sudsandspectre
sudsandspectre
i like you alive
582 posts
lowkey don't want my main associated with this fandom so here's a side blog. mid-20s. they/gay/will trans your faves. call me suds! header from "can't keep johnny down" by Wheezing_Joe on ao3
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sudsandspectre · 13 hours ago
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Shadow: God Ghost sounds so scary, I hope I never meet him
(Months later)
Shadow: That's a homosexual. That is the gayest, violent man I have ever met. That is a certified loser with the capability of murder. His boyfriend is scarier than him
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sudsandspectre · 23 hours ago
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Okay listen listen there’s gotta be a distinct connection between Hesh being THE older brother, and then him just being so so accepting being made the second in command of the Ghosts over literally anyone else. Like you see what I see guys??? He’s doing the same shit just a different font.
This is good for angst… on top of the weight of needing to care for Logan and ensure his safety he now also needs to ensure the care and safety of an entire team whose whole job is near death experiences. How stressed do you think he is? How scared? He genuinely loves his brother, and his team, wants them all to be safe and happy… but god he’s so tired. Sometimes he just wants to curl into a ball and wake up when it all goes away… and he only feels guilty for it.
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sudsandspectre · 3 days ago
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Late Night Risers
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sudsandspectre · 9 days ago
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König: I once had a sniper trained on Sergeant MacTavish
Horangi: And he's still alive. Why didn't you shoot him?
König: He looked at me
Horangi: ... he looked at you?
König: I was over three hundred meters away and he MADE EYE CONTACT WITH ME THROUGH THE SCOPE
Horangi:
Horangi: You're right, he is scarier than Ghost
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sudsandspectre · 10 days ago
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do you think Soap constantly thinks about that one phrase "big boy with the skull face" and nearly short circuiting because up until that point, whenever he saw Ghost, his brain went "big boy, big boy, big boy—" and his tail wagging like he's being offered a treat (in the form of eye candy).
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sudsandspectre · 17 days ago
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Is referring to the Ghosts masks designs as "Epitaph(s)" anything?
"Something by which a person, time, or event will be remembered"
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sudsandspectre · 24 days ago
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CoD/Military Writing Reference Masterlist
Here is a compilation of information (with references/links/citations) that I think the CoD fandom and fic writers in particular might find useful:
British Army:
Here is a list of ranks and abbreviations (with appropriate capitalization) (for anyone with the shinigami extension, sorry, it's the BBC)
Here is a list of the equivalent ranks of the British services and US Air Force (for some reason not the US Army or US Navy. Don’t ask me why lmao).
Here and here are some posts about the ranks in the 141 and general attitudes that they would hold for each other (and how others would see them)
Here is a detailed breakdown of the British Army organization (with average numbers and who is in charge of who).
Here is the wiki page for British Army uniforms (literally good luck, I’ve spent hours trying to figure out when soldiers wear what). As far as I can tell, the 141 would wear the No. 8 Combat Dress 90% of the time with the SAS beige beret. For formal events, they would wear the No. 2 Service Dress with berets instead of peaked forage caps. Interestingly, the Royal Regiment of Scotland can wear their No. 2 Service Dress with kilts (which I know Johnny would be livid about because he can’t). Super formal occasions are marked by the No. 1 Temperate Ceremonial, or “dress blues”.
Commissioned ranks are Second Lieutenant and above. These are members who hold positions of authority granted by formal documents of appointment signed by the monarch. In the US (which I am assuming is the same or similar in the UK), a commissioned officer has gone through officer training, which usually requires a university degree or a military equivalent.
Warrant Officers (WO) and Non-Commissioned Officers (NCO) are included in the enlisted ranks. They are members of the enlisted ranks who hold positions of authority. WOs are granted authority through a warrant instead of a commission and must be promoted from an NCO rank. NCOs are Lance Corporals to Staff Sergeants.
The only enlisted rank is Private. These are members who have enlisted and have gone through basic training in order to be counted against the Army’s trained strength.
