions, unique finds, and tips with other troopers and the world at large. Tom estimates we gave out over 1250 FISD brochures at CVI. These will be available for download/print on the forums soon for general distribution. FISD Briefing August Centurion Awards: 12 (total 54) August Expert Infantry Awards: 17 (total 250) August Fire Team Tally: 1 new, 8 total Newest Fire Teams: Texas Imperial Rangers Fire Team August Attache Tally: 6 new Newest Attaches: Nassik (Shawn, Terror Australis), Bigironvault (Keith, Canadian), Seantrooper (Sean, Redback), Dr.Senf (Sven, German), Faie (Jose, Spanish), Solcar23 (Carlos, Midwest) What's an Attache? Someone in your garrison who represents FISD with the friendly "Troopers Helping Troopers" spirit! A special shout-out to all the garrisons that send their prospective members to FISD. Being active one's garrison is important, but a good partnership with the detachments makes all the difference in costuming excellence, getting help, and the 501st community as a whole. New members in August: 190 (total 5712) Active members in forums: 433 Reported Field Exercises: 15 Field Exercises: Traverse City Beach Bums, Rogers Cup Troop, Neighborhood Walk, G-Force Test, Easter Egg Hunt, Great Lakes Loons Game, Wizard World, "Something's Missing," "Got my kids," Silver Snail Comic Shop Moving Day, GenCon, FanExpo, and Star Wars Celebration VI. One last shout-out to Jacob "Jabob" French, TK 6283, best known for his TrooperTrek across Australia. He joined us in the FISD photo session at Celebration VI and we are proud to stand behind and beside him in our group photo. Number of Twitter Followers as of 8/31: 435 - over 100 new followers! Number of Facebook Followers as of 8/31: 1356 - over 50 new followers! With Unquestioned Loyalty, Ingrid Moon TK-6818 “LadyInWhite†Public Relations Officer FISD Armor Mythbusters Tackles the Expert Infantryman! We've responded to posts, chatted with you at cons, and talked to you all in person. While the Emperor is quite pleased with the results of number of good looking EI TK's in the Legion, he has felt a disturbance in the Force. Yes, there is much mis-information among the ranks on what Expert Infantryman and Centurion programs mean, and what the qualifications are. In this column, we aim to dispel those myths... Myth #1: My GML says my suit is not good enough for EI and said not to bother applying. Fact: Your GML may not always have the latest information, so as a cross check, do come to FISD and check out the latest CRLs. I met two great looking troopers at Celebration who could easily be EI and was surprised when I heard this comment. When in doubt, always feel free to post pictures of you in your suit and let FISD help validate your kit. Myth #2: I have FX armor and it can't go EI. Fact: The EI standards were written so that any maker of armor can go EI. It takes about $50 and an afternoon to convert an out-of-the-box FX suit to Expert Standards. Making it Centurion takes a little more work, but it's not that costly and certainly others have done this. There is even a good tutorial available that walks you through this step by step. Myth #3: I'm a girl, girls can't go EI. Fact: They certainly can, and Centurion on top of it. There are already both EI and Centurions in the Legion who are female. There are several great threads that can walk you through this step by step. Myth #4: It's not worth it, I'm close enough. Fact: Possible, but that's also like saying you don't need a degree when you're 3 credits shy of graduating. Getting your Expert Infantryman not only qualifies you for some cool swag (gold coins, certificate, patches) but also your achievement is commemorated on the rolls of EI. Part of being a stormtrooper is uniformity, and having the little details right makes everyone look good, including you. TK's are the backbone of the Legion, so stand proud, trooper! Myth #5: I'm too fat for EI. Fact: Not true. The standards allow you to shim the side gaps which is a super easy mod to do with a little velcro and $5 of spare ABS. If you're gap is pretty close, it need not be perfectly closed either and there is allowance for a small gap which is okay. Myth #6: The EI standards are uber accurate. I don't want to be a snob. Fact: Not true! The EI program was created to create a path and recognition program for those that want to take their costume one step higher than base CRL standards. It's not intended to be hard, expensive, or ultra accurate. Think