Is there a free website for learning basic military combat terminology?

Question

I am a science fiction and fantasy writer and at times it is necessary to reference a battle or have scenes set in a battle. Problem is I only know military terms I hear in other fiction.

I need to know the kind of commands you might give when commanding troops. Like "out flank them".

Also the kind of things that would be discussed among a team of officers in a tent not far from the front line. Like "gain the high ground".

tactics strategy fleet commands...etc etc. I'm not looking to actually join the military I just need it to sound good and make sure I'm not misusing terms.

If I had to shell out money for a book I would only do so if you've read it and could tell me it's worth it.

Answer 1

There are books, but slang changes and you don't need to spend your money with the net right in front of you.

Here is a few sites to start with. It just takes some research and I hope your book is awesome:

DoD dictionary. This has pretty much every term you can think of and all the NATO ones:

http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/doddict...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_est...

http://members.aol.com/usmilbrats/glossa...

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:M...

http://www.all-acronyms.com/tag/army_sla...

British Forces

http://www.biscuitsbrown.com/forces_dict...

http://www.arrse.co.uk/wiki/Army_Slang

Answer 2

It is all ways better to write about subjects that you understand, but it is not impossible to learn about them , as well.

A basic book about the universal tactics of warfare is  " The Art of War "  written several hundred years ago, in China, it is STILL a required reading at most military officers  training schools around the  world. Some tactics have not really changed, despite modern technology.

Here is a link to it  Translated in 1910.

http://www.chinapage.com/sunzi-e.html

A second source of military knowledge can be de-classified US Army field manuals, that are available oin line. Do a google source  for "small unit tactics " or the  "platoon officers field manual " Paladin Books in Arizona has a wide range of them for sale, at low prices. These are authentic  sources of  methods and practises  of the US Army in the past.

Be  aware that other nations use much different  words, terms and phrases to describe their  military actions and ranks and weapons and tactics.

Example : I 'm a  Canadian and I  spent 30 years in the Canadian Forces.

Although we train with the US Army/USMC  quite a bit,  we use many different  tactics and terms that they don;t understand. Our methods work for us, and we fight in a quite different way, mainly because we don't have a massive military  force (  the total of all 3 branches is  only 55,000 people ) so we are very cautious in our approach to a target on the ground, and we make much more use of recce troops who are ahead of our main force's line of advance.

More use of stand  off weapons, and a greater emphasis  on the individual  soldier's ability to do many tasks and his training to be able to work " two ranks higher " if his leaders are killed or wounded.

We don't have a "specialist rank " we train every one to do at least two to three  seperate  skills. So a corporal may be a trained armoured vehicle driver/guuner, as well as a radio man and a artillery spotter, as he does what he is asked to do at the monent. Multi tasking.

JIm B. Toronto,.