How Can Military OODA LOOPS Help Your Readers Understand Your Character?

Writing (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When I'm editing for clients, I often find myself putting in the comments: Help me follow this by using an O.O.D.A. loop. For those of you unfamiliar with this concept, let me explain.

The term O.O.D.A. loop was coined in the 1950’s by Colonel John Boyd. Colonel Boyd was an F-86 pilot and commander of a fighter group toward the end the Korean War, trying to train fighter pilots to be more effective. 


O.O.D.A. stands for:

Observe 
Orient 
Decide 
Act


I'm going to show you his diagram of an OODA loop, but please don't get overwhelmed. It's a great diagram that you might want to scroll back up and look at after you read the article - or just look at the second simplified graphic and call it a day.


Okay, first I'm going to overwhelm you:

Full diagram originally drawn by John Boyd for his briefings on military strategy, fighter pilot strategy, etc (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Let's look at that in terms of plot rather than in terms of shooting people out of the sky - 

• OBSERVE - you write what is happening around the character.
• unfolding circumstances
• unfolding interaction with environment
• outside information
• ORIENT - This is the most important step in the concept. Here you must consider aspects of the character that would shape how they observe a situation. If you have several characters in a scene, each will have their own way of perceiving and thus deciding and acting. If you have a group, the orientation is the place where the conflict lies. No two people will ever have the same orientation. See? Important.
• genetic heritage 
• cultural tradition
• previous experiences
• education
• gender
• mental health (and so forth)
• DECIDE - 
• this is either a cognizant decision OR it can be reflexive. (The baby is falling the mom's hand shoots out, and she's caught the baby in the blink of an eye.) 
• this is the time to walk the reader through the thought process - how did they decide to A over B? 
• Was it a hard decision? 
• What stood in their way? 
• What was their most important tool in making that decision? Morality? Greed? Survival?  
• ACT

Why is it called a loop? Once the character has cycled through these four steps, then the environment is changed. Their actions have changed things, and they and their fellow characters will be moving through the loop again and again and again.

Here it is simplified:

Wow - that seems incredibly simple. BUT now fill in the blanks
What about that scene would your character observe - what would catch your characters attention amidst what they are doing. Example: a robbery suspect-

• An artist might remark of his facial features. His brow is furrowed. It looks like he's in pain. He probably needs money for a fix. Gives him her money.
• A physical therapist might take in his gait. He has a limp. He can't chase her. She runs.
• A soldier might be watching the guy's hands. He's not touching his shirt. He probably doesn't have a weapon. Dives in to tackle him.

How did your character align themselves with the information, what did they cognate?

What did they decide to do about it? Think hard - what in their life experience, age, cultural, temperament, current health, current relationships, and so forth, might impact this moment?

Humans go through this loop thousands of times in a day. If you lay them out in your writing, the progression makes more sense to the reader. 

Example:
Barbara went on a date last night with the guy whom she thinks is THE guy.

Barbara is called to reception at work. There is a bouquet of beautiful flowers waiting for her there. She smiles. She feels excited and happy. She beams as she walks back to her cubicle, grinning and blushing, accepting the comments from her colleagues about how lovely the flowers are. Yup this could be THE guy, and he obviously feels the magic too. She gets to her desk and puts the flowers down, picks out the card and sits, giving the envelop a kiss before opening it. Ruh roh! It's not from the guy she thought it was from. It's from some creeper who just won't leave her alone, and the card says. "You looked beautiful last night." She grabs the flowers and throws them in her trash.

She has a new observation. It changes her orientation. She makes a different decision. Which leads to a very different action.

If you are practicing show-don't-tell, then putting your characters into situations that show your reader walking through this loop, especially explaining their orientation (back story), you will help your readers to understand your characters so much better. 

I hope you found this article helpful.

As always, a big thank you ThrillWriters and readers for stopping by. Thank you, too, for your support. When you buy my books, you make it possible for me to continue to bring you helpful articles and keep ThrillWriting free and accessible to all.

An Alpha Male Character in Retirement: Info for Writers with Retired Chief of Police, Scott Silverii

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

You have the perfect-for-your-plot character planned for your WIP. It's an alpha male in retirement. Maybe a soldier. Perhaps a cop, or fireman, or any other career that attracts a certain kind of "I'll stand against evil/bad things" type of guy.

I'm talking about males here. Yes, there are alpha women - you can find lots of articles about them on my blog - just check the archives. But today, I'm going to focus alpha males in retirement.

To this end, I am visiting with ThrillWriting friend, Scott Silverii. No, he would never call himself an alpha-male. He's an extremely humble guy and that might feel like bragging to him, so I'm going to call him that, and I do have a graduate psych degree, and he does meet all of the qualifications. So you can trust me here, I picked the right guy for this interview.

Fiona - 

Scott, today, we're talking about alpha males in retirement.

Scott -
Sure - from an outsider's perspective - Ready.

Fiona-

(See? Humble. Note that for your character - this is a quality I see in good-guy alpha males. And I guess, I should have included that in the article descriptors. If you're writing a bad guy alpha - braggadocio and megalomania would replace humble.)

Scott, I know several writers who are working on plots that include protagonists who have retired from jobs that are high adrenaline and also have a hierarchical structure in place -- the police, the military. And now these men have retired from that line of work.

Scott -
It's funny, but now that I've retired from that life, I notice so many more books with "retired" protags having left an adrenaline-fueled occupation.

Fiona - 

Can you talk about the transition?

