1. Representing your squad
When you are a squad member, you fly around with your squad tag in your username. This means everything you do, everything you say, reflects on them. Make sure you behave well and in accordance to server rules at all times. Don't piss off the big squads, because if you accidentally get yourself a war from them and your squadron CO has no idea what to do, that's on your head. In fact, it's safe to say you should be nice to all other squads unless your squad's intent is to pick a fight.
Representing your squad also means that you're the first thing noobs see on servers. If you're kind to them and help them learn, they may be much more likely to join your squad. So be friendly, because it's the only way you'll get recruits.
2. Train, train, train.
YS has had many squads who were made of merely mediocre pilots, who had not honed their combat theory. As a squad pilot, it is your responsibility to do your very best to get as much knowledge of ys combat as possible, and to apply that knowledge effectively to wreck everyone's shit. Squads made up of bad pilots inevitably fall into inactivity, disrepair and eventually oblivion.
You also need this knowledge and these skills to get any respect from your peers in other squads. If you ever happen to come across a group of experienced 171 veterans, blacklist fighters, 241st elites or some other such group, you will immediately see that if you are not very skilled, the battle is completely one sided. You will never get a shot in, and you will die over and over again. This is one of the core principles of ys combat: there are three major skill levels, and those at the top will murder you constantly and with almost no effort until you get on their level.
These levels are (going from worst to best):
- Server noob
- Almost everyone else
- serious fighters
3. Be active.
Nothing is more important to a squad than a group of people who are fun to be with, who are often around (on services like teamspeak, msn ect with fellow squad members) and who enjoy playing the game together. This is why early squads are a gamble, because you don't know for sure if the people you're teaming up with are quality, fun folks. This is why it falls to you as a pilot to make an effort to make it as fun as possible for everyone in your squad to play with you. People will be more than happy to reciprocate that, and you will find that the more effort you put into making it fun for them, the more they'll make it fun for you. Every large or enduring squadron can attest to this.