Sergeants (Gaz and Soap) are among the highest-ranked NCOs and therefore have a lot of practical experience (more, sometimes, than commissioned officers). They have climbed through the ranks from Private all the way to the top of the enlisted ladder. Commissioned officers, on the other hand, have the option to skip the enlisted ladder altogether and jump straight to Second Lieutenant (assuming that they are entering the army with a university degree). However, it is canon that both Ghost and Price were promoted from enlisted ranks. Nevertheless, the NCO/CO divide would be stark; Price and Ghost both have pieces of paper signed by the Royal Crown that give them authority while Gaz and Soap don’t. That being said, Gaz and Soap are incredibly high ranking enlisted while Ghost and Price are (relatively) low ranking officers. While they have less authority, they have similar levels of responsibility and leadership.
Comm discipline is incredibly important in the military. Communication must be clear, concise, and (most importantly) unambiguous. There are many, many commands that can be given over the radio and some of them aren't as self-explanatory as they may seem. Here are some of the basics, lingo, etiquette, and FAQs about military radio communications.
SAS:
The SAS is nicknamed "The Regiment", its motto is "Who Dares Wins", and its color is pompadour blue. Contrary to popular belief, the dagger on the badge is wreathed in flame, not wings.
"The SAS is the mirror in which other special forces reflect." The SAS is the most elite special forces regiment in the world and they all know it. They take their jobs incredibly seriously and are held to a ridiculously high standard, both by their superior officers and by themselves. The 141, as a specialized task force, would take both their training and their commitment to their job to the extreme. The SAS has a fierce reputation of being the blueprints upon which every other special forces regiment was founded, and every single one of them takes an incredible amount of pride in that. It's easy to characterize Soap as a rookie, especially because of his reputation as the Perpetual FNG, but he alone could run circles around every single non-special forces soldier in the world (and a hell of a lot of the special forces soldiers, too).
The SAS consists of one regular and two reserve units. The 22 SAS (regular) is based in Stirling Lines, Credenhill, Herefordshire and has five squadrons (A, B, D, G, and Reserve) and a training wing. The 21 and 23 SAS are the two reserve regiments.
The UK Special Forces do not recruit from the general public. All current members of the armed forces can apply for Special Forces selection, but most have historically come from the Royal Marines or Parachute Regiment. In 2018, recruitment policy changed to allow women to join the SAS for the first time and in 2021, two women passed pre-selection, making them the first women eligible for the full course.
The SAS Selection Process is held twice a year (once in summer and once in winter) and is a three-phase process that has an 8-10% pass rate. Between 2014 and 2022, there were more deaths in training and exercises than in combat against active threats.
Phase 1 is an endurance test, known as “the hills” stage, where candidates undergo a series of timed hikes between checkpoints with increasingly heavy packs. This phase takes a total of three weeks and culminates in a 40-mile hike carrying 55lbs that must be completed in 24 hours. By the end of this phase, candidates must be able to run 4 miles in 30 minutes and swim 2 miles in 90 minutes.
Officers undergoing SAS selection have a week-long phase which assesses their ability to plan operations while fatigued and stressed (sucks for Price and Ghost; Gaz and Soap would've skipped this step).
Phase 2 is Jungle Training, which takes place in Belize, Brunei, or Malaysia. Candidates are taught navigation, patrol formation and movement, and jungle survival skills; they are put into teams of four, where they simulate living for weeks behind enemy lines, living completely off of rations without a lifeline back to base.
Phase 3 is E&E (Escape and Evasion) and TQ (Tactical Questioning)/RTI (Resistance to Interrogation). This is the final phase. Candidates are given brief instructions on appropriate techniques (likely from former POWs or special forces soldiers) and then are let loose in the countryside, where they must navigate to a series of checkpoints without being captured. After 3-7 days, whether they have been captured or not, they then report for TQ, which tests the candidates’ ability to resist interrogation. During TQ, candidates are only allowed to answer with “the big 4” (name, rank, serial number, and birthday) and all other questions must be answered with “I’m sorry but I cannot answer that question” while being subjected to what is essentially no-touch torture (listening to white noise for hours, standing in stress positions, being verbally berated/humiliated, etc) for 36 hours.
