Category Archives: Crewmembers
The new online duty report is now live
We have made a major update to a section of the USS Ticonderoga website. We have switched the program for the online duty report that makes a simpler cleaner report. It also automates one of the steps in the process (thus taking out a possible bottleneck of getting your duty report to the Executive Officer).
You can now find this form by CLICKING HERE or clicking on the down arrow next to “Ranks” along the top menu and selecting “Online Duty Report” from the pull down menu. If you have the old online duty report bookmarked, you will want to replace it with the new URL linked above.
Don’t forget that submitting a monthly duty report helps to keep your membership status active. It also assists your Department Chief and Executive Officer with your rank advancements, merit awards and addressing any questions you may have. This is an important communication tool that works when people use it. You should be submitting the duty report for the months that have passed. Thus if you are submitting a duty report now for the month of March, select March from the pull down menu.
SPECIAL NOTE: This form has been tested on the following: Windows 10 Computer using Firefox, MS Edge and Google Chrome. Android Smart Phone using Google Chrome and Dolphin Browser. Amazon Fire Tablet using Silk Browser. They all submitted the form to the recipients. However if you want to make sure your form was received, mark “Yes” on “Please send me a copy of this duty report” and the Executive Officer will forward a copy of the report back to you.
If you have any issues or suggestions with the new form, please email them to Webmaster@USSTiconderoga.org.
Twenty-Five years of the USS Ticonderoga
Vice-Admiral Carl Stark, the first Commanding officer of the USS Euphrates/USS Ticonderoga was asked to write up some memories for the 25th Anniversary of the Star Trek club now known as the USS Ticonderoga. Here is what he sent in for the newsletter.
What happened Twenty-Five years ago by Carl Stark
Wow, March 2021 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Star Trek fan club known as the USS Ticonderoga. As I look back on how this all came together, I have many fond memories. Some of them good and some not-so-good. But life is dealing with both the good and the bad. I was asked to put down my thoughts on this fan club that I helped to start and grow.
The year was 1995 and it was not a kind one for me while I was living in the Salt Lake valley. I was working as a computer support tech for three different companies. And in that span of a year, I had been laid off three times from those same three companies. I was beat and discouraged. One of the few things that kept my spirits up was my membership in the Star Trek family known as the USS Kelly.
I had been a member of the Kelly since 1991 (on the 25th Anniversary of Star Trek) and I had earned the rank of Lt. Commander in the years that followed. I had also been tasked with being the Chief of Security. Looking back, I’m grateful for the time I spent as a department chief. Running a department is like running a mini-starship. I had to select an assistant department chief, meetings had to be planned and agendas written, I had to keep my members informed and active. We helped each other with our rank advancement goals and special projects. It was a sense of pride to have a good running department because I felt that I was helping to make the chapter a better club.
As it turns out, this was noticed not only by the Kelly CO, Captain Dennis Hollinger and XO, Commander Richard Henline but by the Admiralty at Starfleet Command as well. The performance of my duties had been noted in the USS Kelly chapter reports. I was not aware of this at the time, but my name had been placed on a promotion list of possible future commanding officers within the fleet.
After being laid off from my third IT job in 1995, I didn’t know what I was going to do next. I had several job leads that I was pursuing when I was approached by a former Kelly member, Robert Aswin, who had moved up to Davis County the year before. He was looking for roommates to live in his house in Layton and invited me to move up with him. Another Kelly member, Mark Boone, had started a job at the America Online tech support call center in downtown Ogden and stated he could put in a good word for me. I passed the interview with flying colors and was offered a position that would start in two months. This would give me plenty of time to get things wrapped up in Salt Lake and moved into the new area at the start of 1996. A fresh start after the disastrous year of 1995.
At a Kelly senior officers meeting I let Captain Hollinger and Commander Henline know of my intention to move up to the Ogden-Layton area in a few months. While not a huge distance, I felt it was far enough that I could not give my Chief of Security duties the proper time needed to perform them. They understood my decision to resign my department head position. It was at this time that they let me know that my name had been placed on a promotion list with Starfleet Command. If I wanted to take a Runabout (chapter-in-training) to run in the Ogden/Layton area I had the blessing of the Kelly leadership and the Admiralty at Starfleet Command. As Mark Boone (who was also a Kelly department head) and I were driving away from the senior officers meeting I let him know that I was giving it serious thought. Mark turned to me and said that if I took on this new role, he would join my chapter-in-training despite still living in the Salt Lake valley. My roommate, Robert Aswin, was very supportive as well.
