DLSurvivalGuide

Detachment Survival Guide

This is a guide to the duties that come with being a Detachment Leader in the 501st Legion.

"To serve the needs of both 501st members and persons new to Star Wars costuming who hope to join the 501st Legion. A detachment is chartered around a specific costume or family of costumes that share commonality.”

WHAT IS A DETACHMENT?

"Detachments are special resource groups that focus on a specific costume or costume category and are not bound by geography.”

Detachments are specially themed units to improve the quality and awareness of a specific costume category in the Legion's Costume Reference Library (CRL). These units serve as a resource for costumers both in and out of the Legion. A Detachment:

Creates and fosters camaraderie for their members, and promote excellence in costuming; and,
Provides a forum to research and discuss relevant costuming and prop building techniques, and help educate new and existing members on these techniques.

Goals of the Detachment

Ensure that the forum/website contains all the information a new or existing member needs to create a 501st approvable costume, from base requirements to advanced techniques.
Create an environment where information is open, transparent, and respectful to its membership.
Foster community, promoting excellence in costuming, assisting and recognizing the advancement and achievements of the membership.

Detachments are virtual units of the Legion and as such the major component of a detachment is their web presence and forum. Detachments serve vital functions to both the non-member potential recruits and well established troopers. The Detachment web presence and forum needs to be welcoming and inviting. Remember the Detachments are the primary recruitment sites for the Legion.

STAFFING THE DETACHMENT

Detachment Leader Role

The Detachment Leader is the chief administrator of the Detachment and is responsible for the operations of the Detachment and managing research and information about costume creation and construction. The Detachment Leader is elected by the Detachment membership. A DL has the following responsibilities:

Grant the appropriate access for active Legion members in good standing to Detachments areas and verify membership status in the Legion with the approved costume AND registered Detachment Forum account
Monitor and moderate the Detachment forums, appointing additional moderators as needed
Ensure that the Detachment Web site is properly maintained and the content therein is accurate and up to date
Participate on the Legion forums and advise other Detachment Leaders and GMLs as needed in the appropriate Detachment Costume Advice subforums
Maintain contact with the Legion Membership Officer (LMO) and report any issue or controversy related to costuming
Participate in Legion Council discussions to represent the Detachment
Maintain the Detachment CRLs, including facilitating New to the Legion (NTTL) costumes and existing CRL edits to the LMOs for approval and process
Appoint necessary Detachment officers and staff to support the Detachment

Additional Staff Roles

The Detachment Leader may address the needs of the Detachment by appointing any of the following as deemed necessary for the good of the Detachment. Membership on the Detachment Roster may not be required for all positions.

Executive Officer (Must be a member of the Detachment): The role of the Executive Officer within the Detachment is varied and dependent on the Detachment Leader. General duties which may be required of a Detachment Executive officer may include by are not limited to:
- Directing Detachment merchandising runs in the absence of another appointed member by the DL
- Acting on behalf of the Detachment Leader
- Various other duties as assigned
Detachment Guard (Must be a member of the Detachment)
- Acts on behalf of the Detachment Leadership to moderate the forums
- Settles disputes within the Detachment
Detachment Merchandise and Branding Officer (Must be a member of the Detachment)
- Organizes and directs Detachment Merchandise procurement and creation
Detachment Web Master (Does not have to be a member of the Detachment)
- Creates, maintains, and designs all aspects of the Detachments web presence including but not limited to Web Site creation and maintenance/Forums/Signature bars and banners/hooks and plug-in installations for the Detachment Forums
- Graphic Design
Detachment PR Officer (Must be a member of the Detachment)
- Creates and maintains all aspects of the Detachment’s PR presence, including but not limited to social media platforms and Detachment newsletters
Detachment Archivist and Historian (Must be a member of the Detachment)
- Maintains the history of the Detachment, including creation information and milestones
Detachment Costume Advisor (Must be a member of the Detachment)
- Assists in creation and maintenance of Detachment CRLs
- Assists in costume-related questions, be it on the Detachment forums or the 501st Detachment Costume Advice GML forum
Detachment Diversity Officer (Must be a member of the Detachment)
- Serves as the Detachment’s primary contact and support unit for diversity and inclusion and as a liaison between the Detachment and the membership to advocate for diversity and inclusion issues
- Serves as an educational resource and develops information on how members of the Detachment can treat each other with equity, dignity, and respect

