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Hot Topic (More than 10 Replies) New in the Library - 7/31/2011 (Read 6374 times)
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New in the Library - 7/31/2011
Aug 1st, 2011 at 6:00pm
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Well, the second version of Straker's backstory is pretty well finished and is uploaded.
Commnder Straker History 2

It wsa observed that if Straker had actually been awarded the medals for Korea (the ones in the ribbon array in Identified), then he would actually be a more appropriate age for the responsibilities he has - and a much more appropriate age for being a full USAF colonel when the British Minister was killed.

It does, however, make for some interesting changes in the dynamic between Straker and Foster. It also means that Alec should probably be older than some of us have made him. He could have been part of the British contingent in the Korean War.
« Last Edit: Aug 1st, 2011 at 9:20pm by Librarian »  

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Neesierie
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Re: New in the Library - 7/31/2011
Reply #1 - Aug 1st, 2011 at 6:40pm
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Cool!  Cool
  

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Re: New in the Library - 7/31/2011
Reply #2 - Aug 2nd, 2011 at 11:49pm
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Top shelf Deb! Smiley

(I might use this version of Ed, in my gender bender, when I do the final edit. Wink)
  

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Re: New in the Library - 7/31/2011
Reply #3 - Aug 3rd, 2011 at 3:35am
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Now on to Alec - oh boy  Huh

Started looking up the RAF and discovered that I had General Bond's rank wrong and Alec's RAF rank as well - Colonel is a Royal Army and Marine rank, not RAF. Alec's rank would be Group Captain and Bond should be an Air Marshal. Unless Alec is actually Canadian.  Shocked

And what's really irking? Wounded Dreams has been up for years, reviewed by Britons and nobody said a word about the ranks being wrong for the RAF. Embarrassed

Sheesh. But then in the show Alec was introduced as 'Colonel Freeman'. So who knows what Barwick was thinking when he was writing Confetti Check.
  

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Re: New in the Library - 7/31/2011
Reply #4 - Aug 3rd, 2011 at 12:33pm
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Don't sweat it, Deb!  It's just fiction.  And if the writers for the show can't even get it right, how can we be expected to?  :Smiley
  

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Re: New in the Library - 7/31/2011
Reply #5 - Aug 3rd, 2011 at 2:12pm
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No problem, make him a Royal Marine. They have pilots, as well as MI officers, just like the US Marine Corps. Wink
  

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Re: New in the Library - 7/31/2011
Reply #6 - Aug 3rd, 2011 at 2:42pm
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It's just annoying. Alec as a Royal Marine pilot works. I mean, there's not actually anything on screen to say he was RAF except we assume that from the reference to Air Force Intelligence. He wasn't in uniform at Straker's wedding - which is a little odd since Straker was in uniform and there were other uniforms at the reception. Huh

OR, Freeman was an RAF Group Captain, but when he 'retired' from the RAF to join SHADO, SHADO's ranks were Army/Marine throughout - except for Sky-diver commanders.

I think I only have one story that this actually affects and I don't think anyone else has one with Alec still the RAF, except possibly Amelia. And I'm not positive on that one. I think she or Ed would have mentioned it if they had discovered something like that in their research.
  

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Re: New in the Library - 7/31/2011
Reply #7 - Aug 3rd, 2011 at 3:06pm
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I'm going to have to fix at least two of my stories, that refer to Alec as an RAF Colonel. Embarrassed I checked the Aussie ranks for the RAAF, they use the same format as the Brits. Dang! Angry

Was Alec introduced, or reffered to, as Colonel Freeman at Ed's wedding? Undecided

Do MI5/MI6 have military ranks for their personal, like the KGB or CIA?

Just thinking outloud. Alec seems to be more of a mystery than Ed. Wink
  

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Re: New in the Library - 7/31/2011
Reply #8 - Aug 3rd, 2011 at 5:13pm
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I think the first reference (chronologically, not episode-wise) was the receptionist at Henderson's office announcing 'Colonel Straker and Colonel Freeman.' At the wedding he was just 'Alec'.

