What do I need to know about a British Army operation in Afghanistan in order to write a fictional story?

<h3>What do I need to know about a British Army operation in Afghanistan in order to write a fictional story?</h3>

I'm currently writing a story and I'm planning to write about the background of a certain character, who served in the British Army somewhere between 2004-2008 during the War with Afghanistan. However, I have absolutely no experience with the military, except for some gameplay in ARMA 2 -- and, let's be honest, you can't learn much from a game, even if it's supposed to be a military simulator.

So, how does an operation work? I'm not referring to any specific type of operation, I suppose something offensive, advancing on enemy lines and such. How do they talk to each other? Do they use code-names? If yes, how are they picked? Etc.
Well, I have a lot of questions, too many to write down. If you could either write down some examples or link me to some pages, that would be neat. Cheers.


<strong>Afghanistan best answer:</strong>
<p><i>Answer by Jason</i><br/>I think if you're writing a fictional story you should be a bit lenient with code etc or it will get very confusing, Choose a code name from the NATO alphabet or a randomly assigned word for the Unit operating and the Command directing them. In the Unit they would be called by their last names with the exception of the officer/s who would be called "Sir".

You need to be much more specific in terms of 'Operation', how many men are involved, what unit is it, where are they, who is the enemy, what is the terrain like and do they have any artillery/air/land support. Once you have all that sorted out you can move from their, you can watch plenty of videos on youtube or look up websites regarding tactics for your particular unit/operation.</p>

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