I'm still working out the big details, but I've got a character now who's a sniper in a (as of yet non specific) private military group. Her father was a Green Beret, and he died at some point (conditions unknown for now), so she wears his Green Beret. She is not an actual Green Beret, though. Would that be frowned upon? And if so, would it still be frowned upon if her colleagues knew the reason she wore it? She doesn't go shopping in it. It's only for missions. I kinda see her with a beret in my mind, though. What would be acceptable options, if not a green beret? Oh, and while I have you here: Is there a minimum height for snipers?
This right here is what gives you latitude to do what you want. Does the private militia have uniforms, or does everyone wear their own cobbled-together ones, or maybe somewhere in between? Maybe a little customization is allowed.
I strongly doubt it would be seen as acceptable to wear the mark of special forces if you were not special forces… regardless of who your father was Also on missions a beret is not a very effective piece of head gear… it’s notable that the actual green berets rarely wore them in the field … usually they’d wear boonie hats or similar A sniper in particular would want something that would work better as camouflage on the second point no minimum heigh for snipers both Carlos hathcock and vasily zaitev were short
Contractors, private military groups, recruitment is typically former military, with emphasis on the special operations community. In that community a green beret is seen as something earned in Q course, So could result in hostile attitudes. This might help with the characters background and your desire for the beret as head gear for her. A maroon beret has been adopted as official headdress by the Airborne forces, a tan beret by the 75th Ranger Regiment, a brown beret by the Security Force Assistance Brigades, and a green beret by the Special Forces. Sniper school requirements https://work.chron.com/prerequisites-becoming-military-sniper-23513.html
Us military has height and weight requirements for service, but sniper school doesn't have requirements other than being in compliance with AR 600-9, service height and weight requirements.
I was gambling on that, yeah. I don't have much beyond the introductory mission, so I'll have to put some more development into the "group". I don't know much about military, let alone that of the US, but movies make it clear there's a strong sense of honor and, ehm... "earning". What's the word I'm looking for? Oh good. I can keep the height-jokes. Yeah, the beret goes. Also, I'm not sure if I'm using "private military" correctly. Maybe it should be one of those three letter agenecies instead, but for now I'm going with "fancy A-Team". In this particular scene, she and the guy the book is supposed to be about have been sent into an as of yet generic South American jungle to steal a file with possible locations for someone's kidnapped daughter. It'll get better, honest. There's really just one experimental chapter at the moment.
I would suggest "Alone at dawn" by Dan Schilling and Lori Longfritz, along with "Operation Pineapple Express" by Scott Mann, for a look inside the mindset of elite military units. Contractors would work for that scenario, something like Black water. I would suggest Army Ranger, which keeps the beret. And is believable since 100 women have now passed Ranger school.
No, sounds about right. And even if it isn't, she needs to be likable, so I'm steering clear of it anyhow. Just got off a call with Randy and Laura, by the way. Soon as I took the beret off her, she changed into a character I had lying around for a while. Was a prostitute when I first conceived of her, but now she's got a rifle. Freud would probably love it.
I hope it was productive. I love working with them. Their suggestions always have reasoned logic behind them.
Prostitute with a rifle, or is it a gun? Makes me think of that scene in Full Metal Jacket: "This is my rifle, this is my gun."
Please, not another prostitute.... It's another cliche but having lost her father she could just be a troublemaker who is given a choice by a judge - prison or the military. She wears the green beret when she gets to basic training/boot camp, and is, um, 'educated' by her drill instructor. My understanding is that they wear Ghillie Suits adapted to the terrain in which they will be working to break up their outline. They even camouflage their weapons.
In ref of ghillie suits it depends on what they are doing and what range they are firing over if your engaging at near a mile with a barret 50 concealment isn’t as important as if you are getting close in a jungle
Yeah, we're gonna work together. It's for killing, but I do feel she's also having fun. Err, not with the rifle. Or, not that kind of fun with the rifle, that's dangerous... You know what, this joke got away from me. No, I'm not touching that now. ;o) No, don't worry. She was a prostitute when I first conceived of her character, long before even writing my first book. She didn't have a chance either, because I was trying to write porn, so... But she's not a prostitute now. I'm sure she gets around, she's not shy, but she's trained in handling the rifles, not the "guns". That, and I don't have the confidence I could write a prostitute in a non-erotic story without it going juvenile anyway. The porn-experiment was a good breeding ground (that's an unfortunate choice of words, yes) for likable and/or fun characters, so I reach into the archives every now and then. Yeah, I know more about snipers than I do other military branches. At one point i thought it would be cool to become a sniper... Because I played one in a videogame... These days, I can't get out of a chair without making noise.
Even at range, a good hide is better than a ghille. The environment is also a major factor. People forget that snipers do more than just shoot. They often use those same skills to sneak into an area for recon.
she can wear it if that's your preference, whether it is frowned upon, it's your story, you can build further narrative from that point, if it was frowned upon in real world terms, you could use that put her into trouble or not, there's many options, keep it as real or fictional as you wish
I don't see how it would be a problem if it was just the beret and as long as she doesn't claim to be a Green Beret.
I'm guessing you've not been in the forces.. the green beret is earned on graduation from the US special forces program, (same as the Winged dagger and tan beret is for the SAS in the uk) wearing one when you've not earned it is a big problem for anyone who got theirs the hard way, this also applies to pretty much anything else which is earned not purchased, both inside the forces and out. try going into a biker bar wearing a back patch which you've not prospected for, or going to college wearing a letter jacket for a sports varsity you've not played for and you'd see why its a problem. That's not to say the OP can't use it in the book of course, but if there are ex special forces people on the team they'd have a big problem with it...which could be a plot point
I ask my readers to adjust their views of realism on a lot of things. These details like the beret and other stuff is where I do my best to balance it out. I haven't met the rest of the team yet because I'm now working three stories to see which one reaches take-off speed, but I'm pretty sure there are special forces folks in there. So, no beret. There's too much that needs to happen to leave room for a beret-based conflict. Edit: Very optimistically changed "reader" to "readers".
Oh. I didn't think there'd be any special forces in her team. Special forces would ask how she got the beret. I know an ex-ranger who got upset about someone pretending to be a veteran and making up his war stories. I also misunderstood about the private military group. I assumed that it was a rogue group and that she wouldn't care whom she offended. No, I haven't. I saw one green beret though. Many years ago, I took the summer semester at a branch of the University of Maryland in a US base. I went there cause it was near my home and civilians were allowed to attend that university. I saw the green beret in a cafeteria.
What if you gave the other soldiers a varsity jacket, a biker patch, and so on? So they're all annoyed by the beret but can't call it out. Wherever it goes, the Army is always wearing the wrong symbols
We are talking about people from the special operations community. Unless something like that was required to blend in on recon or an op. They wouldn't do it.