Scott - 
I'd once feared leaving law enforcement, but as I began to see the possibilities for a life on the other side, the dread gave way to optimism. I retired in August 2015, and have experienced a bit of stress that was associated with leaving the structure of command and the constant camaraderie with other alphas.

Fiona - 
And adrenaline? - Do you seek that out in other areas? Do they have adrenaline junkie clubs?

Scott - 
Oh goodness, I do and don't miss the adrenaline moments - a total double-edged sword. 

I don't miss the slow build up to a crisis event that culminates with just seconds of action (sometimes terror - Ha!!). I do miss being the go-to guy when the poop hits the fan. I thrived on the stress and potential for danger. Not that I was a risk taker, but I enjoyed removing the risk as much as possible and executing a sound operational plan.

Fiona - 
In your doctoral thesis, you wrote about the sheep dog mentality (for more about sheep dogs go to THIS TW blog article. For more about Scott's thesis and book go to THIS TW blog article) where the alphas -- or sheep dogs-- think of themselves as "other" In your experience with friends and colleagues, does this continue after you leave the job? If yes, how does one cope? If no, how does one integrate?

Scott - 
The Sheepdog mentality is something that I've been able to witness from a distance. While it's vital for cops and 1st responders to have a winning mindset and also understand that often times society doesn't fully understand how difficult it is to remain in the social margin, I also think it's counterproductive for law enforcement to adopt a separatist ethos. 

I mean, I see young officers' not even in the basic academy yet who are posting and getting tatted about being the protector and about civilian sheep. they've not even investigated a garden hose theft yet, and already they've assumed this us versus them ideology - it too is a double - edge sword.

How to reintegrate? Working with writers has been my anchor back to society. I meet and work with people who are just as intense and willing to take risk as I am - most just don't carry the weapons. Sharing my experiences and knowledge of over nearly 26 years also helps me to ease into the "white picket fence" life. 

I'm not 100% percent cozy yet, but I believe that once you've had your eyes ripped wide open to life's realities, they can never filly rest or blink at what goes on around you

Fiona - 
I'm thinking about soldiers now - I've read many of them wishing they were back in the fight, not for the fights sake but to support their fellow soldiers. They feel like when they are out being civilians they have left the burden to someone else. Is this something you've seen in the police world as well? Some guilt?

Scott - 
Good point. It's a form of Survivor's Guilt. You see the cops shot and attacked across this country and you hurt. I mean crying tears of sadness and guilt about "leaving" them on the street. 

As a Chief and Commander in various divisions since 1992, I've always carried the burden of concern and guilt for everyone. I still stare at every traffic stop I pass, just in case the officer needs help. Yes, the bonds of this fraternity don't stop when the pay check stops, but I fully understand that it's no longer my job, but protecting others will always be my duty.

Fiona - 

How often do you see things happen and feel compelled into reflexive action and then think, wow - that's not my responsibility anymore? And the follow up question - what could you see that would make you jump in and at what level would you jump in? A phone call? A take down?

Scott - 
Funniest examples are traffic violations. I was never a traffic cop, but now that I'm in a personal vehicle, I see all the reckless things people do and they continue doing them because they don't see a police unit. It's like I'm a ghost who gets to see the reality of life. If I saw a drunk driver, I'd make a 911 and follow from safe distance. If someone was injured I'd stop to render aid. If I saw a cop in a struggle, I'd flash my badge and join them in any situation. I'd also, always defend the innocent. Thankfully, I'm still commissioned as a retired officer and authorized to carry.

It wasn't the uniform that drove me to help others.

Fiona - 
I'm not going to ask you about your own personal EDC, (it's dangerous to let others know what you carry, folks, just like it's dangerous to announce you're going out of town on social media). But what are you aware of others carrying as part of their stay-safe strategy after years of being exposed to the worst? Do they have go-bags in their trunks?

Scott - 
Honestly, some still use the old stash the pistol in their wife's purse method. I know its crazy, but it's true. Retirement is about minimizing the clutter of life. That also includes your gear. Cops wear it strapped around their waist for the life of their career. I think most go back to the basics. A commission card / badge, weapon / magazines and handcuffs.

Emergency preparation once retired is more about reacting to your families needs. The tools to get you and them out of a fix. First aid kit, tools described above - not for enforcing the law, but protecting self and others.

Scott and his wife, Liliana Hart, together they make SilverHart.
I can't imagine that Liliana would let Scott
 slip a gun into her purse. Just sayin'

Fiona - 
Wait - they stash their gun in the wife's purse? She has to carry that weight and responsibility????

Scott - 
Ha! You've never heard about that?

Fiona -
Pshhh - Carry your own gun - I have my own stuff to carry.

So, this gives a whole new insight to the guy standing outside the dressing room while his wife tries on clothes. He wasn't being helpful - he just didn't want his gun to be out of sight.

Scott - 
True! But many a rookie has their wife carry in her purse. And the rookies also have more negligent discharges in bathrooms than on the firing range.

Fiona - 
Ha! Noted.

Why are you guys playing with your guns in the bathrooms?

Shhh. I don't really want to know.

You mentioned at the beginning of this interview that you've been reading a lot of plots that include retired alpha males. What are the things that make you scoff and say - that's not what happens! And conversely what has a writer gotten right about the nuances of an alpha in retirement that you thought, huh, that's pretty insightful.

Scott - 
One thing that's incorrect is that a retired alpha has the same access to resources as while they were active. The reality is that policing is an all or nothing fraternity. Once you leave, they may like you and hang out, but it's very clear you're no longer one of "them"

Fiona - 
That must hurt.

Scott - 

Yes, it does a bit, but you come to understand and expect it. If cops are honest, they/we had the same attitude while on the job when others left it.