of it as just pimping out your suit a bit. There you have it - some common myths debunked. As it turns out, going EI has never been easier and inexpensive as it is today, and costs nothing extra to do for new builds. Still have questions? Send them our way and we'll include them next month on FISD Armor Mythbusters! With unquestioned loyalty, Paul "Daetrin" TK-8020 Detachment Founder 2012 will henceforth be known as the "Year of the Web Server Hopping." For those who have not been following along the FISD forums moved off a shared hosting server along with most of the other 501st detachments. The account on the shared server was overburdened. We, along with the Imperial Officers, Mos Eisely Police Department, and the Sith Lord Detachment, pulled the ripcord and migrated over to our own hosting account. A few months went by and for some unknown reason FISD and MEPD started using more server resources. Our hosting provider was very patient and allowed us try everything we could to tame the forum software. At long last Daetrin and I cried "Uncle!" and migrated the website to a different server where we do not have to compete with any other web sites but our own. As of the writing of this newsletter the FISD forum is running slightly faster than it was on the other server. Many mahalos to all the TKs I banned or otherwise hassled while trying to find the source of the bandwidth spike. Remember last month when I said that I could not figure out why we had an increase in traffic this year? It turns out I was absolutely wrong. Brent PM'd us and pointed out that when we migrated the first time I changed the forum's URL from forum.whitearmor.net to www.whitearmor.net/forum. Of course there were more visitors suddenly because I wasn't taking into account the logs from forum.whitearmor.net. When you add the two stats together everything checks out. Duh me. We still do not know why the forum software did what it did, but for the moment we are good to go. The FISD forums have not been running Google Analytics for very long. Eventually I will post visitors trends over time. For those of you who like to nerd out on such things, the image below are the traffic patterns from August. You can see that nearly 80% of our traffic are return visitors. Seeing as we get a fair amount of traffic that number represents a huge amount of unquestioned loyalty and questionable amounts of white plastic addiction. If anyone has any questions about the web server and it's visitors please let me know. With Aloha and Unquestioned Loyalty, Eric Brager TK-9674 “DarthAloha†Chief Tactical Officer It seems clear that many people wanted to achieve EIB and Centurion status prior to Celebration VI and Dragon*Con. It may also have been a kick in the pants after Paul "Daetrin" Hoeffer's article in the August newsletter comparing our low percentage of achievement awards with MEPD's higher rate. Whatever the reason, obtaining EIB or Centurion status is not as challenging as many people believe. So bust out the tools and make a few adjustments - and join the race to 300! To prove a point, you will find some amazing photos here of the FISD presence at CVI (about 150 TKs) including a huge group of EI and Centurion troopers. (Thanks to Christian and all the folks who have been posting the photos. We are in the process of obtaining the official ones.) With Unquestioned Loyalty, Ingrid Moon TK-6818 “LadyInWhite†Public Relations Officer and Mathias Rodstedt TK-2959 "Locitus" Deployment Officer Trooper of the month for August 2012 goes to Solcar23 (Carlos Mendoza TK-5924). Carlos managed to receive his 501st basic approval then submit and achieve Expert Infantry and Centurion within a 24 hour period. I suspect that it might have happened within the same day if our Deployment Officer did not live in Europe. The interweb paint was still wet on his red centurion badge on his posts when Carlos raised his hand and said "Hey! I want to help other TKs look their best." He is our newest FISD attaché roaming the streets of Chitown handing out split rivets like the first taste of a drug. Carlos' achievement is a solid example of building your TK with an eye to Centurion right from the start. New recruits should use this as a model during the planning stages of becoming a Stormtrooper. It may seem like a lot of points but they are all easy while you are building. It is a little known fact (to those of you who did not stalk his Facebook page performing research for this