Each Detachment Leader may have a different way of viewing these offices and may see the need for none or some of them. The Legion only recognizes the Detachment Leader and his or her Executive Officer at the Legion-level. You can add or remove officially recognized roles in the Detachment Leader forums under the new terms, "Detachment Command Changes, [YY-YY]" post. Some unit’s may use alternative titles such as Sergeant at Arms in substitution for the title Captain of the Guard. This is allowable. It’s also a good idea to publicly post the name, title, and job description of each member of the Admin Staff so that members will understand who to go to for each individual need.

The Detachment Leader may also create and appoint additional staff positions to assist in the operation of the Detachment. Examples of optional positions include: Forum Moderators, Special Project Leaders (special event or merchandise coordinators, CRL or costume review committees, mentors, historians, costume experts, etc.) Every detachment should maintain a list of officer positions, their responsibilities, and who is currently in that role in a public area of the site or forum.

Responsibilities to the Legion Command Staff

The Detachments are responsible to the LMO, who may at their discretion; call upon the Detachment Leadership to perform certain actions beneficial to the Legion. An example of this would be a call to write CRLs for the Detachment. The Legion Commanding Officer (LCO) may also call on the Detachment Leadership to perform certain actions beneficial to the Legion as a whole.

In the larger view, the Detachment Leader has the responsibility to ensure that individual troopers and recruits who visit their Detachment have the latest information and resources for the creation of the costumes served by that Detachment.

THE ELECTION PROCESS

Detachment Leader Requirements

The requirements for election nomination include:

Minimum of 1 year of 501st membership;
Ownership of a costume covered by the Detachment; and,
Trooped in a costume covered by the Detachment within 1 year of the commencement of the election.

Note: Extenuating circumstances regarding length of membership and standing may be waived at the discretion of the Legion Command.

Before the Nomination phase of the Elections, it is the Detachment Leader’s responsibility to ensure that the Detachment Roster is clear of remove requests, retired and inactive members, as well as add requests that have existing Detachment forum accounts. It is recommended to update the roster at least once a month to ensure that 501st profiles are kept up to date. The roster locks down prior to the opening of voting.

After the nomination phase, which occurs on the Holocron Elections section, The Detachment Leader is responsible for the set-up of a question and answer (Q&A) forum for each of the nominees who have accepted the nomination for Detachment Leader.
If the Detachment Leader is one of the nominees or is running for office, The Executive Officer and Detachment Captain of the guard should moderate the forums for the remainder of the election process. Additionally the Detachment Leader should recuse his or herself from moderating the election forums.
If there are any concerns, the Q&A process may be requested to be hosted on the Legion forums by contacting the LCOGs at [email protected].

Following elections, the outgoing DL should provide the DL Elect with the following if available to them:

Administrative access to the forums
Usernames and passwords for FTP, and website
The Detachment Leader’s Survival Guide
Transfer of Command Chat Groups, or other primary means of Detachment management
List of ongoing issues and or projects
- CRL updates, NTTL applications, costume transfers, current or ongoing projects where art files are involved, etc.
All vector copies of logo, graphics or Detachment marketing materials

Emergency Elections

In the event that the Detachment Leader is unable to continue in officer, that unit must notify the Legion Captain of the Guard and follow the procedures below to maintain unit leadership:

If the Detachment has an XO, continue to step 2. If it does not, hold an emergency election as outlined below.
The LCOG will secure written intention from the DXO of their willingness to assume the role of DL for the Detachment. If so, continue to step 3. If the DXO is not willing, hold an emergency election as outlined below.
The LCOG will hold a simple confidence vote for all eligible voting members of the unit in question. If the unit votes by simple majority to allow the DXO to continue, the DXO of the unit becomes the DL.

The election will follow the schedule of 5 days for nominations, 5 days for questions and answers, and 5 days for voting. These time frames may be altered by the LCOG as necessary. During this time period, the DXO assumes the role of the acting commanding officer or leader until the elections are completed.

If not, an emergency election will be held as outlined in the Operations Protocol.

SETTING UP THE FORUMS

Most Detachment forums are set up in the following format:

Forum Requirements

Public - Viewable to anyone.
- Basic information on the mission of the detachment, forum registration requirements, how to register, and permission requests
Members - Registered forum users and open to the general public.
- Forum Rules, and Standard Operations procedure (S.O.P.)
- CRL Entries
- Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
- Tutorials
- General Discussion threads, Sale & Trade, etc.
- Detachment Staff
501st Only - Open only to 501st Legion Members.
- 501st Merchandise
- 501st Event Planning
- Proposed CRLs
- 501st Sale and Trade
- Other Legion Only Information and Discussions
Detachment Only - Open only to 501st members who have a valid, current costume that is covered by that detachment. The needs for a Detachment Member only area is for:
- Elections
- Polls on costume standards, detachment rule and procedures, etc.
- Detachment Only Merchandise (if any)
- Detachment-only Membership Programs (reward systems, trooper counts, blood donations, etc.)
Optional: Admin Only - an area where staff, moderators and webmaster can maintain records, logos, and discuss issues in private

Facebook Member Groups

Many Detachments choose to have a private Facebook group for members who have approved costumes pertaining to their Detachment. It is important to ensure that only approved members are invited in through authentication questions (e.g. real name, approved Detachment costume[s], and TKID).

While it is nearly impossible to maintain a 100% accurate roster of active members within the group, it can be handled by not sharing any direct 501st information in the posts. Any pertinent information or news can be shared through links to the forums, where members are required to log in and have the appropriate level of permissions.

It is recommended that any private groups also have a code of conduct / group rules. Additional guidance on code of conduct can be found in Disciplinary Actions.

DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS

A Detachment Leader has no disciplinary authority over membership status, but has complete authority to moderate Detachment Forums.

Any 501st Legion and / or Detachment Member who violates the Detachment’s forum rules will be moderated in accordance with the individual forum rules, and may be banned for up to 30 days per incident. After three periods of moderation have been imposed, an individual may be permanently banned from a Detachment's forum, thereby losing their membership in the Detachment. It is recommended that the Detachment Leader maintain a record of any moderation that occurs.

Members who have been permanently banned from a Detachment's forums must wait a minimum of one year before reapplying for membership in said Detachment.

Disciplinary actions remain the purview of each Detachment member’s local Commanding Officer (CO). A Detachment Leader may bring disciplinary issues to the attention of the subject-member's CO and request a hearing. Non-501st Legion Detachment forum users fall outside of the Legion disciplinary guidelines and may be placed on moderation or banned if need be.

It is therefore recommended that the forum use / code of conduct should be posted in a conspicuous place and define the expectations for behavior for all areas of the forum. The codec should be written in plain easy to understand language.

Normally disciplinary issues can be resolved by simply talking to the member about the problem. However, both the Legion Charter and Operations Protocols are clear on the expectations of our Members, and provide guidance on how to handle a situation where discussion and moderation has not helped.

Example Forum Code of Conduct & Disciplinary Action

The use of the [DETACHMENT NAME] Message Boards (Forum) is a privilege of Legion and Forum Membership. As such, access to the Forum can be temporarily suspended or permanently revoked for violations of the following Forum Rules. Please review all of the sections below as all of these sections together form the Forum Rules. By using this Forum, you agree to comply with these Forum Rules.