What I see getting it right is the culture of the retired alpha - often solitude, inability or unwillingness to fit into the mainstream. But I love that despite it all, the retired book alpha still has a burning heart for service and a kick ass skill set

Fiona - 
Yes, I love that.

Scott -
Me too - can't beat experience

Fiona - 
So the alpha male retired. He's out of the fraternity. He doesn't fit in with society per se, describe a normal retirement day that might lead to an interesting plot line (just to put you on the spot) what would a retired military/police see that the normal public wouldn't and would they feel compelled to follow the bread crumbs or would they say f-this it's on someone else's shoulders. Not to group everyone into the same corner -- just maybe triggers that he had to act on.

Scott - The New Normal - It's funny, but after you've been in charge of others for you entire adult life, you still have the calling to command. So your kids become your Unit. That in and of itself is a story line. They refer to drill sergeants and have learned about pressure point control tactics, and even how to properly hold a knife in a fight. I can see the 12 year old in her cafeteria with the blade protected.

So the retired alpha plot involves the need to supervise and keep the new Unit safe. While we're at the movies or getting gas, the alpha's head is ALWAYS on a swivel. I see drug deals that are obvious to me because I worked undercover for 12 years. We don't voluntarily go into bad areas, but I witnessed two outside of a gym - probably steroids because they looked young, red and puffy - Ahhh - youth.

Unless it was something about to go down at my home, like a person casing the place with multiple pass-bys or bogus door knocks, I wouldn't get too jazzed up. the biggie is watching who interacts with our kids - mostly what adults are in their spheres of influence and why are they there.

Fiona -

Here's where I punt - What should I have asked you? What did you want writers to know about? 

p.s. Scott is a writer, too. Check out some of his titles:

Scott- 

I'd like writers to know that most of you do an amazing job getting it right. 

The truth is, they are under no obligation to "document" the police or military as a researcher or reporter. Yet, I've found no other documentor of the professions that take as much care to capture not only the procedures, but the nuances of alphas. I don't tell war stories, but because I love and respect the care writers give to their own stories and the people they reflect in their work, I'm always happy to share.

Fiona - 
Scott, you have a program to help writers write this kind of thing right. Can you tell me about your SWAT Academy? What can writers try on their own - whose brains can they pick. . .

Scott -
Thanks - in addition to the always accessible SilverHart Writers website featuring experts from police, fire, forensics, military and law, we're hosting the SWAT Academy in October 2016. 

The Suspense Writers Adventure Training (SWAT) is a writer's fantasy camp where they'll get to live the alpha-life they create. 

Drive high-speed police cruisers, raid drug dens, and become part of a SWAT tactical unit that searches for the fugitive, shoot weapons on the range, work actual crime scenes, and much more - also we have learning labs in between the field activities featuring the best in their fields to teach authors what to do with the awesome experiences they have. 

The best part is everyone actually lives, eats and trains on an actual law enforcement special operations complex. Even the instructors live on site. It's the only event like it in the world, and it's open for registration.

Fiona - 
How awesome is that? Very fun!

So here's some contact information:
FACEBOOK

As always, a big thank you ThrillWriters and readers for stopping by. Thank you, too, for your support. When you buy my books, you make it possible for me to continue to bring you helpful articles and keep ThrillWriting free and accessible to all.

PMS Is Your Friend and Other Things I Learned Taking a Wilderness First Aid Class: Info for Writers

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

First of all - HOLY MOLY the list of horrible things that can go wrong far from help is long and daunting. What awesome plotting fodder. Things should never go easily for our heroes and heroines.

When faced with an emergency where professional help is anywhere from far away to non-existent, things just aren't looking good for your character. You can apply this information to a wilderness setting in your writing or to a natural disaster or terror activity in an urban center where resources have been stretched thin or destroyed. 

I'm using my crack acting skills. Can you feel my pain?

PMS is your friend -- no, honestly.

PMS stands for:

• Pulse
• Motor (ability to move)
• Sensory (Can you feel this?)

Your character needs to check these at the beginning and the end of the first aid application to make sure they didn't do something that would make the situation worse. What? Your character made it worse? Hmm. Interesting plot twist.

For other cool acronyms that your character would know if they have advanced (more than band-aids and "Stay calm, I've called 911") first-aid capabilities go HERE.

Do NOT use paracord to tourniquet a limb unless the pressure is dispersed by a wider fabric. Your character can do a lot of harm. Use something that is wider, at least a few inches wide. (more about paracord and survival HERE) 

Do NOT - put sticking-out bones back in the skin. Same with sticking-out organs, for that matter. Cover them with sterile water-soaked fabric. Remember this phrase -- Sticking out? Leave it out.

Do NOT - pull sticking-out objects that impaled the victim out of the victim. Your character should brace the object and keep it in place until the victim has medical support. Remember this phrase --If it's in - leave it in.

Being knotty is good. 

Knots are important and can be oh so helpful. (Go HERE for an article on knots) This class added to my knot repertoire, but I realize I need more. Did your character learn to tie knots as a Girl Scout? Guess what? They're easily forgotten. Your character needs to practice them to keep them handy. This can be written into the plot line with any little thing - even a perfectly tied up tomato plant in the garden that caught someone's attention could lead to a conversation about why they have this skill. 

• "I raced sailboats from the time I could walk." 
• "My family was big into camping, and I spent most of my youthful weekends around a campfire tying knots and listening to stories." 
• "I'm an Army Ranger, I dream knot sequences."

This is the new knot I learned -- a Prusik Knot:

Obsession Climbing

How cool is that?

