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Memorial Page for Captain Mark A. West


Tactical Officer GNS Barbara Bancroft SD-32
Chief of Staff to the Sixth Space Lord
Senior Instructor, Enlisted and Warrant Schools
Chair, Administration Dept, Technical Specialties School
Saganami Island Academy.
Chief Steward, HMS Unconquered, Class of 2011






  • Swords Cross in Gold (img pending)
  • Conspicuous Gallantry Medal
  • King Roger III Coronation Medal
  • GSN Recruit Training Ribbon
  • NCO Senior Course Ribbon
  • Navy Service Medal
  • Space Service Ribbon
  • Unit Commendation BuPers
  • Mentioned In Dispatches
  • Mentioned in Dispatches BuTrain, 12-23-13

    Captain Mark West was a member of The Royal Manticorean Navy from 01 October 2011 until the 24th of December 2014 when the Tester called him home, his test completed.

    Captain West was my friend. I never met him in person but grew to know him over the last few years as I got active with this orginization. Mark was the first person to take me under his wing when I volunteered at the academy. He called me his Minion. I learned that he took great joy at tweeking people a little. He insisted on calling Admiral Lochen "Your Grace" as well as having a joke at just about any moment. I grew to love my interactions with him. He insisted that no matter what rank he was he would always be a Chief Warrant Officer at heart. I called him Commodore, he called Me captain.

    Mark was always willing to assist anyone with any question or concern. I strive to this day to emulate that. He was the epitome of what we each should strive towards in service of our fellow fans.

    Good Bye Mark. God Speed. You passed your test.

    SMCPON Thomas Coonradt NS, ME
    Chief of the Navy.

    *******************
    Captain West, was one of my first staff members after I was appointed Sixth Space Lord in July 2011. He not only became my sounding board for ideas and organizing exams, but my friend. He and I had a running argument about his rank. Mark insisted on wanted to stay an enlisted member, as many of the staff will remember from the joking during the various online meetings. But, I insisted on his becoming an officer, so I could move him into the Chief of Staff position. I ended up brevetting him to Captain (JG), we would joke his real rank was Captain Petty Officer, taking a theme from the old “MASH” TV show. Whatever I needed done Mark was the first to take on the task often without being asked, if he felt a policy or order I wanted to issue (I asked him to review everything before it was released) wasn’t proper or up to the standards we established he would let me know in direct terms. Just as any good Chief of Staff worth his salt should. Mark was my right hand.

    He kept me up to date on what was happening in his life, we shared personal problems and health issues in our lives on line and in phone conversations. When Mark started to have serious health issues, Mark called me. We talked about those issues and what the doctors had told him and his plans for addressing them. When they became severe, he called me and requested a leave of absence because he was worried he would not be able to handle his duties and that he may not be able to offer the kind of help to our group that he was accustomed to give. I reluctantly gave him his leave, he kept me posted via our phone calls and Facebook as to what was happening. Then the posting came that the Tester had called Mark home, for Mark had met the Test he was given. Butrain and the RMN has lost a good and faithful member, and I have lost a good friend. May he find the rest and peace he has earned in life." I thank God that he permitted me to know Mark.

    Admiral Lord Sir James Friedline KE, Baron Neu Odenwaldkreis
    Sixth Space Lord

    *******************
    I was taken back by the announcement of Mark's passing the other day. I knew he was battling medical issues (he had mentioned it during our conversations, but never in detail). To be honest, I kept looking at the announcement, wondering if there were another Mark West. I just can't believe he is gone from us (well, physically ... I know he still walks the halls at SIA).

    The first time I "met" Captain West, was while taking some courses through SIA. One of the final exams, it asked me to submit a test question, and supply an answer, citing the source for the answer. He was impressed (as he expressed) by my question and answer, and asked if he could use them on future. From that point, he and I casually corresponded. Then, when I was appointed the Executive Officer of HMSS Greenwich, and a certain member (we won't mention any names ... came aboard, and became involved with the conversations on TRMN's facebook page, Captain West and I would jump in, and "have fun" with Spacer-then-Ensign Wade Smith. Mark always managed to make me laugh ... we started corresponding more through facebook and email. I came to admire and respect him. And of course, any time I chatted with him, I had a smile on my face for the rest of the day. Though we never met in person, I considered him a friend, someone I could turn to, to ask for advice if I needed it. Mark, you will be missed. I won't say good-bye, my friend ... instead, I will say ... we'll see each other later!

    Captain of the List Jimmy Nelson
    Commanding Officer HMS Hexapuma, CA-412
    2nd Naval District - "Gryphon Fleet"

    *******************
    Mark was part of my TRMN experience from the very beginning. I thought he had been around forever, but looking at his bio now I see that he joined TRMN only two months before me and was promoted from Spacer 3rd Class to Master Chief Warrant Officer just two weeks before he sent me my first Saganami Island exam. When he sent my graded exam back, he closed with "Good Luck, God's Speed, and remember to honor the Queen in all that you do." MCWO West made grading and sending out an exams a priority. As an instructor in another fictional space navy, I understood how much time and effort goes into that. I thanked him for being so prompt in sending out and grading exams and he replied "All part of the service." At the time, Mark graded the first three enlisted exams. When real life issues prevented the instructor for the last three enlisted exams from grading them in a timely fashion, Mark took those over as well.

    Mark played a pivotal role in building BuTrain. He helped form what eventually became the Saganami Island Academy Technical Specialties College. When I proposed that the Astrogation exams have some math because astrogation is obviously a math-heavy job (as Honor herself talks about), Mark replied "Very true." So Mark gets part of the credit for the math that all you flight operations, helm, and plotting students have had the opportunity to use while taking those exams. He gets full credit for the Personnelman, Navy Counselor, Steward, and Yeoman exams because he wrote those and was the Administration Department Chair and sole instructor until March of this year when he brought on another instructor to teach the first two ratings.

    Although he accepted promotion to Captain two years ago when he became Chief of Staff to the Sixth Space Lord, he always said he preferred his old rank of Master Chief Warrant Officer and promised he would never accept promotion to Commodore because he didn't want to be a flag officer. He met his Time in Grade for Commodore in April of this year but, true to his word, remained a Captain.

    When I became Dean of the Technical Specialties College in February of last year, I suddenly became Mark's boss since he was the TSC Admin Department Chair. This was a strange experience for me since I had always thought of myself as working for him (and technically, since he was Chief of Staff to the Sixth Space Lord, I still did). Captain West took it in good humor. He called me "Captain Taskmaster" (and then "Commodore Taskmaster" and then "Admiral Taskmaster") but he always did what needed to be done because he never forgot that our purpose is to serve the students of TRMN. Last month, when he realized he could no longer serve the students as effectively as he should, he requested to be placed on Medical Leave. He was a true professional and we are sad beyond words that he won't be returning. He was an integral part of what made BuTrain what it has become, and it won't be the same without him.

    I am grateful to have known Mark West as an instructor, superior, colleague, subordinate, and friend. I am sorry for all the TRMN members of the future who won't get the chance to know him. But they will know about him, because all RMN students will take their first classes in a building bearing his name. On December 25, 2014, the Enlisted School Instructional Building at The Casey-Rosewood Instructional Center was renamed West Hall in his memory. It is a fitting tribute to someone who contributed so much and was taken away far too soon.

    Good Luck and God's Speed, Mark West!

    Eric Schulman, SC
    Rear Admiral of the Red, Royal Manticoran Navy
    Member, Bureau of Communications Editorial Board
    Dean, Saganami Island Academy Technical Specialties College
    Commander, Royal Manticoran Navy First Fleet

    *******************
    My thoughts of Mark best go back to 2012 when I was first working my enlisted exams and then later that summer when I became an instructor at SIA. He was an enthusiastic instructor who was quick with a reply to my numerous questions as I attempted to relate my active duty experiences into a fan run organization. He was the first one on one interaction with anyone from TRMN and he set the bar. I knew from his example that TRMN was a professional and fun loving group. His numerous side notes of humor during my first faculty meetings made me feel at home. He and I both enjoyed chatting about the role of the senior enlisted / Warrant ranks; I remember when he was in fits when he was promoted to his senior GSN rank (a rank he very aptly deserved even as he wished to remain a Warrant).

    I regret I never had the opportunity to sit across from him in person during a Con; I know the evening would have been full of wisdom, humor, and good natured fun.

    Mark… Fair Winds and a Following Sea, shipmate. Someday we will meet over coffee in the last Chief’s Mess.

    Steve Randolph
    EMCS SS/SW US Navy Retired
    CDR RMN TRMN

    *******************
    I was floored when I read about Mark yesterday. No, he and I never met face to face, but we messaged and e-mailed each other a bunch over the past year.

    A little over a year ago I thought I was going to be the new Electronics Technician Instructor for SIA. I had been given access to the grading spreadsheet, and we were waiting for the final say-so. Then this Grayson Captain looked at my test scores and read the letters I actually send in with each exam and said "Hey, how would you like to be my Personnelman Instructor? You really KNOW the job! Also, we're gonna launch the Navy Counselor Course real soon, too, and you can teach that as well!" A couple of e-mails back and forth later, Eric Schulman changed things over, and lo and behold, I had my first Personnelman Exam in my hands to grade! Now, fast forward a couple of months. I had reviewed and did a bit of a rewrite on them and the Navy Counselor exams were ready.