The Ogden/Layton region had originally been the home of a Star Trek fan club called the USS Dominion. It had operated from 1989 to 1994 before disbanding due to a lack of recruiting new members and several members moving away. But it had a lot of good remaining members who had enjoyed their time with the club. There had been several other attempts at starting Star Trek clubs, but they hardly lasted after a year or two. It was easy to start a club, but to keep a club going and growing took a lot of work. While seeing those in uniforms with recruiting booths and having fun at meetings may look easy from the outside, on the inside it was a lot of time and energy. As people found out after starting a club, this work could be exhausting if you were not prepared for it. So, these Star Trek clubs never got very far. But the USS Dominion had set the groundwork for the fans in the area to join the newly launched USS Euphrates.
The Euphrates was one of two Runabouts available to launch from the USS Kelly. A chapter-in-training allows newly minted commanding officers and crew to walk-the-walk of a Star Trek club, but still make mistakes. Learning from these mistakes with help from the mothership allowed the club to grow and eventually graduate into full chapter status. On Saturday, March 9, 1996 at a ceremony at the Davis County North Library in Clearfield, Captain Dennis Hollinger presided over the launching of the USS Euphrates under command of Lt. Commander Carl Stark with Lt. Robert Aswin as the Executive Officer and Lt. Mark Boone as the Second Officer. After the ceremony the first official activity was touring the Hill Air Force Base Museum as a group and going to dinner soon afterwards. You know a meal had to be involved in there as we always seem to get together with friends for a meal.
Running the USS Euphrates did take a lot of hard work. There was even one meeting where the only people who showed up are those that came in the CO’s car. But there were other times when the persistence and hard work paid off. The Euphrates lead the group of volunteers who helped at a Salt Lake appearance of William Shatner at a Star Trek convention. Shatner was so impressed with the volunteers that he complimented them the next day at another Star Trek convention put on by the same organizer.
After going through the growing pains of a year and a half I had been promoted to the rank of Commander and the Admiralty at Starfleet Command informed me that we were nearing the end of their chapter-in-training phase. I was instructed to decide upon a final chapter name and class. A list of several chapter names and classes were provided to me to select from. After looking over the list I narrowed it down to three possible choices. The Nebula-Class USS Virginia, the Cheyenne-Class USS Black Hawk or the Intrepid-Class USS Ticonderoga. These names were presented to the crew and the majority of them voted to become the USS Ticonderoga. The primary reason this name was selected was because of the history of vessels named Ticonderoga. Apparently, this decision had shocked Captain Hollinger and Commander Henline as they thought the larger Nebula-Class would have been selected. They even had a schematic poster of the USS Virginia printed up in anticipation of the decision.
On October 25, 1997 the friends of the USS Euphrates: The USS Kelly, USS Rendezvous, USS Zambezi (i.e., the future USS Retributor), Rebel’s Associated (a local Star Wars fan club), the IRW Falcon (a local Romulan club) and other friends got together for a meal and the launching ceremony of the USS Ticonderoga. This was held at a banquet center in Kaysville. There I was promoted to the rank of Captain and given command of the USS Ticonderoga, NCC-74676.
However, the changes were not stopping there. Our parent organization, Starfleet Command and the Admiralty based out of Baltimore, MD after running the organization for over eighteen years had decided to disband at the end of 1997. After finding ourselves without a parent organization I had to decide what to do with the USS Ticonderoga. We could have joined another existing parent organization out there. But most of them charged dues to join and we had a lot of success being a dues-free organization. I didn’t want to turn away a fellow Star Trek fan and his family because they couldn’t afford $15 or more in dues. We could have proceeded as an independent club, but life is better when you share it with friends. So, the USS Ticonderoga joined up with the USS Kelly, the USS Retributor (both of Starfleet Command) and the USS Rendezvous (an ex-SFI chapter who had gone independent years ago) to form Starfleet Command’s Seventh Fleet. When we had told Starfleet Command of our intention to band together, the Admiralty gave us permission to use the name “Starfleet Command” in our title and promoted Captain Dennis Hollinger to Admiral just before disbanding. Thus, making the USS Ticonderoga a plank holder with Starfleet Command’s Seventh Fleet. I’m happy to say that this new beginning has allowed us to grow and meet more friends as new chapters have joined in on the fun.