After all of that, candidates are accepted into the SAS ranks, but still go through continuation training, during which many SAS soldiers are RTU’d (returned to unit).
The youngest person to ever (IRL) pass SAS selection was Lofty Wiseman in 1959 at the age of 18. In order for Johnny to have beaten that record, he must have been 18 or younger when he passed selection. Given that the minimum age for enlistment in the UK armed forces is 16, this is entirely plausible.
The names of regular SAS members who have died on duty were inscribed on the regimental clock tower at Stirling Lines, which was rebuilt at the Credenhill barracks. Those whose names are inscribed are said by surviving members to have "failed to beat the clock". The base of the clock is also inscribed with a verse from The Golden Journey to Samarkand by James Elroy Flecker.
Military Life:
During basic training, soldiers live in gender-segregated accommodations in a dorm-style room. Once out of basic training, however, many barracks are individual rooms with en-suite bathrooms (big win for our Sergeants). At most, trained soldiers would live in 4-person rooms separated by gender. The fastest and most reliable way to get off-base housing is to get married, but many commissioned officers get a housing stipend in order to move out of the barracks, meaning that Ghost and Price would likely (if they so chose) have houses near Credenhill, while Gaz and Soap would have individual rooms in the barracks. While deployed, all bets are off.
Many tattoos and piercings are permitted by the British Army. Here are the official guidelines. In terms of hair style/length, the rules are few and far between and incredibly vague to boot. As far as I can tell, Soap’s mohawk, Price’s sideburns, and Ghost's... everything are vastly out of regulations, so I wouldn’t be too concerned about any of the 141 following personal appearance guidelines (Gaz is likely the only 141 member within regs which is a little shocking considering most military regulations are unfairly biased against people of color, but that's neither here nor there). If you’re interested, here is the 2021 version of the guidelines, though many of them have been updated since.
As of 2002, unmarried service members are permitted to invite their partners to stay overnight in single-room barracks (again, big win for our Sergeants). However, these guests must report to the duty and sign in, which is a hassle, so sneaking someone on base is still a plausible course of action.
Unfortunately, I can’t find any information on the use of alcohol/drugs in barracks, but I assume that the regulations are similar to those of the US armed forces, where alcohol is permitted to any off-duty member (any member who is on authorized leave) above the legal drinking age.
Humor: military humor has a pretty infamous reputation for being dark as fuck. Soldiers joke about a lot of stuff because they deal with a lot of stuff, and humans naturally cope through humor. There aren’t a lot of resources for this, because soldiers don’t like that kind of stuff reaching civilian ears (for pretty obvious reasons). Active special forces soldiers like the 141 would have especially fucked up senses of humor because they deal with especially fucked up scenarios. Don’t push yourself for the sake of realism, though; if you aren’t comfortable writing jokes about active hostage/bomb/terrorist situations, don’t write those jokes. However, if you think of a fantastically dark joke and want to include it, know that it would be perfectly in character (especially for Ghost) and true to real life. They absolutely would casually joke with each other about racism, homophobia, xenophobia, war crimes, torture, etc. The important part is that they all know that it’s always a joke; shared humor is one of the most common ways that soldiers bond with each other, and being able to take the piss with each other is key to unit cohesion. If you don’t like that or if that makes you uncomfortable, don’t write it!
Fraternization: In general, fraternization is strictly prohibited. It’s grounds for a reassignment at best and a court martial at worst. One or both parties may be dishonorably discharged. Realistically, any relationship between anyone in the 141 (with the exception of Soap and Gaz, who are of equal rank and therefore their relationship does not affect the chain of command, big win for SoapGaz shippers) would be strictly prohibited and treated as a criminal offense. It is up to you whether your characterization of the 141 members warrants any action upon the discovery of fraternization or if it would be ignored in favor of keeping the team together. An argument could be made either way, so it’s a judgment call.
