Hcom Interviews: WTZWBlaze

Here we are again with the 2nd interview of our series. However, this time we’re interviewing our Leader-In-Trainings. The first Leader-In-Training that we’ll be interviewing is WTZWBlaze! Blaze has been in SWAT for months and has experienced many things as a LIT but is there anything about him that we don’t know?

You’re quite new to the army community, when did you join and how did you get sucked into it?

I got my start in Armies when I joined the Light Troops in April of this year. I remember they were holding a tuba-themed event, which is the instrument I play in real life, and I just sort of kept going from there. What really sucked me in was how unique the concept of Armies was and is. I was fascinated by the idea of a completely player-made system of competition in a game that had shut down years prior.

Were you aware of the history that armies had (going into this/while you were in LT) or did you gradually find out?

I went in completely blind. I wasn’t able to fully appreciate the scope of the Armies community for as much as a couple months after I started.

So as many people know, you’re a SWAT LIT. When did your journey in SWAT start and could you give us an insight into how it’s been so far?

Well, my first interactions with SWAT were as a Light Troop. We were allies at the time, and I would come help out every so often when I had the time (which was pretty common, as there wasn’t much to do in quarantine). Once LT shut down, I more or less abandoned SWAT for a while after moving to the non-allied Pirates, though they eventually shut down as well, leaving me with only one place to go.

I always marveled at how positive SWAT was as a community. LT and Pirates were always so strict, but I felt like SWAT actually allowed me to have fun. It didn’t hurt that, when I came back, the leadership plopped me into 3ic for how much work I’d done in other armies up to that point.

SWAT has had many game nights and we’ve seen you play many games but if you had to pick 1 game that you had to play for the rest of your life, what would it be?

That’s a tough decision for me to make. I play so many different games, most of them for long sessions at a time, which is why I’m not as active in the community as I’d like to be. If it had to be just one, it would probably be Minecraft. In terms of the potential for creativity, community, and competition, its balance and variety is frankly unrivaled

You mentioned playing the tuba, how long have you known how to play this and do you have any other talents we don’t know about?

I started playing tuba 8 years ago at the start of 5th grade, and I’ve played regularly ever since. As it stands, I’m still playing multiple times a week because of my major in college. Beyond tuba, my talents are somewhat limited. I can say I’m pretty adaptable when it comes to trying new games, but that’s about the extent of it when I really think about it.

Blaze trying out the tuba

You’ve been in SWAT for almost half a year now and in armies for just a bit longer, who has inspired you within the community thus far?

Well, I need to give some credit to Epic101, despite my opinion on his recent actions, for being a major reason why I came here at all. He’s been very successful, and he’s a real legend among the community. I also want to shout out Sophy Bee, who really made me feel welcome and wanted in SWAT from the very start. Kaliee also deserved some credit, not just for being supportive both as a fellow LIT and as a SWAT Leader, but for giving me a target to strive towards and, hopefully, eventually match.

You’ve been a LIT in swat for quite a while and are staying loyal to SWAT. What are your plans/goals for the future?

I intend to stick around, and maybe start my own army at some point down the line if I gain enough respect among the community, but beyond that my only real aspiration at the moment (in terms of CP Armies, at least) is to get promoted past LIT. Of course, I have a sort of pipe dream to revive LT in a way that will actually make it last, but I try to keep my goals realistic.

Thank you for your time, do you have any additional comments/anything you’d like to say to the troops reading this?

SWAT is a fantastic group of individuals. The support and dedication is something I don’t see in a lot of other places, and it’s really inspiring. If you want to make your way to the top, just keep working at it, and you’ll turn out fine. Bleed Black.

That’s Blaze’s interview! It seeems like there was a few things there that not many people knew about Blaze. Who knew that one of our LITs was so talented with the tuba? Many thanks to Blaze for participating in this interview and we hope nothing but good luck come to him in the future.

Did we answer all of your questions or do you have some you’d like to ask Blaze or other leaders/LITs?

Did you enjoy the post and would you like to see more of these interviews? Who would you like us to interview next?


Let us know in the comments!!! We’d love to hear all of your thoughts and opinions!

Keep a look out for our next set of interviews and keep commenting! We want to hear YOUR thoughts remember!

Coolguy
SWAT Leader