The USSMC is known for it's effectiveness and efficiency. This can only be achieved because they do things a certain way. The Marines complete their missions successfully by doing things by the numbers, by the book. More precisely, they have their orders and execute them using standardized procedures.

In a broader context, it is a well known fact that the military in general follows clearly elaborated procedures. Because there is no such thing as a one-man army, soldiers work in "teams". Teams can vary from a couple of men or women (team, squadron) to a couple of hundred (battalion, wing) or more (brigade, division, fleet, carrier group). If teams are to function properly, they need to think and act as one. And that's the reason why we need procedures. If procedures are consistenly applied by all members of a team AND by all teams independently, then these procedures are standardised. Standardised procedures become effectively standard procedures if they are approved and adopted.

However, using standard procedures will not allways help you get the job done. Think about it this way: what if a standard procedure was developed some time ago and you find yourself in a situation that is totally new ? You probably couldn't apply that procedure as is: it might need to be adapted to this new situation. There might be factors present in the new situation that the standard procedure didn't account for. This is another thing that the military is good at: to improvise, to adapt to a new situation and to eventually overcome. So what we actually need is a standard procedure that efficiently helps you, gives guidance by providing you with a set of rules AND, more importantly, that allows you to adapt to new situations. This is were standing procedures give you that ability.

Standard procedures implie some degree of limitation and rigidness. They aren't adaptable. Standing operating procedures implie that you should adapt to the situation, while maintaining the purpose described by the procedure. Standing Operating Procedures (SOP) can tell you how you should do thing in a given situation, but they can be changed if the situation changes, they're like a canvas.

This section will only cover specific Standing Operating Procedures for the USSMC. More importantly, the procedures will (for now) only cover space-based solutions to space-related problems: hence I'll cover Space Standing Operating Procedures or SSOP's. Procedures can be general in nature, or they can be very specific.

• SSOP-01: [SCVN-2812 Saratoga] - Order reception and pre-mission escalation