All Comments on 'How to Pew Vol. 01'

Well done — some great clarification on items too often confused. It's really great to read military fiction written by someone who understands (and carefully researches, if they don't have the first-hand knowledge) and really irritating to plow through stories with huge errors...

Thanks, and this explains why your stories have that authentic feel to them!

Thank you for the lesson.

Lots of good stuff here. I hope the nit-pickers are taking note.

Since we have the attention of authors of military-based stories I'd like to make two or three pleas on behalf of their readers.

1. Please don't get into tedious detail ('I reached for my 150k MXVIIb, [1976 modification] and adjusted the knurly nut to increase the range by 0.0007"'). Meat and drink to a few, mindlessly boring and irrelevant to the story for the rest of us.

2. Remember that good guys vs bad guys shoot-em-up scenarios are better left to video gamers not supposed adults. It's unfair to give the impression that members of the military are simple-minded. Life is far more interesting and complicated than that.

2b.(I couldn't resist it) Occasionally, if only for a moment, ask yourself what you would think/do if there was a foreign tank at the end of your street and snipers were taking potshots at anyone who reached for a mobile phone. Grateful that they had invaded your country to remove your head of state?

The best military stories recognize the moral dilemmas involved.

Entertaining and informative.

“Write what you know” is advice that I take to heart, so I’ll never write about the military.

Thanks for the information. It's clear in your stories that the military references are based on knowledge. I look forward to more of them.

...until I realized it was a how-to on military and weapons. Then I read it and found it to be a nice little summary of information that a lot of writers could use.

There is one issue that the article reminded me of and I was hoping the author or someone else could clear up for me. After Todd172 carefully describes the difference between automatic and semi-automatic;

---QUOTE---Do not confuse Automatic with Semi-automatic. In Automatic fire, you pull the trigger and bullets keep coming out until you release it, run out of ammo or the gun jams; this is a machine gun. Semi-automatic means one trigger pull equals one round.---END QUOTE---

Yet somehow semi-auto handguns are called automatics.

---QUOTE---"Automatics. Nearly all modern military handguns are self-loading semiautomatic pistols aka "automatics."---END QUOTE---

It isn't just Todd172 in this how-to that calls handguns automatics, I see it everywhere in stories here and in media and it always stuck in my head. So why are semi-auto handguns called automatics?

The term "automatic" applied to what is actually a semi-automatic weapon came from the 1890-1910 period. Prior to the time semi-autos came into common use, most handguns were revolvers. Although there were a number of double action revolvers available a the time, most revolvers were single action i.e. one action to cock the hammer, then one action to pull the trigger. When weapons like the first Colt Pocket Pistol became available, they were referred to as "automatic", as in self-cocking. There were no truely automatic weapons around other than those referred to as "machine guns".

With 22 plus years in the Air Force your comment about “the real Army” sounded so familiar that was a frequent phrase offered when something was done different from the last unit. As a radio communications technician I never did the same job twice and seldom worked on the same equipment. With siblings or in-laws in the Army, Navy and Coast Guard and a civilian firefighter (all at the during the same time span) you kept my interest.

This is why Todd is on my favorite author list

I agree with everything the author has said, and I have a couple of personal pet peeves.

The first is when a TV or movie character shoots and kills someone 200 meters (or more) away with a handgun. For most of us, handguns with iron sights do not have the accuracy to kill someone at 200 meters.

I also laugh when I see a TV or movie character pick up an enemies rifle and shoots and kills another enemy at, say 300 meters or further without using a spotter or readjusting the sights for themselves.

Over and out.

Really well done -- wish I'd read it before making several really dumb mistakes in a recent story... A must read for any novice, trying to write scenes involving the military.

My dad told my potential boy “fiends” (as he called them) about him doing that in Vietnam to enemy sentries. Thanks for the walk down memory lane.

I HATE when the good guy goes into a room with his gun drawn, the bad guy is holding a gun to a hostage's head, and says, "Drop your gun or I'll shoot him/her!"

