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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/42456
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/42456
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

 **Where does one go to find out about the day-to-day of military life?** In countries other than my own? I don't mean combat - I mean the boring routine. Basic training. What kind of food is served in the mess. How soldiers address each other, how one speaks to a superior or a subordinate. Who cleans the toilet. What regulations are relevant in the day-to-day. That sort of thing. **I am looking for (a) relevant resources and (b) relevant research techniques**, _not_ "could you please tell me what it's like".

To clarify, I've done my three years in the Israeli Defence Forces, so I know what military service _here_ looks like. Only, I also know that's not exactly how other militaries work. The big things are similar. The little details - not so much. As an example, the [Mildly Military](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MildlyMilitary) tv-trope lists under its real-life examples some elite units, and the whole of our army. (I guess we switch very easily between "civilians in uniform" and "soldiers". And "soldiers in plain-clothes", if need be. It was normal for me to tell my lieutenant "go to sleep, man. I'll take care of this [task]. I don't need a babysitter".)

What I'd like to find out is what military service in the US and the UK, for example, looks like. I mean, the "international space military whatever" most likely would not be formed and led by Israel, right? (Maybe the Israeli doctrine would be adopted worldwide, but that's a kind of choice I'd like to make _after_ doing my research, not _instead of_.) To a certain extent, I'm looking for the things that are different - for the "culture shock" a soldier would experience, moving from one environment to another. At the moment, I've only got one point of reference. I want to have more.

So where do I go to find out about other militaries? There is the representation in films, but I don't know how much of it is true. (Then again, I was sure _Full Metal Jacket_ was an absurd over-the-top caricature, turns out it was actually quite realistic.) I tried asking some friends who took part in joint training exercises; got plenty of stories about how "we're awesome" (it's informative, but doesn't actually tell me anything about the other guys - only that we like to pat ourselves on the shoulder).

(While I'm looking for information already knowing quite a bit, I expect answers would also be helpful to people looking to write about military settings, knowing little about military life at all.)

I am aware of the question [Character is an expert on something I'm not](https://writing.stackexchange.com/q/41175/14704). The answer "research, research and more research" is hardly helpful with the question _how do I do this research_. What resources are available to me, in doing this research? Where do I turn to? "I need to research this" is the _premise_ of this question.

Original score: 6