Congratulations on making it this far. We as a community are excited to progress you one step further in your USM career, and help you make the USM a greater place for everyone. The road ahead is not easy, but that’s exactly why you’re here. We’ll be going over 6 basic concepts here.
Topic 1: Branch Expertise
E6’s are expected to effectively understand and convey the purpose and functionality of each branch within the USM. Fully understanding these concepts will enable Junior NCOs in our community to fully harness the power of joint fires, cooperation with other branches, and fully realize how important that teamwork is to the smooth function and lethality of the United States Military. Although the specific divisions and functions of each division WILL change as the USM grows and evolves, the basic intent will remain the same.
Army: The main occupational force of the USM. The Army is meant to take and hold land for long durations of time. Being the largest branch of the USM, the Army serves the most diverse of roles. It has Armor in the form of M1 Abrams and M2 Bradleys, Rotary wing aviation, expeditionary forces such as the paratroopers and Special Operations.
1st/4th ID: Heavy hitters of the army. Land based infantry who take and hold land, destroying the enemy in the process
1st CAV: Home to the armor and vehicular experts of the US Army. They train and operate in any ground based vehicle system on Roblox that they can get their hands on, and they train to be the very best at what they do. Members of 1st Cav must pass Tanker school to be in the unit.
82nd ABN DIV: “America’s guard of honor”, the Army’s premier quick reaction force of hardened paratroopers capable of quickly reacting to any threat that presents itself to the interests of the USM. Members of the 82nd MUST pass the 82nd’s basic Airborne course prior to entering the unit, and regularly execute training jumps to stay proficient in their craft.
101st ABN DIV: Specializes in air assault, inserting large masses of forces into contested areas using rotary wing aircraft.
160th SOAR: The premier rotary wing pilots in the USM. Flies for the special operations of every other branch.
ASOC: Variety of unconventional units trained in asymmetric warfare.
89th MP BDE: Enforcing the laws of the USM. Riot control, VIP protection details, and patrolling USM controlled territory.
TRADOC: Trains the force, conducts specialized schools and constantly hosts events to ensure the Army is always ready to fight.
Air Force: The United States Air Force is the premier Air superiority component of the United States Military. They are responsible for the total domination of Air and CyberSpace.
15th Air Force - Responsible for the mastery and deployment of Fighter, Bomber, and Multi-Role aviation. Every person in this unit is required to pass flight school and to regularly recertify in flying to maintain proficiency.
7th Air Force - Responsible for the security of Air assets on the ground. Manned by USAF Security Forces.
4th Air Force - Ground operations, logistics, load masters, and support personnel. Operate our forklifts, heavy drop equipment, and all other relevant airfield equipment to include manning the Air traffic control tower.
25th Air Force - Conducts Intelligence and Cyber Operations. Exploits the weaknesses of our enemies, generates reports on their activity, growth, tech, maps, progression, future plans, and encourages those who oppose us to defect or join the USM.
18th Air Force - Responsible for the transportation of all Air Assets. Works directly with the Army 82nd Airborne to deploy paratroopers to any location in the world in under 18 hours. Every person in this unit is required to pass flight school and to regularly recertify in flying to maintain proficiency.
AETC - Trains the force, conducts specialized schools and constantly hosts events to ensure the USAF is always ready to fight.
AFSOC - Trains and executes unconventional operations, striking the heart of the enemy. This includes combat controllers who coordinate fires from the other branches, PJs and CROs to recover downed pilots and host rescue operations, and TACPs, who embed with the Army and assist and advise the Army in its own operations.
Navy: The US Navy is the sole guardian of the world’s seas, and the enforcers of the US’s policies. They transport the Army and USMC to the fight as a logistical conduit, and employ long range weapons to decimate the enemy, using force projection to push the fight onward.
-ESG 1 - Expeditionary Strike Group 1 - Works with USMC and provides small craft transportation and medics. Operates the smaller seacraft of the navy.
-5th Fleet - Carrier Based / Aviation Unit responsible for the employment of Naval Aviation. This includes carrier crew members and aviators. Every member of this unit must pass flight school.
-NETC - Trains the force, conducts specialized schools and constantly hosts events to ensure the USN is always ready to fight.
-8th Fleet - Conventional Ships + Submarine employment. Master every form of sea craft from every genre and era that Roblox has to offer.
