New Marine Leadership

Posted on Fri Oct 27th, 2023 @ 4:19pm by Colonel Danny Lennox & Colonel Ezekiel Bagwell & Lieutenant Colonel Chuck McDaniel & Lieutenant Colonel Sam Kyle & Major Jethro "Jett" Sherman

3,357 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Episode 118 - "It's About Family"
Location: Starbase 400 - Level 40, Marine Briefing Room
Timeline: MD1, 1200hrs

ON:

Lennox had received a message to meet the new Marine Division Commander and Deputy Commander. In many ways, Lennox was happy to have help leading the Division...even with its diminished numbers. However, he was also a little frustrated that he hadn't been chosen for the position, after all, he'd been leading the Division as acting commander for the last year.

Once in the briefing room, Lennox walked around to large conference room, which was more like a college lecture hall designed to brief large groups. He looked at plaques on the wall, looked out into space from the view ports, and then walked back to the front of the room and took a seat to wait on the new Commander and Deputy Commander.

The next to arrive was a hulking Caitian, in Marine greens. He had to duck under the door, being 6 foot 8 made it hard to simply walk into rooms. He nodded to the marine already sitting at the conference room table.

Once Kyle arrived, Lennox walked over from where he was sitting and took a seat at the table as well. He glanced at the big Caitian thinking 'oh shit this guy is huge'.

Ezekiel is not a telepath but he could sense that the room seem pretty tense. And rightfully so, here he was a guy from Special Operations now going to be taking over the Marines. The Marines I had been trained by Lieutenant Colonel Kyle.

"Good afternoon." Ezekiel called out as he looked over to the very tall Caitian male. He was trying to assess the Marine's mental state. The last thing you wanted to do was make a difficult situation worse by coming in here and raising all kinds of hell, he knew this need to be handed delicately and professionally.

Sam went straight to the position of attention at the call of the Colonel. Sam was always in Marine mode, having spent the last few years as a Marine instructor at Sol Station.

“Afternoon Sir!”

He calls back in rapt attention, professional. His accent of Old Southern US, with an undertone of purring that all Caitians had to their voices. Sam’s rucksack was next to him, with his Type 3 Phaser Rifle secured to its side, disarmed and safe, as was the Type 2 phaser in his drop leg holster.

"Please have a seat, glad to see I'm not the only one likes to be on time." Ezekiel said in a Vulcan like sterile tone. I appreciated how discipline they were, and Sam here with a shinning example, of how a marine should be and look.

“Thank You, Sir”

Lennox leaned back in his chair, listening to his new CO and XO converse.

Sam replied, taking a seat and keeping his rucksack under his feet, where he still had eyes on it. His tail curling up around him. The chair groans slightly under him, having some trouble but managing to support his size.

"I see what I can do about getting a chair that fits you properly. Sorry this had not been done prior to my assignment." Ezekiel said as he to took a seat. Compared to Sam, he appeared to be tiny. A fracture of the size of Sam. He looked so uncomfortable. But like a professional, you could not see it in his body posture or facial expressions.

"No Issue, Sir. Mission takes priority. I understand there was a restructuring of Marine Leadership here?"

Sam asked professionally of both Bagwell and the Other Lieutenant Colonel present in the gargantuan briefing theatre

"Don't think of it as restructuring, more of a change of command with a full review in process. " Ezekiel said trying to be fair to these marines who have been doing the best they can with the leadership that they've had, from everything that you read they've been doing a pretty incredible job. Were there things they can improve on probably, but this wasn't the time or place to do that right now. For the moment he wanted to get to meet his team. His response was stoic and Vulcan like in tone. He's still at our time processing his emotional feelings despite the fact he just got married and it was probably a cloud nine.

“I took the liberty of reviewing the logs of the Division. I want to start by also scheduling combat simulations and pulling body cam footage from the recent Borg incident to evaluate the marines performance and combat proficiency to compare with the scores of the sims.”

Sam commented to Colonel Bagwell.

