Military deployment questions

[lonewulf04]

This isn't for this website's journal, so if you hope to see anything posted about this here, I'm sorry to say you'll be waiting a long time. However I don't have anything like this over at my "clean journal" website.

I don't know how to research some of this besides asking people who were in the military. Most of the books or internet reference

Comments

[stormwreath]

If you have limited resources, then I'd think that multipurpose aircraft is the way to go. After all, what's the real difference between a transport helicopter and a search-and-rescue helicopter? None, except the SAR helo would have paramedics on board, and if at sea, a trained diver/swimmer to go into the water to rescue the stranded person. So you can either have the full-time crew of the helicopters all trained in such duties, or have a floating SAR team on board ship who would all pile into the nearest helicopter when they were needed - whichever is most efficient.

It's a question of how often they'd be required for their particular job. After all, in land combat it's extremely likely that large numbers of soldiers will be injured far from a hospital and need to be evacuated, so having a fleet of dedicated medical helicopters is a good idea. But in the navy, I'd have thought the requirement will be much rarer.

*****

Something else that struck me: your character who's "a bit of a slacker": if you don't want to overplay that, maybe have him screwing up in the past a couple of times in a big way, and now the reputation is following him around? So most of the time he does his duty perfectly well, and isn't constantly being put on a charge or disciplined - but his superiors are suspicious of him, and don't give him the benefit of the doubt, and when he grumbles and curses about this treatment he's accused of 'whining'.

According to this:
http://www.naval-history.net/WW1NavyUS-Ranks.htm
A 'Baker First Class' would be a Petty Officer First Class, or an E-6 by modern designation.

[lonewulf04]

edit: I probably forgot to mention that the concept of this time period is economic and thus social and political upheaval. Thus the concept of medical helo's would be generally more necessary. Border wars and piracy being a large contributor to the conflicts.

Yeah, I think I WILL use that concept of a reputation following him. After all, one usually doesn't just go "poof!" "I'm a whiner today" lol
I see him less as a grumbler and curser. That would imply he thinks first of himself. I see him more as a timid, self effacing sort of fellow which is why he is not well liked. He's the gloomy Gus. He doesn't doubt his troop's abilities, but his own, which makes him whine, though not much. He's in a shell that his NCO and fellow troops see needing to be broken for him to be a efficient working part of the troop.

Aha! cool! I always wondered what rank that really was! (silly to keep saying but .. thanks for this!)