I'm still surprised nobody called any of us out on that one. I notice that Bentley in his bio on Freeman seems to sidestep it - he describes Freeman simply as a 'former RAF combat pilot' and assigned to 'RAF secretariat DS8'.
That would certainly imply he was thinking in terms of RAF ranks, even if he never said it, but it's hard to really say.

And then there's the matter of Freeman being SHADO's first recruit but having a badge number of 97. Where the heck did that come from? Huh

Um - they were introduced as 'Commander Straker and Colonel Freeman'. :Smiley
« Last Edit: Aug 4th, 2011 at 10:54pm by Librarian »  

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Re: New in the Library - 7/31/2011
Reply #9 - Aug 3rd, 2011 at 6:54pm
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I think that one caught everyone by surprise, and it is odd that no one mentioned it. I'm going with Royal Marine, it fits Alec's "bulldog" personality. Grin

Badge numbers are often handed out with no sense of order to them. It's also possible that IAC personnel (Jackson, Henderson et. al.) were given lower block numbers. In my storylines, Colonel Grey transfers from the IAC to SHADO.

Bentley's books have enough inconsistancy in them that I take everything with a big grain of salt.  Wink
  

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Re: New in the Library - 7/31/2011
Reply #10 - Aug 3rd, 2011 at 7:38pm
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Quote:
Bentley's books have enough inconsistancy in them that I take everything with a big grain of salt.   


Yeah - like Straker's wedding taking place in December. I hate to clue y'all, but England in December has be be at least as cold as Seattle - and nobody in his right mind would be changing his clothes outdoors in December in Seattle. (Or Vancouver {either of them}, or Portland, for that matter.)

For myself, I'm tending toward just editing my two stories that actually mention Alec in the RAF.
  

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Re: New in the Library - 7/31/2011
Reply #11 - Aug 4th, 2011 at 6:05am
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Hmmmmm, I'm pretty sure I've had Alec as RAF, but not sure I ever claimed he was a Colonel in the RAF - I'll have to check. Foster was given a rank of Colonel in SHADO and as far as I can recall, he never had a military service, so rank in SHADO doesn't mean anything as far as prior military service is concerned.
  

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Re: New in the Library - 7/31/2011
Reply #12 - Aug 4th, 2011 at 12:23pm
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He did have military service.  It's mentioned in Exposed by Jackson during his hearing, when he's looking at Foster's record.  Something about his military service, then his years as a test pilot.  I just studied that scene recently for the story I'm writing now (to get the feel for Jackson's type of sarcasm), but I can't remember the exact line.
  

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Re: New in the Library - 7/31/2011
Reply #13 - Aug 4th, 2011 at 12:27pm
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I just reread parts of that scene that I put in the "UFO Quotes" section of my website.  Apparently, Jackson just mentions that he's been a pilot for 8 years, not that any of that time was military.  I guess I always assumed it was.  My bad.  Lips Sealed
  

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Re: New in the Library - 7/31/2011
Reply #14 - Aug 4th, 2011 at 2:27pm
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Bentley had Foster in the RAF - probably since the air force and navy are the places most pilots get trained. What he left out as that test pilots generally need to be trained to be test pilots and I'm not sure how many, if any, civilian test pilot schools are out there and if Foster was trained by the RAF, whether ot not they would have let him go - unless it was due to that second UFO sighting.

Hmm.  :Smiley

According to Bentley, Foster joined the RAF at 20 and spent 8 years in the military. Although one would have thought that the RAF would have trained him a little better in repect for his superiors - but maybe that's just the snarky king-of-the-world test pilot coming out in him.

So it does make very good sense for Foster to have been RAF since that's the easiest route for an ordinary person to become a pilot. (Maybe even the only route - flying is a damned expensive hobby.)
  

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