Just a point of argument, but wouldn't a military person be able to at least identify others as having similar training? There's something about the way people walk and carry themselves that can give so much away: military training, martial arts training, country of origin, etc. While you may not be able to denote the exact point (in your example, the differences between Israeli and Finnish soldiers), I think it can be quite obvious to point out another soldier.

All things being equal, yes it's fairly easy for one military person to spot another.  I do it even now, with ex-military people.  However, with training or inclination, it is possible to blend in with the background population.  I'm from North Carolina, but I pick up the accent of whatever region/country I find myself in.  It's easier for locals to understand me, and I don't stick out as 'not from around here...'

I went into Army MI back in '74.  Left home with long hair, stayed gone for 6 months, came back with a buzz cut.  Nobody knew I was Army unless I told them.

Probably blew the main character's sex out of the water with the last line.

Actually, no.  I called guys 'Clarice' all the time after I saw Silence of the Lambs.  They called me Ripley.

The guards on the cliff above me fell to the ground; their bodies forced backward by the assassin's bullets.  Alpha and

I'd change 'assassin' to 'sniper'.  Assassin (usually)= bad guy; Sniper = Professional.

I would like to see more.  Very evocative of place/mood, typo's be damned.

Gawd, there's some truly inspired casting ideas.

My own small contribution -
Telly Savalas as Gentleman John Marcone



And I know he's all corpse-ified and such, but whenever I read Kincaid, I see
Lee Van Cleef


(Just exchange the six-shooter with a Hechler & Koch MSG90A1)

Don't usually read fanfic anymore, most of the stuff I've read tended to focus on the fanfic author's favorite traits of a particular character, rather than exhibiting the depth that the originating author would instill.  Having said that, however, I do recall a series of fantasy novels that were set in a particular city.  I forget (gasp!) the original author, or the names of any of the novels, the characters, or even the city.  Something quite similar to Terry Pratchett's Discworld characters, but waaaay before him (yeah, I've got some years on me.).

Anyway, after the originator of the series (so it appeared) started to run out of stories to tell, somebody came up with the idea of the shared universe, in which different authors would borrow some of the original characters and use them in a supporting role to their own (newly-minted) protagonist; again, set within the same city.  This was done with the original author's consent and, sometimes, complicity - as in co-writer.  As I recall the main ground rules were that the borrowing author could not kill off an original character, nor have the original character exhibit behavior which was grossly "out of character".

Quite ofter the non-originating writers would say in the author's notes that they were raving (sic) fans of the original works, and were so very, very honored to be allowed to play in that universe.

So, on the whole 'fanfic-angel or demon' question, I'm with the pitchforks and torches crowd, except when...