"That's a good idea, it'll give us a baseline to see where our Marines are currently at, and where we feel like they should be at. How long will it take you to ascertain all the information and present it?" Ezekiel asked. In his 6 years time is being special Operations team leader he did the same thing every time the USS Falcon and her crew went out on an operation.

“Ideally I’d like to start with the leadership and Senior NCOs, then to the fire team levels. A week at the most. I want to also speak with the Individual Commanders and the Master Sergeants as well.”

Sam replied

"I've invited my wing commander and our new regiment commander of the 22nd regiment. Maybe we should start with their units." Ezekiel suggested knowing that they should be walking in any minute.

Major Jett Sherman entered the room as Colonel Bagwell spoke. He stood at attention and waited for him to finish, using the marine stance while he waited.

“Major Sherman, reporting.” He saluted them.

"Please have a seat Major." Ezekiel said is he looked over to his XO. "We're waiting on one more Colonel McDaniel." Ezekiel said knowing that it should be any minute now.

“Thank you, Colonel.” He took a seat and waited for the other colonel to arrive. He hadn’t been on board long and he appreciated being pulled into this meeting right away.

Sam continues on as the Major comes in to the amphitheater.

“I can start with the 22nd and the Starfighter Corps. With the Major’s consent of course.”

Sam nodded to Major Sherman

“Major my intent is to run combat sims and compare data to the Frontier Day attack to establish baselines for where improvement is needed and what training is lacking among SB 400’s Marine Detachment.”

“It is a sound plan.” Jett replied with a nod. “I arrived a little over two hours. I would respectfully request time to acclimate with my unit before we start.” He looked at each of them. “Is a day acceptable!”

"That'll be up to Colonel Kyle, I'll be going to Trill, for my honeymoon." Ezekiel said, realizing that the unit was going to survive without him until he came back plus the full assessment and review should take about that amount of time to complete.

“I can be ready within a day. I have to review the armor camera footage and take notes, if you would care to assist me with that, Major”

Sam asked, taking notes on his PADD as he spoke. A list of things to accomplish.

"Yes, Colonel." Jett nodded. He was glad to be in on that. It would give him good insight.

"I will be working with Lieutenant O'Reilly, she will be doing assessments on all crew members. This is not a full evaluation. She is doing initial assessments only." Ezekiel said as he looked to his team. He then went on. "With the aftermath of the Borg incident. I believe its necessary to see where our marines stand mentally."

“I will order my unit to be cooperative.” Jett replied. He had no doubt they would be. The alternative would be something they didn’t want to think about.

"Major," Sam started.

"My intent is to use these simulations to find what skill sets our marines have, what their weaknesses is and how best to fit everything together. I have no intent on busting anyone, or making drastic changes to the Status Quo. While I get you may see some sort of Administrator, I was on the line at Sol Station during Frontier Day, and was on Cardassia Prime during the end of the Dominion War. My first choice, given it, is to be on the line, in the trenches with my Brothers in Arms."

Sam's tone had a somber tone, a seriousness from years of hard fought experience. He wasn't a pencil pusher and it showed in his eyes when he mentioned the recent events. 25 gruling hours of intense combat again hordes of Borg Infected Ensigns, and Young Lieutenants that were aboard Sol Station.

"Marines physical prowess is part of my concern, but so is their mental prowess. I expect all marines to be assessed by Lieutenant O'Reilly and her team." Ezekiel said, wondering how many marines were barely holding it together, and how many were really healing. He did the same thing to his former crew on the USS Falcon. With hostilities rising, first the Romulans, Founders and now the Borg. He feared that any species could target them next. He wanted to make sure his marines were ready to face the unknown sound of mine.

“I am on board with the assessment.” Jett nodded. He knew they didn’t need his approval but he wanted them to know he was in agreement. “I don’t anticipate any issues but so haven’t had the chance to observe them. I’ve dealt with that rare marine in the past who hated assessments and dragged their feet. I don’t intend to bust anyone, just to make certain they know this isn’t an option.” He paused. “I don’t know what the command style of my predecessor was which is why I want to stress this to them.”