Now there are a ton of different events, memories, and happy times that I could write down for this article. However, I know our poor editors only have so much space allotted in this issue. So, I’d like to wrap up with how I ended my term as the Commanding Officer of the USS Ticonderoga. One of the philosophies that we try to live by within this organization is “train your replacement”. As a volunteer organization we understand that real life comes first. Real life has given our friends opportunities in their lives that may cause them to move to other areas. There have also been times that other issues have caused some members to cut back on the amount of participating that they can dedicate. And unfortunately, a few of them have entered the final frontier beyond this life. Thus, we have attempted to teach our leaders to give opportunities to those under their command to expand their leadership roles. This way when real life rears its ugly head, we can tell the affected individual to take care what they need to and that the club will still be here upon their return. So, in the early 2010’s I had initiated the “Captain for a Month” program on the Ticonderoga. Any member who had reached the rank of Lt. (j.g.) or higher could volunteer to be the acting CO of the Ticonderoga for the month. They would be responsible for conducting the monthly meeting, writing up the senior officer meeting agenda, preparing the report for Admiral Hollinger and (if it happened during the month they were acting CO) attend the quarterly Seventh Fleet Council meeting with myself and the XO. This would give a ton of leadership experience to the volunteer and allow the chapter to see how they would handle command. I had four different members participate in this program before I had been approached by Admiral Hollinger. The growth of the Seventh Fleet had reached a point where he needed more than himself to run the organization. He had been thinking of asking one of the chapter CO’s about taking a position with the Admiralty, but he didn’t want to leave a chapter without a commanding officer. The question he asked me was “If I gave you a promotion, is there anyone you feel confident in taking over the center seat of the Ticonderoga?” Because I had done the “Captain for a Month” program, I felt confident that one of the four candidates could fill the position. Both the Seventh Fleet Council and the crew of the USS Ticonderoga accepted Lt. Erica Abner-Stark as the new CO. She was given a field promotion to Captain (don’t worry, she still went through and completed the rank requirements adopted for the fleet) and took over as the Ticonderoga CO in 2011. I will let her tell her adventures as the Tico CO in her own article.
To my friends who joined this Star Trek fan club and just came to hang out, to those who volunteered as department chiefs and senior officers. To those who served as executive officers, newsletter editors and more. And especially to the spouses of those who volunteered, I say thank you to you all. The USS Ticonderoga would not be celebrating it’s 25th Anniversary without your dedication, hard work and effort. I’m looking forward to 25 more years of friendship, adventures, and family.
Tally Ho,
Vice-Admiral Carl Stark, Commander-in-Chief
Starfleet Command’s Seventh Fleet
communications restored
Stardate 96652.22 Due to a brief communications interruption Mr Hnack has restored communications to UssTiconderoga.org
We will not fail! We will not allow the Borg to assimilate us into the collective of malware sites and phishing scams. We have joined a new host that is human based and part of Mr Hnack’s trusted colleagues.
Thank you to the crew and family for their understanding
Live long and I-Sci-Fi.. do you?
Mr Hnack and family. @iscifitv
A New Year and the Chain of Command
Greetings, all! And happy new year!
I hope the first weeks of 2019 have been treating you well. We have a great opportunity to truly show off what the otters can do, when we host the annual Fleet Banquet on the 26th. I have full faith that we can blow it out of the water – we’ve pulled together and made great things happen many times in the past.
Thank you, all, for a great 2018. I know we can make 2019 even better.
A short note on chain of command, both within the club and within the fleet. There has been much discussion concerning observing the chain of command, which is also the chain of communication.
When we’re talking about official communications, there is a very specific trail to follow: department chief > first officer > commanding officer > fleet council > admiralty board. If you truly feel as though you have an issue that you can’t discuss with your department chief, your first option should be another department chief, or the assistant department chief, who can then bring it to the X.O., who can then take it to the C.O. Ideally, we are close enough that we can take care of issues quickly and between the involved parties. If, for whatever reason, you feel as though you can’t speak directly to the necessary party, there are workarounds to solve any issues.
There have been occasions within the fleet wherein members of a ship have gone either directly to the admiralty, or to members of a different ship, disrespecting and disregarding the official chain of command, blowing problems completely out of proportion, and blindsiding their COs and XOs when the issues are brought up at fleet council meetings. Keep in mind that this is *only* for official fleet business or issues. Chatting with other members of our fleet-wide family is welcomed and encouraged.
