As an officer in the Hammer’s Fist, you will be tasked with a number of administrative duties, each with a specific procedure that needs to be followed in order to be properly completed. This chapter will discuss various procedures in great detail and should be paid close attention to. Although it is not expected that you memorize all of these procedures, you should have a good understanding of what needs to be done before you take a high-level command position. Never hesitate to reference back to this chapter at a later date if you forget a certain procedure.

Awarding Medals

As an officer, you will often find yourself needing to award medals to your members for different reasons. Specific details on each medal along with why they should be awarded and by whom they may be awarded by are found in the Hammer’s Fist Field Manual.

Medals are awarded via the Hammer’s Fist website admin. Only officer positions have administrative rights to actually recommend medals. What medals you are able to recommend depend on your position. To recommend a medal award, log on to your Hammer’s Fist admin page. Scroll down to “Roster Functions” and click “Recommend Medal”. Use the drop down boxes to select which member should receive the medal and which medal they should receive. Use the “Reason” text box to state why the member deserves the medal. You MUST include a valid reason or the recommendation will be denied. Once you are finished, click Submit and the recommendation will be sent to the Vice Prefect for approval. Please remember that when you submit a recommendation, a medal has not yet actually been awarded. Because there is always a chance the recommendation can be denied, wait until you receive an email approval before you publicly announce a medal award.

Although the database mailer will notify you and the recipient of the award once it has been approved, it is generally a good idea for you to publicly announce (via email, IRC, message boards, etc.) the event for everyone to see. This helps boost morale and is an added bonus for the medal recipient.

Rank Promotions

Most members are always working towards getting a rank promotion. A higher rank shows that a member is experienced, dedicated, and active. As an officer, you will be tasked with keeping track of your members’ ranks and recommending promotions when applicable. You should strike a careful balance when it comes to promotions. As explained in the Field Manual, each rank has a specific time-in-position requirement that must be met before the member may be promoted. However, you should never promote a member just for completing the minimum requirements. Rank promotions are a “big deal”, so you should make sure that your members work for their promotions. At the same time, you do not want to be too strict or even not pay attention to your members’ ranks. When members are deserving of a promotion but do not receive one, it cannot only hurt morale but your reputation as well.

As with medals, only officers can actually submit a promotion recommendation via the database. To recommend a promotion, log on to your Hammer’s Fist admin page and scroll down to “Roster Functions”. Select “Recommend a Promotion” and then use the drop down box to select the member you wish to promote. It is very important that you include a valid and detailed reason for the promotion! Promotion recommendations are sent to the Prefect for approval before the rank is actually changed, so as always it is very important that you wait until the database mailer sends you an approval notice before you make the announcement public. You should always make a public event out of a rank promotion to boost morale in your unit.

Rank Demotions

Rank demotions can occur for several different reasons. The most common reason is for a member in a leadership position who resigns or is removed before they have completed their tour of duty. If this member held a rank lower than the position’s minimum rank prior to their appointment, they will be returned to their previous rank.

Another common reason for reductions in rank is for officers who transfer to an enlisted position. When this happens, the officer’s rank will be converted to an enlisted rank as described in the Field Manual.

An extremely uncommon reason for demotion is for disciplinary reasons. It is important to note that the only members of the Emperor’s Hammer that can order and authorize a rank demotion for disciplinary reasons are the Fleet Commander, Executive Officer, and Security Officer. Nobody in the Hammer’s Fist, including the Prefect, may demote a member themselves. If you feel you have a member that has committed an offense that warrants a demotion, you should immediately contact the Security Officer.

Transfers

As an officer in command of over 50 troopers, a member who wishes to transfer somewhere else will eventually approach you. Because transferring a member can often cause a number of problems for your unit, it is important that proper procedure be followed at all times. The procedure is as follows.

1. A Fire Team Member should first contact their FTL and DL with their transfer request. The FTL and DL should first try to ascertain the reason behind the transfer and try to work any issues out with the member that may be causing the request.
2. If the member still wishes to transfer, an official request should be sent to the FTL and DL of both their current unit and the unit that they wish to transfer to.
3. The current DL of the transferring member should then forward the request to both their CC and the CC of the other unit, if applicable. Both officers must approve, and then send the request further up the chain of command. The final officer in the member’s chain of command will then forward the request to the Prefect, who will give final approval and carry out the request.

Leave of Absences

A leave of absence is an absence for a member who needs to be away for more than 7 days at a time. As an officer, it is important that you inform your chain of command of any planned absences and appoint an acting leader to take care of day to day business while you are away. If you require 30 or more days of leave at a time, you may be asked to resign your position.

