Wow! Time sure does fly when you're busy!!! I've been meaning to write a few things about some of the classes that I took at LTUE. (Life, the Universe and Everything) It is an amazing writing conference with tons of classes. Here is a compilation of notes that I took in the military classes I took. I loved these classes! Since I am just getting to the final battle in my third book, this was perfect timing.

Military & Military SF / Military Strategies

(The presenters of these two classes were all former or current military personnel. You can easily modify this info to Fantasy.)

RESEARCH

*One of the most important things you can do for your book is Research!

*Read military guidelines from around the world. Rules can be different from country to country. In the US Military, it's against the law to use your ranking to make money, but in other countries, it's not. Example - you can use the barges to transfer goods for trade to make money.

*Read military history. Every war throughout the world, both past and present, have all been different. Different weapons and strategies. Find examples of what you're looking for, and there's your blue print! You can even combine aspects of the wars you choose to make the war you're writing about your own.

*Find veterans to tell you stories of war times (actual fighting) and off times (not actual fighting). You can find all kinds of humor for off times of fighting.

*Off times (not fighting) consists of four things: training, cleaning weapons, eating and sleeping.

*Have a mis-hap during training time. It relieves boredom.

Movies to watch: "War & Peace" and "Shogun"

ORGANIZATION

*Typically the officers - General, Colonel, etc. stay behind the lines. They direct the troops, so they have to stay safe.

*Perfect knowledge for the General allows him to know exactly when and where to go. This rarely happens!

*OODA Loop -

 Orient yourself to the situation

 Observe - gain as much info a possible

 Decision

 Act

While you are doing the OODA Loop, so is the enemy.

*The goal of the General is to DECIDE faster than the enemy. "Getting inside the other's OODA Loop"

*Too much information makes it difficult to decide which is the top priority and it slows down the OODA Loop.

*It always seems like the enemy is cheating, but if you do the same thing, you're being creative and thinking outside the box.

*Military officers need to keep removed friendship-wise from the Privates because the officers need to do things that are contrary to human nature. They probably don't want to be there because they are putting other's lives in danger. They don't like it because they WANT to be close to the troops, but they can't. If they were to get close to the troops, they would much rather put themselves in danger instead of the troops because the soldiers would be their friends. And who in their right mind would put their friends' lives in danger?

*Romance between officers & enlisted is NOT allowed! It causes all kinds of problems - jealousy, breaking rules, enlisted won't listen to you or follow orders if they know the officers are breaking rules themselves. EXCELLENT conflicts!!!

*Field commissions never happen. Private to Captain. It only happens to officers moving up. Never enlisted to officer.

STRATEGIES

*On a siege/attack, make sure the attacking force has the defenders believing you're coming from one spot, but actually you're coming from a completely different spot.

*Try to get someone or a small group inside to undermine the walls. Or you could have superior weapons to know down the walls.

*3 kinds of warfare-

1. attrition - face to face. Last one standing wins.

2. maneuver - move your people into place before and during shooting. Moving/acting smart.

3. asymmetrical - unbalanced sides. One side is far superior to the other, but someone with more wits can overcome insurmountable odds.

*Logistics is what keeps the troops moving and getting into place - it includes feeding the army.

*Focus on the "tail" (food, enough artillery, etc.), not just the "teeth" (bullets). It's impossible to have a gun with unlimited supply of bullets.

Quote - "Amateurs discuss tactics, Professionals discuss logistics"

WEAPONS - ideas & strategies

*Bows & Arrows - bunch up for better shooting strategy.

*Artillery - people scatter

*Lazer guns - have people wear reflective clothing to reflect the lazers.

*Rail guns - electromagnetic - can shoot a projectile without any chemical reaction. Power supply is always a problem. (conflict)

*Guided bullet from machine gun - power supply is always a problem (conflict)

- can shoot around corners.

- lazer point projects target directly to bullet, allowing it to go around corners, through walls, etc. until it reaches target before exploding.

*Magic can be used in the same way as artillery

*Military personnel are very creative. They are constantly figuring out new ways to do things, save people, etc.

LANGUAGE

*Military language will always be rated R, just for the vulgarity. The f-bombs can be used in ANY place in the sentence and it will be correct grammar. They cuss A LOT!

*You will never hear "It's a good day to die for our country". Soldiers are willing to do for their buddies, not necessarily for their country, because they know their buddies would die for them.

*Talk to military people to learn their slang. There are slang words for everything.

SOCIAL

*Military life to Civilian life is very difficult. You may need to translate - internal conflict

*War sucks and it affects the mind, especially if they have to kill someone.

They ended their presentation with a plea for us to treat military with respect and dignity, even though there is an audience for military bashing. This can also reflect in Fantasy writing, where if you rip on the military, your readers will relate that to your ripping on our military. The chances of us being called to serve in the military are very small, but these men and women have chosen to put their lives on the line to serve our country. Please show them respect.