USS Belgica, NCC-72301

Policies and Procedures

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Please select the topic of your interest :

• 1. Membership Procedures.
• 2. Promotion Policies.
• 3. Award Policies.
• 4. Senior Staff Procedures.

1. Membership Procedures.

1. There are TWO types of membership. You can be just a member of the Belgica crew, but you can also join Starfleet international with all the privileges accompanied.
2. Crewmember are not required to join a division but are encouraged to do so. Members not assigned to a Division will be assigned to the STARFLEET Reserves.
3. Crewmembers must fill out a crew questionnaire/membership form for each year they desire to be a crewmember of the Shuttle Belgica.
4. Crew members may hold one of the following membership types :

• Active :

An Active crewmember is a crewmember who has registered with the USS Belgica and who has signed up as a crewmember in one of the divisions. Active members have voting privileges.
• Inactive :

An Inactive crewmember is a crewmember who has registered with the USS Belgica, but who has not been assigned to one of the divisions. Inactive members have voting privileges. Inactive members are considered to be members of the STARFLEET Reserves and have voting privileges.
• Associate :

An Associate crewmember is a crewmember who has registered with the USS Belgica, but who is not a membert of STARFLEET International. They can be active or inactive but they cannot hold the position of division Chief. Associate members have voting privileges, but restricted to the USS Belgica only.
• Ambassador :

Ambassadors are honorary memberships that are given to recognize friends of the Belgica, or to individuals who uphold the ideals of STAR TREK's brighter future and help contribute to it through their actions in their community. Also, bestowed upon representatives from other fan clubs that participate in the USS Belgica Diplomatic Corps. Ambassadors do not have voting privileges.

2. Promotion Policies.

Every vessel requires a promotion policy as a means of recognizing one's service to the chapter, this policy is a "Guideline" as not all situations can be foreseen and other promotions might occur at the discretion of the Commanding officer.

We need to strike a balance between rewards for service to the ship and reaching the end of the "awards" process too quickly.
A promotion policy coupled with a service award program is needed.

• Entire Rank Structure
• Promotion Point System.
• Minimum Time In Service
• Enlisted Ranks
• Cadet Corps
• Commissioned Officers
• Points for Service

Promotion Point System

Like many vessels in STARFLEET the USS Belgica has also developed a Promotion Policy based on points, because it stimulates the members to enrole themselves in various activities and services to the ship.
We do realize that this system requires quite a lot of points to get promoted but consider that every month, a person can receive 5 points for attending the monthly meeting and 3 points for turning in a monthly report for a total of 8 points per month.
That means that a person can reach LT (jg) in 7 months or reach LT in one year without doing anything else!!!
So, people who don't do much for the ship can reach the rank of LT fairly easily.

Minimum Time In Service

The ambitious person should not be forced into a dead end too quickly, that is why we use, like in the real military, a minimum time in service clause.
When a member gets promoted the clock goes back to 0. These timespans can be cut in half by the CO if he/she feels that a member's extraordinary services warrant such attention.
So, without any intervention by the Commanding Officer, a moderately active member can easily attain the rank of Lieutenant in 9 months.
If Data can accept the same rank for 7 years, we can deal with having the same rank for 1.

Enlisted Rank.

A person leaves the "enlisted rank" structure and becomes an Ensign after taking Officer's Training School (OTS) or Lieutenant (Lt) after taking Officers command college (OCC) or Cadet, Fourth Class after taking Cadet OTS.

The "enlisted rank" structure is divided in 2 sub-groups, the "enlisted crew" and the "Noncommissioned Officers". All enlisted crewmembers that have attained the rank of Petty Officer, Third Class, can become NCOs by taking and passing the "NCO" test, after which they will be promoted to the rank of "Chief Petty Officer".
Promotions within the 2 sub-groups use the Promotion Point System.

These are the figures used for the "enlisted crew" sub-group :

Rank Insignia	Rank	Points Needed	Minimum Time.
	Petty Officer, Third Class	50 Points	3 Months
	Petty Officer, Second Class	100 Points	6 Months
	Petty Officer, First Class	150 Points	9 Months

These are the figures used for the "Noncommissioned Officer" sub-group :

Rank Insignia	Rank	Points Needed	Minimum Time.
	Chief Petty Officer		Take and pass NCO
	Senior Chief Petty Officer	50 Points	3 Months
	Master Chief Petty Officer	100 Points	6 Months
	Master Chief Petty Officer of STARFLEET	150 Points	9 Months

Cadet Corps

A person enters the Commissioned Officers structure when he or she takes regular Officer Training School or reaches the age of 16.
Even though the Cadet Corps on board the Starship Belgica extends to age 17, age 16--17 is a transition period, hence allowing members to transition to the adult rank structure at age 16.

Anyone aged 15 or younger is eligible to take Cadet courses at STARFLEET academy, regardless of rank in either the Cadet or Commissioned ranks as long as he or she meets the STARFLEET Academy prerequisites for the course.

These are the promotion points and time in service requirements for the Cadet Corps :

Rank Insignia	Rank	Points Needed	Minimum Time.
	Cadet, Fourth Class		Become member of the Cadet Corps
	Cadet, Third Class	50 Points	3 Months
	Cadet, Second Class	100 Points	6 Months
	Cadet, First Class	150 Points	9 Months

Due to legal age requirements, no one in the Cadet Corps can serve as CO or XO. These positions are reserved for people over the age of 18.

Commissioned Officers.