award) that not only is Carlos a music educator, he was the fifth Beatle. Aloha and congratulations, Carlos. With Aloha and Unquestioned Loyalty, Eric Brager TK-9674 “DarthAloha†Chief Tactical Officer The month of August resulted in 15 field training exercises reported. While most of them were public events, not specific to charities (our favorite kind of troop), we did end up with some amazing stories and photos of troopers having a lot of fun. If you haven't seen them yet or need a little inspiration, check out all the great stories in the Field Training Exercises area of the FISD forums. Roger's Cup One not to be missed is the Rogers Cup tournament in Toronto featuring the Executor's own Imperial tennis champion. Wizard World Probably overshadowed by CVI but very popular is Wizard World, in which Trooper of the Month, Carlos TK-5924, debuted his Shiny White Centurion. Indiana State Fair Indiana State Fair was another gem... sporting FISD Attache Mark "captsafe66" Ryner in his newly minted Officer uniform (don't know what he was thinking... it's hotter than a TK in there!). http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa459/captsafe66/553511_4371892265836_879091494_n.jpg There are so many great troops we simply couldn't pick just one. So read about them all and post your own troops. We love to live vicariously through our troopers around the world! With Unquestioned Loyalty, Ingrid Moon TK-6818 “LadyInWhite†Public Relations Officer Don't Forget We're on Facebook and Twitter! Facebook: www.facebook.com/whitearmor Now with "tip of the week" and other ongoing discussions. If you're on FB, stop by and say hi, ask questions, and share stories! Twitter: www.twitter.com/@FISD501st From crazy TK merch findings to minute-by-minute Death Star climate control updates, follow FISD on Twitter! With Completely, Totally Unquestioned Loyalty and Job Satisfaction, Ingrid Moon TK-6818 “LadyInWhite†Public Relations Officer On behalf of the 1st Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment Command Staff. End Transmission. http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/ff468/ZeroRoom1/First%20Imperial%20Stormtrooper%20Department/Newsletter/Newsletter%20Common/underbanner2012.png This post has been promoted to an article

From the Detachment Leader Around the Detachment Tip of the Month Katie's Story Deathtrooper Season TK Jack-o-lantern Stencils Trooper of the Month Troop of the Month Greetings My Fellow Troopers, I first want to truly thank everyone, from the bottom of my heart, for your support and your vote. I would like to thank you for believing in and allowing the staff and myself to continue on with the projects that we had planned for this year to help make the FISD better. I am honored to accept the office of Detachment Leader of the 1st Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment. Last Saturday when the voting polls were closed and the results were posted, a good friend of mine told me that it was a landslide and that I should do some chest thumping and a victory dance. I told my good friend, that is not me. This not a victory for me, but rather a victory for the whitearmor.net and the TK community. I am but a humble servant and am happy to continue serving the TK community. The members of the FISD are not merely members to me, but you are my brothers and sisters and I always look out for and do the best I can for my family. I look forward to serving all of the members of the FISD and being the best Detachment Leader I can be. I do have visions and plans that the staff and I will be working to implement to create a better forum, with better information, for those TK enthusiast that are striving to either build their first Stormtrooper costume or seeking ways to better or upgrade their Stormtrooper costume. Staff Changes: At this time, I would like to announce the appointment of the new Executive Officer of the 1st Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment. This person has years of Legion and costuming experience, with first hand knowledge of the CRL's and is well versed in the Legion Charter. He has worked in front of and behind the scenes for years within the 501st. In my opinion, he is going to bring a lot to the staff and to our community. It give me great pleasure to welcome Brian Anderson TK7602 (Stormtrooperguy) as the new Executive Officer of the 1st Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment. Please give Brian a warm welcome to