Call Signs:
The IRL SAS does not use call signs; they are almost universally used for pilots across all military divisions, which means that regular soldiers, even those in Special Forces, don't get call signs. However, as the CoD universe evidently uses call signs, here are some things you should know:
No one really knows how call signs originated. Some say that they started as nicknames given to pilots in the early days of flight. Others say that they originated as a way for ground control to quickly and easily refer to pilots over the radio. In any case, call signs have cemented themselves firmly in aviation culture
Call signs are not supposed to be cool. Ghost in an anomaly. The vast majority of people are not given call signs like Maverick or Iceman. A call sign is supposed to be (playfully) teasing and embarrassing; it's what the military calls "humility culture". They are often a derivative of a last name, based on physical features or personality, or related to a mistake the soldier made early in their career.
A call sign, once given, is rarely changed. Call signs follow soldiers for the entirety of their careers and beyond, and it is not unusual for fellow soldiers to only know each other by their rank, call sign, and last name (some can go their entire careers without knowing each others first names; a call sign basically replaces a soldiers first name).
Call signs are voted on and chosen by the soldier's squadron; they have very little (if any) say in the process. The squadron's commanding officer has the ability to veto a proposed call sign and often will if it crosses any lines (racist, sexist, etc) or if it isn't funny enough.
Here is a forum of US Naval call signs and their stories. I highly recommend giving it a read, especially if you need name ideas or a good laugh
General Writing Reference:
Resource for describing physical things (settings, weather, colors, textures, shapes)
Sickness Descriptors
Keeping Tenses (one of the most common writing mistakes in fic writing; this blog has a lot of very informative writing tip posts!)
WordHippo (One of the best dictionary/thesaurus/rhyming dictionary websites I've found and unfailingly keep open while writing/editing)
Tumblr account dedicated to writing characters of color
Tumblr thread with resources/references for international clothes and other items
Tumblr post with links to building/architectural terms and references
Tumblr post with links to helpful writing websites/resources (reverse dictionary, translator, body language, etc)
Misc Helpful Links (Will be Updated):
https://www.eliteukforces.info/special-air-service/ (detailed information about the SAS, selection, training, operations, weaponry, skills, and roles)
https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/british-army-ranks (British Army ranks in order with brief descriptions of roles/responsibilities)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_Army_installations (List of British Army bases and barracks, both in the UK and overseas)
https://www.quora.com/Does-the-British-Army-really-have-mixed-dorms-as-in-the-TV-show-Our-Girl (Quora forum detailing British military barrack living conditions)
https://taskandpurpose.com/news/military-pilots-call-signs/ (Blog post about aviator call signs and their use in military culture)
https://www.military.com/history/history-of-aviator-call-signs-and-how-pilots-get-their-new-name.html (Blog post about the history of aviator call signs in the military)
https://www.tumblr.com/sighmurderbot/735894836939472896/are-you-like-me-suddenly-obsessed-with-cod-and (Tumblr post - CoD mission generator)
https://www.army.mil/ranks/ (lots of very helpful information about US Army enlisted, warrant, and officer ranks as well as corps and division sizes/operations. Whoever designed this website needs a raise tbh)
If you found this useful, feel free to drop a like! I like knowing that my hard work is being used and appreciated!
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sudsandspectre · 25 days ago
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new blorbo alert!
what are military boys without a little hospital angst?
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sudsandspectre · 29 days ago
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Elias willed his mask to Logan because he knew that Hesh (who is a fanboy first and foremost) had at least 10 variations of what his Ghostface (mask) would look like
He saw Hesh’s sketchbook chock full of mask designs before the Luxor was even a prophetic nightmare and immediately texted Merrick “Hesh has his own facade covered; Logan can’t draw for shit tho lololol”
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sudsandspectre · 1 month ago
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Random hc Hesh likes to pick Logan up and just drag+drop him places so Logan's developed a habit Hesh lovingly refers to as "being a kitten" because he just scrunches his legs a lil and tucks in his elbows the second he gets scooped
Logan finds Hesh's term for it annoying. He's just trying not to catch his limbs on anything, since his brother likes to just swing him around like a sack of potatoes, thanks.
