[WIP] Blood on My Hands [Updated 080719]

And sometimes they do, well mostly just their developing country, but still…
Even NCO’s sometimes do, mr. Bouterse who “liberated” Surinam from evil, evil us used to be a sergeant.
As for the junior officers who seize power Valentine Strasser was one, though it didn’t end up all that well for him.

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What about like a civil war, but in a 50’s 60’s kinda timeframe?

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Brother I am enlisted and NCO. Yes it’s true you don’t have a lot of leeway you do have the thing for yourself though in the sense of when you’re doing shit are you doing shit the right way are you doing the shit that everyone else is doing so you don’t stick out. The butter bars they have some command but this in the modern military they’re far away from you guys. Honestly to the make up all such a small percentage of the service is this in genuine you in my opinion anyway I would actually is the average military life. You can make it interesting there’s so many you can make it interesting. Character interaction and relationship building an unofficial networking. Along with the daily grind of these particular being marines /soldiers/riflemen. Can go into the wonderful world of basic training having a shitty existence in your job school then getting really should on and abuse when you go to your unit because you’re the new guy they have a bunch of angry Lance Corporal‘s but haven’t picked up letting up that build rage on you. Yeah they all got back from a deployment so you are just a useless booted them. The thing is to infantry culture is both The poster child of toxic masculinity along with having some real gems of what it genuinely means to be a man in a healthy fashion it’s a paradox.

Not my experience is completely different I was a week in the warrior and I’m still and which is a completely different ball of yarn we still go on deployment but you have your life back home in here to manage which is very different than doing it full-time.

Let’s that you focus on the enlisted start them from high school there about the joint what’s motivating them and then do a montage to them going through MEPs bootcamp/basic training their job school know either at their unit. That where is the game begins. But in this moment so the boredom they have to deal with of waiting around show the diverse group of guys that would be in their unit especially true if this is in America. You may have a Palestinian Muslim who grew up in Clifton New Jersey and his parents disowned him for joining. you could have a guy from Nigeria with an accent so thick no one quite understands him but they’re endeared. My recommendation in that case is you balance their life you can do it in skills of weeks when they have time on what to do with themselves. Until the deployment happens. I asked her to want to pick up NCO you, Corporal or Sergeant you got around they were from 4 to 12 guys under you that’s enough to become close to them to be people. Then You have the burden of leadership in very intimate way.

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1.How far is too far? For example, some themes I might want to explore include (war crimes, ultra nationalism, rape, suicide, substance abuse): Children abducted, forced and forced to become child soldiers of Lord’s Resurrected Army( an Islamic extremist group Based on The Lord’s Resistance Army in Northern Uganda, South Sudan, Central African Republic, and The Democratic Republic Of The Congo and ISIS, a Salafi jihadist terrorist organization), ethnic and religious genocide, national anarchy, suicide, and substance abuse.
2.What period would be a good setting for this? (WW2? Modern?): It needs to have a modern setting like the Syrian Civil War.
3.How technical should it be? Would you want to see a ton of historical details?: It should have a fair amount of historical scenes.
4.What kind of scenes do you imagine/ want to see!: The scenes I would like to see the most are civilians caught in the crossfire, the MC fighting an extremist Muslim group, sex slavery, contraband, crucifixions, Islamic religious police, Islamic propaganda, and children forced to become soldiers.

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This. Definitely a good option available. I was an Active Duty Infantry NCO, and we basically got leeway to run the training we wanted to with our new Boots. The hazing, the drinking, the fighting, the whole warrior culture basically. I like your officer idea, but you’d have just as much freedom of choice within your story as an NCO

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Mechanized infantry or light?

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Just regular. My Victor unit was 1st Battalion 1st Marines. Before that I was in Bravo FAST Co.

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@idonotlikeusernames
Hahaha well. I guess so. But I guess it’s all about perspective. Hahaha I think it’s almost impossible for a junior officer to seize power nowadays. I mean, ego is one thing but ruling a country is a whole different matter

@iRgrunt
Yeah, against the backdrop of the world war could be a good period. It’s all terribly hazy though. I’ve been drafting and redrafting the setting. It’s not easy at all. Hahaha the hazing and drinking. Ahhh good times. It’s true that NCOs run the day to day training and play a very key role in operations. Plus @Rogar ran a very convincing argument, but I’ll definitely have to sit down and think this through very carefully

@Rogar
Hahaha the butter bars. That’s true though. I definitely see where you’re coming from wrt the disconnect between an officer and the actual fight. But surely at the PC level, you would be close enough to the ground, and with some semblance of autonomy (even though you would still have to take orders from your OC). Balancing the relationship with your Specialists and Men, whilst still having to accomplish the objectives of higher command would be a tension I would be interested to explore.

At NCO level, this similar tension could probably be replicated at the section level, where the Specialists have to balance the expectations of the Officers with the welfare of the Men. It’s an interesting dynamic for sure, and definitely not something I would be envious of. Character development and relationship building will definitely be a must, and I’m sure that all of that would add to the overall feel of the story, keeping the experience authentic for people with military experience and accessible for civilians with no idea of what it’s like.

