[TTH] BU2SU and DoDSEP

Before we begin I wish to state here and now that I DO NOT speak for anyone except myself; I speak only as a 'pop gun' America Soldier of no consequence, I speak only as an insignificant but loyal American; I speak only as an American who believes in America First. As always I encourage each and everyone of you to get involved, but always remember to play your game and THINK FOR YOURSELF.





'Okay, first I have no idea where you are getting 77cc as the 'current market rate', I got mine from the market; which is at this writing at 55 CC per click.'
Franklin Stone

DOH! Damn, now how stupid was that; rookie mistake if I ever saw one. Now you know why I am not an economist, probably why I am also a simple Citizen Soldier and not the Commander of a powerful PMU like EZC or War Inc. Recently I became much more active with the Bear Cavalry and have been moving about the eRepublik World, something I am not use to doing. Foolishly when writing a recent article I had a brain freeze and I forgot to switch markets. Now that my friends is a mistake a true leader would not make, maybe that's why I am a simple Newspaper Editor; you know that loud mouth at the end of the bar with a shot of Jagermeister all waving around in the air and spilling everywhere. It has always been my philosophy that if you don't make mistakes you ain't trying hard enough, if nothing else was accomplished it created some transparency in a government known for its opaqueness and utter silence.  

Since I was such a douche, let us revisit the information released by Secretary of Defense Senryaku.

Must work in a commune for Enderaggie or Rainy Sunday, the job offers should be up at $1.05 on the market
The USAF provides a Q1 house weekly via cash donation (You will be sent enough money to buy a Q1 house) every Monday.
Work a minimum of 2x per day, but we allow people to miss days if Real Life comes up.
You may work as many times per day as you want.

As I said before from what I know these are all pretty standard throughout Military Units, the only unusual thing is the being able to working as much as you want.

We pay salary each week for every work click over 14. This means that if you work 20 times in a week, 20 - 14 = 6, we pay you for 6 extra days of work.
Our pay is higher than the market wage and tax free, done through cash donations on a weekly basis.
In return for the 14 works that you do without payment, we will give you certain benefits depending on your platoon choice.

First since I am in Ireland fighting Maple Syrup loving, Canadian processed meat fake bacon eating Canadians; hey! Let me make sure I am in the right market, yep; good old USA. Now currently the market is at 83.34  I assume for 2 clicks per day or 166.68 CC per day. Now the USAF Commune pays 1.05 CC - .1575 CC = 0.8925 CC per click or 12.495 CC for those 14 days of work. Since those 14 clicks will use up a Citizen Soldier's one daily work click and the one overtime click a Citizen Soldier receives from the Free Q1 house given by the USAF, it is hard to see where any additional clicks come from other than the purchase of an additional house. So currently a Q2 house on the American Market is 767 CC, now at 12.495 per week it will a take a Citizen Soldier 62 weeks to save up that amount and BTW that over market wage; not happening. Now these wages are in addition to the supplies offered by the USAF, the amount of those supplies depending on the Regiment to which the soldier is assigned, however those supplies may not be sold on the market.

So far the topic has been wages paid by the USAF to its soldiers, I have been comparing them to the wages paid to Socialist Freedom Party members. Now that is two different types of organization, however the Commune System for both should function essential the same. The SFP provides its members with a free house and pays its employees 150 CC per day for two clicks a day tax free. Now that is below market, but if a Citizen Soldier is an active member of the Bear Cavalry with its Build A Bear Program and Golden Bear Droppings; they have a whole set of other benefits of food and weapons entirely separate from other SFP programs like the Rainy Day Tank & Food Program.

DoD Strength Enhancement Program
Soldiers in Reserves are eligible for DoDSEP gold, which means that they will receive gold for each time they work past the default 7, distributed every other week. So if you work 14 times (including the Q1 house we give you) then you can earn 7 gold in a week.
We suggest that you request as many weapons as you plan to use for the entire week if possible, so that you have to worry less about receiving the weapons you need to last you through the rest of the day.
Please do not request more than you plan to use.

This part of the USAF really shines and as I said it is by far the highest amount of gold paid weekly by any MU to its soldiers in a training program. Now because a citizen must work 2 times a day I see this as wages paid bi weekly for 14 gold twice a month or 28 gold per month. The USAF is paying its trainees for the second work click each day, however they expect a trainee to spend that gold on Training Centers. Now while I agree that the gold be used for Training Center upgrades, my problem with it is that the 7 gold is being presented to recruits as payment for a work click and therefore most citizens will see that as salary and not a benefit. So IMO the USAF is not paying above market wages.

While I was researching this article I came to the realization that no one knows exactly what the USAF are paying its trainees. The link above for the DoDSEP states that a soldier earns 0.5 ( I even found one document that said it was only .22 gold) each time they request supplies (0.50 * 7 = 3.5 gold per week or 7 gold biweekly), yet in the information released by the DoD it states a Reservist gets 1 gold per second work click. In the link above it also states that much like BU2SU a soldier must have requested supplies (and DoDSEP funding, which happens automatically on their first request of the day) on at least 70% of the 14 day period to receive a lump sum of all their earnings from the prior two weeks. So. Does a Reservist earn 1 gold per second work click and 0.50 per supply request for 21 gold bi weekly or no? If they request only 65% of the time is all the pay lost?



