Former vs Ex and other military stuff

[kathana_grey]

Before I say more, let me tell you that I am not a huge fan of armys. I would want to believe that the human race has the potential to solve conflicts non violently. Unfortunatly potential is the key word and objectivly seen there always will be man made issues that can only be stopped by comming down on offenders hard. Additionally the structure

Comments

[elrhiarhodan]

You are spot on with the distinction between "former" and "ex"

Ex has a huge implication for unwilling or dishonored severance. E.g., ex-wife, ex-husband

Former means that a term has been served and ended. Former president, former serviceman.

As a lover of language and its proper use, this has always been an issue for me. Thank you for pointing it out.

[kathana_grey]

Language and its proper use is not my strong suit when it comes to spelling and grammar. ^^ Not hard to guess.

I don't want to use what amounts to a huge insult. I get the ex/former now and I just hope that there aren't other issues I overlooked in my fic.

It is not the end of the world, people who use ex and former like synonyms won't care and I doubt that many former marines will read my fic, but I observed it with my own reading, I get thrown out of a story whenever I stumble over Gibbs being called an ex-marine.

This is the one that bugs me,

[bjhull]

Not that I've seen it in your fic, but I hate when authors have Tony drink like a fiend on the carrier. US Navy carriers are dry and have been for decades. There's no way that Tony got enough liquor on board to stay blasted the better part of four months.