A lot of trouble in the Sea Org comes from lack of grasp of what we mean by Operational.

Definition: AN ITEM THAT IS OPERATIONAL WORKS WELL WITHOUT FURTHER ASSISTANCE OR ATTENTION.

This does NOT say that operational means something works. It works well. It works without assistance or patch up or holding on to it. It works without attention. It doesn’t have to be continually watched.

The break down in mail comm stemmed in part from the Photocopier. The error was not in the copier. The error was in having something around that doesn’t work well, needs continual attention, breaks down regularly. That comes from not reading or understanding the Ships Org Book. Operational was misunderstood. This Photocopier was wholly non-operational in that it had to be continually nursed, was operated in bright light and took up tons of time. Because it was there nobody simply typed a copy of the vital dispatches. One must NOT keep non-operational things around or they must be made operational by above definition.

Also the early Flag Order about fast communication being vital was not complied with.

A costly mess resulted from delayed comm. All because OPERATIONAL was not understood.