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  1. Write4Fun22

    Write4Fun22 Banned

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    Having issues with age gaps

    Discussion in 'Character Development' started by Write4Fun22, Jul 26, 2018.

    So in my story I finally figured out some ways to mix the generations for each characters timeline. But I can't seem to get the ages right for when these guys would go to war cause some of them would be too young.

    Is 21 years old too young for them to be fighting in the Soviet -Afghan war or Columbian conflicts?
     
    Last edited: Jul 26, 2018
  2. Kingwood Kid

    Kingwood Kid Member

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    If you're talking about an army for an industrialized nation, 16+ up to 1945ish, 18+ since. If it's a less industrialized nation, some sort of guerrilla insurgency or something like that, 12 is common and 7 isn't unheard of. In any case, 21 is fine, as long as you're not talking a senior officer.
     
  3. Write4Fun22

    Write4Fun22 Banned

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    They would be spec op soldiers fighting in guerrilla or fighting for guerrilla territories like for example, an American soldier about 22 yrs old in 1960s Vietnam meets a 21 yr old guerrilla warfare woman there and have a son. The son when grown up at age 21 goes on a mission in the 1980s Soviet Afghan war and meets a 20 yr old assassin woman there and they have a son and then that son by the age of 24 goes to 2000's Columbia conflict at which the main character is born.

    Are all these soldiers too young?
     
  4. Kingwood Kid

    Kingwood Kid Member

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    No, they're plenty old enough. At 21 you're old enough to have served in any army in the world for several years.
     
  5. Write4Fun22

    Write4Fun22 Banned

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    OK good but if one of the soldiers went on a secret mission in the 80s and his son is born in the mid to late 80s how do I have that son go into a war in the 90s like the Columbian war when he'd only be about 13?
     
  6. DK3654

    DK3654 Almost a Productive Member of Society Contributor

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    You don't probably?
    Have him born earlier or go into war later.
     
  7. Homer Potvin

    Homer Potvin A tombstone hand and a graveyard mind Staff Supporter Contributor

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    It's not impossible at 13 if he's on the guerilla/irregular side. If your village is being attacked I'd imagine it's pretty easy to get wrapped up in a war. Being a professional soldier would be implausible, but if you're bouncing around and mixing up the races anyway, you could plausibly draw a "relative" into any side/scenario you like.

    I like your idea... there's a lot of things you can do with it.
     
  8. Iain Aschendale

    Iain Aschendale Lying, dog-faced pony Marine Supporter Contributor

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    According to the Paris Principles on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict 2007:

    I was a child soldier. I was recruited when I was sixteen, raised my right hand and took the oath a couple months after my seventeenth birthday, turned 18 while in boot camp, and got my honorable discharge before my 22nd birthday. I never advanced very much, didn't care to, but I knew people who made sergeant in their first four years, so it's definitely possible for a 21 year old to be in an armed conflict as a member of a regular standing army run by a nation without a draft or any sort of coercion or even immediate existential threat (yeah, the Soviets could have nuked us any day, but there was nothing going on that Pvt. Aschendale could really help with). As for a 13 year-old in the Colombian war, a quick google of "Colombia child soldiers" turns up this article, which says in part:

    So yeah, as long as the kid was raised in Colombia and had a bit of bad luck, there's nothing at all impossible about your situation.
     
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  9. Kingwood Kid

    Kingwood Kid Member

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    I'm under the impression that all three male soldiers are US Army regulars, but may be wrong.

    I don't know if the exact years matter to the story or not. The US had a small military/intelligence presence in Vietnam throughout the 1950s, but wasn't present in large numbers until the early 60s. The USSR invaded Afghanistan in December 1979, so a secret mission could have been carried out anytime in the 1980s. If we say the main character was born in 1981, that puts him at 18 in 1999. I don't know if that's too late. The US certainly had intelligence operations in Afghanistan before that, as the USSR and Afghanistan were allies, so if it doesn't mess with the story you could move things back a few years. Of course, during the cold war, the CIA and US military were almost everywhere, so if Afghanistan isn't crucial to the story, you could move it to Iran
     
  10. Stormsong07

    Stormsong07 Contributor Contributor

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    Another option is to make up your own conflict for him to fight in. Does it have to be one that actually happened? Because if the years don't fit, couldn't you just create another, fictional war?
     
  11. Write4Fun22

    Write4Fun22 Banned

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    It's supposed to be a generation of relatives that fight in the wars so I'm shooting for each soldier relative to be at least in their twenties and working as covert op soldiers.

    Thanks, I appreciate it.

    What I might just do is have it set so after their four years of service it would be plausible for their age to be fighting these wars.

    For example, the soldier could go into Vietnam in 61' and meets a supernatural Vietnamese woman there and has twins in 63'.

    Then one twin goes o Afghan Soviet war in the 80's and the other twin goes to Central America in the 80's. First twin has a son with a supernatural woman in Afghanistan and second twin has a son with a supernatural woman in Central America, both born around 85'.

    Then one son can be sent to the Middle East or Egypt? And have a son with an ancient Egyptian or Sumerian supernatural princess? Born sometime in the 2000's

    And the other son can meet a supernatural woman in Central Africa? And they have a daughter born sometime in the 2000's.

    Then those two latest children, the daughter born in Central Africa and the son born in Middle East/Egypt can both meet and have a son and daughter of their own and those two new sons and daughter would be the main protagonists.

    Does this make sense?
     
    Last edited: Jul 28, 2018
  12. Kingwood Kid

    Kingwood Kid Member

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    The math makes sense. As for the rest, if I understand correctly, we've got multiracial cousins who are supernatural soldiers having kids of their own?
     
  13. Write4Fun22

    Write4Fun22 Banned

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    Yep, that is correct. Only problem I have is I'm having a tough time deciding where there latest bloodlines from their latest relatives could come from. I was thinking Egypt, Greece, Middle East like Iraq, Brazil and Central Africa. please let me know if any of these locations as missions and where some of these super soldier offsprings will meet supernatural women fighters that have more multicultural offsprings is ok. Cause some of these locations and conflicts might be offensive.
     
    Last edited: Jul 29, 2018
  14. Kingwood Kid

    Kingwood Kid Member

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    I can find most of those places on a map, but I can't tell you where the line is between depicting them realistically and stereotyping them. If you don't know much about them either, I'd err on the side of saying too little versus too much about those cultures, and making it about the individual characters instead of the entire civilization. I don't think too many people would be bothered if one of them said something like "eating this culturally-specific-food reminds me of visiting my grandma in wherever." They'd be more offended if, for example, you implied that everyone from the Middle East was an oil-billionaire who rode a camel and screamed Jihad every few minutes.
     
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  15. Homer Potvin

    Homer Potvin A tombstone hand and a graveyard mind Staff Supporter Contributor

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    They ride in private jets and Bentleys.
     
  16. Write4Fun22

    Write4Fun22 Banned

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    So if I drew mythological supernatural women from places like Iraq Egypt and Central Africa would it still be offensive i these supernatural male soldiers are meeting them in these countries?
     
    Last edited: Jul 30, 2018

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