  Mystery
This week: The Armed Forces Edited by: Jeff  
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"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."
-- Carl Sagan
Mystery Trivia of the Week: Tom Clancy wrote seventeen bestsellers and has nearly 100 million copies of his books in print. He became even more well known after video game manufacturer Ubisoft bought the rights to his name to include in their various military-themed game products. Some lesser-known facts about the espionage and military thriller novelist include that he was a part-owner of the Baltimore Orioles baseball team, that his 80-acre estate was once a summer camp, and that his first wife gifted him a WWII-era M4 Sherman Tank as a Christmas gift one year.
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ARMED FORCES
This is the last of my three-newsletter series on different government agencies, and this one's going to focus on military organization. In the United States, there are five different branches of the military:
 The United States Army. The largest branch of the military, responsible for land-based operations.
The United States Air Force. The second-largest branch, responsible for air-based operations.
The United States Navy. The third-largest branch, responsible for water-based operations.
The United States Marine Corps. Responsible for power projection (exercise of force) from the water.
The United States Coast Guard. Responsible for maritime law enforcement.
Within each branch of the military, there are countless subdivisions and smaller organizations tasked with specific responsibilities. Each of the three major branches, for example, has a special operations force responsible for specific types of operations. The Army has (1) Green Berets who are specifically responsible for unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, and special reconnaissance, (2) Delta Force, who are responsible for elite special operations and counter-terrorism, and (3) Rangers, who are elite airborne infantry specializing in raids and airfield seizures. The Air Force, on the other hand, has an entire Special Operations Command division with specific "wings" such as (1) the 1st Special Operations Wing responsible for combat search and rescue, aviation assistance to developing nations, and deep battlefield resupply, (2) the 27th Special Operations Wing responsible for exfiltration, air refueling, and precision fire support. And the Navy, of course, has the Navy SEALs, which specialize in, among other things, underwater demolition, amphibious assault, commando raiding techniques, high-altitude parachuting, hand-to-hand combat, and covert operations. It would be impossible to list each division of each branch of the military in the limited space allowed in a newsletter, suffice to say that there's pretty much a department or division for everything!
The military isn't some small portion of the government budget, either. In 2010, the Department of Defense (to which the military belongs) budget - including supplemental spending - was nearly $700 billion. To put that in perspective, if you took the total annual revenue of Wal-Mart, General Electric, and IBM and combined them, they would just barely cover the annual budget of the Department of Defense. Or, another way of looking at it, the Department of Defense's budget is more than the next six largest departments (the Departments of Agriculture, Veterans Affairs, Treasury, Labor, Transportation, AND Education) combined.  There are currently 1.37 million personnel on active duty in the armed forces, with an additional 850,000 in reserve. The U.S. military is second only to the China's People's Liberation Army in terms of headcount.
While the U.S. is largely recognized as having the most dominant military presence in the world, there are other nations that have impressive militaries in their own right. The website Global Firepower ranks world government military forces based on dozens of criteria, including personnel, number and scope of vehicles, location of assets, finances, etc. It doesn't take nuclear capability into consideration and their results are still open to debate, but after the United States, the rest of the nations rounding out their list of the Top 10 in terms of military strength are:
2. Russia
3. China
4. India
5. United Kingdom
6. France
7. Germany
8. Turkey
9. South Korea
10. Japan
When writing a story featuring characters in the armed forces (or previously in the armed forces), it's important to do the necessary research to make the character's backstory realistic. You wouldn't want to accidentally characterize your fighter jet pilot as a Navy SEAL, and you wouldn't want to assume that a Marine would be likely to handle a particular situation if that's typically something that a Navy SEAL or a Delta Force soldier is more likely to carry out. It pays off to do your homework and make sure that your story featuring military personnel both accurately reflects who would handle a scenario and what they would do in that scenario. Our servicemen and women are brave individuals who put themselves in dangerous situations (sometimes on a daily basis), and they certainly deserve to be properly portrayed in our writing.
Until next time,
-- Jeff
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I encourage you to check out the following mystery items:
Jenny had known Dr Jacobs for as long as she could remember. He’d been the family GP for twenty years or more, ever since she’d moved into town with her mother, father and younger brother. She trusted him. She’d never expected him to say anything she wouldn’t believe.
Dear Diary, Where am I? That is the question I have been trying to answer since I woke up this morning. I found myself in a bed I have never seen in a dingy room I don't know. I am alone in this room, but I hear other people, so I know there are other people in this building, whatever it is. Right now, all I know is I am cold, hungry and scared.
It’s in the trunk. The body is in the trunk. There was no need to be worried. I’m a good driver, I won’t get pulled over nor will I wreck. I should just stop worrying.
WEE-WOO, WEE-WOO!
I woke up one day and the world was different. Honestly, I couldn't be certain the entire world was different, but mine certainly was.
Jessica couldn't understand why Rose looked so tense as the delivery man drove away. Flowers(roses no less)had been delivered to her house three times this week and it was only Wednesday. Lucky girl! But Rose just stood there looking at the flowers as if they were some kind of horrible bug crawling up her arm. Sunning on the porch would have to wait. Jessica crossed the street to Rose's house and climbed the steps to her porch.
"Rose sweetie whats the matter? You like you've seem a ghost," Jessica asked.
Rose seemed to go pale and began to shiver. Would she have to call an ambulance? |
Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
https://www.Writing.Com/go/nl_form
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Feedback from my last newsletter about the alphabet soup of government agencies:
Detective  writes, "Thanks for explaining the differences between the three. This will help when writing my mysteries so I know which one to put some of my characters." (From a previous newsletter about police, state police, and sheriffs.)
You're very welcome!
Quick-Quill  writes, "JEFF-Another amazing research NL to keep. You just keep them coming. I tuck these away and bring them up as I need them. What a folder of good reference material that would take ages to compile. Thank you so much for your work and for sharing it here."
Hopefully the one this week doesn't disappoint either! 
DB Cooper  writes, "Contrary to popular belief, Robert Hansen and Aldrich Ames were not only traitors but first class idiots. They make the three stooges look good!"
We should probably clarify that you're talking about Robert (Philip) Hanssen the former FBI agent currently serving a life sentence after being convicted of spying on the U.S. for Soviet and Russian intelligence, rather than Robert (Christian) Hansen the Alaskan serial killer (also in prison).
Joy  writes, "Great NL, Jeff. Thanks for the info. I'll definitely refer to it in the future.  "
Glad you found the NL helpful, Joy! 
BIG BAD WOLF Feeling Thankful  writes, "I think you forgot Park Rangers, Game Wardens, and Mall Security, not to mention Campus Security." (Submitted item: "White Sheep of the Family" [13+])
Park Rangers for national parks fall under the National Park Service, which was mentioned in the newsletter. If it's a state park, those rangers are employed by each respective state government. Similarly, game wardens typically report to a local or state agency rather than a federal agency. And both campus and mall security are typically private hires by the organization itself.
blue jellybaby writes, "Another great newsletter, one that's a keeper for later research! Thanks "
You're very welcome. Thanks for the kind words!
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Mystery: April 09, 2014 Issue [#6256]
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