his new position. Due to "real life" obligations, Luis Diaz, TK7164 (bobojuice) has asked to step down from the Provost Marshall position. Luis has done a great job and we wish him the very best and ask that he not be a stranger on the boards. At this time, I would like to announce the appointment of the new Provost Marshall, Mark Ryner, TK4584 (captsafe66). Mark has experience as being his Garrison's COG and he is already been an Imperial Sentry. I feel very confident that he will do a great job in the position of Provost Marshall. Lets all give Mark a warm welcome to his new position We have also added a few new members to the Imperial Propaganda Machine (extended staff). They are: Jennifer Riddle TK-9496 (jnnfr72), Andrea Loar TK-6093 (Andrea11), and Derek A Dougherty, TK27555 (Dougherty.D). All three of these people have stepped up to become one of the extended staff to help to make the FISD a better place for the community, so let's give it up for Jenny, Andrea, and Derek. Detachment Polls I wanted to remind everyone that the voting/polling for the proposed amendments to the Centurion requirements are now open. Voting remains open for 2 weeks (until the 18th) . Please do not forget to be a part of this. Just remember, your vote counts!! Here are the list of polls: General Changes Drop Box Details Torso Changes Leg Changes New Numbers, New TKs Moving on, I would like to bring up that we, the Legion, have run out of 4 digit ID numbers. It was formerly announced at C6, during the 501st 15th Anniversary Imperial dinner, that we were now into the 5 digit numbers for the ID's. A few weeks ago, I was helping a recruit for my Garrison complete his application for the 501st. He pulled out a list of all the 5 digit numbers that he was pondering over and trying to choose which one he wanted to be his permament 501st ID. I kind of laughed and said I wish I had all these options when I was applying. It was truly slim pickings to try and find some number that I felt connected to, now just look at all of these fresh, new numbers. I wanted to show all of you our newest TK brothers,and sisters with their 5 digit ID's: TK10000 Aleksandra DÄ…bkowska-----..------ Polish Garrison TK10002 Gordon McGuire------------..--------United Kingdom Garrison TK10004 David B Gray----------------.---------Mountain Garrison TK10006 Andrew J Leeson-----------..-..------United Kingdom Garrison TK10007 Paulo Siqueira----------------------- Brazilian Division Garrison TK10011 Daryl Kling-----------------.---..-------Dune Sea Garrison TK10020 Jack Smith-------------------------..---Brazilian Division Garrison TK10021 Brent Parsons------------------.------Golden Gate Garrison TK10023 Rob Tomlin---------------------.-------Star Garrison TK11011 Gonzalo Ortega--------------.--------Spanish Garrison TK10100 Rafal M Kraska---------------.--------Polish Garrison TK11285 Tyler Timpany------------------.------Canadian Garrison TK12421 Kevin M Feber------------------------Great Lakes Garrison TK11308 Mariano Santafosta------------------Spanish Garrison TK19334 Alex R Bevan---------------------.----United Kingdom Garrison TK11990 William L Rasco-----------------------Garrison Carida TK25267 Charles B Bowes---------------------Canadian Garrison TK26354 Steven J Stubbs----------------------Southern California Garrison TK26800 Julio Rey de Perea Campos-----...Spanish Garrison TK27555 Derek A Dougherty------------------Southern California Garrison TK32380 James P Brace-----------.------------Bloodfin Garrison TK42111 John B Cambra--------.--------------Golden Gate Garrison TK42166 Jason Winiata-----------.-------------Outpost 42 Garrison TK42170 Brian Jepson--------------------------Star Garrison TK45540 Sophie E Bowman-------------------Terror Australis Garrison TK49438 Valere Fourbisseu-------------------FanWars Garrison TK50100 Garry P Shing------------------------Terror Australis Garrison TK50101 Dennis Dombrowski---------..-------German Garrison TK50148 Damian StefaÅ„ski-------------.-------Polish Garrison TK50166 Andrew T Rochelle-----------.-------Carolina Garrison TK54321 Nicky Mezzina----------------.----.----Nordic Garrison TK64830 Mortier Bernard---------------.-------FanWars Garrison TK72812 Andrew C Donaldson---------.------Star Garrison TK74745 Brandon Cockrell---------------.-----Rancor Raiders Garrison TK90005 Francisco Izaguirre------------.------Spanish Garrison TK90475 Douglas Koverman----------.--------Ohio Garrison TK92901 William C Adamson------------.