Like a guy will be nicer if you're unarmed than if you're armed!

I hope a lot of writers read this. It will allow me to get past the first couple of paragraphs if they follow your advice. There's nothing worse to me than to read someone who obviously has no clue what he/she is talking about. If you haven't experienced it yourself, research! Follow the guidance of Todd172 and actually have some sort of idea what you are talking about.

Informative and funny. Such a deal...

Green-something

OK, that answer explains the practice of calling handguns automatics in the context of the old style weapons that required cocking the hammer before firing. The practice of calling every newer handgun an automatic just stayed around, despite the introduction of real fully automatic handguns later on.

It still seems to me like a phrase that should have been updated with the times, but then nobody is forcing me to use it and I can accept it for what it is now with that understanding.

The last kid I worked with after he got back from CAG selection took 6 months of physical therapy to get back in shape....I think that people underestimate just how really elite those folks are. DEVGRU is mostly the same, but they like to brag too much and CAG keeps quiet. This is a wonderful reference for folks who want to write about stuff they have not actually experienced.

... for anyone who wants to include military scenes or a character who has served in their story and would prefer not to look like an idiot as a result.

The next time I include either, I'll be referring back to this document.

For anything in your bailiwick, I'd be happy to be your pewpil. Hah! Get it? Pewpil? Okay, that was horrible. Sorry.

Thanks for the acknowledgement Todd! Magazine, clip. I called him on that in I think, Mausefalle. I really can't remember because the excellence in writing over shadows everything else. Except clip, magazine...

You forgot a minor point about the Coast Guard: The minimum height requirement. All Coasties must be at least 6 feet tall. That way they can wade ashore should their boat sink.

Yes, I was in the Navy...

However when I was in the USAF our range master could consistently hit a 55 gallon barrel at 200 yards with his .38 Special. It is important to note that it was seated rest, two handed grip, over his knees, with a backrest. The same revolver he always used, same ammo, same distance, same target, ... and hundreds to thousands of repetitions. So it can be done, but not off hand at a random distance and target as Pet Peeve noted that we see on TV or movies.

is that everybody's experience is different. If you want to write about this stuff, you want to know what the "normal" OP is and give a believable background but some of your story is going to be a bit "Abby" on the normal scale. Case in point: how I volunteered for jump school. I didn't. One of my drill sergeants in Basic was ex-Special Forces and offered some basic hand-to-hand instruction to anyone who was interested. He picked a couple of us and asked us to attack him. I had had a year of college and a dorm counselor who was from Japan, had a black belt from the Kodokan in Judo, and had spent most of that year teaching me how to fall down, so I tried a hip throw and was surprised when it worked. The other guy he picked was from Florida and had boxed semi-pro and that was pretty much it for the class that day. After I completed Field Artillery Radar Operators school, everybody in my class got orders for Germany but I, who had a German language proficiency rating from spending the year before I signed up working and traveling over there, had orders for Ft. Benning. No volunteering or physical test. They said I could dispute it and then I'd go to Nam, so I went through jump school and ended up there anyway, a year and a half later as the medic on Det. A343, Duc Phong.

I think you have are and have been around the block a few times. The number of people I have partially read doing war stories who obviously got their military and weapons training from "World of Warfare" or some other fantasy game drives me crazy. In my experience the Marine Corps gets along best with the Hospital Corps over all other military groups (except when we came at them with a needle). A very old "Doc" who actually earned a doctorate after he found a way to get around the liberal guards at schools that had offered me full scholarships before I got drafted saying that I was not qualified to enter their institution under their new criteria. I served during Viet Nam. Even the US government passed me over 5 times in a row for a job in favor of a foreigner with a barely passing score of 70. I had a 90 on the civil service exam (before adding my 5 points as a veteran). Very well written, with a few minor peccadilloes. Please keep writing!

I read all the comments hoping someone would ask what the title means. Nobody did. What the fuck does Pew mean besides church bench? Asking for a friend.

