Military Doc.

[Tommy Green <tgreen -at- AESBUS -dot- COM>]

Looks like some Milltary doc writing is better than others. I am retired
military (Air Force), and I wrote lots of docs during that time (training
manuals, operation manuals, etc). Then, I didn't know they had an official
name for it, much less a profession. If I had known, I might have kept some
of my work. Anyway, my first writing job after college was for a military
contractor that built trucks for the Army. In a few words, it was a snake
pit. We did military specification (Mil Spec) writing. 2-3 thousand page
manuals, done in Wordperfect 5.0 and WIndows 3.1 (and this was in 1996).
The editor (right-hand of God), who resided at  Army headquarters, would
not let us change even one WORD without her approval. I asked the program
manager how many writers had come and gone in five years, he told me "too
many to mention." I noticed the ones who stayed on made daily abuse their
lives. I could have stayed as long as I wanted ( I fit in well, hehe), but
I could see only a future of ulcers and substandard pay. I jumped into a
good job and swore I'd never have another thing to do with government
writing.

So yes, I believe military doc writing is a different animal. It's not
respected as a profession, and the military is still not keen on
outsourcing since it can still use a captive work force. The people I wrote
for worked for the Government, and had free reign to treat the contractor
any way he/she seemed fit without worry of getting fired.

Now, this is just my personal experience and opinion.



Writers like teeth are divided into incisors and grinders.

                                                          ~ Walter Bagehot
~
Tommy D. Green
AESBUS Technology Group
(281) 587-2247 ext 30
e-mail
Work:  tgreen -at- aesbus -dot- com
           tommy -dot- green -at- compaq -dot- com
Home: togreen -at- swbell -dot- net



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