How do I properly write a character who is an Officer?

SPC Austin Wilson — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 19:04:54 -0400

Hello! I am in the process of writing a Military Scifi story, and my main character is an Officer Cadet who is attached to an Infantry Company for training. The issue is, I was not an officer, and I only have a vague understanding of the Officer culture, duties, and general thought process. Any general advice is welcomed, I want to represent his character well, I hate seeing someone write about a certain group and end up doing it wrong! Thanks.

Response by Maj Kim Patterson made Oct 24 at 2019 7:17 PM

Maj Kim Patterson — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 19:17:05 -0400

SPC Austin Wilson Capt Eric Solem MSgt David Chavez Maj Private RallyPoint Member MAJ Ken Landgren can you help him out? I can tell you what it was like for me as an officer starting out as a butter bar in USAF.
COL Mikel J. Burroughs there are lots of people in here who help.

Response by Maj Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 24 at 2019 8:28 PM

Maj Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 20:28:56 -0400

Having been both enlisted and commissioned, the biggest difference that I have noticed is a cultural difference very similar to the difference between conventional forces and special forces. In fact, most enlisted special forces guys I know have much more in common with the tactical officers than they have in common with conventional, tactical enlisted.

The difference in culture that I tend to see is in their focus. Successful officers and successful special operators tend to spend less time focusing on their job and more focusing on the impact of their job on the tactical, operational, and strategic objectives. A conventional troop may be consumed with the operation of their vehicle, but have no idea where the vehicle is going, why it is going there, what route will be taken to get there, and what they are supposed to do at the destination. The successful officers and special operators will commit the required time to ensure the operation of the vehicle is being addressed, but they will spend far more time considering the task at tge objective, the route, the risks, etc.

Obviously, there are exceptions and incompetent people elevated to positions of authority all of the time....so, this is not me saying “all officers and special operators are better tacticians, operators, and strategists than normal enlisted people”. That couldn’t be further from the truth. But, those two groups TEND (in my experience) to have a higher percentage of people focused on the why than are focused on the who, what, when, and where of a given issue.

Think of Ramius in The Hunt for Red October. Great patriot of the Soviet Union who saw a horrible weapon of war being built and chose treason over allowing the USSR to deploy that capability, unhindered. It was fiction, but that is a personification of the best officers with which I have had the pleasure of working.

Don’t focus on the “now”....focus on the second, third, and fourth order effects of your decisions. An example of this, not military related. You want to plant an orange tree (assuming you live in a place they thrive). Where you plant it will have second, third, and fourth order effects that are predictable. It could grow to block your view or block the view of cars approaching an intersection. It could grow close enough to the house that it become a bridge by which ants or termites gain access to your roof. The roots system could invade your plumbing. So, someone with a long term mindset will make decisions that will mitigate these issues, giving that tree a better chance of a long life. A military operation plan can be viewed like a seedling. ID the risks that could end that operation early, mitigate said risks, and you have a better chance of success.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 24 at 2019 8:33 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 20:33:38 -0400

You should change the character of your story. The best writing always comes from experience and observation.

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 24 at 2019 9:35 PM

MSG Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 21:35:21 -0400

Figure out what you don't know, create questions, then interview Officers to get those answers. Interview Cadets, too. Ensure that you are interviewing Infantry Officers since that is the type of character you have.

Either that, or change the character to an area in which you do know about.

Response by LTC Jason Mackay made Oct 24 at 2019 11:09 PM

LTC Jason Mackay — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 23:09:17 -0400

SPC Austin Wilson couple things.

- As SFC Private RallyPoint Member said, you may want to write what you know.
- as MSG Private RallyPoint Member said you could try constructing a structured interview for an officer/Cadet willing to help you. What you have here is the "best self perspective" where if you are writing a flawed character, it may be kind of difficult.
- create a composite of two-three officers you have known that are close to your character. The risk here is if it is too close in personal detail and it is published, then you have people coming to you for various reasons.

Not sure how you plan to have this character unfold.

Edit: you may want to read Starship Troopers as it gives an interesting take on enlisted to officer and includes Officer Candidates leading troops in a Sci Fi setting. If you simply watch the film, I will lose my mind. The film and book are only tangentially related.

You may also want to try reading some of the books by David Drake, particularly those in the Hammer's series. My gut tells me they are composites of officers he knew while in Vietnam in 11th ACR.

You may also want to try reading Company Commander by McDonald. Harold Coyle also writes the subject well, as he was a commissioned officer, armor. The book series that starts with either Sword Point or The Ten Thousand. Ed Ruggerio 38 North Yankee. Ed Ruggerio was a an Airborne Infantry Officer. His characters were pretty realistic. Plus reading good writing helps with good writing.

Response by MSG Gary Eckert made Oct 25 at 2019 8:16 AM

MSG Gary Eckert — Fri, 25 Oct 2019 08:16:12 -0400

The fi part of scifi is fiction. Take some poetic license and give the cadet duties that make your story flow. Worst thing that could happen is while you are spending the millions for a best selling book someone will start a RP post asking everyone to post everything you got wrong portraying the character (and you'll break the record for most posts to a single topic.)