------Garrison Tyranus TK98530 Alejandro Carbonell Olivares---.---Spanish Garrison Katie's Story Last but not least, for those that are following the Katie Goldman story about her wanting to become a TK because of the 501st (more about this in an article in this Newsletter), I would like to thank the members of the Midwest Garrison, Brian C Troyan TK8968 (Fleetfang), Javier Esqueda TK265 (TK265), Steve W Gaza TK4034 (gazmosis), and Adriane Bean TK 4541 (Beans) for stepping up and offering to build the TK suit for Katie. I would also like to thank, from the bottom of my heart, all the FISD members that donated to the Katie Goldman Fund and also those who have donated some of the accessory items that Katie will need with her Stormtrooper. I have given each and everyone of you a "Supporter Ribbon" for your efforts and will be making a thread, with a formal list of donors, so that all can see what a great group of people, with big and giving hearts, that we have in the FISD community. (More on that below.) Closing Also congratulations to Javier and his wife for their newest edition to the Esqueda family. They now have a son, Ben, who is now about a week old!!!! Congratulations you two on your little clone!!! We all know the end of this month has one of the biggest costuming days of the year. I wish you all a very safe and happy Halloween. By the way, just remember to save me some candy!! With Unquestioned Loyalty, Tom Gardner TK5940 "RogueTrooper" Detachment Leader Greetings, Earth-deployed troopers. We weathered an emergency election this month with two great candidates. Congratulations to Tom Gardner, former XO, for being elected DL of FISD, and our respects to Matt Sparling, who made a good run. Tom will see us through to the main elections in February. Just over 200 voters cast their vote in this election. Thank you all for your participation! Just to give you a heads up for future elections in all detachments, you will need to be officially affiliated with your detachment (in this case, FISD) to vote at the detachment level. You do this by editing your Detachment affiliation in your profile... in the Membership DB section of the 501st forums. Be prepared! September Centurion Awards: 3 (total 57) September Expert Infantry Awards: 11 (total 261) September Fire Team Tally: 1 new (9 total) Newest Fire Teams: Tantive IV Boarding Party, Toronto September Attache Tally: 2 new, 2 revived Newest Attaches: TK6375 (Neil, Outpost 42 Garrison), thechosenhitman (Matt, Bloodfin Garrison); Returning: pandatrooper (Terry, Badlands Garrison), naatsirhc (Christaan, Southern California Garrison/Inland Empire Squad) What's an Attache? Someone in your garrison who represents FISD with the friendly "Troopers Helping Troopers" spirit! TWO GREAT NEW RESOURCES! Centurion Visual Checklist EIB Visual Checklist New members in September: 173 Active members in forums: 470 Reported Field Exercises: 29 ! Field Exercises: Check here for the full list! This month saw reported field training exercises nearly double from last month. Thanks for posting, and keep 'em coming. When the rest of us can't troop, we live vicariously through you. Even if you do nothing else on the forums, share your troops! Number of Twitter Followers as of 9/30: 462 Number of Facebook Followers as of 9/30: 1421 Our Facebook page has been getting more active, with Tips of the Week, news, jokes, and other questions and issues. I'd like to see more upgrade and new build photos and questions there, and more troopers helping troopers. If you're already a friend, thanks! With Unquestioned Loyalty, Ingrid Moon TK-6818 “LadyInWhite†Public Relations Officer Painting with Color If you're going to upgrade your bucket, you might as well upgrade your ab buttons as well. For a very screen accurate look, or just for fun, you can paint your details rather than use decals. Here's your guide to getting the paint colors just right. Vocoder, ear stripes/outline: #21 Humbrol Black #1147 Model Master Gloss Black Ab buttons, tube stripes: #14 Humbrol French Blue #2715 Model Master French Blue Ab buttons alternative (darker): #4867 Model Master Blue Angel Blue Buttons, teeth, ears: #5 Humbrol Dark Admiral Grey #1138 Testors Gray Some helpful threads: Pandatrooper's helmet tutorial is also an excellent resource for trimming, building, and painting your new bucket (or fixing an older one). Matt black posted a guide to get hand painted helmet details using decals as a