BU2SU: Are you trying to get Stronger?
In my last article I mentioned some happenings going on in Public Congressional Proceedings, something I can support and encourage -hopefully my Comrades in the Socialist Freedom Party will also; something I can get behind and push. There is a [Discussion] National Strength Training Program thread that I once again encourage every American Citizen Soldier to read and comment on. Black Sheep Party Rebel Arrden and my Political Enemy dmjohnston support this proposal and very strangely I find myself in the same political bed with these citizens. A very good program which I use myself is the Bank Up 2 Strength Up (BU2SU) program, I know this to be an excellent program run by the Department of Citizen Affairs (DoCA) and it is a fabulous program for new Citizen Soldiers, it is based in game and not on some outside forum that a Citizen Soldier must join. Although I feel it uses Activity Indicators that are worthless -IRC activity being the worst- I do agree with being a member of any forum adding 0.01g a day (maybe even 0.01g per forum per day), being a member of any Party paying 0.01g a day, being a member of any MU paying 0.01 a day, and for being an MU Regimental Captain paying 0.05 a day. However, since becoming a Congress Member is strictly controlled by Party Presidents, paying a Congress Member 0.05 a day is a definite no, being a Congress Member should be about serving your country not the gold; also no to activity on IRC paying 0.01 a day; anyone can sign on and sit in IRC all day -is that activity?

Because of this discussion Congress has received some very enlightening information. When the [Discussion] National Strength Training Program was opened, forum terrorist Kemal demanded an accounting (BU2SU Audit Thread); so data was collected (BU2SU Retention Analysis) which shows that BU2SU has 55.9% of the players who received money from the program are currently alive. In that same thread data on the DoDSEP program (DoDSEP Retention Data) was also collect and a report made showing that this program has a 52.5% retention rate. BU2SU uses Activity Indicators, being a member of a forum, being a member of a Party, being a member of a MU and being an MU Captain; all good indicators.  While the Department of Defense Strength Enhancement Program (DoDSEP) pays out simply for that second click of the work day, for that click a 'Reservist' earns 1 gold per day. Now both these program have over a 50% rate of retention, IMO though they give some slightly false information; for one thing how many Citizen Soldiers are in both programs? What Congress should do is make both these programs into one, adding DoDSEP to the BU2SU program would allow ALL American citizens to collect 1 gold per day for Working Overtime. Then if they are active on the forums, in a party, a member of an MU and Captain of a Regiment they would earn extra gold from BU2SU.



In the Franklin Stone Article Mega Thread my friend and opponent Gnilraps has suggested that I may have saved the world by actually raising taxes, apparently the Secretary of Defense may also agree that I am a Capitalist; now I am slightly embarrassed by these accusations because I am a 10% Work As Manager tax rate. Now I do not know if these two are yanking my chain, but Gnilraps reminded me of the old Office of Military Support (OMS), he also made some suggestions I believe worthy of consideration; now OMS ended up being simply a bone of contention as part of the Budget -a good program laid waste by petty squabbles and demands of support from questionable Military Units. Maybe it's time to bring back an old idea.

Combining BU2SU and DoDSEP would bring one excellent program in game, here in eRepublik; IMO the reason such programs fail is that it is required you join a forum or IRC or etc.... Like my Comrade Phoenix Quinn I came here to play eRepublik. There are several programs (all of which are listed below) that are currently run on the eUSA Forum, I personally use two of them -MREs and B4N- and they are both excellent programs for All Americans; but they require Citizens to go outside eRepublik. Such activity indicators as 1 gold per day for Working Overtime, if they are active on any forum, in any party, a member of any MU all adding 0.01 gold per day and though I would encourage MUs to do this -being Captain of a Regiment adding 0.05 gold. To encourage the Media I would also pay 0.05 per article, ofc those articles would need to met a standard; say 500 words and no more than two pictures per article. However paying out 0.05 gold per day (1.5 gold per month) for being in Congress seems more like a bribe than salary since each party's Candidates are tightly controlled by the PP, no to paying 0.01 gold for sitting idle in IRC. Although I would encourage parties to offer their Congressional Members a 0.05 gold salary I will simply remind Citizens that without the Defensive Dictator a Candidate can earn 5 gold per Congressional Term.

As I have said I am for any in game program which brings old members back, any in game program which attracts and encourages new Citizens to hang around long enough to become a member of a Forum or Party or Military Unit Community. Both of the above programs have a 50%+ retention rate, BU2SU (55.9% retention) is based in game and simply requires filling out a form; the DoDSEP (52.5% retention) however has out of game requirements a Citizen accomplish. Some of the above Indicators would be hard to verify, like overtime and forum membership; however membership in a Party, MU and being a Captain are all on a Citizens Profile page; an article would be easy to verify by the citizen leaving a link. The point is there are many activity indicators, another could be being in one of the 5 leadership positions of a T5 party; for me anything that brings such fine programs back into eRepublik are worth exploring.

Join the People's party the Socialist Freedom Party and help bring about change.
Join the People's forums, Socialist Freedom Party Forum and interact with our Community of Activist.
Join the Bear Cavalry and volunteer to fight for freedom across the World.

Smoke 'em if you got 'em...
...it's 4:20 somewhere.


Comrade Franklin Stone
Editor-In-Chief, The Tin Hat
Socialist Freedom Party
Committee of Correspondence
Media Director, SFPOM
Bear Cavalry, 4th Regiment
Strength & Honor
C'est la vie, mon chéri....

Bump