Resources for other people

[hackthis_archive]

I was going to write a whole pornographic piece of jerk off material where John Sheppard met Nathan Petrelli, because hey, Nathan was (possibly) in the military and I am nothing if not interested in getting him laid. However, even the most fervent fanatic can be deterred by that lovely thing called research, because if you're gonna do it, chances are you want to do it right. Except doing it right involved running smack into the wall called the United States Air Force and how I had zero idea how the whole juggernaut worked.

Leaders of industry easy peasy; entertainment, like the back of my hand; the military? Um, no.

So, like any nerd trying to get a clue, I started off at everybody's favorite site: Wikipedia where I found this awesome (damn you, rageprufrock) article entitled Air Education and Training Command for the USAF, which is pretty much a guide to the USAF education system -- and by education I mean everything from basic training to Air University, which is their higher education system, but probably not like you're thinking.

And silly me thought that was enough, but then serialkarma, who may be the best beta ever in terms of thoroughness said, "Oh, hey, read these too!" which then introduced me to agentotter's Guide to Writing about Rank and Marines So You Sound like You Have a Clue* and smittywing's This is How You Roll in the Military, And No it's Not Like College, so Please Stop Thinking it Is*, which were both fascinating to read.

It was about this time that I realized a) Holy shit, this is like a whole other universe and b) yeah the story was going to have to be kicked to the curb, or completely revamped, but I was not dismayed, because I then spent the rest of my afternoon reading Surviving Basic Air Force Training which is a 4-part series about, you know, surviving Air Force training.

And I would have to say that more than any other piece of material, this brought to me the reality of the Air Force. 'Dorms' not 'barracks', 'TI's not 'XO's, 'airmen' not 'cadets', 'yes, sir' not 'sir, yes sir' because sir sandwiches are frowned upon. So while being informative as hell, it also cracked me the fuck up, because I bet in your job you don't get shit like this:

//T.I.s are also notoriously hard-of-hearing. No matter how loud you say "Yes Sir!," or "No Ma'am!" your T.I. will probably politely ask you to speak up. Because of their hearing problem, the T.I. will probably assume that you are similarly inflicted and will make a special effort to speak loudly -- right next to your ear. Moving, or showing any evidence of discomfort is considered to be impolite and will be commented upon (loudly).

Before long, it will dawn on you that somewhere between the welcome center and your dormitory, someone stole your first name. You'll probably never hear your first name throughout your entire time in Basic.//

I digress. I put this post together not really for me, but for anybody else who might be considering tackling the Air Force, or the Marines or anybody in uniform (lyra_sena). Think of it like a wee resource guide for anybody who might want it, and if you have other links feel free to put them in the comments. I probably won't get much use out of this, but hopefully somebody else will.


*Titles were paraphrased by me

Comments

[romancandles.livejournal.com]

Nathan was in the military? How did I miss that fact?

[mskatej.livejournal.com]

I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about but this made me lol: 'yes, sir' not 'sir, yes sir' because sir sandwiches are frowned upon.

[sparky77.livejournal.com]

Did you say something after I was going to write a whole pornographic piece of jerk off material where John Sheppard met Nathan Petrelli, because hey, Nathan was in the military and I am nothing if not interested in getting him laid. because that's when my jaw dropped and my brain exploded? All I can really think about is that John Sheppard likes things that go faster than 200 miles per hour and Nathan certainly qualifies.

[onelittlesleep.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry. I'd have passed over but NATHAN ICON!

It's so very NICE.

[raucousraven.livejournal.com]

John Sheppard met Nathan Petrelli

Already this is MADE OF AWESOME.

...If some seasonal music would help you write, come find it in my lj.

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

One key thing I always tell people when writing military is to research the branch you're writing. None of them do things the same way, and that's often a point of pride. Same goes for Special Forces of any kind.

Military.com is a good place to get some basics about the Navy, and goarmy.com has similar information for the Army. I believe wikipedia and about.com both have articles on all the U. S. branches.

[rosekay.livejournal.com]

Wow thanks - I also was not paying attention at all and failed to notice the military thing. It sounds like he did serve as a soldier in some capacity (or whatever proper term in whatever proper branch) rather than an international prosecutor, but I'm going to do the handwave and carry on with my Nathan at Princeton aka the Prick Ivy personal canon. He would have been what - early to mid twenties? Volunteer advocacy before law school? But Bosnia, Serbia AND Rwanda - sounds like quite the record for a lowly newly minted Lt.

And you know, later, bleeding heart Peter went to a Samantha Powers lecture and made big brother read America and the Age of Genocide.

[gene-lee.livejournal.com]

Well, good news and bad news.

good news: you're correct that Nathan served in the military.

bad news: the picture in his office that gave rise to this bit of canon has him in a Naval Officer's uniform.

Hope I didn't ruin hours of research into USAF conduct and courtesy. At least you have your pick of over hundred gay navy jokes. *lol*

[serialkarma.livejournal.com]

but for anybody else who might be considering tackling the Air Force, or the Marines or anybody in uniform (lyra_sena).

you are *hilarious*

[hebrew-hernia.livejournal.com]

He was. It was in "Genesis" (The Pilot)... Isaac is painting, or freaking out about painting, or something, and there's a Petrelli for Congress commercial playing right behind him. It has Nathan's face, and then the screen flashes "SOLDIER" and then it says "Nathan Petrelli served our country blah blah blah..." and then whatever's actually happening drowns it out. And no, I did not memorize that; "Genesis" just happened to re-air on Sci-Fi last night and I was all "Wait, what?" I did *not* hear the stuff about Bosnia, Serbia, and/or Rwanda, though. Maybe that was a different ad...?

Anyway, in the event that I ever write Nathanfic (ha, yeah right) I will definitely come back and read this stuff. Thank you!

[meret.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :)

[jadesfire101.livejournal.com]

I know this is super late, but I just saw this on youtube and I thought of this discussion. Doesn't really clear that much up though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvPIqBBtcVA