Wanted to chime in here, and say that I too have been a whale of a time.
At the moment, I'm looking for folks to join in some gung-ho military non-suit mission-play. You don't have to be part of the ECOAS commando team to join in; there are plenty of anime tropes of intrepid civilians getting wrapped up in military affairs. Pluck and pith will take you everywhere.
Other notes:
The game runs on FS3, and takes advantage of its combat engine. It is also integrated well into Ares.
Play there for a while and you'll have your own, customized mobile suit to use in play. There's rules for this up on the Wiki.
The Gundam background is pretty easy to pick up on, and staff is small and focused.