No vulgar or violent images, pornography, or profanity.
No flaming, trolling, or baiting (i.e. intentionally provoking negative responses).
No personal attacks directed towards a member or entire unit.
No hijacking. If you want to change the subject, please start a new message thread.
No excessive use of the report function. (See the Utilizing the Report Function section below).
No racial, ethnic, gender, or culture based insults, nor any other personal discriminations. This will not be tolerated and be treated as a second violation (as indicated in the section below) as well as referral to the LCOG for review and further disciplinary action, if necessary.
No topics or posts on Politics or Religion. Topics related to anti-discrimination, equal treatment, diversity, and inclusion (or where specific political issues or laws might have an impact on the club) do not fall under this rule, but must directly pertain to the Legion and shall be monitored carefully.
Media or transcripts that include the content of any private or non-Legion communication / conversation will be removed.
Keep topics relevant to their sub-forum; moderators reserve the right to split, merge, and move topics as appropriate.
Controversial topics needing resolution at Legion Council level should not attempt resolution in general discussion areas. Posts that bring attention to these issues are permitted, but Moderators reserve the right to lock topics that are no longer productive due to excessive heated or repetitive posts.
Posts that contain new costumes or possible spoilers for new movies or tv shows must have a SPOILER Tag in the Title.
Keep all "non-501st" sales/trades posts limited to our "For Sale / For Trade" forum and the rules listed there. Official and approved 501st merchandise should only be offered to 501st / Detachment members through the non-public forum areas and must follow Legion Merch Rules. In this case / area the LMBOs word is final.
Avatars and Signatures (both images and text) must be in good taste and are limited to the use of only one image. Those found to be inappropriate will be removed at the discretion of the Moderators.

Disciplinary Action

Violators of the above Expected Conduct will face Disciplinary Action depending on the number of violations. It is up to Detachment Command to determine the severity of violations. Possible action may include:

Formal Written Warning
30 day ban from forum use

Violations are recorded and tracked by the Detachment Command Team and may be reviewed by the DCOG / LCOG. Repeated violations of the above Expected Conduct may result in a permanent ban from the Detachment Forums, thereby losing their membership in the Detachment.

DETACHMENT MEMBERSHIP ENHANCEMENT PROGRAMS

Excellence in Costuming Recognition Programs

Many Detachments have 2nd and 3rd Level Approval Programs that extend into the CRLs. These programs allow for additional Detachment-only approval levels based on accuracy in build and materials (may vary by Detachment). Examples include MEPD "Deployed", FISD "Expert Infantry Badge", BSN "Lancer", SLD "Dark Lord" etc.

Costume Awareness Recognition Programs (aka Trooping Awards)

Many Detachments offer a troop tracker reward system (Troop Tracker). The programs generally include a sub-forum dedicated to individual member posts where they can record their local unit troops with information and photos.

Examples are the Jolly Rogers Squadron's "Ace of Aces", the Sith Lord's "Jedi Purge", and the Flagship Eclipse’s “Meditations”.

Membership Recognition Awards

Detachments often also include recognition awards that highlight a member who has gone above and beyond in some fashion related to the Detachment. Examples include Trooper of the Month/year, members who have donated blood, etc.

Detachment Sub-Units

Semi-official units within the Detachment structure that specialize on a particular aspect of a costume or category or specialization and enhances the experience of detachment membership. Examples include:

Theme based - e.g. female TIE pilots
Geographic based - e.g. MEPD Patrols, ACD Batteries, TFE Academies

New Detachment sub-units must:

Be approved by the Detachment Leader or designated Detachment staff member, and
Have a logo for each unit without ANY components of the 501st Legion name or logo, or of the Detachment/local unit.