-Naval Special Warfare Command - Navy SEALs, SWCC, and other teams of specialized operators
-Master At Arms - Enforces the laws of the land, both in the Sea and on the Land
Coast Guard: The USCG is charged with protecting our nations borders and securing the seaways for our travelers to utilize safely. They conduct search and rescue and stand ready at all times to support military operations when needed.
The USCG is charged with protecting our nations borders and securing the seaways for our travelers to utilize safely. They conduct search and rescue and stand ready at all times to support military operations when needed. Members of the Coast Guard are multi role law enforcement officers, and are expected to take on a wide variety of tasks.
-MSRT - Conducts high risk direct action missions of a varying nature.
-CG Aviation - Patrols the coasts of the United States with fixed and rotary wing aircraft. Requires wings and completion of the USM aviation school.
-Coast Guard Academy - Trains the force, conducts specialized schools and constantly hosts events to ensure the USCG is always ready to fight.
-CG-2 - Responsible for the intelligence operations of the USCG.
-District 13 - Covers the US West Coast
-District 1 - Covers the US East Coast
Marines: The USMC is an expeditionary force renowned for its extremely tough culture. Deploying to austere environments to seize and hold the land of the enemy, and transform it into the land of the free, the USMC knows no bounds.
-TECOM - Trains the force, conducts specialized schools and constantly hosts events to ensure the USMC is always ready to fight.
-2nd Law Enforcement BN - USMC Military Police.
-ANGLICO - Special Operations trained to harness the full firepower of USN assets.
-FORECON - Special Operations trained to reconnoiter enemy positions ahead of large scale amphibious assaults.
-2nd MLG - Responsible for intelligence, supply, and support of forward USMC units.
-3rd MAW - Marine Aviation Wing consisting of Rotary and fixed winged aircraft.
-1st MD - 1st Marine Infantry Division, responsible for taking the fight to the enemy under any conditions.
Space Force: The USSF protects America’s final frontier: Space. They employ a variety of means to secure space for our intelligence, resource, and weapon capabilities to thrive, in addition to working in other domains such as cyberspace to protect the nation.
-Space Training and Readiness Delta - Trains the force, conducts specialized schools and constantly hosts events to ensure the USSF is always ready to fight.
-Space Delta 3 - Conducts Space Electronic Warfare to include gaining insight into exploits and how to prevent them, getting the technical stats of enemy weapons, tech, API’s, or anything else of interest to the USM.
-Space Delta 4 - Conducts the Missile Warfare portion of the USSF
-Space Delta 7 - Conducts Space Intelligence Operations to include geospatial intelligence in the form of making maps and other products to be used by the USM.
-Space Delta 9 - Specializes in Orbital Warfare
Understanding the function of every branch is only the beginning, as multi-domain operations (land, sea, air, space, cyberspace) are becoming the norm, the ability for branches to work together and to coordinate is becoming more important than ever.
A typical USM operation could be seen as follows:
The 25th Air Force gets intel that an enemy group is staging to begin a raid. Space delta 3 begins infiltrating their discord and assessing how much of a threat they are, and probing for weaknesses that may disrupt their attempts as Space Delta 7 begins mapping out their maps, and recreating their own training versions for each branch to practice on. As this is happening, Army green berets take the initiative and begin to get the USM allies using the propaganda generated by Army PSYOP to encourage other groups to train with us and prepare for a full scale war with the opposing force.
The coast guard goes into full alert and begins staffing our maps in full force along with MP, who fully locks down the base and begins to search for exploiters, spies, or scouts from the enemy group.
As the intelligence apparatuses of every branch are in full swing, word comes down that the enemy group does, in fact, wish to raid. Naval Special Warfare command, MARSOC, Army Rangers, and Air force special operations personnel insert in small teams to begin harassing attacks on the enemy base and draw them out in larger numbers. As this happens, the 82nd Airborne division and 1st MD prepare for a large scale server flood, followed by hundreds of 1st and 4th Infantry Division personnel following up with further floods, armed with the training from their training commands, custom uniforms created for the enemy’s map, and trained vehicle operators from every branch taking full advantage of the enemy’s systems. Marine ANGLICO and Air force combat controllers direct fires and forward observe as our forces progressively crush the enemy.
As you can see here, this entirely fictional scenario could easily happen, and it showcases not only the importance of communication between branches, but the importance of support personnel in ensuring that our warfighters are ready for the rigors of combat. Understanding this process fully, and more importantly, conveying and teaching it to others, will turn this organization into a well oiled machine unlike any other.
