The Squadron consists of 12 pilots assigned to 4 flight groups of 3 pilots. Each flight group has a Flight Leader and 2 Flight Members. The Squadron Commander is the Flight Leader of the 1st Flight Group in the squadron. The Vice Squadron Commander can have any position within the squadron.

Contact to the Squadron

It's the primary duty of the Squadron Commander to hold contact to his officers. For most officers in the fleet the Squadron Commander is the direct line commander; he is their connection to the fleet. The Squadron Commander and the Vice Squadron Commander are supposed to keep their squadron up to date on the status of the fleet, which events and competitions are going on and what else happens in the fleet. A good frequency to contact the Squadron Members is twice a month. Technically the Squadron Commander is responsible for this duty, but he may give it to the Vice Squadron Commander. Nevertheless the Squadron Commander stays responsible for informing the members of his squadron.

The basic ways for informing are sending e-mails with the information about the fleet to the squadron members. Mailing lists can also help here. Another way for informing the squadron is a meeting in an IRC channel. In earlier days of the fleet ship meetings have been often in real, but these days members of a squadron live spread over the entire world, so meeting in reality twice a month is a bit more difficult. Copies of the reports or meeting logs can be placed on the message boards as well for officers having troubles with e-mails or IRC.

The activity of squadron members is usually tracked passive. (The Squadron Commander or Vice Squadron Commander check the posts of the members on the message boards and reports, logs and announcement if the member has been mentioned.) Officers not showing activity for a period of time count as reserves. Squadron Commanders can also do AWOL checks via e-mail, officers, not replying can be counted to the reserve officers too in case they don't show other activity.

Contact to the Ship Command

The Squadron Commander or the Vice Squadron Commander have to report the progress of their squadron to the Carrier Captain and/or the Wing Commander. This should include the activity level of their members. To make things easier the Squadron Commander can just send a copy of the report he sends to the squadron members to Carrier Captain and Wing Commander.

The Squadron Commander or the Vice Squadron Commander can also suggest members of their squadron for a promotion or a medal. But they need add a reason for the Medal or Promotion when they contact someone from the Ship Command.

Managing Squadron Personnel

Squadron Commanders and Vice Squadron Commanders can request, that new members they recruited get assigned to their squadron. The Squadron Commander can give a veto against a transfer of a member into his squadron and the Squadron Commander can request an officer to be transferred out of his squadron, maybe cause the officer failed an AWOL check or the officer has problems with other Squadron Members. Usually the Carrier Captain or the Wing Commander can decide against the transfer request of an reserve officer.

Vice Squadron Commander
The Squadron Commander can select a Vice Squadron Commander out of the pilots in his squadron. The Vice Squadron Commander can help the Squadron Commander with the administration of the squadron.

Flight Leader
The position of Flight Leader can have several meanings. The Squadron Commander can decide if he makes his pilots Flight Leaders to help him by commanding their Flight Group, he can announce officers to Flight Leader cause of Roleplaying reasons, or he can make officers to Flight leaders just cause they are the best officers in his squadron, or they have served in the squadron longer then the other officers.

Giving Out Medals
Out of Tradition Squadron Commanders can still give out Battle Medals, but this ability isn't used these times anymore. The right t give out Battle Medals is just seen as backup if command officers aren't available for a period of time. In the Imperial 5th Fleet Battle Medals were medals members received after completing custom 5th Fleet TIE Fighter battles. The Squadron Commander reviewed the pilot files and gave the medals out by completion

Squadron Restrictions

Some squadrons got restrictions from Ship, Group or Fleet Command on structural things. Some squadrons are only for active members or reserves. Some have restrictions on activity checks or which fighter can be assigned to the squadron or which flightgroup the Vice Squadron Commander has to be in.

Squadron Reputation

Getting reputation Points
The squadron gets between 1 and 4 reputation points for each member of the squadron. An inactive or reserve officer gives 1 reputation, an active officers gives 2 reputation, an officer that got silver pilot wings gives 3 reputation, if he is active or not, and an officer that earned golden pilot wings gives 4 points reputation. Additionally a Veteran Squadron gets 3 bonus reputation points and an Elite Squadron gets 4 bonus points.

Spending reputation Points
These reputation points can be exchanged with equipment or status for the squadron. Most groups or ships are limited in the choice of equipment. Some groups only use the Imperial technology tree, others just use the Republican. You should review that before you select your equipment. All changes in equipment need to be reviewed by the Carrier Captain or the Wing Commander. If a squadron selects a Fighter type, the entire squadron gets equipped with the same fighter.
The reputation Points can be spend for the following items:
1 Point - TIE Fighter
1 Point - Z95 Headhunter
2 Points - Y-Wing
3 Points - TIE Bomber
3 Points - X-Wing
4 Points - TIE Interceptor
5 Points - A-wing
6 Points - B-Wing
6 Points - Assault Gunboat
6 Points - TIE Advanced (Veteran Status Required)
7 Points - E-Wing (Veteran Status Required)
7 Points - K-Wing (Elite Status Required)
8 Points - TIE Defender (Fleet Honors Required)
9 Points - TIE Phantom (Fleet Honors Required)

Veteran Squadron
There are two requirements for getting veteran status for a squadron. The squadron needs to spend 7 reputation points for the veteran status and at least one member of the squadron should have gotten silver or golden pilot wings. A Veteran Squadron gets 3 bonus reputation points back for the veteran status that can be spend on the fighter. So a squadron with 8 reputation points can spend 4 points for a fighter selection after getting veteran status, while a squadron with 6 reputation points can't effort veteran status.
Veteran status automatically get lost if the squadron fails one of the two requirements.

