Angsty Assassins

Someone on here said “I love the way you draw Andrew” and that was enough for me to draw for the full 48 hours after HDHAH

Thank you so much to that person for the compliment and the motivation RAH <3

I’m going to clean up the linework some more but was way too excited to share, I’m kinda proud of this one

(Edit: I cleaned it up a little >:D TOP LEFT SPIDEY GAVE ME ISSUES FR 🫡)

Bucky in the Army, part I

When a draftee got his notice to report, he was expected to show up at his local draft board on a specified date. http://arcweb.sos.state.or.us/pages/exhibits/ww2/services/pdf/induct5.pdf (This links to a .pdf of a helpful pamphlet designed by Oregon officials for potential draftees, and outlines the induction process, as well as covering common questions.) Once there, he would receive a physical examination and fill out some paperwork. If he passed the physical, and couldn’t (or didn’t) claim a deferral on the basis of one of the few exempt categories, he was sent home with a grace period of about 21 days to set his personal affairs in order—arrange for payments of personal financial obligations, set up a power of attorney, and similar tasks. At the end of those 21 days (it might be a little longer, depending on delays in the training system, but that was the standard), he was expected to report to his assigned Army Reception Center (or Naval Training Station, but Bucky is not a Navy man, so we’ll ignore the Navy from now on out). At the Army Reception Station, draftees spent up to 7 days undergoing testing, were issued uniforms, were barbered to suit the army’s standards, started the necessary vaccinations, and were assigned to the army posts where they would undergo their basic training. At this point I’m going to break into the schedule to talk about how the US Army was organized in World War II. A numbering system was set up for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divisions_of_the_United_States_Army army divisions (the typical US Army division now averages 17,000-21,00 soldiers, and is commanded by a major general, for those not experienced military details) in 1917, during World War I. Numbers 1-25 were Regular Army divisions—the Regular Amy was the US peacetime army, which was quite small at that time. Numbers 26 through 45 were for National Guard units; and Numbers 46 through 106 were the Army of the United States (with some exceptions, like the 82nd and 101st Airborne, which became Regular Army divisions when they switched from straight infantry to airborne infantry.) The National Guard units already had the necessary organizational system in place (although many officers weren’t up to their wartime jobs and were replaced later), but to staff all those new divisions, the army took a cadre from an existing division—usually around 1300 men and officers. This core group would start training as the recruits were collected and began basic training. The Army also started pulling the necessary officers from officers in the existing Reserves (my father was one of these, as he did 4 years of ROTC to get through college in the Great Depression), ROTC programs, the Army’s own Officer Training Corps, and officers awaiting reassignment for one reason or another. At this point, the division would be formally activated, so it could receive its new recruits, and this expansion would continue until the division reached full strength. The entire time the US was fighting in World War II, it was also continuously training new soldiers, and for much of the time it was forming new divisions. http://www.historyshotsinfoart.com/USArmy/backstory.cfm This is what training involved for these new soldiers: 17 weeks of basic and advanced training (Basic is where they learn to be soldiers; Advanced training is where they learn their particular specialty—artillery, infantry, armored, or the support units and special skills.) 13 weeks of unit training (This is where they learn to work as a group.) 14 weeks of combined arms training and large-scale exercises (These would be division level exercises.) 8 weeks of final training (They have now been training 52 weeks—after the first 17 weeks all of it has been in the same unit, with the same people; they will have become very attached to each other, which is important in keeping an army working well.) At this point, they’d do some more training—multi-division exercises. The Army’s first big operation outside of the Pacific Theater was Operation Torch—in invasion of North Africa. Not all the troops involved had gone through this full regime of training, and the lack showed. The troops that invaded Sicily and Italy had the chance for more training. After this, the division traveled to a Port of Embarkation, and went overseas. If it was possible, they trained some more, usually for the specific mission they would undertake. So how long has Bucky been in the Army? If he was called up in early 1942, possibly while waiting for his enlistment paperwork to be finalized, he probably went into training in late February or March—which would mean embarkation leave (this would be about 10-15 days, depending on the travel involved—no flying, so they went everywhere by train, pretty much) in May or a little later would not be unreasonable. This fits pretty well with CA:TFA. So how did Bucky get to be a sergeant? Nowadays, the army has training programs for its noncommissioned officers, and a soldier has to have a certain amount of time in the service, and a good record to get into these programs. In World War II, they were still operating on the old-school principle of promoting sergeants from inside a unit, and they used a variety of ways to select them. One would be pre-enlistment skills and training—if a man was able to type, handle bookkeeping and other clerical tasks, he would be in a position to help handle the amazing amount of paperwork running an army unit requires. Another important factor might be how well he’d absorbed basic military skills, and how well he did in helping his fellow-soldiers along. Those who were natural leaders, as the phrase goes, might also be promising candidates. Ideally, you wanted someone who combined all of these to some degree, and who was comfortable with military discipline and methods. We don’t know a whole lot about what Bucky did between the time he finished school and went to war, but in those 6 or 7 years he may well have acquired skills the Army saw as useful in an NCO. So at some point between starting his unit training and going on his embarkation leave, the US Army saw they had a useful man in James Buchanan Barnes, and made him a sergeant, responsible for the training and lives of his fellow-soldiers, and for making sure the officers over him have the help they need to get things done.

(Need I say that, like everyone else, I have headcanon ideas about what Bucky did between the time he left school and joining the army? For later posts…)

Next post I’ll give some details about what Bucky would have gotten into once he got on board ship to head out to the shooting part of the war. Books and such may be recommended. *Link goes to a .pdf file

Also, I really hate Tumblr’s insistence on saving me from the burden of hand-inserting a link. Especially since their system works so well on a tablet.

She allows herself to envision a clean journey back. A miserable hike, nothing the Black Widow can’t handle, then debrief, and then collapsing on her couch and not leaving her apartment for two days. Recharge time. Every great spy needs it.

Sunburn was not something she had given any particular thought to.

Natasha’s certainly thinking about it now.

I really think Rasputin lucked out, in that being remembered by history as some species of giant unkillable sex wizard is something most of us can only fruitlessly aspire to.

I really like winnie the pooh, Can you draw winnie the pooh pleaseeeeee

going down the rabbit hole of agatha with rune tattoos

they’re called sneakers!!! do you get it?

we have to write poems in my creative writing certificate program, so I pieced something together from Belphie's medical reports

Did they ever reveal how Captain America was thawed? Because I’m picturing a bunch of Shield agents with hair dryers and I don’t think that’s quite right.

There's sometimes a trend in fanfic where Steve is written as louder and more clumsy or bad at stealth compared to Natasha or Bucky.

I've read many where Natasha claims he wouldn't be good on a stealth mission.

I think that comes from the scene right after he gets the serum and he's running through the city, stumbling and crashing into things as he gets used to his new body.

But we see from his mission into the Hydra factory, the stealthy take down of Batroc's men on the ship in Winter Soldier, and his ambush of the Raft in Civil War that Steve very quickly and consistently is able to move quietly and stealthily, so I think that's a misconception.

I think Steve can be scarily quiet when he wants to be. Maybe he uses the preconceived idea of his stealth capabilities to his advantage and catches people off-guard when such a large man moves so quietly.