Thank you all for your time. See you next time!
-=/\=- Erica
From the Captain: New Department Chiefs
Greetings, All! As you all know, we’ve been doing some reorganizing in an effort to make the club run more smoothly, and trying to do away with redundancies. At the end of June, all department chiefs were released, and applications were taken throughout June and July. Some of our chiefs are new, some are returning, and I’m happy to have all of them.
John Barnes – Civilians
Brandee Burke – Ops (social media)
Richard C Luke – Medical (emergency preparedness)
Julia Nielson – Engineering (merchandising)
Brad Jacobs – Science (photo album & archives)
Damon Ricks – Conn (Newsletter & crew anniversaries)
Sarah Podwys – Communications (Newsletter & crew birthdays)
Annie Stephens – Security (ship’s library)
Troy L. Oldham – Klingons (Sub-Department)
Ivan Podwys – Tactical (gaming)
Those of you that have not yet reached the rank of Lieutenant junior grade will have the title of “Acting” department chief, until such time as you reach Lt. (jg), or you decide to step down.
Congratulations! I hope all of you are ready for a challenge, because some of these departments have been left to languish, so are going to need a good deal of work to rebuild.
Please remember that it is your job as chief to get and keep your department running. Dave and I can help out, but we can’t build your department for you.
The duties of a department chief are as follows:
1 – Have fun! If you’re not having fun, what are you doing here?
2- Make certain department members are having fun.
3- Making progress on moving up the ranks.
4- Assist department members to move up the ranks.
5- Commit to attending both general ship’s meeting each month, AND the monthly senior officers’ meeting. Be prepared with departmental reports.
6- Commit to calling all members in your department once a month, keeping them informed of activities and any changes (because life happens!) Also, collecting any needed RSVPs from your department members and passing that information on to the XO and Captain in a timely manner.
7- Coordinate departmental activities – at least one a year, though more is fine.
8- Coordinate one ship activity each year. (This can be combined with #7.)
9- Gather and track the following information on department members: years of service and earned medals; and make certain the XO has that information.
Becoming a department chief is a serious commitment of time and energy, and the club will no longer tolerate CINOs (chiefs in name only). We all understand that sometimes life happens, and that the club is not real life. However, that is no excuse for neglecting the agreed-to duties for months on end because someone is “too busy” or “forgot”.
Department chiefs can select assistants. Assistant department chiefs must be willing to make the same time and energy commitments as the chief, and be willing and able to step in and take over when needed.
As with all voluntary positions, if something is a priority, you will find a way to do it. If it’s not a priority, you’ll find excuses.
On to the changes in the departmental duties! The main thing we wanted to do was to make things easier, and to eliminate jobs that were no longer relevant.
For example: back in the day, it was the job of Communications to assemble the newsletter, and the job of Conn to distribute the newsletter. Nowadays, that is unnecessary, because they are all available to anyone who wants one, with the click of a button. But, because assembling the newsletter is the second-biggest job in the club (biggest is the XO’s job of keeping track of points, and keeping on top of rank advancements). Now, the newsletter will be a tag team effort between Communications and Conn, so the job doesn’t fall on one set of shoulders.
For Medical, we felt it would be a good idea to have a department to help us make certain we are prepared for any eventuality. Living along the Wasatch Front, there is always the specter of a major earthquake. Then we have the regular occurrences of power outages caused by harsh weather; flooding is a thing that happens; and you never know when the zombie apocalypse is going to start!
To Science, we moved the twin jobs of keeping the photo album and archive/scrapbook updated. It just didn’t make sense to have those duties split between two different departments. (It resulted in no one knowing where these things were currently located.)
Security now has the duty of curating the ship’s library. If you’re looking for a Star Trek book to borrow, there’s a good chance our library has it.
Operations has the duty of staying on top of the club’s social media accounts:
Facebook Twitter Instagram Tumblr USS Ticonderoga-A on Snapchat
Engineering hasn’t changed – it’s still all about the merch! Hats, shirts, badges, bags, thongs, whatever!
Tactical is another that stayed the same. Tactical is all about the games – board games, card games, RPGs, tabletop, video, etc.
Klingons are a sub department. In other words, in addition to his regular duties as a member of the Security department, the chief of the Klingon department educates us on Klingon culture and language, among other things.