• It can help someone climb out of a bad place. 
• It can keep someone who's going after and injured person from falling into a bad place. 
• It can tie up a tarp to protect the victim from heat stroke, or rain...
• It can be used to create a traction splint for a broken femur so the bone parts don't migrate out through the skin, sever the femoral artery and have your character bleed out. (yeah - gross.)

Below is a video of a traction splint. You're not going to have one of these in the wild. Your character will have to devise what she can from what she finds or happens to have carried in with her. Remember, the more trained your characters, the better they will equip themselves and the better they will function. You get Joe-everyday back in the woods for a first time hike or Suzy-running-for-her-life in the jungle, and you've got problems. (Yay!)

(Go HERE for an article about running away in the woods)

Matthew A

If your character is well trained, find information on how to properly apply first-aid with the right equipment, then figure out interesting new ways to make this happen. If you need some ideas look under the Saving Your Heroine tab to see this in action with tampons, condoms, cans of Coke, dental floss, and others.

Also, if your character knows what they're doing, they probably had plans in place for themselves and their children. In this HUG A TREE article, I included videos I made about helping a tracker to find you, giving notice to the rangers, and packing a basic hiking bag that even kids should carry. 

People are freaking heavy. 

Just sayin'                                                                                     In the movies when they throw the 200 pound man over the shoulder and are running and gunning their way out of a situation - well, that's theater; unless of course, your character is highly trained and in top physical condition.                                                                                                                                               Let's just say if you think that's how I'm getting you down the trail, it ain't gonna happen. If push comes to shove (and it may look like just that) PERHAPS I could devise a way to yank you by the foot down the trail. BUT doing something like that would put me at risk of injury. What? Now both of your characters are down for the count? tsk tsk tsk - what a plot twist!                                                                                                 

My point here was - people are heavy. At one stage of a rescue, my job was to shift -- NOT LIFT -- just shift a guy up the back board with the help of two other people. That was a hard earned two inches of movement. 

While we were encouraged to get the person to the rescue workers, if I'm alone, I'm going to try to get you safe and comfortable then I'll jog out and find help (marking my trail so we can find you). Seventy pounds is about my drag-your-butt-out-of-there limit. 

The Corporal's Corner

To actually move someone a short distance -- say up a hill and back down -- it takes eight.

• The victim is strapped in place and ties are put in such a way
  
  that the victim won't slide out the top or bottom - your rescuer forgot? WHOOPS!
• The head is protected with a blanket/jacket/whatever-is-handy if the victim had any spinal or head trauma.
• Three people stand on either side of the backboard/hastily-constructed carrier.
• Two more people stand at the head of the carrier system. 
• The top right person is lead (this rotates through each pass) They say, "Ready?" (waits for confirmation from two standing in front) "Pass."
• The carrier is moved up to the hands of the two in front. The two in the back run around the outside to now be front people. The leader is now the new person at the top on the victim's right hand side. Two people are in front and thus oh so very slowly is the victim passed fire-bucket-brigade-style up and down a hill. When on flat ground they can just grab hold and walk.
• Any extra people who are around can act as balancers,
  
  watchers of holes, and rotate in to give relief. 
• Everyone should be very quiet and focused so commands can be heard and heeded. What? Too much noise and they missed that there was a hole? The whole rescue team is now in a pile at the bottom of the hill? tsk tsk tsk. Now there's a plot twist (and an ankle twist. . .)

"Ready - Transfer" in action

I hope this was helpful as you plot your next great novel!

A HUGE thank you to CERT (for more information go HERE) and instructors Bill and Ray who were incredibly patient and knowledgeable. 

And as always, a big thank you ThrillWriters and readers for stopping by. Thank you, too, for your support. When you buy my books, you make it possible for me to continue to bring you helpful articles and keep ThrillWriting free and accessible to all.

Caught in a BOOBY TRAP: Information for Writers with Chris Grall

English: An animated GIF of a wood carving of the subject 'Three Wise Monkey' (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I knew a man who was robbed. Not once, not twice, but again and again over the years. It was the nature of his business. People see a quick fix for their financial needs when there are gold and diamond pieces on the other side of the oh-so-breakable window. 

Tired of going through the rigmarole associated with insurance claims and police reports, this guy took matters into his own hands. He booby trapped his shop. 

Every night before he locked up, he laid plywood boards side by side across the floor. Into these boards he had hammered long (extra sharp) nails. Each night, he pulled chains across the jewelry cases at ankle height, so someone coming into the store would trip and impale themselves on the nails. Oh, and to make sure that the would-be robber didn't see any of this and thus avoid it, the shop keeper bought and set up a film-making grade fog machine set to go off with any movement. If all that should fail to take down the bad guy/gal, well he had a back up plan. Hanging from the ceiling at about the average guy's head level, he hung dozens of monkeys made of pecan resin. Pecan resin, in case you didn't know, is very dense and very heavy. The theory was that the bad guy would walk into one of those monkeys and get a concussion - or at least be disoriented, lose his balance, and (you guessed it) impale himself on the spikes in the floor boards.

Yup.

It really happened.

The subject of this article is BOOBY TRAPS. Let's lay out the basics first. It is ILLEGAL to booby trap -- your home, your car, your place of work, etc. So please remember that this site is for plot research only and this information is meant to further your story line ONLY. Right Chris?

Chris - 

CHRIS GRALL - TactiQuill

AMEN

Fiona -
Chris Grall take a moment and give everyone a glimpse at your background and why you're one of my finest "go-to" guys when I'm trying to write tactical scenes right.