"Colonel." Lennox finally said as he stood. He'd been the first to arrive, had sat and listened to the new Marine Officers talk, and ignore him. He was feeling frustrated and resented the fact that not only had he been the first to arrive, no one had even acknowledged his presence. "Sir, I'm Colonel Lennox, Commanding Officer of the 4th Marine Regiment and acting Divisional Commander for the last year." He stood waiting to be addressed.

Ezekiel thought to himself, the marine does speak. "Have a seat Colonel." His tone was direct but not filled with emotion. He could tell that the Marine appear to be agitated, was it at him or was it at the situation as a whole or did they do something in this meeting to annoy him. He wasn't sure but he was going to find out. "I know who you are and you have done a remarkable job to this point. I'm here to take us to the next level, in order to do that I need to know where we all stand. I want you to work with Colonel Kyle and Lieutenant O'Reilly to get your Marines assessed."

Jett looked from one to the other and was careful to maintain an expression that showed no emotion. He was glad for the meeting it gave him a chance to asses the marine leadership and learn their individual styles of approach.

Lennox nodded, "Yes sir." He then slowly sat down. He wasn't trying to 'rock the boat', however he felt overlooked. 'Train the people that beat you out for the job, got it' he thought to himself as he shook his head. Maybe Gunny Ermey was right, maybe it was time to retire...although Ermey had been saying that for four years now. He let out a deep breath and waited for the meeting to end.

181st Wing Commander Lt Col Chuck McDaniel landed from his last patrol and headed straight for the gathering. It had been a long time since they had hosted the pilot side of the Marine Corp and Chuck was interested in what was up. Sliding into the room Chuck found a wall and hung tight to observe.

"Welcome Colonel McDaniel." Ezekiel said as he observed the man sneakily into the room and lean himself against the wall. He was eager to get the meeting going. They had more to discuss.

Chuck nodded and lightly waved with his left hand. Having his own morning drills with fly boys was very different than one of these.

"I want everyone around the room to give me brief updates about their units status and performance." Ezekiel asked, wanted to know where exactly easily his regiment commanders and Wing commanders believe their units were at. The psychological assessments were only part of it the other part would be performance reviews next, but he needed a basis on how to judge that. He did the same thing back when he was commanding special Operations Group Beta.

"Sir." Lennox started. "The Division has been at quarter strength for over two years. The Marines took heavy losses in the war and while things to be...a little different now, recruiting numbers have been low and many of the people that would have joined the Corps in the past are going into Command of Security. With that said, both of the Saratoga and Kearsarge are scheduled to be back up and running within the month. Specifically, the Forth Marine Regiment is battle ready, but again with low numbers. First Lieutenant Taz has been operating as acting Regimental CO and has continued training, and working with Security on patrolling the station since the Mirror Universe incident. Gunnery Sergeant Agtx has a team down on Kalab IV right now helping to enhance their Security forces after this Borg and Changeling bulls...event."

Ezekiel knew everything that Lennox said it was true, it was partially the reason why his offer to be the new divisional Commander was accepted. Even though you spent years in special operations it was no substitute for the Marine Corps experience and knowledge. He knew you'd have to rely on Lennox until he got fully up to speed. "Please pass along to Lieutenant Taz, that he has my gratitude for everything he has done is acting Regiment CO. Do you think he's ready to make the jump to regiment CO?" Ezekiel asked. He was a firm believer that everyone deserved an opportunity, and given the fact that how successful the lieutenant had been he was interested to see what Lennox thought.

"I do sir...and I just sent you his file. However, and this is no reflection on him, being the only Krazzle in the Starfleet Marine Corps and one of only a handful in Starfleet as a whole, there are some that might not look to favorably on him being a Regiment Commander. He already caught some hell for receiving a battlefield commission to officer...and that was a decade ago. He does have the full confidence of the men and officers already here, including myself...so any backlash would not be internal."

