My fascination with military stuff

My fascination with military stuff probably started when I was about nine or ten. My mom was a WWII Spar (the Coast Guard’s version of the Waves). She had a 1944 copy of Bluejackets' Manual, the Navy’s training manual that she’d been given at boot camp, which was in Florida, a long way from the farm in central Missouri. I read that whole thing, all 500+ pages of it. Granted, my little boy brain probably didn’t really understand all of it, but I clearly recall doing something interesting with my new found knowledge.

I wanted to start some sort of club, I have no idea what kind now, and wanted something to identify us in a hierarchy (although I doubt I knew that word then). I had a six-pointed sheriff’s star (maybe it came with a six-gun and holster outfit I had?). I got some stiff card paper, maybe the thickness of two index cards, and traced the star shape on the paper, about eight stars to a sheet.

Next, in pencil, I painstakingly labeled each star with a Navy officer’s rank from Ensign to Admiral. Finally, I cut those things out, which must have been exhausting with those goofy “safe” round-tipped kids’ scissors. It makes my hand hurt to just think about it.

Whether the club ever really got off the ground is hard to say. I think I was the only one interested in being an admiral. Sometimes, great kid ideas just die a natural death.

I signed that book at some point in the long-ago past and included our home address. My handwriting was a lot better then.

I still have that manual. It sits on the bookshelf with all of my WWII history books. Who knows, maybe I’ll start writing a series about the Navy in WWII.

Happy Father's Day!

Wishing all fathers everywhere a Happy Father's Day!

Warm wishes for a wonderful day,

Ronn

6 June - D-Day

Today is the 71st anniversary of D-Day.

Please take a moment to remember the men who died that day.

Here's a good question / answer site about D-Day:



Thanks,


Ronn

Battle of Midway underway 73 years ago.

It was 73 years ago that the U.S. Navy met and decisively defeated the Imperial Japanese Navy in the Battle of Midway. Many historians, but not all, believe this was the turning point in the Pacific.

Strength
3 carriers 7 heavy cruisers 1 light cruiser 15 destroyers 233 carrier-based aircraft 127 land-based aircraft 16 submarines[1]	4 carriers 2 battleships 2 heavy cruisers 1 light cruiser 12 destroyers 248 carrier-based aircraft[2] 16 floatplanes Did not participate in battle: 2 light carriers 5 battleships 4 heavy cruisers 2 light cruisers ~35 support ships

Casualties and losses
1 carrier sunk 1 destroyer sunk ~150 aircraft destroyed 307 killed[3]	4 carriers sunk 1 heavy cruiser sunk 1 heavy cruiser damaged 248 aircraft destroyed[4] 3,057 killed[5]

Memorial Day

Please take a moment today to give thanks for those men and women who have served and given their all for our country. Keep their families in your hearts and prayers.

We watched PBS's Washington D.C. Memorial Day concert last night and were, as always, brought to tears by the stories told.

My old flag was starting to fray at the bottom, so I bought a new American flag Saturday and have it flying today. What a great country we live in.

With respect,

Ronn

My family members who served in WWII

Amos Munsterman – U.S. Army, Silver Star

Olga Munsterman – U.S. Coast Guard

Hugo Munsterman – U.S. Army, Bronze Star, Purple Heart

Maxwell Elder – U.S. Army

Lester Knisley – U.S. Navy

Served Post WWII

Norman Munsterman – U.S. Army

Sgt. Dunn novel 3, Brutal Enemy on sale for .99 cents starting today.

Sgt. Dunn series book 3, Brutal Enemy, is on sale starting today for only .99 cents!

http://amzn.com/B00RIFHJS6

Character names vs real world laws

I’m not positive, but I think every writer picks character names a certain way, using the same method time after time. Perhaps they imagine what the person looks like and then search for a name that seems to fit. Have you ever been introduced to someone and you thought their name was going be one thing and it was another? Along the lines of “She looks more like a ‘blank’ than a ‘blank.’ ” Please don’t confuse “blank” here with “bleep!” Years ago, a guy I worked with always called me Dave. Whenever I’d correct him, he’d say, “Yup, okay,” then say, “See ya, Dave!”

Go figure. At least he didn’t call me late for lunch. Ba da duh dum.

Here’s how I decided on the name for my main character Tom Dunn: I wanted a one syllable last name, probably due to all the Bond movies I’ve seen. No, really, I do mean that for whatever it’s worth. After I came up with Dunn, I tried on for sound a variety of first names. I don’t remember now what they were (that was eleven years ago, folks), but here are some I imagine I came up with:

William (Bill) Dunn

Robert (Bob) Dunn

George Dunn

So you get the idea. In the end I liked the combination of syllables of Thomas Dunn, although he is most often called Tom, unless Pamela is pissed off at him.

My first novel, Operation Devil’s Fire ended up with 89 named characters! This led me directly to an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of them. I use that Excel file for many things, daily word count, plot, notes, and others. I just copy the whole file for the next book and add a column for the new book’s characters (like below - sd4). 

This way, I have all of my creations in one place, which keeps me out of trouble with using the same name, and prevents me from relying on my memory. Squirrel! (If you don’t know what this reference means, watch the movie Up.) Behind German Lines, Brutal Enemy, and book 4 (which I’m writing currently) have 51, 56, and 37 (so far) named characters, respectively. Since this is a series, there are lots of repeaters, but there are 167 distinct names across the four of them.

My Sgt. Dunn books are all set in Europe, so I have characters from these countries:

·         United States – 52

·         Britain – 37

·         France – 20

·         Germany – 44

·         Italy – 11

·         Japan – 3

Which leads me to an interesting article I read recently:

https://www.yahoo.com/parenting/parents-have-to-rename-baby-judge-rules-109215771837.html

I guess it’s important to know what the laws are in your country. I confess, I never check for my characters!

  

Thanks for stopping by.

Ronn