Writing Warfare (Part II): Binocular Observations

Photo by J Cutrer on Unsplash

In Writing Warfare Part I https://thelibertywriter.blogspot.com/2018/05/writing-warfare-part-i-understanding.html I wrote on the importance of understanding and respecting the nature of combat, especially taking into consideration the way real soldiers feel about it.

This post is about capturing soldier behavior and some of the ways I’ve noticed that they handle war. It would be important to note that all the examples in this post are male soldiers, as I have not had much opportunity to observe female soldiers in depth.

Again, I am no expert. I don’t have immediate family in the military, and to be blunt, talking to soldiers about their firsthand experiences terrifies me. I’m afraid of being the one who will ask a painful question that will make them shut down to the world. I don’t want to hurt them more than they’ve already been. I realize some soldiers want to talk, but many don’t want to talk to people who haven’t been there, who don’t understand. Many soldiers might think what I just wrote about “hurting them more” is too soft, gushy, and sentimental.

So, I will be writing in typical Liberty fashion—coming from a place of mere observation and mild research. It is a place of distance, like watching them through binoculars from far away. Keeping that in mind, let your own observations guide you, and if you are the bold type, sensitively ask them questions. Who knows? I may be wrong.

The military air

Soldiers talk and act smack.

Marines think they’re better than Army, Army guys call the Air Force “Chair Force,” and even within the same branch, different people think their assignments are better than others’. For example, my dad befriended three Army infantrymen and introduced them to a guy we know who used to disarm bombs, also in the Army. Mr. Bomb Disarmer said to the infantry guys, “I was too smart for that [infantry].”

Soldiers are macho people. There is the butting of heads all over the place, but the ties between the individuals of their own units are incredibly strong.

There’s a certain amount of pride that comes with the Armed Forces. I read in a Basic Training book, that often, soldiers graduating Basic Combat Training (BCT) feel that their training was too easy. Maybe for them, but I’m sure I’d get killed in basic.

Common individual behavior

This past Memorial Day weekend, I read a news article about a young man in the Army, killed in action on April 30, 2018. The article included excerpts from his writings to friends and family that included bits like, “I haven’t got to stack any bodies yet” and that he was looking forward to his combat missions, including the one that ended up claiming his life.

His fellow soldiers commended him as being very brave to the end.

Military people, as did this young man, often have a “get-up-and-go” drive and attitude, and rightly so. They do one of the hardest jobs on earth, and they need the determination, discipline, and mentality to complete their objectives.

There is self-esteem, a glory in the knowledge that they’ve done harder things—they can do this too (whatever “this” may be).

On the inside

Underneath the bold exterior we might find a different heart.

Many soldiers struggle with PTSD. Suicide rates are distressingly high because soldiers don’t know how to handle the trauma of the things they’ve felt and seen.

Watching people complain about minor things like “waiting in line” can be sensitive to soldiers. “Really? Waiting in line is the worst thing you’ve had to deal with? Try watching your friend die.”

Even pilots who aren’t involved in hand-to-hand combat deal with guilt at the things they’ve had to do. My friend (a Vietnam fighter pilot), has expressed that a widespread struggle for soldiers is the morality, or lack thereof, of war.

The wife of an ex-Marine who I go to church with, said that her husband used to never cry. He was a tough Marine—he would get angry, but he wouldn’t cry.

Upon spending time with an ex-Army corpsman and observing his calloused speech, jokes, and attitude, my sister said she thinks that was the only way he could deal with his experiences in the warzone.

As mentioned in Writing Warfare Part I, war isn’t a joke.

Bringing them to life in your story

1.      Research boosts story in incredible ways. Reading auto-biographical accounts is a great window into the way soldiers see the world around them and how they process events. They’re full of unique tone and military slang that will help you know the voice your characters need to be realistic. Some published books are just compiled “letters to home” from soldiers. Be warned that there is going to be lots of language.

2.      Go ahead and let your characters talk smack and be macho. It’s kind of fun. Add divisions and tensions between different branches and those of different assignments. Contrast that with the bonds between characters of their own units.

3.      Consider who your character is and how they will handle the situations they encounter, both internally and externally. The two probably aren’t the same. Written characters are just as individual as people. There are no hard-lines for writing—only guidelines—because the possibilities are as infinite as real life. Let your character be his or herself, but in a familiar, realistic way.

4.      Be open to learning from real people’s experiences. My words are not king.

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Written characters are just as individual as people. There are no hard-lines for writing—only guidelines—because the possibilities are as infinite as real life. Let your character be his or herself, but in a familiar, realistic way.

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