    Mark continued to encourage me in my growth in TRMN and as part of SIA. He listened to me and let me know when I was getting off track. When the First Lord of the Admiralty posted his nooge regarding breveting and exams, and I offered my services to the Officer Academy, Mark's reply was "You're nuts, you know? Have fun." We covered for each other when we knew one of us would be off line for a week or so, and worked back and forth, offering advice, jokes, quips, and became friends.

    I knew something was going on when I got back from Honorcon this year and noted some folks were having problems with the Admin group. I reached out and found out that Mark wasn't doing well, so I asked him what I could do for him. Once again, he asked me to cover his Admin functions while he got better. Mark, well, Tester decided it was his time. If anyone asks me about it, I will say "He met his Test and passed with flying colors." I am going to miss the man I routinely called "Boss", my friend, Mark West.

    According to Ecclesiastes, there is "a time to weep, a time to laugh; a time to mourn, a time to dance". We weep at your loss. We laugh while we recall the joy you brought us. We mourn your passing. We dance in celebration of your life.

    Fair winds and following seas, Captain.

    Commander Joe Grieco
    XO HMS Snow Leopard
    Saganami Island Academy

    *******************
    I joined in January 2014, so I did not know Mark well or long, I started taking exams the day after I joined, though, and Mark was among my first instructor contacts with SIA, and one of my first contacts with a TRMN officer outside my own ship. Mark graded a number of my early exams, and always had a thoughtful comment to add in feedback. His comments sparked a number of discussions in which we shared our common interests in military history and other subjects. His enthusiasm was infectious. It was great to join TRMN and feel valued and appreciated as a member, right away. To me, Mark represented some of the fundamental tenets of TRMN: we're all fans, we're all friends, we all have something to contribute, and we're here to have fun.

    I'm sorry Mark is gone, and regret that I will not have the chance to know him better. He was a very positive introduction to TRMN, and I will strive to be as positive an introduction to future TRMN recruits as he was for me.

    CHM(SW) Thomas McDonald
    Publication Yeoman of Manuals, BuTrain
    Chief Helmsman, HMS Agamemnon BC-544

    *******************
    A story of how I began to work with Mark – probably a great deal more amusing to me than anyone else, but here it is.

    It's the story of how I got this job. Mark led things as the previous CO and XO of the GNS Barbara Bancroft decided their time in the sun was over, and Mark put out the call to the rest of the crew who wanted to lead this rag tag bunch of awesome. He got crickets in response. So he put out the call again – because he'd never let this chapter fade into the night.

    That's when I had the bright idea of just asking him who had the academy tests done already to be CO and XO. Just pick from that list, easy as can be right?

    Yeah.

    Mark then informed me I was the only one with the tests done to be CO, and he was the only other one with them done to be XO. It kind of narrowed it down...

    Mark and I had known of each other, we floated in similar geek circles in another club as well – but this was my first time really working with Mark. I have to say I found his humor and his professionalism critical to my sanity from the start. It was a great start. Neither sought our respective new roles, but both of us took pride in them. He held my hand through those early days/months. Those chaotic, ironic, and amused attitude times are what I shall recall most fondly.

    Here's to Mark, he kept this boat afloat!

    Captain (SG) Jeremy Carsten Commanding Officer GNS Barbara Bancroft SD(P)-32

    *******************
    I never met Mark. I only spoke to him through the emails about tests that I took. I really appreciated the words of encouragement every time he sent me back a test that he graded.

    Stewards Mate PO3/c Kathy Rau, HMS Wolf

    *******************
    Dreamer's Requiem

    As long as there are dreamers of galaxies far away,
    Then they will be ever with us in all the roles we play.
    They were the pioneers and so have gone before us all
    and now it's left for us to follow them to that shore,
    where peace will dwell forever and might for right's the way
    and then when we finally see them it will be a bright new day.

    Poem submitted by Spacer 3/C Janet Julien

    *******************
  • Service Record
    RankDatePosition
    01 October 2011 Spacer 3/c
    11 January 2012 Master Chief Warrant Officer
    Flag Lieutenant to the Commandant and Deputy Commandant
    Saganami Island Academy
    11 January 2012 Lieutenant JG
    Flag Lieutenant to the Commandant and Deputy Commandant
    Saganami Island Academy
    June 2012 Lieutenant JG
    Tactical officer GNS Hermes CL-73, Flag Lieutenant to the Commandant and Deputy Commandant
    Saganami Island Academy
    22 October 2012 Captain GSN, Chief of Staff Sixth Space Lord,
    Tactical Officer GNS Barbara Bancroft SD-32

    BuTrain Staff Manifest

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