First, you must decide what kind of team do you want. Generally speaking, the smaller the team is the easier it is to organize events and have spontaneous battles. Also, your troops will probably be much better trained and equipped because it is easier to transport small amounts of people than large amounts, and your parents won't get as mad!

* Elite Team- This team is about two to three people strong. If you guys live close to together but as a whole live far away from your enemy, you may be able to do it with four or even five guys! These guys might train about five or more hours a week in the on-season if they live close together, or about two hours a week if they don't.
* Average Team- This team is typically five to eight players. It might be four, but if your team is four guys, I would strive the extra mile to become an elite team. These soldiers might train three or four hours a week during the off-season if they live close together, or about an hour every week if they live far apart.

I have figured a way around the problem of having a large team with poor training, this is by training in three person groups. The only problem with this is that some training groups may be better trained than others, and water weapons will be your LIFE for the rest of the on-season!

Drafting 101

Drafting was the beginning of the Spartan Federation. The Spartan Federation was established by me basically sending out a letter to about three of my friends and two had younger sisters, oh, and my sister didn't even have a choice in the matter.

The letter basically said, "Congratulations, you have been drafted into the Spartan Federation". Then it said the weapons and equipment I recommended for each and every soldier, including their younger siblings.

None of the draftees turned down this offer. Apparently, though, what I recommended was disregarded and people got whatever they wanted. Typically, they would get light pistols and no uniform (i.e. camouflage and hiking boots).

I advise that when you send out your draft notice that you say what to get, and also include what not to get.

Organize

Organization is key, in fact, you should have everything organized before you draft your army.

Ranks

Ranks are the level of command each person holds. For instance, the founder's rank should be a commanding one, such as general, admiral, or just leader if you're anti-creative.

Regimental System

You need to form a regimental system at about four people, even though it could still work with three people (NOTE: Three people regimental systems are NOT recommended). A regimental system is breaking your people up into groups, for instance two guys could be a buddy team, four guys could be a fire team, etc. You can make up your own regimental system. I recommend that if you have guys familiar with a certain military branches regimental system use that one. However, you can just use the names and modify the number of people within each unit.

Positions

There are three main positions: Grunt, bomber, and covert ops. specialist. The secondary positions are bell-ringer (person who alerts in case of attack), Strategist (sometimes called an Off Battle Field Strategist), human convoy, and escort. We recommend you fill the primary positions first however.

A few things to consider are that covert ops. specialist deals with everything relating to spying, recon, scouting, and sniping. You may want to create different positions for each one of these if you have enough people, or perhaps combine recon, scouting, and spying into one person so you have only two people dealing with covert operations. A strategist's primary job is to sit in front of the computer inside with a two-way radio linked to the field base. He researches information about tactics and weapons for the commander. For instance, if the commander wants to know how to effectively counter a CPS 1500, he can call the strategist and ask his advice, after all, he does have lots of resources to draw on. A human convoy is basically a guy who carries extra weapons and equipment. An escort is a grunt that escorts the human convoys and heavy weapons officers around.

Schedule

This is the dates each training group trains or when the battles occur. I recommend giving the dates at least three weeks in advance; the earliest possible date is good (unless it's more than two months away, then people forget).

Newsletter

Probably the most important thing to organize is the monthly newsletter. The Spartan Federation's newsletter is called the Spartan Monthly. It holds the team together during the off season, relays dates and other information to the Spartans, gives them something to look forward to thus boosting morale, and informs them about things going on within the Super Soaker community.

The Spartan Monthly goes out every month between March and August. It then proceeds to go out every other month until the next March. Important issues come out in December-February regarding the new soakers. Thus, most of the time, December begins our return to writing the Spartan Monthly's. They are written by the commandant (a.k.a. me).