@Grey Wolf
while I used locations in the very, very early chapters, the remainder don't, and there are places where it perhaps matters.
I admit that I seem to have been unusual compared to my fellow soldiers. Most of my peers would go get drunk on weekends. I would travel to various senic or historic places. I too enjoyed a couple of "adult beverages" to compliment a meal. However, I prefered to remain sober, or at most get a light buzz.
When I read I prefer to know where the story takes place, and to be able to look up in an atlas, map book, or online, where aspects of the story occur. Louis L'Amour often provided maps in his books (On my "Bucket List" is to take a month to tour various locations described in some of his books. I have read that he had been to many places described in his books. That while he woul create fictional towns and ranches, mines, etc., the Geography is real). Louis L'Amour would observe a creek bed, or boulder, or similar terrain feature, and incorporate such into his stories.
So too I have toured battlefields in Europe, or those of the American Civil War, using books, or exerpts of books as a guide. Walking the Battelfield of Gettysburg gave me (and many others) a richer perspective of the battel fought there in 1863.
JRR Tolkein, Ann McAffery, and other fantasy writers have created not just a few maps, but atlases of their richly detailed worlds.
I am not nearly as skilled an author. However, I do include a "Header" of the Location, (local) Time, and Date. Asspects of these locations are important to many of the scenes (or are important to later scenes, and give readers an oportunity to anticipate future events). Time and location, and the actions of your oponents have a significant impact upon battles.
The acme of military skill is to have "Won the Battle Before the first shot is fired!" More often things are not so cut and dried, and combat is required to determine the outcome. Nonetheless, pre-battle actions, and the locations of nearby forces has dramatic impact upon a battle.
Using (most) of my Locations given in a heading, you could find it using Google Maps, or other similar sites. It's not neccesary, but it would provide a further perspective. My stories, even the fictional ones are intended to inform as well as to entertain. It may not be neccesary to know the location of a fictional Joint Special Operations unit, but if you do look at a map of Cannon AFB, you will notice that I have integrated my fictional units with units and locations there in 2018. Also, the flight time down to locations in the Mexican State of Chihuahua may be better understood. So too in my story set during WWII Fort Moultrie, SC, or Utah Beach, and Ste. Marie Eglise, and the movements of the 1st Bn 8th US Infantry are historical, even if the individuals of a particular platoon are fictional.
