Serving in the Army Free Essays

Serving in the army In America, serving in the army is often associated with respect and honour. From an outsider’s view, America has always been a very patriotic country based on a strong passion for freedom and democracy. So is that the driving power that makes so many young American men and women to enlist themselves in the Army? Yet it seems that not everyone looks upon the army with the same amount of respect, and maybe America today isn’t as patriotic as it used to be. We will write a custom essay sample on Serving in the Army or any similar topic only for you Order Now In the text â€Å"A soldier’s story: War affects whole family† the parents of Army Sergeant Ryan Kahlor express their recent opposition to the army, after their son’s traumatizing experience. Ryan Kahlor’s father explains he had felt a patriotic surge after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and had therefore been proud of his son joining the army. But his thoughts about the war already changed during Ryan’s first tour where he complained about ineffective body armour and poorly armoured vehicles. The war has left Ryan with a series of complications, both physical and psychological. He says that in combat there is no time to grieve, and when you see a friend die you just go back to work. And he explains that without the help from the National Center for PTSD, he’d probably be dead. But Ryan still suffers from survivor’s guilt and still has a lot to work on. Yet it seems that he doesn’t regret his time in the army because it has matured him and made him stronger and more confident. The only thing he has to say about the war, is that they are fighting for peoples’ right to speak out. His parents, however, wish that he had never gone in. The text â€Å"The Making of a Marine Officer† illustrates a different look upon warfare. Lieutenant Fick, a former marine officer explains that the marines made him become a man. He says he joined the marines in search of a transformative adventure that could make him stronger and more capable. In the marines you develop a powerful group and a strong bond with the men you fight with and therefore the men in the same combat units tend to keep in touch for the rest of their lives, and there a only few who have the honour of understanding the sacred brotherhood that develops in combat. Fick explains that he grew up in the marines and it taught him the meaning of words like duty, honour and love and to be a citizen. But he already left after two tours of duty because he could kill when it was called for in combat, but he couldn’t do it again and again throughout his professional life. Sarah Palin expresses her opinion about serving in the army in an autobiographical text called â€Å"Why They Serve†. She believes that young American men and women choose to serve in the army because it is about fighting for freedom and democracy and fighting for America. And they are willing to sacrifice their lives for a cause bigger than themselves, for defending freedom. Sarah Palin is excellent at engaging the reader in her ideas. First off, she appeals to the everyday family by showing herself as an ordinary mother: â€Å"I was just one of thousands of proud but wary American women. † She makes it easy for people to relate to what she is saying by using a lot of references to her own personal experiences and feelings, using the appeal form pathos, like: â€Å"When I think of Track (her son) and the young women and men he serves with, I am filled with a genuine sense of awe† and: â€Å"For Track, the reason he serves starts with his family. †¦) He wants a world that is safe and welcoming for them. † She also appeals to people’s patriotic feelings, saying that they, in America, are privileged and they live in a completely unique country â€Å"founded not on a particular territory or culture or people, but on an idea. That idea is that all human beings have a God-given right to be free. † And therefore, when peo ple serve in the military: â€Å"They are defending the idea of America itself. † At last she also uses the appeal form ethos by quoting both John McCain and Ronald Reagan. So by using all of her rhetoric skills, she can easily convince a lot of people to believe in what she is trying to convey. I think Sarah Palin is on the right track concerning her ideas on what motivates young people to fight for their country. I think that defending democracy and freedom and defending what your country stands for, is a very big motivation for young Americans. And I believe that a lot of young people are willing to risk their lives to defend the values they have grown up with and believe so highly in. It can also be a big motivation that they are elping someone else. They are fighting for someone else to have a better future and to make broken countries work again. But sometimes the media and politicians idealize war, mainly in patriotic countries like America. Sarah Palin is especially idealizing war as a very honourable and brave act, which can encourage a lot of young people to seek that recognition of being brave and admirable. Following September 11, a lot of p eople felt very angry and vengeful, not only in America but in other democratic countries as well, and therefore they wanted to see justice done. Also, nobody wants something like that to happen again, and some young people might thereby find the urge to defend their country from terrorist attacks and be a part of the war against terrorism. The mindset of the people around you is also very important when making the choice of joining the military. If your parents frequently express their support to the troops or their hatred toward terrorists, it might feel natural to join the army, and I can imagine that many young people feel as though they are doing something that matters and feel righteousness when choosing to fight for their country. Then again, there are also the ones who are only doing it for the