Today’s KZ post appears late because its author has been on the road and arrived home exhausted.
I left January 20 for the SHOT Show in Las Vegas, an event I go to every year because it is to weapons systems and technology what the Detroit Auto Show is to automobiles. Plus, I get to shoot hundreds of rounds of other people’s ammunition. I even got to shoot a crossbow. The highlight of this year’s day at the range came when I nailed the center of a target at 850 yards with a 6.5 Creedmoor.
The day the SHOT Show ended, the January Writers Retreat began at the Golden Nugget Casino and Hotel on Fremont Street, also in Vegas. This is a one-day (or three-day, depending on how you count) retreat where writers get together to talk about writing.
That brings us to January 27, the day we embarked on a driving trip to from Las Vegas to Santa Fe with a stopover in Monument Valley. This trip was purely vacation. We traveled with our good friends, Reavis Wortham and his wife. If you haven’t read any of Reavis’s books, you’re really missing something. Santa Fe is a beautiful town, situated at 7,000 feet. Personally, I had some real problems with the thin air, particularly at night, The secret, I learned, is to drink a ridiculous amount of water every day.
We returned home from Santa Fe on February 4, a day later than planned, thanks to flight delays.
On February 7, I left for a 5-day trip to Guantanamo Bay Naval Station, where my colleague Khris Baxter and I taught an all-day writing class for the residents of the base. We also spoke to the high school there. The cherries on the cake, though, were the tours we got of the base, including those areas for which Guantanamo is most famous. I’m not comfortable yet regarding what I can and cannot write about that, but it was quite the experience.
I got home last night and was in bed by 9. That’s 2100 hours. Travel to and from Gitmo is a chore. It includes driving from Washington to Norfolk to arrive at the Military Airlift Command (MAC) by 0400 to catch the 0530 flight to the Jacksonville, FL, Naval Station (JAX). There, the key is patience because the wait is long. At least two hours. Then you catch the flight to GTMO. Upon arrival, you catch the bus that takes you to the ferry that takes you from the Leeward side to the Windward side, which is where all the cool stuff is.
Yesterday, I had to reverse that procedure to get home. Which is why I am tired, and didn’t get this post written on time. Oh, did I mention that Internet service on GTMO is . . . spotty? I’ve already committed to going back next year for a full week. But more on that later.
Now it’s time for coffee.
Sounds like much worthwhile travel, both on the professional and personal front. I followed the Wikipedia link to learn what a 6.5 Creedmoor is. Which brings up a question that might lead to some good discussion today:
How expert do I have to be about weapons, how technical do I have to make my writing, in order to have S shoot P (as long as I don’t mention cordite) or have Q find the pistol at the bottom of a dumpster? Do I need to be able to write accurately about a Sig Sauer vs a Glock? [My auto-correct wants to write ‘Clock.’] Etc.
One specific question that my effort at research confused me about: when the shooter runs out of bullets, does he put in a new clip or a new magazine?
Hope you’re resting well.
Hi, Eric.
Ah, you dangle such tasty bait for me! I love talking about this stuff. I’ll take your questions in reverse order. Unless your shooter is using an M1 Garand rifle (the firearm that won WW2 for the good guys), when his weapon runs dry, he inserts a new magazine, or “mag”. Here’s a video from YouTube that pretty well describes how clips (they’re actually called “stripper clips” for reasons that are obvious in the video. https://youtu.be/fqJ6KZ7Pzt0?t=135
As for the level of expertise you need to pull off a scene, that depends heavily on the expertise of your character. If most people I know found a Glock 19 Gen 4 on the ground, they’d tell the police that they’d found “a gun.” Or maybe “a pistol”. A gun-guy, on the other hand, would note in a glance that it was a Glock 19, that it was chambered in 9mm, and because it was a Gen 4 (instead of a Gen 5), the bullet it fired would show marks of polygonal rifling instead of traditional lands and grooves.
I tell people all the time in the seminars I teach that the secret to verisimilitude often lies in an author’s ability to write around what he doesn’t know. In my books, Jonathan Grave depends on others to provide computer expertise about which I know nothing, and those experts do remarkable things off stage. The reader tunes in only to hear the results of those remarkable feats of computer wizardry.
When it comes to weapons in particular, I cannot over-emphasize the usefulness of going to a shooting range and renting various types of guns and trying them out. In an hour on the range, you’ll learn much of what you need to know about the importance (or not) of manual safeties, the difference between hammer-fired and striker-fired actions, and a host of other things. Take a firearm safety course and learn much of the same. Guns R Fun.
I like “writing around what you don’t know.” And also the importance of knowing what’s in my particular character’s head when they look at a weapon.
Interesting–when I was in L.A. for two extended stays last year, the guy I went to for a haircut also ran carry-permit classes. I wasn’t there long enough to take advantage of it, not that I’d want a permit but, as you say, the knowledge would be valuable.
John, how cool to teach service members and high schoolers on the base. Like most teaching opportunities, you probably receive more than you give in terms of great contacts, resources, and story ideas.
You’re absolutely right, Debbie. Most of what MWR does (Morale, Welfare and Recreation) is geared toward the service members themselves, and the same is true of the USO. All of that is wonderful. The families, however, can get left behind a bit–particularly in a place as insular and hard to reach as GTMO. It truly was an honor to present to them, and I was deeply gratified by the level of participation. As I mention in my post, I’ve already committed to come back next year for a slightly longer stay.
I encouraged the MWR staff there at GTMOto spread the word–and I’m stating it here, too–that I am willing to visit and teach at any U.S. military installation in the world, free of charge. All I ask is that they pay for me to get there and back, and that they provide quarters for me while I am there. (Extra points if the method of travel involves a supersonic fighter. And a barf bag.)
Wow. You must be exhausted, John. I thought going from NH to Wisconsin was bad (hence why I’ve only attended the Writer’s Police Academy once). All the stops and transfers you made must’ve been a PITA. Nonetheless, it sounds like an unforgettable teaching experience, as well as a fantastic vacation afterward.
Wow! Can’t wait to hear more about Gitmo.
I’m tired just reading about all that travel. Hope you’re resting up.
Can I just say, 850 YARDS? Holy cow!
I know, right? It helps that the rifle I was using was one of those tarted-out competitive guns with an outstanding trigger. But still . . . 850 yards!
Hi John,
I really enjoyed reading about your trip to Gitmo. I want to return to the naval station someday. Our family lived on the base in 1958 and 1959. My sisters attended high school and my brother and I in grade school. I am using memories of our time there, and our travels in Cuba, and the surrounding islands in my historical fiction adventure.
Gitmo is a damned hard place to get to these days, but it would be interesting to get your take on the differences you’d see. If I recall, 1958 was just the beginning of our difficulties with Castro. The bay was probably packed with ships back then, and the fences probably hadn’t been built.