Topic 2: Development
As an E6 in the United States Military, you are expected to understand some basic development concepts of Roblox. This is important because it will enable you to become a better player, taking full advantage of the maps you encounter, and using your skillset to benefit the USM.
Roblox runs on the programming language Lua, which is a lightweight programming language adapted for use in Roblox. This system runs every game on the platform, and is extremely versatile.
Roblox studio is the program that is automatically downloaded when you download Roblox. It is where games on Roblox are made. It is an all in one development suite that lets you build, script, animate, and do anything else necessary for a game to function.
The toolbox in Roblox studio enables you to insert “Free models” into your game. These models are pre built/scripted assets that can save you time and help you to create a full fledged game in no time! Be aware that they often come with “viruses” though, which are malicious scripts that will slow down or crash your game, or even open it up to exploits.
Topic 3: Recruiting and Retention
E6’s in the USM are expected to place the needs of the group and their subordinates above themselves. The ultimate mark of a leader is unadulterated selflessness, and your peers and subordinates seeing you do these things for them will inspire them to do the same, and MORE, for you. Lead by example, grow the community, make the USM stronger.
Recruiting isn’t just asking people to join the USM, it’s building a relationship with those that you are trying to recruit. Playing games with them, trying to get to know them, showing them that this isn’t your typical military community, and that they have a lot to gain from joining. How you choose to do this is entirely up to you, as every person’s leadership style is different, however, spamming invites to random discords simply won’t cut it. You need to establish yourself in the community to continue on your path of growth.
Make it a personal goal to invite 5 people to the USM discord and get them through the basic training process until they are E2. It is always helpful to maintain a running tracker, whether it is a doc or a channel, of all of your accomplishments in the USMG, to include how many people you have recruited.
Appealing to all audiences
When you are an NCO and you are tasked with recruitment, your goal should be to be as appealing as possible to all different audiences. This means if someone seems interested in a different genre than what USMG is described as, still try your luck anyway. Make sure when you are speaking to them, to note, USMG does not only raid just “modern military” groups. We raid every genre from Sci-Fi to Colonial.
Professionalism
When you are recruiting is in the group’s and your own best interest to remain professional. What does acting professional mean? You should be using grammar, you should be paying complete attention, and if you have people under your command you should make sure that they are knowledgeable of their current task, and how to act properly. Professionalism also includes wearing the correct clothing when going recruiting. If you take a group of men/women recruiting they should have, 1. The uniform. 2. No wacky packages. 3. Positive body language towards potential recruits. If you plan on recruiting, go with a positive attitude.
Provide what we have other groups don’t
Many potential recruits will probably ask, “What does USMG have that other groups don’t?” When this question is asked, don’t get overconfident and say, “we have the best fighters.” Truth is, we don’t. You should be realistic with any and all answers you give potential recruits. What we do have is an amazing community. We have an amazing dev team who is always working for the betterment of USMG. As time progresses more unique opportunities will come to USMG. Don’t be afraid to try and improve USMG yourself either!
Diversify recruitment platforms
When recruiting for USMG, Roblox games should not be your only concern. You have access to many other sources. Some examples of other sources for potential recruits are, Roblox, discord, twitter, and reddit. Shoot, you can even introduce your real life friends to Roblox and have them join! The matter of fact is, don’t try to recruit from just once source, you have the whole internet to use to your will, so go out there and lift every stone to find every potential recruit you can.
Maintain a positive reputation
One of the most important factors of recruitment is through maintaining the standings of the group you are trying to expand. While performing recruitment duties, one must always keep their cool, remain in the right frame of mind, and act professional at all times. Trollers are almost always ignored, as combating them would only serve to degrade the task of which you have been given. When conflict arises between other recruiters and possible recruits, refer to previous instruction on de escalation. Keeping a level head and concentrating on the task assigned will surely lead you to great success within the USMG and abroad.
Grow the community
One major thing to focus on while recruiting, not everyone has to join the group! We have discord for a reason. Not every person in the discord channel is in the group, USMG is all about making a fun and safe place to just hang out. Meeting new people is a way to make allies, friends, you name it. People might not join, but they may be searching for a great community to be a part of, and USMG is just that, a great community. Don’t be afraid to invite people, in fact it’s preferred you invite everyone you know!