Chris - 
I graduated the U.S. Army Special Forces Qualification Course in 1995. My Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) was 18C, Special Forces Engineer Sergeant. 

Basically, I was taught how to build stuff and then… blow it up. I had that job for five years before they moved me into an Intelligence slot and then, eventually, I became the Team Sergeant for an Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA). I was fortunate to be in the National Guard for most of my Army career. This gave me the opportunity to put my demolition skills to work as a building demolition contractor for a couple different companies. So I got to live the 18C dream… Blowing up buildings and bridges. 

I eventually took a full time position in training for the National Guard. I got to work with many SWAT teams and other Law Enforcement organizations passing on to them knowledge on a number of subjects, including the best way to deal with booby traps. Now I’m retired, and I consult for writers to improve the quality of their work and avoid errors both technical and tactical. And how I backed into this line of work is a tale all it’s own.

Fiona - 
Let's start with a booby trap definition, please.

Chris -
A booby trap is some device meant to kill, injure, or slow the enemy's progress. 

Injuring is always best. If you injure one you've removed two maybe three, because the injured will require aid and evacuation.

A booby trap is also a an anti-handling device meant to discourage use of an item by another party.

Fiona - 
So by that you mean, for example, a briefcase could be booby trapped so that only the person intended to see the contents could open it without blowing up?

Chris - 
Yes. Your character would have to know the sequence to open the brief case safely.

Fiona -
As part of your training, you learned to set booby traps. 

What kind of character would want to lay a booby trap and why would they do it?

Chris - 
First, look at what a booby trap is supposed to do. Sure they can be used to kill, but often times they are used to deny an area, restrict movement, or cause confusion...

In Sword of Gideon (movie) they were used exclusively by terrorists to kill.

In fact in most movies they are designed for that purpose, but in war, a mine field is nothing more than a bunch of manufactured booby traps used to channel an enemy force

There is a scene in Uncommon Valor (movie, Gene Hackman) where the character "Boomer" explains using booby traps in depth. channeling the enemy from one device to the next

So, I guess to really answer the question... A character who is either desperate or doesn't care about collateral damage would be the best bet. Booby traps have a random lethality... they don't care who they hurt, they just want to be triggered.

Fiona - 
Obviously one's mind goes to terrorists and the good-guys fighting the terrorists. But what about Joe's Mama who is escaping from a hoard of zombies, and she just needs a means to give herself time and space to run away? (Joe's Mama is an average modern woman with average skill sets.) Could someone with no tactical training rig a simple booby trap?
Chris - 
I like to divide booby traps into two basic categories... hunting style and explosive. In the case of Mom fleeing zombies...
Consider the character's target.

Zombies, being the unsophisticated creatures that they are, would very easily fall prey to a series of tripping hazards. So, rope or some other strong line would be perfect if anchored sturdily at about shin level. This would pile them up nicely and give plenty of time to escape. This is a simple trip trap similar to a stumble step used for castle tower defense in the dark ages.

Fiona -
"Trip trap" is fun to say.

I asked that question to point out that when writing a booby trap you have to consider a characters skill sets. Even if the only way to save my family from roving werewolves was to set up explosives, I couldn't do it - I don't know Jack about explosives. 

Chris, obviously our soldiers are schooled in booby traps But who exactly receives this training?

Chris - 
Almost all soldiers are trained to a VERY small degree to avoid traps, but emplacing traps is usually performed by "engineers" and sappers (specialized soldiers whose business is explosives).

This means Army MOS 12 series and Special Forces.


Fiona - 
Avoidance. That's important. What kinds of things would our military characters (and veterans, perhaps) be aware of as they move through a scene to avoid losing life or limb?

Chris - 

• First and foremost, trip wires. any string or wire - could be camouflaged - is the primary threat...
• Objects that are out of place or don't belong - the stuffed bunny in Full Metal Jacket.
• Objects that have or appear to have value - the ammo can full of "Intel" in Platoon.
• Anything that draws the curious
• Any place that channelizes access to an area is a likely spot.

But! Camouflage is the big killer. If you're going to take the time to set in a device, you'll take the time to camouflage it.

And your characters have to think, if there's one... there will be more than one.

Fiona - 
Circumvent /disengage or clear/deactivate? What goes into that decision making process?

Chris - 
9 out of 10... disengage. Clearing is time consumptive dangerous work.

If I encountered a trip wire and absolutely had to continue, I would mark the trip wire and move on.

Fiona - 
Mark it with...?

Chris - 
Colored tape, toilet paper, Kleenex... something obvious and easily passed on to others in the group.

Fiona - 
From reading and watching TV shows and the movies - what do you wish authors knew about booby traps so they could write it right?

Chris - 

The big one is the old "step on the mine" trope. The character steps on something, hears the click, and thinks, "oh crap!" Devices don't work that way... EVER!

Why would anyone design a trap with a means of escape?

It's dramatic, but nowhere near reality. The device will work, or it won't... that simple.

Then it's just a question of character experience with booby traps and how they interact with the device in question... example follows:

This is the standard "grenade on the door" trick -

Your character would pull a pin on the grenade. The weight of the grenade laying on the spoon keeps it from activating. If the door is opened the handle will turn and the grenade will fall to the floor, the spoon will fly, and 5 seconds later... boom!

That is, if you came at it from the other side of the door...

If I saw it from the grenade side, I'd say, "thanks for giving me a grenade!" I would grasp the grenade and spoon, not allowing it to activate and put a paperclip or clothes pin in through the pull pin hole rendering it safe.