guide. Daetrin's thread on creating a paint mask for curves like the vocoder and ab buttons is also an oldie but goodie. As always, if you have questions or need more help, visit the Armory for answers galore! With Unquestioned Loyalty, Ingrid Moon TK-6818 “LadyInWhite†Public Relations Officer The Detachment Comes Together for a Cause FISD, have you seen the thread for Katie Goldman in the Announcements section? This is a great cause where you can make a difference and show your community spirit for a young girl. Recently, our DL was contacted by Dean Plantamura who works in the Legion PR staff, and he said the following: “Katie Goldman, the young fan from Chicago that was bullied about being a girl who liked Star Wars. The 501st gave her so much support as a young girl fan, that Katie has decided to suit up as a Stormtrooper this year and her mom (author/blogger Carrie Goldman) has reached out to us for help! Of course, we want her to have only the best armor.†From RougeTrooper, Tom Gardner: "Out of all the other Star Wars characters, It made me feel very proud to know that Katie wants to be a Stormtrooper. I want to make sure that Katie gets the best armor that she can. I told Dean that a good set of armor, even a kids kit, is not cheap." Tom has undertaken the task of finding good quality kid-sized armor for Katie, and is taking donations in return for some community perks. Special thanks go to the Midwest Garrison. They have backed Katie and her mother from the start, and will continue to see this project through to the end and beyond. I’ve seen a tremendous amount of kindness from the FISD for Katie. All of the Troopers and 501st members who have encouraging comments, made donations, and offered their skills and talents to our new recruit are receiving as much joy in the giving as Katie is in the receiving. Katie has offers of a modified fan kit from Evilboy ~ Jonathan Wolk, kids sized boots from Adriana Bean ~ TK 4541, hand guards from our dearest Queen Karen ~ Sonnenschein, a custom sized canvas belt from Robert ~ TKittell, and a custom sized neck seal from Kathy ~ CiderQueen. Last but certainly not least, the MIDWEST GARRISON members including: Javier ~ TK265, Fleetfang ~ Brian, Adriane ~ TK 4541, Steve ~ TK4034, to name just a few, have offered armor assembly and the strapping system. Katie’s journey may have started with struggles and strife, but through her perseverance and with an outpouring from the 501st, she has transformed into an ambassador for all kids who feel picked on and bullied. Katie donates the toys and clothes she receives, and promotes kindness and tolerance while making friends with other kids like her. I was not surprised that she picked the Stormtrooper as her Star Wars identity. While Stormtrooper armor can appear intimidating, one soon finds out that Stormtroopers are a bunch of friendly, outgoing men and women who love giving back to the community. Although the Midwest Garrison has the honor of assembling Katie’s armor, we can all participate in showing this youngster what it means to be a Trooper. In my opinion, we’re the most awesome group of fun, giving, dedicated and caring people around. There is still a need for donations, so check out Katie’s thread in the Announcements section and show your unquestioned loyalty. With Unquestioned Loyalty, Jennifer Riddle TK-9496 "jnnfr72" Imperial Propaganda Machine Halloween - Season of the Deathtrooper! Here in the USA, Halloween is the time for spooky things: Haunted houses, scary movies, graveyards and all things creepy! What better time to break out your favorite Halloween costume: The Death Trooper! Originally introduced in 2009 by author Joe Schreiber, the Death Trooper is the result of your classic "government project gone wrong" zombie story -- set on a Star Destroyer! To date there are only 2 Death Troopers in the Legion: Marty Miller (TK-1524 of Garrison Carida) and Brian Anderson (TK-7602 of the New England Garrison). We'd love to see more, so here are some tips on getting your Death Trooper approved: No wet blood! There was a lot of controversy and debate about whether these costumes should be eligible for 501st membership. One of the compromises we made was that they should be gross, but not gory! If you are dripping with blood, you won't be approved! Cracks, holes and torn faces are awesome, but keep in mind that if you have any exposed flesh, it's got to be zombified! Check out Marty Miller's amazing work for an example