When the War Came

by arromanches

22 year-old J.R. Brandt is chosen as Easy's resident war correspondent, but the brass down at Toccoa is shocked to find out that "J.R." is really Josefina, and now she must make the choice between covering the war from a limited position or becoming the Army's first female paratrooper and writing the war from a front-line perspective.

1. Introduction and Author Note

Okay, this is the introduction post for my first fic, which I'm tentatively calling "When the War Came."

Here are a few things that I just want to lay out at the beginning, so please forgive me if this is a bit disjointed.

1. As I said before, this is my first fanfiction. I tried writing one about four years ago (like, eighth grade) and as anyone who's ever gone back and read their old writing knows, it was TERRIBLE WITH A CAPITAL T. I am approaching writing this fic with a totally open mind and I am completely aware of the fact that this is a learning process. I'm dipping my toes in as we speak and am just getting used to the idea of putting words in the mouths of people that I've already seen act in such unique and complete ways.

2. Because this is Band of Brothers fic: I understand where people come from when they say that BoB / Pacific / Gen Kill / whatever fic is offensive because it is based on real people. I know exactly what you are saying. I myself have a weird sort of cognitive dissonance that I experience between watching the actors' portrayals of the men onscreen and reading a heartbreaking and beautiful memoir like Donald Malarkey's Easy Company Soldier. I want to make it very clear that this fic is about the actors' portrayals of the men, not the men themselves. That is my main point here. Any and all hate that I may receive about this will be read and addressed, but please try to take what I will write with a grain of salt. This is a place where I am just trying to be creative and have some fun writing my own character in a setting and with characters that I love dearly. Ultimately I have nothing but admiration and gratitude for the real men of Easy, and every person that served in WWII or helped in any way for that matter. It is that love and respect that I want to come through above all.

3. Boring disclaimer stuff: I do not own Band of Brothers and make no claims to do so (the book, the movie, etc.) I also do not own any song lyrics that I may end up using (one or two lines at most).

4. If I make a mistake regarding historical facts, please don't hesitate to point them out! My main character is a female reporter at a Philadelphia paper who ends up as a foreign correspondent, which is territory that I know almost less than nothing about. I am fully prepared to make historical inaccuracies without realizing it. Please don't hesitate to correct me! (Politely of course though)

5. Technical stuff: I intend to stick with this fic and will try to update as often as I can. I am planning for the first chapter to be short and descriptive, "setting the scene." The second will be longer, not skip around so quickly, have more substantial dialogue, and introduce a few familiar characters. By the third I hope to have my character fully immersed in the setting that we all know and love: Camp Toccoa, Georgia!

Okay, I think that is all I have to say for now. Deep breath. Here goes – onto to Chapter One! Hope you enjoy and please review if the spirit moves you.

Susanna