Infantry culture. Hahahaha. It’s a wonderful thing isn’t it. Pride and egos so stark in contrast with the grim grunt nature of the work. Still, there’s a lot to explore regarding the balance between deployment and life at home. And it’s definitely going to be a challenge to capture the essence of it without being too draggy. But that’s a great idea, exploring the tension between personal life and military life.

Hmm, what’s a MEP? We probably use different terminology. I love how diverse platoons can get. It’s definitely true not just in America, but again it depends on the setting of the fictional country, and potentially how the world is built. But I would love to explore the concept of foreigners in the platoon, definitely would add a touch of humanizing moments. NCO leadership is definitely not easy, and leading a section of 8 to 12 men would be interesting, given that the relationships could definitely be explored deeper. You have some great arguments there, and I’m very very tempted to agree with going down the NCO route hahaha

@Hylaire_Dessalines1

  1. Child soldiers is an issue I didn’t think about. but yes, equally important. Thank you for that suggestion. Genocide and anarchy, hmm. Looks like we’re going deep into the rabbit hole eh. But yes it sounds like an interesting proposition. Definitely would have to research on them and understand the nuances and context more. But those are great ideas!
  2. Taking the civilian perspective would be interesting and humanizing, especially given how many major war narratives gloss over that. I would probably steer away from anything religious or political. But a freedom fighter/rebel/terrorist group might be a potential major plot point. Interesting suggestions!
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Hey just to be clear bud, I’m not suggesting stuff to try to dominate your creation. I was just trying to provide options available to you. I reread some of how I wrote and I thought it might come off opposite of how I intended

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On the other hand officers do get the nicer uniforms, so fashion could be an argument in favor of the officer route. Particularly if you go early cold war. These French uniforms of that period prove officer uniform fashion hadn’t gotten as utilitarian as it has today:

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You say this project has a personal aspect because you were in the military. Most good writing must be personal. It’s something you need to get out of your system. Choose a time period that gives you access to the events and moral conflicts you want to confront. The project will be better for it.

How far is too far? I hold the notion that nothing is too far. But I prefer that the truly gory stuff be kept “off-screen.”

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@iRgrunt
Hey no worries! You have some totally valid suggestions and the NCO route is def something I might play with! Esp the tension with having to deal w/ the day to day shenanigans of the men and still having to please your officer’s often demanding (and unrealistic) expectations hahahaha

@idonotlikeusernames
Hahahaha uniforms! Hell, even the ceremonial uniforms today are kinda cool. Especially with the over the top shining of boots and deadly uniform inspections. We used to kiwi our boots so hard, experimenting with water and oil to see what worked the best. Good times hahahaha.

@NewWorlds
That’s definitely true! Great suggestions. Actually after hearing everyone’s opinions, I’m tempted to go with WW2 or Modern, and I’m finding it really difficult to commit to one or the other hahaha.

Hmm, what do you mean by this? Do you mean glorifying death and going to the gory details of how someone dies?

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Well I just love a cute guy in uniform, and it so happens officers tend to have unfair uniform advantages. :wink:

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Hahahaha it’s true though. Guys in uniforms always look good :stuck_out_tongue:

By keeping the details “off-screen” I mean not explicitly writing, say, an account of a rape scene. That is horrifying just to think about. How much more to read it?

I prefer to let the reader’s imagination fill in the details. That way they can modulate the story to their desired intensity.

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hmm that’s a fair point. I think it can be implied, but it will have to be in context and there must be some kind of intended impact. Not just there for the shock and awe value. And yeah I guess having the reader fill in the details would be a good strategy to have hahahaha

I think that a good setting would be the Plains Indian Wars in the 1870’s-1880’s America if you are going for the difficult descisions and disillusion, I think that this setting would be perfect. Terrible acts were comitted by fighters of both sides, like the various massacres on Indian Camps comitted by the US Cavalry, and the killing of settlers by Indian warbands. It would also adress the issue of the style of warfare, as this is a great example of guerilla warfare and use of tactics still used today, plus repeating friearms were used widley at the time, so you wouldn’t have to use napoleonic tactics.

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Hmm I’ve always been intrigued by American history, esp w/ the whole era of settlers coming in and the wars that occurred here. Some of the greatest stories and classics I’ve read are from this era, but then again, I’m afraid I don’t have the in depth knowledge and expertise to write a whole story about it!!

@everyone

I’m thinking of going with a 90s period, inspired by the war in Yugoslavia. I don’t have much experience writing about that as well, but in terms of the tactics, the mentality and the equipment, I think I could maybe do some kind of justice. Hopefully. What do yall think?

I’ll be posting up a super short blurb just to see if you guys like the writing style/detail so stay tuned for that! Haven’t been able to write too much, I’ve got a short story coming up too if anyone is interested!! :smile:

Also been thinking of setting up a website for my writing/ my sibling’s work. So we’ll see how it goes!

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I think it would be cool to do a Napoleonic era style warfare and allow the player to choose what part of the army he/she wants to go to like cavalry, or grenadiers, or artillery, or skirmishers depending on their choices made at their time at the academy

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