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Writing advice...

... About military things from a soldier :)

Pt.1 / ?: Guns

You wanna write a story with a militaristic setting, like CoD or R6S? And you wanna have action, but you've got no clue about guns and gunfights and don't know where to start?

Well, lucky for you or not I know what that feels like and I've also got the combat / real life experience to help ya out!

Feel free to hop in my askbox or dm's and ask questions. I'll gladly elaborate and do my best to answer in full and plenty.

Happy writing y'all! :)

So, first of all: Guns are heavy. As in multiple kilogramms heavy. A loaded rifle can easily weigh anywhere between 3 - 5kg. Handguns can be between 900gr - 2kg. The exact weight depends on the gun itself and wether it's loaded or not. A gun w a full magazine is obvs gonna weigh more than a gun without.

Second of all: Despite what you see in video games, you do not just pull the trigger and blast your whole magazine at the enemy. It takes seconds to empty a rifle but gunfights can last for hours - hence why soldiers are trained to count their shots and only shoot in salves.

Third of all: If a soldier ever gets to the point where they gotta pick up rifles found on the ground cause they're either outta ammo or lost theirs... They're probably fucked.

Fourth of all: Soldiers know their weapons. They know the exact type, the name, how to dis- and reassemble it in under a minute, gloves on and eyes closed. We know everything we could possibly know about our gun, down to the exact number of how much it weighs. And yes, we gotta take our gun apart and thoroughly clean it after every. Single. Use.

Fifth of all: Do not - and I repeat - do not shoot towards the sky. That bullet you just shot will come down somewhere (gravity n all) and no one can predict where and what damage it'll possibly do upon impact.

Writing advice...

... About military things from a soldier

Pt. 2 / ?: Women and relationships in the military

You wanna write a story with a militaristic setting, like CoD or R6S? You wanna create a female OC, self insert or character, but you don't know where to start, if women are even allowed in the military?

Well, lucky for you or not I know what that feels like and I've also got the combat / real life experience to help ya out!

Feel free to hop in my askbox or dm's and ask questions. I'll gladly elaborate and do my best to answer in full and plenty.

Disclaimer: My experiences and knowledge are mostly based on the German military, the Bundeswehr. They may differ from those of other countries.

Happy writing y'all! :)

Are women allowed in the military?

The answer seems obvious: Yes. Most militaries around the world do allow women to enlist. Some, however, do not allow women to join the special forces, such as the SAS, for example.

Certain branches report a higher number of female soldiers than others. The US army air force and sanitation in the German military are two examples I can think of.

Some countries do allow women to enlist but forbid them from partaking in "action", such as North Korea, Sweden, Norway, Bolivia and some more.

What about misogyny by male soldiers?

In my six years of active duty I've learnt that sexism rarely occurs, but when it does, it's straight forward and nasty. Most men don't care about your gender. They treat you like you're one of them, and oftentimes even forget about the fact that you're a woman. The few times I was talked down to for my gender was blatant and hateful though; but even then, some of these opinions didn't come from within the military, but from civilians. (Cue the old granpa who saw me travelling back home in uniform and just had to tell me that women belong in the kitchen, how in the good old days women were still women yadda yadda. Yeah, I had the same look about on my face like you now.)

Appearance is important!

As is in any military. I can't speak for them though, but in my experience, light and natural make up is allowed. Nail polish and lipstick are a hard no though, albeit the latter may be allowed for special occassions. If there's one thing my comrades have taught me it's that most men in the military got no clue about make up, so you'll probs get away with more than you'd think.

The exact rules however depend on your unit and what you do. Back when I was in sanitation I'd be working a pretty standard 9 to 5. Worked in the medbay and treated patients, kept the medical archive in order, pretty normal stuff. My superior allowed us to wear small ear studs. When I got deployed to another base I was almost lynched for wearing them. Really depends on the ones in charge.

As for hairstyles: Most units are fine with anything as long as your hair is up and out of your face. Now, we didn't have to use gel to keep stray hairs at bay. It wasn't that strict. Just don't use any flashy hair accessories and hair ties that match your hair colour. Oh, and your hair must be a) one colour and b) a naturally occuring one. The length doesn't matter as long as you're not Rapunzel. If your hairstyle is anything other than a pixie cut, you will have to wear a hair net under your combat helmet.

Do men and women stay in seperate dorms?

Seperate rooms? Yeah. Seperate dorms? Nope.

Sometimes you'd have couples who shared a dorm room. It's a whole process that your superior has to give his ok to, but I honestly wouldn't recommend it. Dorm rooms aren't exactly big. You need privacy? Well, that's too bad.

If you're lucky enough you get to have a room for yourself. Depending on what branch / base you're in, the rooms will be more or less furnished. Back when I worked at the ministry of foreign affairs, my room was pretty luxurious for milutary standards: TV, fridge, sofa, bed, desk w chair, a closet and a bathroom next door. That's definitely not the standard though. We usually had to buy and bring our own stuff, like blankets, fridge, decorations, whatever you'd need to make that cold room somewhat comfy. (Wifi is also not a given. Gotta get your own connection running.)

