Some technical questions

[Mr Prophet]

That's what I was thinking, Stargate characters seem to be really polyvalent, and SG-1 has two wizzes (22 languages? pheew!). I think that it also works as long as you're not being unrealistic about the character's age (I boggled when I saw an RPG with several Lieutenant Colonels who were all between 28 and 32 - I think it's just possible, but very rare).

Yeah; most of my original characters seem to be in their early 30s and junior officers. In part this is because MC would never let me get away with a 30 year old Colonel. To think though; I was a little worried about a character making captain at 28!

[Jafana]

Well, there's a big difference between an MD and a PhD. Near as I can make out, a medical doctor serving in a medical capacity is always doctor. For starters, although they do hold an Air Force rank, they would presumably not be field officers. In terms of chain of command - outside of medical matters - a medic wouldn't 'count' as long as there were other officers around.

More importantly though, what a doctor is - first and foremost - is a doctor. Sam's PhD is important, but what she is is an officer with a doctorate; Janet is a doctor who works for the Air Force.

Major Clanger is my own beta reader. She's ex-Army and basically feels that Carter has in no way shown the qualities needed to become a Lt. Colonel.

And yes, senior officers should be addressed by rank and surname or just as 'Sir' or 'Ma'am' (I believe this is Mam, not Marm, but I might be thinking about the Queen there). In some cases, particularly with the USMC, everyone just refers to each other by callsign. I'm pretty sure that a civilian with an ersatz rank would just be 'sir' or 'ma'am', never 'lieutenant' or what have you.

Maggie Walsh's case was confused by the fact that they basically all refered to her by her academic status as Professor.

Couple of points:

1. I believe you're right about the medical status coming before academic, and always being referred to as such... which is why I'm led to believe that Maggie Walsh was in fact an MD, as opposed to Viv's character being in psych. Perhaps you might want to re-re-consider your char?

2. It's quite possibly different in Australian military, but my brother was a medic in the Aust. army and he was CO of his unit (until he got demoted for almost causing an international incident - but thats a whole 'nuther story)
So in covert ops at least, (in aust.) an MD officer can infact command the unit. But then again, it's probably very different in the US military.

3. Again, probably different in the aust. military, but all people - military and civilian alike - are referred to as sir or ma'am, even if they're of a lower 'rank'.
(That is, if their ranking doesn't take precedence - which is most often the case - "Don't call me sir, I work for a living..." etc.)

Like I said, different regs for different countries.. so I'm probably confusing the matter more than anything.

but perhaps consider at least that Walsh was MD. I don't believe she would have been put in the position she was in if she wasn't military, and her experimentation on ADAM would suggest she had some kind of biological/medical background.

[Mr Prophet]

Couple of points:

1. I believe you're right about the medical status coming before academic, and always being referred to as such... which is why I'm led to believe that Maggie Walsh was in fact an MD, as opposed to Viv's character being in psych. Perhaps you might want to re-re-consider your char?

But we know that Maggie Walsh was a renowned psychologist; she'd been through the painful nowning process.

2. It's quite possibly different in Australian military, but my brother was a medic in the Aust. army and he was CO of his unit (until he got demoted for almost causing an international incident - but thats a whole 'nuther story)
So in covert ops at least, (in aust.) an MD officer can infact command the unit. But then again, it's probably very different in the US military.

But was he acting first and foremost as CMO or as a command officer with extensive medical knowledge? I mean, I assume he had some pretty major command training if he was CO, whereas Janet is essentially a doctor.

3. Again, probably different in the aust. military, but all people - military and civilian alike - are referred to as sir or ma'am, even if they're of a lower 'rank'.
(That is, if their ranking doesn't take precedence - which is most often the case - "Don't call me sir, I work for a living..." etc.)

I'm pretty certain that isn't the case in the US; lower rank is surname, while equal rank is surname or first names. Except the Marines, where it's all about the callsigns. Apparently Marines are more likely to know their buddies' callsigns than their first names.

[Jafana]

1. ok, i havent seen season 5 buffy since last year when we had our buffy marathon session. you're probably right about that.

2. my brother being CO - in the australian military, if you go past sergent, you have to do specialized training in something, whether that be scientific, medical etc. So while he's a fully qualified doctor, he was also, for the simple reason of being promoted, able to become CO.
Its simply the way the australian military works. Every soldier is steadily given more and more training.. all field units, if they're small, particularly covert ops, are trained in everything that is needed with every member also having more intensive knowledge in one or two areas.
For instance (it may have changed since, as it's been about 30 years) the american forces in Vietnam, if their machine-gunner, or their radio guy was killed or injured, their unit was pretty much screwed because the other soldiers werent trained in the specialised stuff.
whereas in the australian units, all members are given pretty intensive training in stuff like that, for the possibility of death occuring for the guy who's put in charge of it.

so they have rudimentary knowledge of a broad range of stuff, while also having intensive knowlege in a particular area. the idea is to maximise the possibility of all members returning home safely.

this is all on top of the command courses they're given every time they're promoted.
to be promoted in the aust. military you have to pass a number of courses in command and leadership before it's official. if you dont, you dont get promoted.


