Tag Archive - J. R. Olson

7 Mistakes to Avoid When Writing about the Military

Today’s guest post is by authors J. R. Olson and David Bruns:

As long as there’s been a military, there have been authors writing about the military. It’s a natural fit. The military provides the perfect combination of conflict and character, adversary and attitude. Some novels, like Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, seek to satirize war and the military, while others, such as Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan, offer a more serious view of the battlefield. Whether your literary goal is to honor or skewer the armed forces, nothing bothers military veterans more than when well-meaning authors make factual errors about simple military customs.

We’re a pair of US Navy veterans with a combined thirty-five years of service who blog and write under the moniker The Two Navy Guys. We’re here to dish out the truth about 7 common mistakes we see from authors writing about the military: Continue Reading…