Membership Enhancement Programs need to follow the following guidelines:

All detachment programs must have their purpose and eligibility requirements posted to Detachment members
Enrollment in these programs and subdivisions are purely optional
Review of eligibility for a detachment recognition program must be transparent to the membership
New Detachment programs must be approved by the Detachment Leader or designated Detachment staff member

THE ROSTER

Membership Requirements

A Legion Member is eligible for detachment membership if they are an active member of the Legion, 'own a costume' covered by the detachment, and are a registered member of the detachment forum with their TKID listed in their profile. To maintain Detachment Membership the member needs to participate in the forum by logging in at least once an election year (from the first day following elections and contiguous year immediately preceding election nominations).

Roster Management

One the most important, albeit, one of the most neglected duties of the Detachment leader’s administrative functions is that of the Detachment Roster. The Detachment Roster will show who the Detachment membership is, and a well maintained roster will save the Detachment Leader a lot of time and aggravation come election time. The members present on the roster are those individuals who, in good standing, are eligible to vote in Detachment elections. The Detachment Roster may be viewed and edited only on the Main 501st Legion forums.

Note: It is VERY important that you do not share any of the personal information located within the MemberDB. This includes utilizing emails listed for Detachment purposes. To use the information in such a way risks violating personal information laws.

To access the roster, log in to the 501st Legion Holocron and select the Legacy Member DB on the left (you must be logged into the 501st forums at the same time or you will receive a log-in error).

Once you get there you will find a list of members. Some will be in white fields, some lime green, some dark green, some gray, some light peach, and some red.

Lime Green - Members whose field is lime green are members requesting to join the Detachment roster. Verify that they have an approved costume relevant to your Detachment AND a registered account on your detachment forums (you can check by TKID through member search functions in your forums). If they do, click the approve button. The page will refresh.
Dark Teal - Members whose field is dark teal have passed away and are In Memoriam. They generally are not removed from the roster out of respect.
Red - Members whose field is red are either a member who no longer owns a qualifying Detachment costume, or a member requesting to leave the Detachment. Click the remove button, but NOT before removing their Detachment-level access on the Detachment forums.
Light Grey - Members whose field is light grey are Reserve and Suspended members. It’s usually ok just to leave them as is unless you want a completely clean roster, in which case the member will need to re-apply to your detachment upon their return. This is generally only seen with Detachment rosters who have an automatic sync set between 501st MemberDB and their forums (set up with assistance through LWMs).
Dark Grey - Members whose field is dark grey are Retired members who may still have their eligible Detachment costumes. It’s usually best practice to remove them from the roster since it’s not likely that they will return to the Legion during your term in office.
Light Peach - Members whose field is light peach are Active Detachment members who have not logged into the Detachment forums within the last year (when applicable, not all Detachments are synced). These members will show as, “Inactive”, but this only pertains to the ability to vote. Logging back in should update with the following sync and move them back to a white field.
White - Members whose field is white are members who are a full member of the Detachment. This means they are an active member in good standing with a Detachment eligible costume, who also has a confirmed registered account on the Detachment forum. These members will be able to participate in Detachment elections.

Costumes Roster

The "costume view" provides access to records that a DL cannot modify in any other way. It lists members by costume that belong to the detachment and are labeled in a blue field. The other link is the CRL list which lists costume by Detachment and designation. DL's should review that annually to ensure that all costumes from their detachment are listed so that recruits can apply for them. Prior to each election, the roster must be updated. The roster is locked during the entire election process.

CRL MANAGEMENT

Editing CRLs / Requesting Wiki access

In order to edit CRLs, you must first manually request access. You can find the thread in the Detachment Leader Area subforum of the 501st forums under, "Detachment CRL Editing Wiki Accounts [year/year]". The DL must request access for every person intended to have access to Wiki. It is recommended to limit this to only a small number of staff, while internal workings can be done through an external shared system (such as Google Docs) and then transferred to the CRL once complete by the selected account holders.

Editing Costumes / CRL Changes

Sometimes, new references are released that improve the accuracy of a costume's standards. In this case, it is possible to update existing CRLs to match the more accurate standards.