thrill, the experience or the money. Furthermore, being at war gives you life-long friendships and can give you an exceptional feeling of belonging and being a part of a brotherhood. Being a part of a brotherhood like that can be very attractive if you have a broken family or a feeling of not really belonging anywhere in the society. Being at war can also teach you a lot of things about death and life when it is as rough as it gets. Being close to death may even give life a higher purpose or meaning. Some people might just be bored with the trivial everyday life of the western culture and are missing some challenge or excitement, which the warzones offer. At last, it can’t be denied that many people only choose the military because it is their only chance of making some kind of career because the military will provide their education. How to cite Serving in the Army, Essay examples Serving in the Army Free Essays She alas about what drives young men and women, to fight in a country on the other side of the world instead of being out partying with their friends. For her own son she thinks the motivation is to be found in the family, and his wish that his younger siblings shall grow up in a more peaceful world. Plain means that, because America is build on the idea that all human beings have a God-given right to be free the American soldiers work for â€Å"a cause bigger than themselves†, when they sacrifice for the military. We will write a custom essay sample on Serving in the Army or any similar topic only for you Order Now Therefore she thinks that everybody should support the soldiers, as they work hard to defend the idea of America itself. Tim Sailor, who is the father to former deployed Army Sergeant Ryan Sailor, used to agree with the point of views of Plain and thought that fighting for your country was a patriotic thing to do. But as he expresses in text 2, his opinion has changed drastically after his son has returned from Iraq. Ryan Sailor has suffered from all kind of disorders after his deployment in Iraq, both physical and mental. He has been diagnosed with P T SD and traumatic brain injury. He has been treated for his EST. in an intensive 65-day group program with other veterans. But although he has now begun to recover, his parents, who encouraged him to join the army in the first place, regret that they ever allowed him to sign up. They do not think that the patriotic aspect in any way makes up for all the problems afterwards. Text 3 is about Nathaniel Pick, who is the author of a book about his time as a Marine Officer. Pick has a very different opinion about what deployment in the army can do for you, than the Sailor family. Pick sees it as a highly positive experience. He joined the army to get adventure and learn about manhood. He thinks being that being a soldier has helped him to understand what words like Serving in the Army – Engel’s still duty, honor and love means. In the army he discovered a brotherhood, which means a lot to him, because you it is a very special friendship which is build between men who goes through training and combats together. 2. To engage the reader Sarah Plain describes herself like any other American woman, when she talks about sending her son to war but she also presents herself as the vice-presidential running mate for John McCain, which is use of the appeal form ethos. By focusing on these two aspects she seems like a person with authority but also as a person who it is possibly to relate to. Plain rise to wake a patriotic feeling for America by talking about how America isn’t just another country but an exceptional country. † She continues by describing how it is the whole idea of America the deployed are defending. She is very passionate about that everybody should be supporting the soldiers as they live in hellish conditions and she also wakes sympathy for the soldiers by talking about how they have to be away from their families and risk their lives for their country. When talking about how her own son, and many other young men and women, join the army to have a chance to do, what they can to make the oral a better place to grow up for their smaller family members instead of being off partying on spring break or working their way up a hedgehopped career ladder she leaves no doubt that that these young people should get all the support they can from the American people and since they are willing make these sacrifices they most feel there is â€Å"a cause bigger than themselves† which they are fighting for. Plain also uses a reference to the old president Ronald Reagan. As he is a much respected former president the use of one of his famous quotations: â€Å"You all knew that some things are worth dying for. , can also help to wake the patriots in the readers and make them more engaged in the cause. 3. There are just as many different reasons to join the army as there are soldiers. Some Of them get their motivation from the simple wish to get an adventure that can be found nowhere else and learn about manhood as Nathaniel Pick in text 3. He wanted a break from college and joined the army 2 where he found a special brotherhood and protecting his brothers was as big a motivation for him in the combats as fighting for his country was. Others join the army to make money and some are drover by family traditions. Others again have more patriotic reasons to fight for their country, such as the hope of being able to help create a better world and being able to spread the freedom, which is so important to Americans, to other parts of the world, where there is people who have never experienced peace, democracy, freedom Of religion and all the other things We take as a matter Of course. I think that being able to help making a difference for people in a country ravaged by war must be the biggest motivation for many. It must be an amazing feeling to see that what you do actually helps creating peace in the world. How to cite Serving in the Army, Papers