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sudsandspectre · 1 month ago
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imo we need more well adjusted ghost x completely emotionally unstable soap. like this guy goes on leave and is basically just in a depressive episode the whole time. his apartment is a disaster, he barely leaves the house, because he doesnt know how to function outside of the military.
meanwhile ghost has houseplants that his sweet middle aged neighbor waters for him when he's gone, and sometimes he watches her kids for her when he's on leave so she can go like be a person without them. ghost has friends (none of them are super crazy close, but they hang out when they can) and hobbies (he's fond of birdwatching and gardening when he can). he doesn't wear his mask on leave, because why would he? he's not ghost at home, just simon.
one day he invites soap over. soap freaks, because he's gross, he feels like shit, and he's probably been wearing the same t-shirt for a week. he showers and tries to make himself presentable but he's just... off. simon ends up inviting him to stay at his place for the remainder of leave because he just can't bear to see his friend in this state. blah blah blah they get closer blah blah blah they smooch blah blah simon teaches soap how to be a person instead of a weapon blah blah
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sudsandspectre · 1 month ago
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2022 ghost/2009 soap but it's that one scene from cpt 'merica
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sudsandspectre · 1 month ago
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Okay hear me out… Keegan being so young at the time Sand Viper happened is actually because he was present in the hospital at the time and got trapped by the battle. The proto Ghosts were getting a lil desperate for help so when he (& others!) volunteered to help they accepted it, scrounging gear from dead soldiers and giving crash courses on how to use different weapons properly. And then they just kept him forever.
Keegan could have a million reasons for being at the hospital too. Maybe he was a patient, or visiting someone, or hell he could have just been delivering mail at the wrong time. He just got trapped and decided to fight.
I think doing that little trope of “Going to teach this “newbie” the basics but they surprise everyone by already knowing.” could be fun too. Like Rorke attempts to show him how to put on a vest but Keegans already strapped in. Tries to show him how to change mags and Keegan zips through it. At that point Rorke would just delegate him to teaching others I think. He just goes “Ah hell, we really need all the help we can get.”
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sudsandspectre · 1 month ago
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Soap "dog-coded" MacTavish my beloved
(This took 5 weeks help)
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sudsandspectre · 2 months ago
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Blah blah blah ghost loosing his shit and slowly letting guilt consume him because his call caused soap to get injured meanwhile soap is doing wheelies in the background in his wheelchair
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sudsandspectre · 2 months ago
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(via @tokillamockingbird427 )
To me Walruss pre pit is like... Logan's really got a crush on Keegan and Keegan is highkey baffled but very flattered at the same time. And they're really sweet to each other navigating the start of all that junk while also being lk a forbidden love trope just because... they're on the same team and dating. That's a no no.
Then post pit it's Logan scrambling around being feral while Keegan tries to hose the gore off of him and yk Keegan's mad Logan keeps 1) Running away from the hose and 2) Actively making the mess worse by committing more horrors, but that's somehow not a deal breaker for Keegan. He just goes "Rotten work, it's mine, GET OVER HERE!" and on Logan's ends this is all foreplay. He does that shit for other reasons but he also really likes that Keegan's running after him with a hose. They also find each other insufferable in a very endeering way.
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sudsandspectre · 2 months ago
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That idea I had where Logan fakes being Fed post pit is actually devious because NOOOO he would be so scared and paranoid wondering if they were onto him and if they’d put him back like??? My little blorbo nooooo oh nooooo
Oh but the angst…. The delicious angst…. He’s doing it all to protect himself because he just wants to go home so bad but also believes that he won’t be able to if/once the Ghosts find out because they (Hesh specifically) won’t want him anymore… trapped in a loop.
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