lessonsfrommadamexmas:

mylieutenant:

gomboc123:

Knowing a lot about the military is a curse because now I pick up on all the little mistakes people make in fanfic and I’m not gonna be an asshole and point it out because not everybody has time and patience to look every little thing up so I Get It but it will annoy me internally

First, I kind of found out from your tags about a particular mistake I keep making… and I know I would have preferred for someone to tell me personally. I know it sounds wild in this time and age, but some writers like receiving concrit and knowing where they can improve. I don’t think you’d be annoying anyone by telling them. It certainly feels a tad more embarrassing to find out via someone’s rant in tags.

Second, a factual correction to your tags –

#imma call hiromu arakawa out but roy mustang has no business leading only a squad#lt hawkeye alone should be in charge of an entire platoon

Zero research and all experience – I saw a lot of officers (particularly junior officers like Hawkeye) leading small teams, or no team at all. It all depends on the actual position they are assigned, and the actual size of these units. This is obviously far more common in office settings, such as Eastern/Central HQ, rather than the field.

In Eastern HQ Roy was canonically responsible over far more than a few officers, and only took his most trusted pieces to Central – as evidenced by how easily he just plucked Fuery out of his unit in the manga, when he wanted to announce the transfer. As long as the right strings are pulled, this sort of transfers happen. Not to mention that it’s never explicitly stated that he does not lead over a larger battalion in Central; it’s just never shown. I doubt it would be a large battalion either way considering his own unique circumstances.

By this I mean, Roy is also a State Alchemist, which is a position that exists in exactly zero armed forces in the world (citation needed) and as such, Arakawa can make up the rules as she pleases. For instance, it was never quite clear if he had an office job, or a field job, and this middle ground is definitely one I can’t remember encountering personally. It’s not common for field officers to have such massive amounts of paperwork, and it is not common for desk officers to go on the field at all. And the division is usually crystal clear unless you’re the second Major I had, but he’s a beautiful soul and literally an exception to everything. That’s where Arakawa seems to have taken some liberties, but I can’t really blame her. I suppose it’s exclusive for State Alchemists who need to do a lot of research, but are also used as weapons.

As for Hawkeye – as Roy’s second, she is in charge of the same squad he is. This is canon; she’s seen giving orders to members of the squad at least once and they obey her just the same. In desk jobs, it is quite normal for junior officers (and even senior officers tbh) to be assistants and have no unit or platoon to lead but that of their commanding officer. Their responsibility would be taking care of the more menial aspects of the job when their commanding officer can’t get to it… or can’t be bothered. If she were a field officer, she’d definitely have her own set of responsibilities. As it is, her situation is perfectly in line with reality (…not to mention that we don’t know if she has her own squad – much like with Roy, it was never stated she didn’t.)

You people throw your military trivia on me, I’m ALL for it.