Response by LCDR Joshua Gillespie made Oct 25 at 2019 10:02 AM

LCDR Joshua Gillespie — Fri, 25 Oct 2019 10:02:00 -0400

You need more context to get the answers you seek. For instance, what's the Cadet's background: are they fifth-gen West Point, or the small-town up and comer who's father worked in the mill? Is Infantry their preference for Service Selection, or what they got in the lottery? Are they male, female; what's their ethnicity, etc...etc. What time period are we talking about? All of these things are important to developing any character (I'm an author as well), and impact their "personalities" relative to a specific facet of their role in the story.

In general, officers, like anyone else who joins the Military, did so for a variety of reasons... not all of which may be practical or realistic. Many choose the commissioned route because it's the only way to get into specific fields (such as aviation), or because they have "romanticized" notions of what it means. No doubt many do it for the career possibilities, or because they've served some time on the enlisted side, and are looking for "greener grass". Many likely do it for the college or the pay... though frankly, if you can get in one of those scholarship programs (Academy/ROTC), you could probably do the same on the civil side and for more money. Officer candidates are "normally" true believers; possibly naive in that sense.

The "good" ones have a genuine desire to serve the enlisted personnel within their platoons or divisions... they just lack the experience to know how best to do so. It "may" be "easier" on the enlisted side of things to just not "be that guy"... it's much harder not to when you wear bars on your shoulder. Inevitably, you'll have to give orders no one likes (including yourself), and you'll have to negotiate the complex and at times awkward role of being "responsible, but not exactly in charge". So many times early in my career, I'd have loved to looked at Chief and said, "She's all yours...just tell me where you want me." Instead, I had to learn to intuit what Chief's priorities were, de-conflict them against the Skipper's, and ultimately convince one I was managing my division while convincing the other I wasn't usurping his authority on the deck plates.

Some junior officers tend to be a little pessimistic; the glass may be half-full, but with poison. We're always looking for the fatal flaw that will cause everything to fall apart. This largely improves with time and experience.

Ultimately, junior officers are painfully aware of the fact that even after as many as four or five years of being "in the Military"... they still have no practical experience. It's a difficult pill for some to swallow that they'll spend as much as ten to fifteen years before anyone takes anything they do seriously... while realizing that from Day One, they have the potential to royally screw up everything-sometimes at the expense of other people's lives. Some try to overcompensate, and end up looking like jerks. Others try self-denigration, and look like milksops and fools. The best probably accept that the best they can do is the best they can do... and keep charging.

Response by CPL Gary Pifer made Oct 25 at 2019 8:33 PM

CPL Gary Pifer — Fri, 25 Oct 2019 20:33:40 -0400

Please add me to the story when I tell the cadet to STFU and grab another by the neck and pull him out of a M-113 hatch when I catch him smoking pot. I ignored an order from a cadet once he used to be my E-6 squad leader. Met him years later as a Capt..Then he became a Maj General in the NG. He got the stars I saw the stars..(TBI)

Response by CPL Gary Pifer made Oct 25 at 2019 8:37 PM

CPL Gary Pifer — Fri, 25 Oct 2019 20:37:38 -0400

Go one YOUTUBE and watch character development videos.. Cadets ain't hard to understand cause they don't know shit.. same thing for Westpointers butter bars. Thoes A holes were the worst.

Response by SSG Dale London made Oct 26 at 2019 10:59 PM

SSG Dale London — Sat, 26 Oct 2019 22:59:10 -0400

LTC Jason Mackay - is right about Robert Heinlein. He made it to Lieutennant (JG?) and was medically retired in 1929 for TB.
His knowledge of the military shines through in a lot of what he wrote.
But more to the point - he also wrote a lot about stuff he didn't know but that he puzzled his way through. Several of his novels, for example, were written with a female main character -- and you cannot tell me that he was born on Mars and raised by Martians.
Science Fiction is also called Speculative Fiction -- by definition, it requires its authors to write about stuff that they have to make up.
Having served as an enlisted man in the US Army and as an officer (Chaplain) in the British Army I can tell you from experience that the similarities between officers and enlisted are significantly greater than the differences, especially at the junior levels. The officer cadet you are agonizing over is just a guy who puts his trousers on one leg at a time. The crud he experiences in training will bear a strong resemblance to whatever they call PLDC these days -- the course you need before you're promoted to SGT.
You did basic, he will too but with courses on officer crap thrown in. You had to make your bunk and go through room inspections -- so will he. While he's a cadet, NCOs will order him around just as callously as they did you. PT, D&C, rifle ranges, land navigation -- he will have to learn all of it, just like you did.
Don't over-think this. If you want specific information, do interviews with young officers and officer cadets. But don't sell yourself short. Spend a little time and skull sweat on this and you'll figure it out.
Good luck and happy writing!