3. generally speaking, rank (if they have it) is always used. i can see why the american system would be different.

meanwhile, why am i arguing this??? it's not because i disagree with anything you're saying i guess... just thought it was interesting talking about the differences

[Viv]

Thanks for the input Jafana!

Oh, I wish Maggie could have been an MD in the Australian army, it would have my plot inifinitely simpler. The organisation does seem different from the US regs I got the opportunity to read online. From what I understood in the US Air Force regs, medical officers are non-line and that's pretty much final (at best, you can be re-trained if you want to be in a different sector). Maybe that's just a simplified version, perhaps if they get a complementary training if they get into special ops that allows them to be field officers. But if they can, I never found that kind of info. It's also true that the BtVS Maggie is a bit of a wuss. She pretty much runs screaming when demons/werewolves come after her, that does point to possible inexperience on the field (*tries to imagine what Teal'c would do in the same situation* *imagines werewolves/demons fleeing, terrified by Teal'c's scowl*).

And I agree, Maggie has got to be an MD: she may be renowned for her books on behavioural psychology, but she knows far too much about medicine and surgery in the series to only be a psychologist. She would never have been allowed to conduct experiments on soldiers if she hadn't been an MD - especially as in S5 it's hinted that something was done to Riley's brain, and they needed a neurologist to put it right. I'd say she's an MD in Psychiatry and/or Neurology and has a PhD in Psycholgy (I checked out a few university websites and there are Professors with similar credentials). That's always been a given for my character, she studied Medicine first, and then comes the famous fork in the road, and the careers of BtVS-Maggie and AU-Maggie vary.

[Mr Prophet]

I don't know if I'd call Adam (Season 4, exercising my inner pedant) 'surgery'; more like basic needlepoint and possibly some experience of growing up in a slaughterhouse!

[Jafana]

I think that she would have to have pretty extensive knowledge of anatomy and biology to undertake such a project. All of which she would get as a matter of course in medical training, but not necessarily to the extent needed in a psychology degree.

[Viv]

I think that she would have to have pretty extensive knowledge of anatomy and biology to undertake such a project. All of which she would get as a matter of course in medical training, but not necessarily to the extent needed in a psychology degree.

Er... a psychology degree (or PhD, actually, you can't become a Professor if you only have a degree, I think) is very different from a medical doctorate in Psychiatry or Neurology. Psychologists do learn quite a lot about how the brain works, but they cannot give medical treatments, let alone perform surgery or prescribe medications.

Hm... I have more nitpicky questions, while I'm at it. Anyone want to have a go?

1) the SGC was willing to integrate AU-Samantha and AU-Kawalsky to their program in Point of View. What would have happened to Kawalsky, rank-wise? He was a Major in the AU-verse as well - would he be reinstated as Major or would he have to re-join the Army and start from scratch?

2) do you think that there's a chance for AU-Maggie to receive the personal belongings/fortune/whatever of the other Maggie? Say, if Maggie didn't leave a will before she died, doesn't have any family, and her belongings haven't yet been distributed (she's only been dead for a few months, in my fic, and I know that there are rather tedious procedures when there isn't a will or close relatives).

[Mr Prophet]

1) the SGC was willing to integrate AU-Samantha and AU-Kawalsky to their program in Point of View. What would have happened to Kawalsky, rank-wise? He was a Major in the AU-verse as well - would he be reinstated as Major or would he have to re-join the Army and start from scratch?

Air Force, and I don't think so. He'd probably have to pass the OTC and a bunch of tests to prove his chops, but having held a significant command rank they'd probably let him keep that (or equivalent) unless there was a reason not to.

2) do you think that there's a chance for AU-Maggie to receive the personal belongings/fortune/whatever of the other Maggie? Say, if Maggie didn't leave a will before she died, doesn't have any family, and her belongings haven't yet been distributed (she's only been dead for a few months, in my fic, and I know that there are rather tedious procedures when there isn't a will or close relatives).

The chance would - legally - be zero; they aren't related, so she has no claim. On the other hand, Maggie was brutally skewered by her Frankenstein-like creation in the subterranean laboratory of a secret and frankly rather illegal government programme experimenting on monsters underneath a university frat house; details on public record are probably sparse. It's perfectly possible that the Air Force could swing it so her declaration of death could be revolked (paperwork error; ticked the wrong box) and all the stuff would be hers because she would legally become her AU self.