Topic 4: Advanced Event Hosting
Event hosting is the foundation of an NCO. Being able to successfully host a good event, creating a productive, enjoyable, wholesome growth experience for all involved is an essential skill that NCOs must master.
There are 5 USM event categories.
Combat Training: An event held at any game meant to improve USM members ability to fight with any system, script, framework, etc.
Patrol: Conduct an armed patrol in either USM’s base, an allied base, or a game that allows for patrol functionality (BRM5, etc.)
Inspection: Quiz USM members of the things you’ve learned about the USM, whether its drill and ceremony, history, trivia, ranks and promotions, uniforms, or anything else of use to USM members. This is also when members are evaluated for unit or branch activity.
Battle Drills: Practicing any branch specific, or interbranch function, such as parachuting, using artillery, airdropping equipment, piloting ships, etc.
Social event: Any event meant to build camaraderie within the USM. Normally not hosted at USM games.
Every event will be posted to our communications using the calendar function, and the way in which you choose to post it on our event feed is entirely up to you. This being said, every good event shout should incorporate some form of time, place, uniform, and duration, in addition to logging everyone who attended for XP and accountability purposes.
When hosting an event, it is pivotal that you have multiple plans for if the event falls through. DO NOT host an event if you don’t have time to follow through.
A useful tip of event hosting is to publish your own “event calendar” or schedule that is consistent, and gives people a repetitive time that you will be available and hosting events. For example: Every weekday at 5PM EST, you host a game night, combat training, or inspection. This will eventually become a USMG tradition, and people will know that if they wanna hop online, they can always go to your event. Consistency will not only help you host more, but help you to have a more enjoyable experience hosting in general.
Topic 5: Delegation and Communication
Why Autonomy? Why give a brief on something so very seemingly simple?
The purpose of this brief is to instill the sense of urgency within you that I had when starting both this group and the 4th iteration of the USM
Autonomy will make this group survive. We CANNOT afford to rely on the urging of a few individuals to stay active. Bases become active when you MAKE THEM active. It takes someone stepping up and sitting in an empty server to start it up, as an NCO you need to understand that things do not simply make themselves happen. That is why I expect you to read this ten times over, and take to heart the ideas I present here.
Activity. Activity is an essential element to any group. As an NCO, you can expect to get burnt out and frustrated with the grind of organizing, hosting, and sustaining events. That is why it is essential to set your own pace, make a schedule, bring some friends or fellow NCO’s along for the training session, get some people to commit to showing up so that you have a guaranteed turnout, as opposed to scrounging around for members.
Remember the acronym: PPPPP (The 5 P’s) Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance
A bit of work before something happens makes a world of difference when you get to the grind time.
We NEED to maintain activity 24/7 through any means possible, whether through sitting AFK in an academy office doing discord stuff, homework, or chores, or messing around at Zamalek waiting for the raid that may never come. Because all it takes is one person in the game for a server to really start up. your activity is absolutely invaluable to the USMG.
Loyalty. The entire NCOA has been a measure of loyalty. You’re setting yourself apart from other groups, where rank is a matter of being in the right ro-family, having funds, being a good fighter, or being popular. In the USM, we pride ourselves on a diverse staff of NCO’s, comprised of people with one common denominator: Loyalty.
All I ask is that you continue your loyalty. Some days you feel like quitting, we all do. It happens, but remember, tomorrow is another day. Do not be rash.
Direction / Goal Setting. These two lessons go hand in hand. You WILL get to the point in your group career where you feel lost, just the same old grind, same old training, same old group. You’re stuck, trying hard and not getting anywhere. This is normal, for someone who does not understand the importance of goal setting.
Setting goals is essential to success in both Roblox and life. Everyone does it, from everyday people to businessmen to soldiers to mathematicians. Proper goal setting focuses your energy, intent, and effort, and essentially makes your life a lot easier.
“Goals are dreams with deadlines.” ― Diana Scharf
“The only thing standing between you and your goal is the bullshit story you keep telling yourself as to why you can’t achieve it.” ― Jordan Belfort
“The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man’s foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhat higher.” — Thomas Henry Huxley
“Life’s problems wouldn’t be called “hurdles” if there wasn’t a way to get over them.” — Author Unknown
A goal not written down is just a dream, so you need to document accurate goals to fit your needs; not only as an NCO, but as a person. Utilize the SMART Acronym to create solid goals to pursue.
