issue was a missing gem which http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17403778/typeerror-in-getting-started-with-rails-tutorial helpped me track down
I had to update the caster model to allow for faction_id to be updated
working on the update part of all models there is something wrong with the error private method update called for
I had to use update_atributes and not update in the controllers, got help from https://groups.google.com/d/topic/mongomapper/LqRE79Poew8‎
basic CRUD working for Faction and Caster adding rolify and cancan
updated mission controller with updated rejection messages
access contorol added to the factions contoroller and views, as well as updating the missions index to have edit and destory buttons
access control added to casters
updated missions index to only show this year
added a select list for packet to app/view/missions/_form