I really wish I could discuss this with you intelligently, but frankly I've never been much of a Western nut, and my military-history-buffness begins to peter out at the point where swords stop being standard issue... excessively narrow focus, I know, but there you are.

That said, if you ever write a Serenity sub AU, I would cheer you on madly and rec it to all my friends! So few of my fandoms have any FUN AUs.