S — Specific
If your goals are not “SPECIFIC” , you are aiming with your eyes closed. Make sure to clearly define and know what you want to accomplish so that you can accomplish that task.
Bad Example: “I want better grades”
Good Example: “I want to improve my GPA by showing up to study hall every day, netting a 3.5 GPA by the end of 1st Semester of my Junior Year”
M — Measurable
Ensure that you can track progress on your goal, so that you can mark your progress on the way to accomplishing it.
Bad Example: “Win state at wrestling”
Good Example: “Come to 90% of practices and win 3/4 of my matches at Regions to make it to state and win”
A- Action Oriented
Your goals need to be about you taking ACTION, standing by and waiting for stuff to happen itself.
Bad Example: “Make it to my 18th Birthday tomorrow”
R — Realistic
As good as it is to be able to push yourself and strive for greater things, if your goals are not realistic, you’re playing yourself. No example needed. Don’t make a goal to make a million dollars in a day if it’s not within your means. Stay grounded to reality and focus on what you CAN do.
T- Timely
Simply ensure you set a time frame for your goal, whether the goal is short term or long term, limit yourself to that time frame in order to better focus your effort.
Pursue goals, set them, believe in them, and you potential can easily be maximized.
Pace. When in this group, it is essential that you strive not to burn out. It is incredibly easy to over commit and pretty much get sick of the group when things slow down.
PACE YOURSELF. Find a good group of people to move up in the group with, find yourself a routine, a rhythm, and stick with it, you’ll go far.
Self Improvement. As a group leader, there is no rule explicitly stating that I need to be any good in raids. Yet every day I hop onto Theltgrounds or Phantom Forces to stay sharp, because I want to be the best I can be. This should be everyone’s mentality.
You don’t have to go crazy like me and read books on leadership and the tenants of entrepreneurship, but picking up a new skill or honing your existing ones should always be a priority as NCO.
Take responsibility. Own what you do. You’re in control now. As an NCO, this is your bible. Take it to heart, share what you’ve learned, and go far.
Topic 6: Conflict Resolution
Identifying the conflict
When you are tasked with identifying the conflict you will need the ability to be able to see what is going on, why they’re fighting, what the issue means to the USMG, and if it can be easily solved. Conflict resolution is one of the most important skills and NCO can have. The ability to resolve conflicts will be used in just about every situation. You need to be able to communicate, actively pay attention and/or listen, review your options on how to actually resolve the conflict, and you need to end the situation with a win-win solution for both parties involved. Now some simple steps when you want to identify the conflict. Reading the previous messages in the chat, this may seem obvious but many people fail to use the tool of the scroll wheel on their mouse. You can also use someone who has tried previously to unwind the situation and ask them what is going on. When you are tasking yourself with analyzing a situation, gather the facts and keep distance from the conflict. Something you want to AVOID doing, would be placing yourself at the risk of getting in the conflict. Identify if the issue is even beneficial to the good of the USMG, is the outcome going to affect the greater good, or will it only affect the individuals involved? The final step in identifying the conflict is realizing whether or not the conflict is easily solvable. If the issue involves several people, who are bringing others into it, the issue may be more difficult to resolve, as to where if the issue is between two people, you can bring the two people together and solve the situation.
Identifying the actors
Identifying the actors, sometimes, even the person that is right can be wrong by inciting the fight. The way you identify the people who are involved in the issue, is well, reading the chat, or getting told, “hey so and so is fighting with so and so.” Most arguments or fights have a side who is right and wrong. The only reason most situations continue, is the simple fact that people don’t know how to get their point across, or when to stop. There are certain times where you’ll have to tell the person who is obviously right, that they need to let it go, because the person who is wrong will only create more problems if people go against the way they are acting, or what they are doing.
De-escalate the situation
When you are de-escalating the situation it is best to remain calm. No matter what anyone says to you or about you, you should ignore it. The moment you become flustered, is the moment the situation becomes worse. In some cases it is best to address certain individuals individually. Whether it be in dms or somewhere private in-game. Side distractions can escalate the situation. If this fails, you may need to take administrative actions and mute, or remove the individual(s) for a set amount of time. Some situations are more complicated than others, and not every situation is the same. You can never face the identical situation twice, so the ways to de-escalate the situation will always vary.