"Pew" is slang for shoot, or more often, to engage in a firefight. It probably came from the "gunfire" in "Star Wars" and then got filtered through gamers. Many younger soldiers are hard core gamers, so, over time, it filtered into military lingo.

That points up something I should probably cover in another volume. Each service has its own "cant" or language. They also change over time - a Vietnam War era "REMF" or "Rear Echelon Motherfucker" is an Iraq War "Fobbit" for instance. Getting that right is both important and difficult.

Thanks for an interesting explanation. You are so right about things being different for every jar head, wingnut, or swabbie. What I experienced in Viet Nam (DaNANG -Rocket City, USAF) was very different from what my brother USMC Artillery dealt with during his year in hell. To those who remember: Welcome Home.

Much experience here, gained hard over years and lives. He has "seen the elephant" which is of course, a mouse built to government specs :). or has a lot of contact with those who have BTDT.

Anyone writing about aircraft should know a garage for aircraft is a hangar. Anyone using hanger should be flogged.

In my 30 years with this organization, I never found "The Real Army" either. Every time got close to some soldier who supposedly knew where that was, I was always told, "he's out in the field now"! Start at the Division HQ; "oh, he's not here. We sent him out in the field with Brigade", and on and on. I think somewhere, somplace, on this planet, there are two grunts with a shelter half and an entrenching tool out in some giant muddy field. Those two are the only ones "out in the field".

Seems odd to ignore the monetary reasoning for marriage. A marriage raises pay from a downright criminal rate that almost qualifies for food stamps to an almost able to afford an apartment without contaminated tap water.

The possibilities for Jody are endless.

This is great info overall, but I have to commend you on your description of getting shot (you don't go flying through the window) and the knife fight (last resort). War isn't funny, but you had me laughing through those descriptions. Thanks for a great article.

@thc1776 & tangledweed.

A revolver such as the Colt Personal Pocket MAY have been called ‘automatic’ for a while, but they have been properly identified as ‘double action’ for over a century. They have an advantage of being used (with a few exceptions*) as single action when circumstances permit. That is a lighter 2nd action (releasing the hammer = firing.) The trigger-pull is notably heavier in double- than single-action. The ‘single’ option is usually only viable in a firefight on the first round fired. ‘Fanning’ the hammer is for old (B&W) Westerns or Wild West shows.

Basically, ‘automatic’ is a just an abbreviation for ‘semi-automatic’ when talking about the most popular handguns. I personally prefer a ‘wheelgun’ because misfires are less common, although not a big problem (until it is!) Fewer rounds is a quibble met with adequate stoppage (and a speed loader, then a backup!

*single-action is not feasible if the hammer is enclosed or the hammer-spur is absent.

One thing left out or at least shaded over would be the fixed bayonet. I remember a really telling comment by one of my DIs back in the day. "If your bayonet gets stuck in the enemy, fire off a round, that will dislodge it! Of course, he went on, if you had a round left to fire you are the worlds stupidest grunt!" We spent a lot of time on bayonet drill/pugil sticks. I have to agree with Todd172, if you got to the point of needing/using the bayonet/knife in combat you were definitely in a world of hurt!

8 years , 1972-1980, I sat behnd a desk and with minimal training (my degree was in speical ed) I worked as a Social Work/Psychiatry specialist. I was 20 when I began and was totally unprepared for the what I experienced. There was no diagnosis of PTSD. I saw dependants as well. I matured and did better near the end. Try being an E-5 and seeing a wacked out Sgt Major .

For those who want to throw their money at todd here is a comment that he put in a place where very few would read it.

We have novelized the first three Needles and Delaney stories into an ebook on Amazon, titled, originally enough as "Needles and Delaney." We did that partly because so many have asked us to, partly because it was just something new to do, and partly as to protect the work - there are people who skim sites for stories then publish them as ebooks under false names. Some of the real heavy hitters here have had that happen to them.

Doc Spirit 3

For those who want to throw their money at todd here is a comment that he put in a place where very few would read it.

