American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

It is always encouraging to hear the thoughts of an enthusiastic and animated club member who so readily recognizes what is wrong with the club. It is even better to watch as that member avails himself of the opportunity to step right up and assume the additional responsibility of correcting those flaws with his own personal time and energies. You are quite as capable as I, Christian, to rummage about within the DoR to extract the information you profess to support your claims. But I assume you are even more capable of utilizing your talents by becoming an UMA Instructor and helping to give back something of that which you were given as you approach the sixth anniversary of your own graduation. Perhaps you might even consider creating and administering a special, post-graduate, tactical school in which all new members will be given the play skills and tools with which they will become proficient players. (Perhaps JTS might even pay you for your troubles! )

I must, however, compliment and salute you on your recognition of the importance of membership retention, a subject of which I have been constantly aware and most actively concerned. Any Recruitment Plan must eventually attend to that subject, otherwise a portion of the time and effort spent in rounding up the new cadre would seem to be for naught.

For the moment, lets us hope that the recruiting efforts already placed in motion will be met, at a minimum, with the same friendly, gracious and voluntary efforts accorded to you and I as cadets, and that a more permanent recruiting program may be placed within the club's operation.

_________________
General Jos. C. Meyer, ACWGC
Union Army Chief of Staff
Commander, Army of the Shenandoah
Commander, Army of the Tennessee
(2011-2014 UA CoA/GinC)

Gentlemen

I suggest we take a short step back and recall what has prompted our discussion. That is the “problem” of how to deal with a significant pulse of new applications for Club membership. What a great problem to have! It is my understanding that the Club has received 10 or more new applications since March 14, 2020. While it cannot be said conclusively that this is a result of the trial recruiting effort that is presently underway it is worth noting that the trial began on March 3, 2020.

Great points are being raised here with respect to the capacity of UMA and VMI to address increasing workload, the quality of training being provided and what factors may be affecting retention of new recruits after they enter the Club.

UMA and VMI have taken steps to increase their capacity. Preliminary work towards producing a Club Handbook addressing the administrative side of Club membership is underway. The discussion related to how much training and mentoring will be shared between the UMA, VMI and Line Officers is a good one and, in my opinion, as a practical and desirable matter it has to and should stay shared. The expectation that UMA or VMI are going to create expert JTS gamers (if they are no nearly that already) was taken on very well by Nick earlier in this thread. It is well that a lot of guidance is presently written on the Union side for the role line officers should play, but being written does not make it happen, and I believe, based on my own experience as a line officer that “from the top” emphasis on making this a “performance criteria” for Line Officers (including their selection initially for command positions) should be made and that such emphasis should be a Club wide priority and thus memorialized in the Club Rules.

The issue of retention is an important one. My suggestion is that analysis of what may causing recruits to abandon training or the Club after graduation be focused on the present members and the present “class” of new recruits (hopefully to be followed by others) rather than on a perhaps labor-intensive examination of historical information that is difficult to produce and analyze. This need not be complicated. It could begin with asking recruits to complete an evaluation of their training experience after it is concluded. Line officers could be tasked with, at a minimum, inquiring of their commands periodically as to their satisfaction with Club membership. Alternatively, the Club President could send an annual survey to all Club members by email (along with an annual greeting to members by the way).

Related to this, the retention question is raised with the very first encounter a potential recruit makes with our Website. Christian took this up in his first post in this thread and suggested the Homepage of the Website be modified by adding an “All About US” button. All of this information can ultimately be found on the site but there is no one stop shopping place that easily takes a first visitor to the specifics beginning with the most basic of questions, how to join? Some will say, well there are Join the USA or CSA buttons already and that and of course is true but that in itself may create confusion with someone who wants to join the Club. This “How to Join” button could be added in big bold text at the bottom of the Club Philosophy Paragraph. The point is that to the extent this initial encounter is complicated or time consuming may cause us to lose a potential recruit right away.

I believe that following this modification of the Website Homepage, we are ready to move out and implement Phase 1 of the Recruitment Plan and continue to test whether increased outreach will produce new applications for membership. We can continue to improve training efficiency and capacity as this test is made.

Respectfully,

_________________
Walter A. Dortch
Commanding -/4/V AotP
UA Cabinet Secretary
UA Operations Officer
UA Wolverine Team Leader

@General Meyer
As much as I would like to contribute to training new members, current duties at the NWC have me pretty much occupied, the tiny rest I can spare is going into my optional rule guide that I plan to up date & extend to cover playing phases with ADF and turn gameplay. That hopefully will make it easier for newcomers to agree on an OR set and get going.


@Colonel Dortch
If a hand book would cover the administrative side of Club, what will the be taught at the Academies? Will then the effort put more on battlefield conduct?

BTW I doubt anyone expect that even an advanced training by line officers would produce experts, but train battlefield conduct in so far that there is a basic understanding of the underlying game mechanics and there effects is essential in my opinion. I assure you, nothing is more frustrating then losing a game and being unable to understand why because on lacks the understanding of game mechanics and how they play out.

_________________
Lieutenant General Christian Hecht
Commander I Corps, Army of the Potomac

"Where to stop? I don't know. At Hell, I expect."

General Hecht <salute>

Your question: "If a hand book would cover the administrative side of Club, what will the be taught at the Academies? Will then the effort put more on battlefield conduct?"

The answer: A resounding yes, starting at VMI and UMA and continuing by Line Officers upon their graduation. At least that is my commitment as a CC in the AotP.

Respectfully,

_________________
Walter A. Dortch
Commanding -/4/V AotP
UA Cabinet Secretary
UA Operations Officer
UA Wolverine Team Leader

Hmmmmm! A handbook! Interesting. Covering the bare bones of club admin, i.e. promotions, game registration and a synopsis of game mechanics, much of what is covered in manuals, movement, combat, combined arms?

_________________
General Ernie Sands
President ACWGC -Sept 2015- Dec 2020
7th Brigade, 1st Division, XVI Corps, AoT
ACWGC Records Site Admin

"If you do not know where you are going, any road will take you there."

Yes. Handbook for the Admin side and basic game functions, like how to play PBEM, etc. Cadet specific training on gameplay or as Christin calls it Battlefield Conduct. Gameplay training training and mentoring responsibility Carrie's forward to Line Officers after graduation.⁶

_________________
Walter A. Dortch
Commanding -/4/V AotP
UA Cabinet Secretary
UA Operations Officer
UA Wolverine Team Leader