Rank Insignia	Rank	Points Needed	Minimum Time.
	Acting Ensign		Become a commissioned officer
	Ensign		Take and pass OTS
	Lieutenant (Junior Grade)	50 Points	3 Months
	Lieutenant	100 Points	6 Months
	Lieutenant Commander	150 Points	9 Months
	Commander (*)	200 Points	1 Year

(*)As many STARFLEET vessels do, the USS Belgica also requires its crewmembers to take Officer Training School (OTS) to enter the commissioned ranks and Officer's Command College (OCC) to enter the ranks of Commander and above.
Crewmembers that are serving on the Senior Staff of the shuttle, but haven't taken OTS yet, will be granted the rank of Acting Ensign.
OTS provides information on the STARFLEET command structure and OCC on the running of a STARFLEET vessel and the ethics of STARFLEET.
They also form a sort of a rite of passage.

The upper ranks should be for people who have put a lot of time and effort in the operations of the group. They know the starship, its people, and really work hard to keep things going.

Points for Service

• USS Belgica Activities
• On time member reports: 3/report
• Attend shuttle meetings: 5/meeting (6 if you come in uniform)
• Attending away team missions: 2/mission
• Contributing articles to newsletter: 2/article
• Contributing articles to Communique or regional newsletter: 2/published article
• Organizing a ship event: 1/hour organizing up to a maximum of 5 points
• Community Service
• Community volunteer work (any type): 1/hour
• Telethons/fundraising: 1/hour for a maximum of 8 points in any one day.
• Conventions
• Convention volunteer: 1/hour up to 10 points in a weekend
• Attending conventions: 2/convention
• STARFLEET Academy.
• PASS an exam with honors or distiction: 2 points.
• PASS an exam: 1 point.
• (no points for FAIL)
• Recruitment
• Recruiting table: 1/hour up to 10 in a weekend
• Putting up flyers: 1/hour up to 4 in a month
• Successful recruitment of a member:
• Belgica Members : 3/member up to 10 in a month.
• STARFLEET Members : 5/member up to 10 in a month.

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3. Award Policies

• Citation of Commendation.
• Recruiter Award.
• Excellence in Recruiting Award.
• Excellence in Communications Award.
• Community Service Award.
• Departemental Award.
• Crewmember of the Year.
• Officer of the Year.
• Distinguished Service Awards.

Citation Of Commendation.

Awarded by the Commanding Officer to crewmembers for outstanding service, or for instances of great service to the crew. (Recommendations will be taken by the Commanding Officer.)

Recruiter Award.

Awarded to a crewmember who excels in recruiting and who would, doing so, exceed, in one month, the maximum of 10 points as is indicated in the USS Belgica's Promotion Policy. (The sponsoring crewmember must submit the applicants' address to the Commanding Officer or the Personnel Chief to be eligible for this award).

Excellence in Recruiting Award.

Awarded to a crewmember who excels in recruiting and who would, doing so, exceed, in one month, the amount of 20 points earned as is indicated in the USS Belgica's Promotion Policy. (Same terms of eligibility as Recruiter Award.).

Excellence in Communications Award.

Awarded to any crewmember who submits articles to their division chief each month for their Divisions report. Award determined by the Personnel Chief and the crewmember's Division Chief.

Community Service Award.

Awarded to any crewmember who displays special efforts in promoting and performing service to the community in the name of the ship. Award determined by the Command Officer and the Chief Medical Officer.

Departmental Award.

Awarded by the department chief to recognize a crewmember of his/her department for his/her service to both the department and the ship.

Crewmember of the Year.

Any member is eligible for this award. Nominations will be accepted by the Personnel Chief, who will then distribute ballots. All votes cast will be returned to the Personnel Chief.

Officer of the Year.

Any officer is eligible for this award. Nominations will be accepted by the Personnel Chief, who will then distribute ballots. All votes cast will be returned to the Personnel Chief.
(The Commanding Officer is not eligible to receive this award).

Distinguished Service Award.

The Shuttle's highest honor its crewmembers can bestow upon a fellow crewmember. This is not an annual award, but shall be awarded by petition of a majority of the crew.

Other award categories may be added as the need should arise.

3. Senior Staff Procedures.

1. The Following positions shall form the Senior Staff of our Starship.

It is recommanded against the fact that a crewmember holds more than one of these positions at a time.

	Commanding Officer
Executive Officer	Second Officer
Chief Medical Officer	Chief Science Officer	Chief Engineer
Chief Communications Officer	Chief of Security

2. Senior staff members are required to register as members of STARFLEET International and are highly encouraged to take the STARFLEET Academy OTS & OCC courses.

The Commanding Officer, Executive Officer, and the Second Officer are REQUIRED to take and pass OTS and OCC.
3. Division Heads (MED, SCI, ENG, COM & SEC) are requested to appoint Assistant Division Chiefs to help in the running of the division with the ability to run the division in emergency situations.
4. Division Reports will be published by each Division each month in the Belgica's Newsletter. Reports and other articles are to be submitted by the 15th of the month to the Chief of Communications.
5. The Commanding Officer will publish a memo to the crew in the Shuttles Newsletter on at least a monthly basis .
6. Each Division is encouraged to maintain a web page linked to the USS Belgica web site.
7. Each year, a general election shall be held for the position of Commanding Officer and possibly Executive Officer. The Senior Staff shall appoint an election coordinator.
8. In the event that the CO is unable to complete his/her term for the calendar year, the Executive Officer (XO) shall assume the duties as Commanding Officer for the remainder of the term.

Page last updated on stardate 9904.25 by Captain Jeroen Vantroyen.