"There's been a lot of pioneers in our time going back to the beginning of the Federation to current day if it wasn't for those key people and those key positions we wouldn't have the vast array of Starfleet officers like we do today, I agree for the moment we should probably table that conversation but we address it later on. I believe hard work and dedication should be rewarded despite any repercussions from that decision." Ezekiel flat-out said in a cold-hearted ton, he wasn't going to hold somebody back because of political influence of work dislike of a certain race. for the moment though he decided it was best to move on, however he would re-address it again with Admiral Bremer .

Sam nods as he listens

"I'd like to see the SITREPs on the Kearsarge, as I understand it from my orders here, I am to take command of Kearsarge at the earliest possibility."

"Colonel Lennox, do you have a SITREP report on the USS Kearsage?"'Ezekiel ass, knowing if you didn't that he should be able to pull up the information and transfer it to a data pad.

"The Kearsarge is in external drydock eight, she should be ready for recommissioning within the month. The Kearsarge, along with the Saratoga, were ordered decommissioned by Starfleet last year...supposedly due to age. However, I believe it more likely they, along with most ships at Starbase 400 older than ten years, were ordered decommissioned because they couldn't be integrated with that 'fleet formation' bullshit. Sir."

Sam parses his lips.

“How long do you imagine it will take before we can get back aboard?”

"I'm sure she is ready for pre-commissioning inspections, however, she won't be flight capable until commissioning." Lennox replied.

He posed to Colonel Lennox before turning to the Major.

“Let’s set up a time to go over things, Major Sherman. I feel that a more detailed discussion would be in order.”

"Agreed, Colonel Pyle we should set up follow up meeting." Ezekiel called out as he looked over to his XO. He neither be a series of meetings before everything was said and done. Even though Lennox had done a great job with the Marines, there was a lot of logistics and paperwork needed in order to get the unit back up to full operational status.

Sam nods writing down in his notes things he need to do and reminders to get with the dockmaster over the Kearsage and it's status.

"I can meet with you Colonel, as soon as this meeting is concluded."

Sam replied to Colonel Bagwell.

“In the three hours I’ve been here.” Jett spoke up next. “I have been able to ascertain that I am in agreement with Lieutenant Colonel Lennox. My numbers are lower than expected but they train hard and their spirits are what I would expect. It was the same where sI came from. That being said they are battle ready from the notes my predecessor left.” Jett looked at Bagwell. “I can get a more detailed report to you later today. I will leave this meeting and head straight there.”

"Please do Major." Ezekiel said not meaning to sound a little cold, his tongue was at that emotion but he could see how others might misunderstand his intent.

Jett did not know the Colonel well enough to decide if his reply was unacceptable or he was simply stating that it was imperative he get a report in. It did not matter, Jett kept his word and took his position seriously. The moment he left here he would head there and assess the situation and send him one.

"The Kearsage and the Saratoga are top priority. seeing how Starfleet didn't give us a replacement vessel, for either ship. We'll have no choice but to reactivate both of them. I don't like the idea of being grounded to the station only. We need to be able to deploy at a moment to notice now granted we could hitch a ride on other ships, but these two ships are specifically designed with our marines in mind. Colonel Pyle, can I get on you to oversee the reactivation of both vessels?" Ezekiel asked. He wanted to be operationally ready, he had a feeling things weren't just culture and federation right now or in their sector of space in the past couple of years have proven that point to him.

“Aye, Sir!” Sam replied with proper Marine precision.

“I’ll start with Kearsarge since it’ll be my new home for some time, and I’ll get with the yard superintendent on the Saratoga.”

"Thank you, unless anyone has anything else to bring up to the table, we’re dismissed. I was scheduled another senior staff briefing in three weeks." Ezekiel said realizing if there was some tensions they had to work on, first they needed to get the evaluations and assessments completed.

Jett rose to his feet and headed on his way. He had a lot of work to do, might as well hit the ground running. It was the way he preferred to start a new position. His men would get to know him quickly.


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