Richard Aubrey wrote
I find it curious that the tales Beauchamp told were mistakes that he would, himself, know were false based on his military training. In other words, he knows about Bradleys and run-flat tires and patrol SOPs.
Umm, no, not really. He wrote like someone who had never been in combat. He missed precisely the multitude of minor things that demonstrate a BS artist at work.
One example (which I’ve posted elsewhere): In peacetime, I believe (I have no direct experience with Brads in particular) that everything in a Bradley is probably stowed away carefully. But in combat much of the “keep it clean and pretty” rules get tossed. Judging from experience with other vehicles, the inside of a Brad in combat is likely to have some stuff just tossed in, and driving crazy for no reason other than sick amusement is likely to result in someone getting hit by something sharp and heavy. And that would result in severe “wall-to-wall counseling” for the driver from the others in the vehicle, even if the Army took no notice.
But if you’ve never deployed in combat with a Brad, it’s easy to imagine someone doing this, and then write about it.
There are lots of other errors of precisely the same type — little things that strike the experienced as “hmmm, that’s extremely unlikely.” When your narrative contains one such thing, I think either the very unlikely occurred, or you’re exaggerating. When your stories are full of them, you’re Baron Von Munchausen.