An inexperienced character wouldn't necessarily know this

Fiona -
What does a soldier have on them in the field that would help them make an impromptu booby trap?


Chris - 

Readily at hand items: 

• grenades(smoke/flashbang/explosive) 
• parachute cord (550 cord) 
• tape 
• claymore mine 

Possibly:

This was Chris sitting on a spool of detonating cord when he was... younger.

• C-4 
• blasting caps
• a booby trap device like the M142 firing device

The possible items depend on the mission the soldier is to perform and what equipment is organic (not specialized). I take most of this for granted because I always had a demolition kit with me... filled with all sorts of toys.

Fiona - 

A Quick C-4 tutorial if you please?

Chris - 

C-4 is a plastic explosive. It is very stable and can only be initiated with a military grade blasting cap, or detonating cord tied into the appropriate knot. C-4 can also explode if you apply pressure to it while it is burning. it is very stable and can be dropped hammered and molded without fear of detonation.

Fiona - 

When an author is setting up a scene, we're going to say this is a special forces operative, tell me about their perspective what are they thinking? What is the process they are going through?

Chris - 

First, think objective, what do I need to accomplish, then what do I want to accomplish. Next come the how.

Remembering that traps are random and people are even more random still...

I will need to set up devices in depth. If the first trigger is missed, where do I set the next one to ensure I meet my objective? I would analyze the terrain (floor plan) and look for the most likely traffic areas. Trap a doorway, not the corner of the room. Trap the latch side of a gate, not the hinge side.

If I really wanted to get you at a gate in the woods, I'd have one or two pressure plate devices by the gate. And a device on the gate itself.

• If I get you with the pressure devices as you approach, YAY! 
• If I miss you with those, maybe I get you with the device on the gate, YAY! 
• If I miss you with that, and you kneel down to defuse the device, maybe I get you with another pressure device where I know you'll have to kneel to disarm it, YAY! 
• And, if I've had time, I'd put a secondary trigger or ant-handling device on the device on the gate, so when you breathe that big sigh of relief... you forget to look for more... and I get you YAY!

Of course all of this takes time... and your camouflage needs to be good.

OR

I camouflage one device poorly and/or use a false device and channel you to the real device.

It's like chess.

Fiona - 

Define pressure plate. 

Chris - 

There are 4 types of simple mechanical activation method: 

1. Pressure: pressure activates a mechanical or electronic trigger (think switches here). 
2. Pressure Release: the removal of a weight activates the trigger.
3. Trip Wire, Pull: pulling the wire activates the trigger. 
4. Trip Wire, Tension Release: cutting the wire releases the tension holding the trigger in a safe position.

There are other electrical permutations, but they all follow the same basic formula of applying a load or removing it to create an event.

Chris getting ready for an operation in Iraq

Fiona - 

Under pressure when adrenaline reduces fine motor ability how do professionals compensate?

Chris - 

Oh Fiona... you opened a big can of worms there.

Fiona - 

Chris - I've studied a lot about neurology, and I've come to a few conclusions and will point out some flaws in the loss of fine motor skills... "myth", for lack of a better word.

By definition, any operation performed with the fingers or hand is a fine motor skill. Any operation performed with the larger muscle groups is gross. If you've trained to perform an action, you will be able to perform that action under stress.

So, imagine that you are a civil war soldier, and you are standing in the front line of a formation of 100 men. Loading and firing a civil war musket is a ten-step process which included pouring powder into a little tube, ramming the ball down that tube with a metal rod, then re-stowing that rod in it's keeper, and so forth.

The average Civil War Soldier could perform this action 3 time in a minute. Now imagine, standing in front of you, 25 yards away is a group just like yours, they are also shooting at you, there are cannons blowing huge holes in your line AND... at any moment those guys over there could charge and try to ram a three foot long knife through you guts... were they under stress? Could they perform the fine motor skills required to load and fire a musket? 

Anything can be trained.

Stress is mitigated through training.

Fiona - 
Speaking of stress, we always ask for a harrowing story - or the story behind your favorite scar.

Chris - A harrowing Story. . .

You can’t spend 26 years in the Army without acquiring a few interesting tales, but my favorite explosives story was not harrowing for me as much as it was for the Bolivians we were training. We had been tasked with a training mission and as luck would have it, one of the topics was explosive safety and field expedient devices. Basically, building bombs out of materials on hand. The Bolivian Army at that time did not have much access to C-4 and had to use Dynamite.

Now, Dynamite in the U.S. has become a much safer explosive. The newer stuff is not as unstable as it is sometimes portrayed in the movies… The old stuff, DANGEROUS. The new stuff, not so bad. Of course the Dynamite they had in Bolivia, well, let’s just say the Bolivians had a very healthy respect for the stuff. So we were going to build devices out of their dynamite, but we also had some C-4 so we could teach them the differences.

The big day arrives and one of our guys is standing at a table with about 100 Bolivian soldados standing around him. He picks up the Dynamite, “Muy Peligroso…” (Very dangerous) They all nod. He hands off the dynamite to one of our guys and picks up the C-4. Then he tells them how safe it is. (English Translation) “In fact, It’s so safe I can beat it against this table…”

As he struck the table with the C-4, I detonated a pound of the stuff out on the range.

It took us about half an hour to collect them all back to the class and I think a couple had to go change their pants.


Fiona -
Ha! 

BTW  According to Today I Found Out:

[Booby trap, as it  turns out,] has nothing to do with the mammaries of the fairer sex, but rather has its origins in the Spanish word “bobo,” meaning “stupid,” “fool,” or “naïve.” This Spanish word in turn comes from the Latin “balbus” meaning “stammering”, which to the Romans was thought to be a sign of stupidity.