Flings, relationships, cheating spouses... How common is it really?

They do happen, though not as often as you'd think.

It's more common to hear rumors about who has smth going with who and these rumors can get BAD. As in reputation and career ruining bad. At that point there's gonna be an order from higher up to stop talking about these rumors and punishment can be quite strict. (Speaking of rumors...Hate to say it, but the more women a unit had, the worse talking behind others backs was.)

One thing that I always found particularly disgusting were relationships between higher ups and recruits. Yes, they happen. No, they're not allowed. These things are like open secrets. If found out and proven to exist, the superiors will be held accountable by military law. Outside of basic training it may be frowned upon if a superior were to enter any kind of relation with someone of lower rank, thought not outright punishable.

As for cheating... Well, I haven't enountered any cheating myself, nor heard of it (yet). Not saying that it doesn't happen, but at least over here in Germany it's rare. It's highly frowned upon and will open you up to rumors and... Not so nice treatment by comrades. Cheating on a spouse is punishable by military law. A soldier found guilty may be demoted in rank, suffer financial losses or even get dishonourably discharged.

Russia Invaded Ukraine

DONATION LINKS:

https://savelife.in.ua

https://voices.org.ua/en/

https://ukrainewar.carrd.co/

SUPPORT SANCTIONS OF RUSSIA

In 2014, Russia annexed a part of Ukraine (Crimea) and since then has been funding and arming Pro-Russian separatist and terrorist groups that have seized Donbas, an eastern region in Ukraine. Russia has been funding a civil war in Ukraine, essentially. Recently, the separatist groups have been sending civilian women, children and elderly out of Ukraine and into Russia, but leaving fighting-age men inside. These separatist are directly controlled by Kremlin (the government of Russia) and they are how Russia has been leading a proxy war on Ukraine since 2014. 

But now, Russia has sent their own troops in, which is an invasion. They are doing it under the pretence of ‘peacekeeping’, but this is an obvious lie.

Russia accuses Ukraine of aggressing on Donbas and on Russia, prompting the war on Russia and conducting genocide on its own people. None of this is true. Russia is the one arming Pro-Russian terrorists in Ukraine, Russia has been surrounding and provoking Ukraine with military, and is the one that has been spreading misleading historically-inaccurate disinformation. It’s what Russia did in Georgia in 2008 and similar to what Germany did in Poland in 1939.

Making this post cuz I don’t see anything on tumblr about this, and to spread links and information. 

If I find any more donation fund links, I will add them to this post.

I'm currently doing an online art school program and I thought I'd share some notes on clothing pieces for anyone else whose like me and for some reason can't understand objects with free from lol I hope you find some of these observations/ notes useful for any of your art journeys!

another post because i have illness of the brain BATIM/BATDR characters and songs that remind me of them!! theres ah. quite a lot oops.. idk if some of these are ooc but idc 🕺

here's a playlist if youd like to listen to all the songs in the order ive listed

Joey Drew: The Main Character - Will Wood Mr. Big Shot - Anarbor Ruler of Everything - Tally Hall Fear & Delight - The Correspondents (go watch the music video btw its like a baby sensory video for people with autism /hj) What I Want - The Living Tombstone Dead Inside - Younger Hunger Art is Dead - Bo Burnham Sin Triangle - Sidney Gish Young Stars - The Struts Ghost - Nelward Everybody Likes You - Lemon Demon Season 2 Episode 3 - Glass Animals Pools - Glass Animals Money On My Mind - UPSAHL Wrecking Ball - Mother Mother Jesus Don't Like That I'm Gay but Satans Cool With it - Lil Boodang

Other characters below the cut :)

Henry Stein: Rules - The Hoosiers Community Gardens - The Scary Jokes All the Dying - Mother Mother Make the Grade - Jack Conte Black Swan - The Struts Stress - UPSAHL Clockwork - Palaye Royale Don't Panic - Coldplay Nightmare - Set It Off Frying Pan - Mother Mother

Sammy Lawrence: Homunculus - Trickle God's Whisper - Raury Your body, My temple - Will Wood Touch Tone Telephone - Lemon Demon SPLIT! - Jhariah This Is Love - Air Traffic Controller UP TO SNUFF! (I'm On Fire) - atsuover People I Don't Like - UPSAHL What Good Am I - Johnny Manchild and the Poor Bastards Hospital - The Used phony - kafu (Will Stetson Cover) (my bf suggested this one!)