If a proposal for an existing CRL edit that includes changing a costume part is desired, bring all official references showing why the CRL and part should be changed to the respective Detachment. Official references are a requirement to validate the necessity of the change (You can find the list of Detachment websites and forums here).
If the Detachment finds merit in the changes they will bring the proposal to the LMOs for clearance.
If the LMOs approve of the change, they will unlock the CRL for editing and the new costume changes can be built and photos taken for the CRL. It is important to note that a CRL edit intended for a change in costume piece can not be fulfilled without the completed and approved build of the costume piece.
Once the approved changes and edits are made to the CRL, the CRL will be locked and can no longer be edited unless a new edit process is started.
The change will then be distributed to all GMLs so that they are aware of the update.

If it is merely a text change for rewording or clarity, then the process is similar but less in depth.

Bring the references to the Detachment to show why any text should be changed. If they agree, then they will bring it to the LMOs to look over. It is important to specify that this sort of change is merely a word edit and NOT any changes regarding the actual costume pieces themselves.
If the LMOs approve of the text edit, they will unlock the CRL for editing.
Once the edits are complete, the CRL will be locked and can no longer be edited unless a new edit process is started.
The change will then be distributed to all GMLs so that they are aware of the update.

‘Grandfathering’ / Retiring CRLs

Occasionally, a pre-existing CRL may need to be retired from the published CRL list. This predominantly occurs with ‘older’ CRLs, that were created with limited references. Over the years, additional behind the scenes footage, photographs and resources have been made available that impact the accuracy of a CRL. This ultimately leads to a “current” CRL being inaccurate. The impact of this is costumes being approved that do not meet the standard the 501st Legion holds itself to. Detachment Leaders are encouraged to bring inaccuracies to the attention of Detachment Members and LMO. It is recommended that the following steps are followed:

Bring references to the LMO and Detachment to show why the CRL is no longer accurate.
Invite members to make and submit an accurate costume to be included in an updated CRL.
12 months from the date of notification to LMO and Detachment, the Detachment Leader may formally submit a request for the CRL to be retired.
LMO take all information provided, and vote on the retirement.
LMO & DL make an announcement about the outcome of the vote.
When a CRL is to be retired, any members who are working on the costume have 6 months from the date of retirement announcement, to complete their costume and receive approval before the costume is removed from the approvable roster.
Any members who have this costume approved already are ‘grandfathered’, and retain the costume on their individual 501st Legion profile. They are, however, to be encouraged to make the necessary changes to their costume to ensure their costume is accurate.
If the CRL is not retired, the Detachment Leader may submit another request in 12 months time.

Once a CRL has been retired, any costumer who wishes to make the costume must follow the ‘New to the Legion’ application process.

CRL Transfers

Sometimes, new references are released that change a known character's narrative, or a new designation is created that may impact the pre-existing placement of a character within a Detachment. Examples of change can include, but are not limited to:

New cinematic stories
New games and comics
Revised character encyclopedias
Updates to Star Wars dot com Databank

Ultimately, the 501st Legion and its Detachments are there to support and improve the accuracy of costumes, therefore it is possible to request a character be transferred to a different Detachment.

Sometimes the justification for placement has been based on a repository of knowledge, yet there are other examples that are the complete opposite. The placement-by-faction and placement-by-construction debate really is the core of it - every Detachment has experienced this to varying degrees. The whole system of 501st Legion Detachments was built when there were 3 movies and a lot of Expanded Universe media. It hasn't scaled well. Our perception of the known narrative of Star Wars has changed, and will continue to change as new stories are told.

It does not happen often, but when the topic of character transfers does come up - Detachment Leaders are encouraged to work with each other to find a reasonable solution that best supports the Characters placement within the timeframe that the costume in question is represented. The guidelines for CRL and Character transfers is as follows:

DLs and LMOs converse about possibility, either initiated by them or an approved member with the costume in question.
If both DLs and LMO approve, ALL approved and active members with the costume are emailed with a poll Members have 5 days to converse and vote.
A majority vote of at least 2/3 total member count (similar to major changes in Council) are required.
If a vote passes then the costume is moved along with the members.
If the vote fails, it can not be revisited for a full year just like Charter/OP proposals.