of how it's done. Remember that the base of the suit still has to be a Legion approvable TK! This costume isn't an excuse to drag out your old Marco Enterprises suit and call it a zombie! We'd LOVE to see some EIB level builds! Don't go overboard! Look at the Gentle Giant bust, the Galaxies model, the Celebration VI exclusive maquette -- they are yellowed and cracked, but they aren't a complete disaster. Don't punch 501 holes through the armor and cut half the chest off! As a bonus tip, here's a way to have the "torn out face" look without having to wear a full face mask under your helmet! Find a nice looking zombie mask (now is the best time of year for that!), and cut the lower face out. Attach that to the inside of your helmet and you have something that looks cool and can be slipped on and off easily! Once you get your Death Trooper approved, it's time to have fun: Find a local zombie walk, visit a horror con, or take a trip to your local haunted house. Yes, some people will be scared, but that's the point, isn't it? And you never know... sometimes the kids actually LOVE these guys!! That photo is from my first official troop in the DT armor. The little girl in the picture followed me around all day and took dozens of photos with me. Her mom said I was her favorite part of the convention! Don't mind the shoulder falling off... like I said, that was my first troop! Off to eat some Rebels, Brian Anderson TK-7602 "Stormtrooperguy" Detachment Executive Officer HAPPY HALLOWEEN! No front porch or doorstep - or office party - would be complete without the TK-o-lantern. Download and use these templates for a unique pumpkin treat! TK pumpkin templates for download. Click here to download the PDFs. With Unquestioned Loyalty, 1st Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment Staff Congratulations to Charles "Clamps" Bowes for earning Trooper of the Month. Clamps deftly went from EIB to Centurion via his humble and thoughtful build threads. He typifies "Troopers Helping Troopers" on FISD and within our Tantive IV Boarding Party fire team. Charles is one of those troopers that comes along and once you meet him you won’t forget him. He’s genuinely positive, upbeat and friendly. He applies that attitude to everything he does. When building his TK – he put in a tremendous amount of care and effort into it. The result of which is a beautiful Centurion level TK. He now uses that energy and enthusiasm not only to keep trying to perfect his costume but to help others with their builds. Charles is always there to share his experiences and knowledge and he even goes so far as to offer other local TKs a chance to get in on an order to save on shipping whenever he buys something. I had been working on my build a month or so ahead of Charles and one thing I told him was to make sure he had enough clamps! He went a tiny bit overboard with his use of clamps which earned him the nickname of “Clampsâ€. Overall he is a stand up guy, a real joy to be around and a great friend! With Unquestioned Loyalty, Andrea Loar TK-6093 "Andrea11" Imperial Propaganda Machine I have mentioned in past newsletters that there are no hard and fast rules about which 501st outing wins FISD Troop of the Month. This month boomshakra's report about the September 15's Purple Stride 5k in Austin fulfills many of the unspoken requirements for a charity event capturing the award. Good looking TKs, a great cause, a fun event, nice photography, and most importantly making us laugh. Congrats to the troopers of the South Texas Squad - Scorpion Riders for helping raise money for pancreatic cancer. Check out Jason's report for more photos of what looks like a super fun day. Nicely done troopers! Hand plate high five Come together... right now... (that clone should have taken off his boots) Don't Forget We're on Facebook and Twitter! Facebook: www.facebook.com/whitearmor Now with "tip of the week" and other ongoing discussions. If you're on FB, stop by and say hi, ask questions, and share stories! Twitter: www.twitter.com/@FISD501st From crazy TK merch findings to Jedi Mind Trick Avoidance Training, follow FISD on Twitter! With Complete, Total Unquestioned Loyalty and Job Satisfaction, Ingrid Moon TK-6818 “LadyInWhite†Public Relations Officer On behalf of the 1st Imperial Stormtrooper Detachment Command Staff. End Transmission. This post has been promoted to an article This post has been promoted to an article This post has been promoted to an article