The Colonial Ministry of Defense or CMoD was founded on July 30, 2011 as a small group of Battlestar Galactica chapters originally named the “RagTag Fugitive Fleet.” From these humble beginnings the organization has expanded exponentially from 7 chapters to now about 40. Likewise, membership has also exploded in ten years from a handful of members to now over 800.
The Gunstar Lotan
The Gunship Lotan was commissioned in August of 2018 by a dedicated group of international individuals. Spanning from Texas, USA to Scotland, UK the Lotan was a chapter designed for interactive roleplay especially among the Marines. The Lotan had an active and vibrant Facebook group page that was managed by both the former Executive Officer and Marine Officer in Charge. It was not just a chapter dedicated to creating great friendships, but it was also a chapter devoted to family ties as the CO at the time, Rear Admiral Michael Tolleson, brought his family members on board. Crew members were dedicated to making an internationally connected roleplay forum work. However, in late 2019 and early 2020 activity amongst the crew began to change as a result of international lockdowns and people losing their jobs. It was hard to keep up with the chapter and the lives of people stretched so far across the globe, so the chapter Facebook page fell inert in early Summer of 2021. The group was scheduled for decommission due to the extremely low level of activity and finally CMoD Command HQ offered Rear Admiral Plummer the opportunity to reinvigorate a chapter that once had contributed so much to so few. And so Cronus was born…
The Battlestar Cronus
The Cronus herself came to life in August of 2021 from the reserve members of Gunstar Lotan after RADM Kevin Plummer took ownership of the chapter. His first thought was to create a manual that could enhance member outcomes and explain recruitment and retention policies. Next, he was determined to 1) hire a competent Executive Officer; 2) vote to upgrade the Lotan from Gunstar to Battlestar; and 3) create a new identity for the chapter and recruit new officers. He was able to recruit his Executive Officer after a search via responses on a Google Form and the members who did not make XO were offered a spot in the command structure to help develop the chapter. After 2 months the Cronus members were making waves throughout the CMoD community as they won awards and accolades in the Colonial Warrior Academy and from CMoD Command HQ for their dedication and enthusiasm.