New to the Legion Costumes

As the Star Wars universe grows, so does the 501st Legion's Costume Reference Library. For a new to the Legion costume to be added to our database, it must meet the following criteria:

Be confirmed as acceptable for inclusion in the 501st by the Legion Membership Officer.
Have at least one completed to all available references costume, approved by the Detachment Leader and Legion Membership Officer.
Have a completed to all available references CRL entry as described above.
Meet all RLA (Requires Legion Approval) standards where necessary in the Operations Protocol.

Within the 501st Legion are hundreds of approvable costumes to choose from, but sometimes an individual wants to create a costume that does not currently exist in our CRL list. These types of costumes are called "New to the Legion" (NTTL) costumes, and require several extra steps before it can be approved and added to the 501st roster, and those steps aren’t entirely defined at the moment. Therefore, the general guidance for members regarding NTTL applications are as follows:

First you will gather as much official reference material for that character as you possibly can. Official references are any source materials released or licensed by Disney/LFL. The current standards require a full 360 degrees of cohesive detail reference, meaning that you can't mix and match parts from different versions of a character.
The next step is to contact the LMO at [email protected] so that they can work with Detachment Leaders to decide whether the character meets 501st eligibility, and where it should be housed. It is also a good idea to contact your GML if you have not already done so by this point so that they are also in the loop during the process.
If the LMOs and DLs decide that the references are sufficient and the character is eligible, you can begin to build the costume. It is recommended to start a build thread on the Detachment's forum so that all parties involved can supervise/give advice on the build process to ensure that all parts are made to reference accuracy.
Once the costume is completely built to Detachment approval, it is submitted to the LMOs to then, upon final approval, begin the creation of a CRL.
The CRL is developed by the Detachment and applicant and approved by the LMOs before being published and the costume assigned to the applicant's profile in the MemberDB by their GML.
The New to the Legion costume is then announced to GMLs and released on Social Media platforms by the Detachment and Legion.

Working with the GMLs

When you are elected as the Detachment Leader you are given access to the GML Costume Advice forum as well as the Detachment Leader forum. The purpose of the GML Costume Advice forum is to assist GML’s who have limited or no knowledge of the details of a particular costume that has been submitted to them, as well as submit for Detachment Leader approval for costumes that may not be entirely green-lit and approvable by GMLs.

While there is no guarantee that a particular GML will follow your advice; in most instances your advice will be backed up by the Legion Membership Officer. We are not simply present on their forums, but are there to help as a valuable source of information. While the Detachment Leader does not generally approve a costume, often their advice is taken into consideration by the GML when approving a costume. The exception to this point are grey and white CRLs containing the following text:

”This costume may be approved, but until the library entry is complete, this costume must be reviewed by the Legion Membership Officer and the Detachment Leader, via the detachment's thread of the DL/GML peer review section of the Legion forums. This costume cannot be approved at the local level by your GML.”

The DL must keep in mind that the Costume Reference Library as well as Standards of the Legion are ever evolving.

DETACHMENT MERCHANDISE

Detachment Merchandise can be fun for the entire Detachment, and if desired, for the Legion as well. Keep in mind that all Detachment Merchandise (design and type) must be approved by the Legion Merchandise and Branding Officer (LMBO) prior to release.

Each Detachment has a maximum of 6 merchandise slots per Legion year. The type of merchandise to be produced for each slot is at the discretion of the Detachment. There is also a Legion-approval maximum of 250 pieces per run. Any run that desires to go over 250 pieces offered for sale must be sent to LFL for approval via the LMBOs. You can find all merchandise information (including approval form) in the Merchandise Approval section of the Holocron.