So, essentially, a “booby trap” is a trap that “boobies,” or idiots, are the victims of. Around the same time this first popped up, we also had expressions like “booby prize,” meaning a prize given to a fool. 

Okay, my dear fellow readers and writers all know that I'm a great big HUGE advocate of trying out the scenes to make sure they work, getting hands-on working knowledge of the subject matter, etc. 

OBVIOUSLY when we are writing things like C-4 and "grenade resting on a spoon" tactics, this is the point at which I say STOP! Consult a professional. Let them help you write it right.

To this end, Chris, you are a resource for writers through your business TactiQuill. Can you give us a basic breakdown of what your service provides and the costs?

Chris - 

TactiQuill Rates: (TactiQuill.com)

TactiQuill provides firearms and tactical advice at the following rates: (For items 1 & 2, whichever is cheapest)

1. .015 Per word / 2000 word minimum ($30).
2. $3 per page / 10 page minimum ($30)
3. Phone/Video conference $125 per hour. (Plot / character / scenario development / firearms advice)

Services:

• Analyze and critique action sequences - Armed and unarmed combat
• Identify firearms mistakes 
• Weapon specs
• Weapon manipulation by characters
• Weapon usage
• Weapon pronouns 
• Character actions vs level of training
• Plot / action / scenario analysis
• Review of all rewrites to the submission 
• Mention anything that raises a question from the point of view of our experience and training.
• Written review of the work (Manuscript only)

Fiona - 

Thanks, Chris, for all of this wonderful information. 

You all can catch up with Chris Grall on Twitter @dtn8or. 

And as always, a big thank you ThrillWriters and readers for stopping by. Thank you, too, for your support. When you buy my books, you make it possible for me to continue to bring you helpful articles and keep ThrillWriting free and accessible to all.

I'm Game! An Interview with a Game Warden - Information for Writers

http://amzn.to/1S2HZJ2
http://bit.ly/1RzKLtj

In this article we are speaking with Roger Guay and Kate Flora who collaborated on the book A Good Man with a Dog

Can you start Roger by telling me about your background

Roger - 
The book is about a Game Wardens life in the real world the good the bad and the ugly. Most people see this field of Law enforcement as the wander around and take care of baby animals stuff but its the furthest from the truth.

Fiona -
What is a Game Warden's job description? How did you decide this was the career for you?

Roger - 
Game Wardens or Conservation Officers duties vary from state to province; but here in Maine, we enforce hunting fishing and recreational vehicles and look for and recover all missing people missing in the fields and forest of the state. We have full police powers and duties.

Growing up I was trained to avoid wardens at all cost. But I grew older and saw what they stood for and protected.  I met a guy dying of cancer and spent time talking to him about what mattered in his life. Then when my father died in a drowning accident, a warden befriended me. That's when I understood what wardens were about.

My family background was guiding and working for the Canadian pacific rail. I worked as a forester scaler before getting hired.

Fiona - 
Would you be willing to share the insights you gleaned from the man who spoke with you about his end of life thoughts with you?

What moved you towards this kind of work from that interaction?

Roger - 

He began to reflect on his life as a mentor and wanted me to understand what was and was not important in life. His memories he had made with his family hunting and fishing and the adventures in the outdoors were the only thing that had value to him in his final months.

Fiona -
So you became a games warden - what personality traits do you think serve you best in your job?

Roger -
Hate the sin not the sinner best weird way to put it. A lot of poachers love the outdoor resources and were for the most part nice people, but their view of the glass was half full instead of half empty. To preserve our wildlife for future generations, we need the cup to filling up not emptying down. Make sense?

Fiona - 
Yes thank you. (To read more about WILDLIFE FORENSICS go HERE)

Fiona - 
When do you start your day? When does it end?

Roger - 
A wardens day is tied to the season not a clock. Its all about keeping an eye on vulnerable exposure to fish and critters. for example smelts are running here right now they run up small streams at night to lay eggs if no one protects them they will all be caught and the smelt run will be no more affecting all the fish in the lake. So you have no clock you work cycles of life.

So you may sit all night on a brook and chase illegal bear hunters the next day

Fiona - 
So based on the calendar you are guarding certain aspects of wildlife - and the help the people who are enjoying wildlife do so responsibly. Sometimes people go missing. Can you tell me how/when you are called in and what the procedures are?

Roger -
In the state of Maine, we would average about a search a day for a missing person. Wandering toddlers, to drug overdose, to suicide-suspicious disappearances etc. Game Wardens in Maine have the jurisdiction by law to run these operations if it is determined that the missing persons are likely in the field.We work with all the involved agencies to get the person back safe and sound. Calls usually will come thru 911 and will be dispatched from there.

Fiona - 

How successful are authorities in finding the people alive?

Roger -
There are a lot of variables that effect the outcome of a search and its success:

• Weather 
• Terrain 
• Physical health of victim 
• Experience 
• Clothing 
• Mental state ect. 

Most cases, say 90%, that are called in quickley are found with three hours. 

Alive 95% of the time.

Fiona - 
Can you tell me the requirements (educational etc) to become a game warden and what training included.

Roger - 
In Maine you are not required to have a degree to become a warden but reality is that without one or military time the chances of making the cut is very slim. You have to pass a written test a physical test a two oral boards and then full background and polygraph. If you make it through that, you go to the academy for 26 weeks, then you are on probation for a year. Its a long hard road.

Fiona -

This is writer Kate Flora who collaborated on the book with Roger.

How did the two of you meet and how did the idea for this project come about?