We have novelized the first three Needles and Delaney stories into an ebook on Amazon, titled, originally enough as "Needles and Delaney." We did that partly because so many have asked us to, partly because it was just something new to do, and partly as to protect the work - there are people who skim sites for stories then publish them as ebooks under false names. Some of the real heavy hitters here have had that happen to them.

Doc Spirit 3

I personally never found the Real Air Force, and a Navy Vet Uncle of mine assures me he never found the Real Navy, either. That section of this tutorial was something I needed to read and didn't even know I needed top read until just now.

Two things that really get to me. One is when someone uses the term soldier when describing a marine. The other is the use of the word "clip" when discussing a "magazine". My brother was career Army. An uncle was career Army Air Force/Air Force and survived the Bataan death March. Several vets I know are marines, but we still get along. I did a short Navy stint.

Thanks

A few observations:

1. Special Forces (green berets) are the nicest guys I have ever met. Personable, likeable, friendly. It's part of their job.

2. SEALS were the all time biggest asaholes. I'm sure they are great guys, I just never got that from the few I worked with.

3. Delta, and other associated units, were almost all very mature professionals.

4. Air Force operators were great at their jobs, but tended to be too "try hard." They had an "I'm an operator, so the rules don't apply to me" attitude, then would leave their weapons lying on the side of a road where someone like me would pick them up, secure them, then contact their lieutenant to come get them. Amateur hour.

When it came to drinking beers, SF and Delta top my list. SEALs and Air Force PJs are at the bottom. Marines are in a category by themselves. Hint to young Marine lieutenants, don't sit down at a table full of Air Force field grade officers eating breakfast and lead off with this (said in a thick Brooklyn accent), "I've got the Hispanic disease. I'm so good looking women are afraid to fuck me, but I fuck them anyway." I don't know how a Marine will take this, but that is one of the all time funniest things I ever heard.

Only quibble is the line about vests and helmets. Yes they can stop (some) bullets. And yes, getting hit by bullets hurt. But getting hit by bullets that the vest stops also hurts like hell. It is actually possible to still kill someone with a shot that never penetrates the vest if it is close enough to the heart and from short enough distance. Broken ribs are not altogether uncommon from rounds that fail to penetrate either from close to medium range. I don’t think I’m telling you anything you don’t already know, but someone who doesn’t know better could read that and come away with the wrong idea.

Pet peeve of mine is shotguns “ cutting someone in half “ while a devastating weapon, they create hamburger not holes. The second half of shotguns is “ point in the general direction “ when used for close range. A 12 ga improved cylinder at 8 yards ( a very big room by the time you stand and they stand in front of furniture ) still has a pattern of less than 3 inches .

While comments about clips/magazines are correct, WWII guys like my dad and uncle using the Garand , and BAR, and Thompson, and 1911 and whatever German and Italian stuff they picked up when ammo was short, used the terms interchangeably and they fired more rounds than the guys since can even comprehend.

Useful and entertaining.

Thank you!

It is tiresome to listen to the media, or political, talking heads babble like they actually know something. Your clarification as to what, does, in fact define the term assault rifle ought to be illuminating to the Left.....or would be if accurate knowledge was important to them. Oh, well, sorry go off like that.

Pet peeve of mine in military stories is when say soldier, sailor, marine. The proper way to write the names is to use caps: Soldier, Sailor, Marine. Just my two cents.

Enjoyed the story, look forward to reading the authors other works.

There's a group in the UK called the Ermine Street Guard (I think that's right) - they do serious re-enactment of Roman infantry. Their marching kit weighs between 60 & 90 pounds. It's just what a fit person can carry for a more-or-less extended time.

Thanks for this, interesting.

5* thanks for sharing.

Dixon (UK)

For some reason I'm surprised that there was no coverage of MREs. I mean granted, they are kinda trivial, however the small details really can be what makes a story, especially for readers that know what you're talking about in bits of dialogue. For example, a guy commenting that he's seen better slop from an old retort main with a side of those dry, bland ass giant crackers than the shit his wife cooks. XD