Organizing these runs can be complex and could run a Detachment Leader into trouble if they do not have any experience. Section 4 of the Operations Protocol outlines Merchandising & Branding Rules and Guidelines as a reference. It’s always best to consult the LMBO or one’s GMBO if in doubt about how to start. Detachment Merchandise that displays the Legion’s brand (Including the Detachment brand) should always be brought to the LMBO for approval. Some cases where this wouldn’t be necessary are items that do not contain the Legion’s or the Detachment’s branding (like sub-unit items).

OTHER VALUABLE TIPS AND SUGGESTIONS

Websites

While not required by Legion policy, it’s a good idea to have a forward facing web site or web page that will direct the new recruit or seasoned trooper in their quest. Some of the things that may appear on the web site are the CRLs, perhaps a few tutorials, a gallery of present costumes and the like. You are only limited by your imagination.

Communication

It’s also a good idea to frequently communicate with your Detachment and post often. This will ensure that no member of your forum will have a question that has been left unanswered. It is common for Detachments to have newsletters for their members for this purpose.

As with the Facebook groups and forums, it is important to not include any direct 501st information, but it is perfectly fine to include links to member-only areas of the forums.

Detachment Leader and LMO Facebook Chats

For several years, the Detachment Leaders have created a DL-only chat to converse about issues or ideas. The elected LMOs also generally create an LMO / DL chat to share ideas quickly.

The DL chat is generally created by any incumbent DLs, and newly elected DLs are added as elections end. The LMO chat is generally created by the LMOs after ratifications have passed, and then DLs are invited.

Participation in these chats is not required, but is recommended for expedited communications/awareness. All official business should still be handled through the 501st Legion forums.

Detachment Specific Mission Statement

Local Detachment Charters are not permitted by the Legion. If your Detachment does not have a mission statement, it would be a good idea to draft one, and present it to your 501st Detachment members for a vote. Sometimes this can be used to explain why something is being done, or not being done. This also will help ensure that policies don't fluctuate year to year. Some policies should be flexible, but perhaps others should not. Having a Detachment standard operating procedure should remove those ambiguities if they are considered part of the culture of that Detachment.

LEADERSHIP 101

While leadership cannot be taught, the general ideas can be conveyed. What the individual chooses to do with it is up to them. Often disciplinary issues arise because the members are bored, feel they are not being listened to, or conversely that their leadership is not disclosing to them what’s going on. The best advice is to keep the members informed, listen with an open mind, and do your best to keep things exciting and moving forward in your Detachment. Some suggestions offered for these things are:

Publish a Detachment Command Blog every 2 weeks (Less or more depending on your time involvement)
Occasionally have a Q&A to give your members a forum to address issues or ideas. The Q&A shouldn’t be limited to the elections alone.
Provide designs for graphic swag such as Signature Bars / Icons / Avatars to recognize 501st Detachment Members who have gone out of their way to help someone, or who have shown the most improvement in their costume, etc.
Perhaps provide contests and a vote for the 501st Detachment members to design the next T shirt or something of that nature.

The bottom line is that you do what you can to keep your members engaged. Additionally, it would be prudent to make sure that questions asked on the Detachment forums are not ignored or allowed to sit stagnant for any length of time. The Detachment is the lifeline of costume knowledge for the Legion. Although it is the supreme educational resource, they are not the only resource. The community built around each Detachment is just as important as the costumes, and are the single driving energy for the continuation of each Detachment. Detachments can be a valuable asset to the Legion. It is with this value added concept that this manual was written. Additions and corrections may be submitted to [email protected].

DETACHMENT LIST/RESOURCES

The full list of Detachments and Forum Links can be found here or here. They can also be found here, in addition to all current Detachment Officers.

For a printable version of the list, you are welcome to utilize the following pages. It is recommended that it be printed double sided on cardstock. A gloss finish or UV coating is preferred but not required.

Media:501st Detachment List.PDF

Revised 05-20-2024 by SL-26272 and SL-21872

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