Elite Squadron
Different to veteran status elite status has some more requirements. At least one officer in the squadron needs to have golden pilot wings and the squadron needs to spend 11 reputation points for elite status. Additionally the Carrier Captain need to give his ok on the elite status and a ship can only have one elite squadron. An Elite Squadron get 4 bonus reputation back for the fighter selection. An Elite Squadron can't be Veteran Squadron at the same time, but it can select fighters with Veteran Status Requirement.
Elite status get lost in case the squadron fails one of the requirements.

Command Squadron
Command Squadrons are a remnant from the old times of the 5th. One squadron on each flagship is usually a Command Squadron. Command Squadrons can additionally be Elite or Veteran Squadrons. Besides the title the Command Squadron don't has any meaning.

Training Squadron
One Squadron per ship can be Training Squadron. The Carrier Captain need to agree to make one squadron Training Squadron. New officers that get assigned to a ship and don't get assigned to the squadron of the recruiter automatically get assigned to the Training Squadron. Besides the Squadron Commander and the Vice Squadron Commander no member of the squadron should have a higher ranking the Lieutenant. Usually officers that reached a ranking of Lieutenant or Lieutenant Commander should more to other squadrons on the ship, or the squadron can return to a normal squadron status. A Training Squadron can't get Veteran, Elite or Command Squadron. A Training Squadron also can't award Special Fleet Honors.

Special Fleet Honors
A squadron that isn't Training Squadron and has 3 or more members can get Special Fleet Honors for excellent behavior during a fleet-wide campaign or during an Inter-Club tournament.
The squadron may loose Special Fleet Honors again in case the squadron gets completely inactive, gets renamed or has less then 3 members.
There is no limit on how many squadrons on a ship get Special Fleet Honors, but just one squadron a the ship may be equipped with a fighter that requires Fleet Honors. A squadron also can't be equipped with a fighter that requires Fleet Honors when there is another squadron, that is equipped with fighter that require elite status.

Changing Equipment or Status
If a squadron commander thinks on changing the equipment he has to count the squadron's reputation points first. He needs to spend reputation points for getting veteran or elite status first in case the squadron should have one of the statuses, the remaining points should be spend on a fighter type. The squadron commander can't spend more reputation points for status and equipment that the squadron actually has.
After some time it may happen that a squadron reputation falls below the costs for status or equipment, or the squadrons fails one of the other requirements for a status or a specific fighter. Status is usually lost directly, but a squadron the fighter it's equipped with even when the squadron reputation is to low for the fighter or the required status got lost. In this case the Carrier Captain can agree to leave a fighter type assigned to a squadron but only for a limited amount of time
A rare fighter type is a fighter that requires elite status or Fleet Honors. A ship only can have one squadron equipped with a rare fighter type.

Squadron Competitions and Squadron Honors

Well, small competitions running within a squadron or a challenge between two squadrons are usually called squadron competitions. In squadron competitions only members of the squadrons can take part. A squadron competition can be something like poem, short story, drawing contest, getting the highest score in a TIE Fighter level, finding the funniest caption for a picture or the best motto for a squadron. The squadron competition need to create extra activity and can't hook up on already existing fleet wide or inter club competitions and events. For example a squadron competition can't be something like: "Which Pilot makes the most ladder games." or "Which Pilot makes the most posts in a Fleet Wide Mission Run On."
A squadron can not challenge two squadrons at the same time. If a squadron is in such a competition it can not challenge another squadron nor be challenged by another squadron till the actual challenge is over.

Squadron Commanders usually honor their members with pretty unique things different from squadron to squadron. Trophies, cups, statues or similar objects. Others honor their best pilots with very unique things, like a small part of a shot down TIE Phantom or a funny painted Stormtrooper helmet or a blaster pistol with squadron emblem on it. Pilots of alphabet fighters also like to decorate their ships with special symbols, what is pretty unusual for the fighters of the TIE series.

Squadron Logo
A more common way honoring members of a squadron are squadron logo. Squadron logos can be worn on the left on pilot suits and uniforms, except of ceremonial uniforms. Some squadrons have four different versions of this logo, symbolizing the grades pilot, veteran, ace and top ace. Only squadron members are allowed to wear squadron logos, the only exception is the wing commander who is allowed to wear a squadron logo of one of the squadrons of his wing in case he had been member of that squadron. Sometimes squadron logos are placed on the hull of the fighter or bomber as well.
The squadron commander decides who gets which ratings from pilot to top ace. A pilot that is top ace in a squadron usually don't keeps this rating if he joins another squadron. But a pilot that returns to a squadron where he was top ace he return to this rating.

Competition Bars
Competition Bars can be worn on the left arm of the pilot suit. The reflect the squadron competitions you took part. There are thin bars in copper, silver and gold representing the values 1, 2 and 3, and there are normal size bars in copper, silver and gold, representing the values 10, 20 and 30. The bar with the highest value has priority.
In a squadron competition with 2 or more participants every participant gets a single squadron competition point. If 4 or more squadron members take part in a squadron competition the winner of the competition gets two squadron competition points. In squadron challenges both squadrons are seen separately, if 2 or more members of a squadron take part every participant of the squadron gets one Squadron Competition Point. If 4 or more members of a squadron take part, the best pilot of the squadron gets 2 Squadron Competition points.
Once 100 Squadron Competition Points he has reached the maximum score and the competition bars get replaced through a single golden bar with a red emblem of the Alliance on it.