Audrey: Could Have Been Me - The Struts Mr. Maker - Crimson Apple Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land - MARINA Imposter Syndrome - Sidney Gish

The Ink Demon: still feel. - half•alive Cabinet man - Lemon Demon It's All So Incredibly Loud - Glass Animals Punching Bag - Palaye Royale Gestapo - Johnny Manchild and the Poor Bastards Terrible Ride - The Queenstons Boogieman - Sock.clip (YES I KNOW THIS IS AN FNF SONG FIGHT ME) Monster - Bassetfilms (yes yes another fnf song LISTEN lemon demon/monster fits for the ink demon leave me alone im right) What You Do - The Queenstons Bad Blood - Creature Feature Inside of You, In Spite of You - ThouShaltNot

Buddy Lewek: Soda - Nothing But Thieves No Love in LA - Palaye Royale Radio - Johnny Manchild and the Poor Bastards Let Me Down Slowly - Alec Benjamin Why Worry - Set It Off Fine, Great - ModernBaseball

Malice/Twisted Alice: Snuff Out the Light - Eartha Kitt Miss Baltimore Crabs - Hairspray OST Kill Your Darling - Cloudy June

Henry & Joey: You're All Scotch No Soda - Sarah and the Safe Word Lost Kitten - Metric The Ol' Switcheroo - The Struts I Know You Better Than That - Johnny Manchild and the Poor Bastards Sick On Seventh Street - Sarah and the Safe Word You'll Be Gone - Yonkagor Pork Soda - Glass Animals One Big Beautiful Sound - Johnny Manchild and the Poor Bastards Fallacy - Yonkagor Your Love (Déjà Vu) - Glass Animals Skeleton Song - Kate Nash Oleander - Mother Mother Drink - Destroy Boys No Children - The Maintain Goats

a psa for those writing for johnny “soap” mctavish

as much as a love the works you’re all writing, a lot of people really don’t know how to write a scottish character (and that’s ok !!!! we get like no rep so) so as a scottish writer, i figured i should help you guys out a little bit.

dialogue

johnny has a VERYYY strong accent as i’m sure anyone can work out

however this doesn’t mean he’s suddenly speaking a different language

yes, a lot of slang is used and for a basic definition of scottish slang and how they should be used; use this ! if you have no idea of slang i’d recommend reading through every word

although we like to use slang, i can promise you that if we’re with someone that wouldn’t understand a word of it / someone who’s first language isn’t english, we wouldn’t speak fully scot (for example if johnny was speaking to alejandro or rudy)

there’s absolutely nothing to suggest he can speak gaelic. yeah i know this is an obvious one but i have seen a few people slip gaelic into his dialogue and that’s super duper inaccurate

barely anyone in scotland speaks gaelic (unless you’re up very high north or maybe in the isles). it’s actually almost an extinct language because the english pretty much wiped it out when we got colonised.

something i love to see is when he mumbles little scottish things under his breath. accurate af.

we say shite more than shit. and never ever will a scottish person say ass. it’s arse all the way.

we don’t call people (especially if you’re sleeping with someone !!!!) lass. or lassie. we call kids that.

pet names are normally along the lines of love, hen (my personal fave), sweetheart, little lady, bonnie (sometimes)

also, shagging is sex. shag, shagged, shagger. yeah.

mum not mom. maw, more commonly.

all that being said he does use a loottttt of slang so honestly go ham i love seeing scots language get used because it’s not been used in fanfic like ever before

culture

seen a few people write soap going mad for st andrews day

yeah no we don’t to that lol i barely every remember that it’s actually st andrews day

also, we aren’t all completely versed on celtic mythology. i could barely tell you the first thing about it.

in scotland we’re all kind of touchy, like we’ll greet people with a hug and stand weirdly close to each other so if that’s something you’re writing about it’s important to note that our personal space is really small

not sure where people get this idea from but scotland isn’t all sheep and highlands and fairies and like little huts

yes we have that but we’re a really modern nation and wayyy to many people have a weird perception of scotland

my man is literally from like glasgow (his accent sounds glasgow but don’t quote me on that) he’s not a farmer or anything

we swear. a lot.

KILTS. not skirts, very common to wear in scotland to events like weddings, christenings, anything formal really.

cunt isn’t a horrible word i literally everyone a cunt, sometimes it’s used affectionately

misc.

if you’re gonna write about scottish politics i beg you research it. johnnys probably pro independence and an SNP voter. google it for context

we’re really loud. and we talk really fast. yes, other characters are gonna be confused af

irn bru !!!!!!!!! it’s a scottish drink and ive seen one person mention it and i just about cried i loved it

in scotland you can vote at 16 and join the army at 16 if that’s relevant to you

if you’re going to write about something you don’t know anything about, either do research or ask someone scottish (im more than happy to help!!)

please don’t take these as complaints or anything !! it’s just very very off putting to see people make massive misconceptions and conclusions about scotland! i love that we’re finally getting some hype. anyways ask about anything!! <3

made some versions of the agony grip for my friends for when the whole gang gets it . including different levels depending on the anguish

and a joyous one for when there is love abound