Kate - 
I've done two previous nonfiction books, Finding Amy and Death Dealer, and both of those books involved the Maine warden service and trained cadaver dogs. 

Roger was a K9 handler in both cases. In Finding Amy, his dog's behavior at the burial site both confirmed the presence of the body and also located the site where the body had lain for two days before being buried, which corroborated the suspect's confession to his mother about the details of the crime. I was working on the second case when Roger called and said he liked what I did in Finding Amy, and he'd just retired. People had always told him he had great stories and should write them down but he didn't know how, so I said, "Let's talk." We did..and A Good Man with Dog started to evolve.

Fiona - 
So what did you learn about his job that you found to be the most interesting? Did you get to follow him around?

Kate -
Actually, so many things about is job were fascinating. We did the initial interviews driving around one of his former patrol areas near Greenville, Maine in a pickup truck. I held the recorder, and every time we turned a corner, he'd say: I had a plane crash here, or a snowmobile accident there, or something. We were on a maze of dirt logging roads and everywhere, there was story. 

I started out thinking that this was going to be a collection of cute fish and game stories...bad fishermen, poachers, etc. But I learned a ton about the reasons for protecting these resources and how easily they can be wiped out. I realized we were talking about a world where everyone carried guns. And then, he started talking about recognizing the value of dogs to the work they did (the warden service was phasing out their K9 program at that time) and how he and his first dog bonded and the amazing things they could do.

Along the way, I trudged through the woods, went to warden K9 trainings, went to other K9 trainings, etc. Got lost in the woods, so I could be found by dogs.

As he told the story, it was kind of an evolution...from lost people to people who were deceased but the dogs didn't find them because they didn't have cadaver training, and then the discussion about how he would use the dogs to reconstruct shooting scenes.

And a little bit more: One thing that was fascinating was all the stories about how they used the dogs to find evidence--fish and game, but also spent shell casings, guns thrown away by fleeing criminals, finding where the shooter was standing, where the animal was when it was shot, and where it fell...a whole lot of what we call Canine CSI.

Fiona -
Very cool - how does that work?

Kate - 
The dogs are trained to find many things, depending on what command is given. There will be one command for finding live human scent, another for finding a cadaver. There may be special commands for finding fish or finding game; and then, for the evidence searches, the dogs may be training to find anything with a human scent, such a discarded cigarettes, trash, food wrappers, etc, but also to find anything with brass or gunpowder scents, so they can find shotgun wads, spent shells, or even a handgun that has been thrown away. He has one amazing story of searching for an unexpected tranquilizer dart that missed the moose and was somewhere in a huge playground. If a child had found it, it would have been lethal.

Fiona - 
Oh? What happened?

There was a sick moose hanging around the playground, so the state biologist came out with a tranquilizer gun loaded with enough stuff to put down a moose...he shot and missed and the dart landed somewhere in the grass. The humans couldn't find it, so they brought in Roger and his dog and they searched and found it.

Fiona - 
can you talk about Roger's dogs and evidence searches?

Kate - 
Okay. Evidence searches. Because of the many abilities that a search dog can acquire, they can become significant resources for helping to find evidence that may be scattered over a very large outdoors area. Roger's dog was trained to find live humans, cadavers, cadavers that are in water, as well as fish that were illegally poached and often hidden by fishermen in snowbanks or in their vehicles or near their fishing sites. Because of the dog's ability to find spent casings, they could be used to show where the shooter was standing, and locate spent shells which could link a particular gun to a particular shooting event.

Also, the dogs are good at scenting humans and animals and blood, so in recreating a crime, they can locate, via the human scent/spent shells, etc. where the shooter was standing, and then the place where the human or animal was struck by the bullet, and the place where the animal (this is game warden work, after all) fell.

Fiona - 
And he puts a GPS coordinate down? How does he map this information?

Kate - 
Searches are generally done with a hand-held GPS device which can locate all of these areas on a map. A lot of the mapping for major searches is done by a mapping expert with the warden service, particularly on a large area search where the search areas are assigned, cleared, and mapped so they can keep track of the areas that were searched.

Fiona - 

Are these the kinds of things one learns in the book A Good Man with a Dog?

Kate - 
Absolutely. The book is full of lore about the dog's training and expertise, but also about real crime scene reconstruction, both human and animal. Mostly animal. There is a lot of the training lore, as well, in Death Dealer: How cops and cadaver dogs brought a killer to justice.

www.roger.guay.com 

@RGAuthor 

www.kateclarkflora.com 

@kateflora

Fiona - 
Can you tell us one of Roger's harrowing stories?

Kate - 
Harrowing story? Well, how about this one: One day he's out on patrol and he sees a known poacher step into the road with a gun. This guy is also a known drug dealer and all around bad guy. Roger stops to check on him, thinking perhaps he's going to have his chance to nail him at last, but as they are talking, five or six the man's friends, also toting rifles, step out of the woods and surround him. And while they are not exactly aiming their guns at him, their guns are not pointing toward the ground and away, and it is clear that if he makes a wrong move, he's going to be shot. He has to deescalate the situation and walk away. Those events were not uncommon...the book is full of scary stories because this is a world of guns.

Fiona - 

Thank you so much Kate and Roger for this information.

If you'd like to stay in touch with them:

www.roger.guay.com 

@RGAuthor 

www.kateclarkflora.com 

@kateflora

And as always, a big thank you ThrillWriters and readers for stopping by. Thank you, too, for your support. When you buy my books, you make it possible for me to continue to bring you helpful articles and keep ThrillWriting free and accessible to all.