Absent Without Leave (AWOL)

AWOL members are those who have been out of contact for 30 days or more. Officers at the Company Commander level should always be in constant contact with their DLs and FTLs at the very least. It is very important that CCs are making sure that their DLs are in continuous communication with their FTLs and FTMs. Although some AWOLs are unavoidable, a huge majority of them can be prevented through constant communication. You should always be encouraging communication through any means possible, including email, instant messenger, forums, ventrilo, etc.

If a member is suspected of being AWOL, a final notice should be sent to give the member one last chance to report in. Once you are certain a member is AWOL, submit an AWOL removal request to the Prefect, CC’ing your chain of command. The Prefect will in turn move the AWOL member to the Homeguard.

Competitions

Competitions are official events in the Hammer’s Fist run by a member in a leadership position. Detachment Leaders and higher have authority to start an official competition. Running competitions often is essential for a leader to keep their members both interested in the group and to also give them opportunities to advance their careers by providing them with activities to add to their record. Competitions are considered official if they have been approved by the Commander of Operations, who will review competition requests to make sure that they follow the set of guidelines below.

1. The scope of the competition may not exceed your area of responsibilities. For example, a Detachment Leader may not start a competition that includes his entire Company.
2. The competition must offer the proper awards as outlined in the Field Manual. You may not offer medals that are either too high or too low for the scope of your competition.
3. The event must be competitive. There must be a clear set of requirements for members to earn places in the competition’s results.
4. The event may only include gaming platforms that are officially supported by the Hammer’s Fist.
5. The event must have a set start and end date. If an extension is required after the competition has begun, you must submit an extension request to the Commander of Operations.
6. The event must have a unique name. To start a competition, you should send all of the event’s details to the Commander of Operations for review. The details should include everything in the above set of guidelines. If the Commander of Operations approves your competition, you are free to run your competition and recommend applicable medal awards. Competition medal award recommendations must include the event’s unique name, or the request will be denied.

Multiplayer Matches

As a unit leader, you are free to organize unofficial matches at any time and for any gaming platform. However, only members who participate in matches that are recognized as official are eligible for participation awards. In order for a match to be considered official, it must be part of an official competition approved by the Commander of Operations. A competition can contain any number of multiplayer matches, but they must be approved as part of that competition in order for them to be considered official.

As the person running the competition, it is your responsibility to organize the match and keep track of all participants so that they may be rewarded. Although it is your choice to make the match public or private, you must acknowledge participation of ALL Hammer’s Fist members that join your match. If you are not able to make the match personally, you are able to assign a member to monitor the match and record participants, but it is still ultimately your final responsibility to make sure everyone receives their proper rewards.

Members who participate in official multiplayer matches are eligible for two different awards. The Combat Action Ribbon (w/attachments) is awarded to every member who participates in an official multiplayer match. The Star of Valor (w/attachments) is awarded to the overall winner of the match. To report participation and match winners, you should send a list to the Commander of Operations. The list include information about the competition should be broken down per match. So under each official match played, you should have a list of everyone who participated and who the overall winner was. Providing the Commander of Operations recognizes the match as official, the applicable awards will be handed out. If you assigned someone else to monitor the match for you, that person should send you the list and then you should forward it to the Commander of Operations.

Submitting Reports

As a Company Commander, you are expected to submit a report each week that details the goings on of your unit. Submitting regular reports on time are extremely important, not only to keep your superior officers informed of your progress, but also to show the members under your command that you are active and enthusiastic about your unit. Reports are a great way to announce new events or results of competitions, to congratulate certain members on their awards, etc. Reports should be upbeat and paint a clear picture of who is doing well in your unit and who could use improvement.

There is no set template for writing reports. Many officers write very simple reports with little formatting, while others create extravagant templates that include many different formatting, colors, and pictures. It is up to you as to what you make your report look like, but you should at least keep it clean, professional looking, and easy to read. Reports should include at minimum the following information:

• General news for your unit
• Group-wide news
• Information on ongoing events that your members can participate in
• Medal award and promotion announcements
• Standing orders, comments, and other miscellaneous information
• A snapshot of your roster. (for larger units, you should only include your unit leaders and roster counts)

Reports should be mailed to your members and everyone in your chain of command all the way up to the Prefect. You also must submit your report to the Hammer’s Fist database. To do this, log into the Hammer’s Fist admin, scroll down to “Roster Functions” and click on “Report Administration”. This page will allow you to add new reports and edit old ones. Remember, although you are required to submit a report to the database you should always at least email a link to the report to your chain of command so that they are aware of your submission.