The Civilian department is where crew members go who aren’t really interested in gaining rank – they just want to come and have fun. But, they still need to be kept in the loop regarding events and activities. The Civilian chief greets all newcomers, making them feel welcome, (and making sure the Captain and XO are aware of said newcomer.)
As a side note, if anyone wants to change departments, you are more than welcome to do so. Just make sure the XO and I know about it.
Also, department chiefs can step down at any time. Again, just please be sure to let the XO and I know.
Whew! That’s a lot of information to take in, but I believe it will make the club better in the long run. Thanks for sticking around for all of it!
What we will be doing in August (and early September)
If you are checking out our website after meeting us at the Star Trek Beyond promotion, welcome. We hope that you find information on our Star Trek family interesting. We look forward to meeting you and your family/friends at any of our upcoming meetings or activities. We loved watching the new movie and we would like to thank the Layton Cinemark for hosting our promotion. They were very accommodating.
Our first event in August will be our regular monthly meeting on Wednesday the 10th. We will be meeting at the new Weber County Library – Southwest Branch (2039 West 4000 South, Roy, UT 84067). This will be at 7:00pm in the large auditorium. We will be discussing the movie, Star Trek/Sci-Fi Show and Tell and the upcoming events at the Salt Lake Comic Con (see below).
For our monthly activity the crew has decided to beat the heat and take in a swimming activity at the Roy Aquatic Center (2977 W 5200 S, Roy, UT 84067). We will be enjoying the fun from Noon to 5:00pm on Saturday, August 20th. You can bring in your own lunches. Make sure you bring sunscreen and lawn chairs.
Salt Lake Comic Con will be held on Thurs-Sat, September 1-3. The USS Ticonderoga is heading up the Seventh Fleet booth at the convention with our life size Borg Regeneration Alcove. The Ticonderoga is also heading up a Star Trek panel at the convention. William Shatner will be appearing on Thursday. Other Star Trek guests are lined up for the event. For details visit www.SaltLakeComicCon.con
Some news from the Fleet, Captain Roger Taylor has moved from Bountiful, Utah to Idaho Falls, Idaho. He is taking the USS Essex up to it’s new patrol area and will be building a new crew. The previous crew of the Essex have transferred to the new chapter-in-training, the PCU Protecteur. Congratulations to the new chapter-in-training and good luck to Captain Taylor in Idaho.
What we will be doing in July
Now that Independence Day is past us (and we hope that everyone had a safe Fourth of July Holiday) we can now focus on what the club will be doing in July, 2016.
Our regular monthly meeting is held every second Wednesday of the month, so on July 13th we will be meeting at the Weber County Southwest Library in Roy. The address is 2039 West 4000 South, Roy, UT. We will be meeting at7:00pm and we will have a special activity regarding the upcoming Star Trek Beyond movie so please be there at 7pm. We may cut back on our usual 30 min social at the start of the meeting to get to our special event.
Saturday, July 16th is Fleet Day. The USS Rendezvous is hosting this event in Cache Valley. If you want to go contact Captain Stark ASAP for meal arrangements (or you can bring your own) and directions to the event. This is a chance to meet the other members of the Seventh Fleet in a very fun and relaxed environment.
July 22-23 we will be doing a promotion of Star Trek Beyond. Do you have your costumes? Can you help with the display table (showing off items)? Can you help with the Borg Alcove? Please come to the Ticonderoga meeting to discuss this.
USS Ticonderoga 20th Anniversary makes local paper
EXTRA, EXTRA!!!!! Read all about it. Yes once again our Star Trek club has made the local newspaper. In the Friday (March 18th) edition of the Ogden Standard Examiner published an interview with Captain Erica Stark and Rear Admiral Carl Stark about the 20th Anniversary of our Star Trek family. The article can be found here: http://www.standard.net/Lifestyle/2016/03/17/northern-utah-star-trek-club-20-anniversary.html
Can you believe it? We started this little get together in the basement of the Clearfield Library in March, 1996. Our first activity was a visit to the Hill AFB Museum.
What are your memories from the past 20 years? We would love to hear them.
February Meeting on Wednesday the 10th
Don’t forget that we will be meeting on Wednesday, Feb 10th at 7:00pm. The meeting will be held at the Game Den Gaming Events Center in Layton (Address: 719 N. Main Street in the strip mall that sits between the Del Taco and Walmart.)
We will have several medals to hand out to members. Come support your fellow crewmembers and bring a friend.