Critical Book Review Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Critical Book Review - Term Paper Example All that is left is a glimmer of the origins from where their values and ethics had held their foundation. Through examining five different critical reviews, the substance of this novel will be analyzed for its rich ethnic content. The lives of the four women whose stories are highlighted enrich a story that is first of women, then of the cultural influences that created their personal stories. Their stories reveal the gap between themselves and their daughters, children who have grown up in a very different world than that from which their mothers came. The Joy Luck Club, first published in 1989, represents a door that was open into American literature to female Asian writers by the 1976 publication of Maxine Hong Kingston’s memoir, The Woman Warrior. The Joy Luck Club sold 275,000 hard-cover copies and widened the door for Asian female fiction so that within two years, four more Chinese American writers had books published that were selling very well (Cliffnotes, 2010). The initial setting of the book is within a social group called The Joy Luck Club, a group of four women who play mahjong. The book was made into a movie in 1993 starring an ensemble cast of some of the finest Asian actresses in Hollywood. Gloria Shen (2009), in her critical review of The Joy Luck Club, discusses the theme of mother/daughter relationships within the novel. In examining the relationships between the women, she focuses on the narrative style, stating that the narration is not one story, but is divided into sixteen individual stories that are told from the point of view of those characters that each story represents. According to Shen, this narrative style is more conventionally associated with novels from the 19th and 20th centuries, giving the work a contemporary nostalgic style (p. 3). The exception to this point of view style is the story that is told about Suyuan Woo, who has died before the

Relationship Between Language Culture And Identity English Language Essay

Relationship Between Language Culture And Identity English Language Essay Relationships among language, culture and identity have become a favourite topic in social science for decades. In his book Primitive Culture, Edward Tylor (1871) defines culture that as complex whole which includes knowledge, morals, beliefs, art, law technology and  any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member  of the society. Being human being communicative, interestingly, language reveals much more what we actually speak out, not only a means of communication. The Sapir Whorf hypothesis states that the structure of a language influences  the ways in which its speakers conceptualize their world  or otherwise affects their cognitive processes. The cultural worldview of a man is presented by the language and reflected through his responses in a specific period of time. Cultures are maintained from generation to generation and affected by geographical location and history of that nation as well as the interaction of that people over time. Simultaneously, language also develops to meet the need of communication of people. Therefore, it can be stated that your  language can reveal many things about your identity. It can disclose your nationality, culture, religion, age, gender, level of education, socio-economic class or your profession. Mendoza-Denton (2002:475) defines  identity to mean the active negotiation of an individuals relationship with larger social constructs. It means that identity  is reflected in the language we use, our word choices in identifying ourselves as well as in the words we choose not to use. Language is part of ones identity. Understanding the nature of the relationship between language and culture is central to the process of learning another language.It is also a chance for language learners to discover or re-discover and more appreciate his or her identiy. With my limited understanding about socialinguistic and my eagerness to more learning about a useful subject that enriches me a language teacher the knowledge of languages role soceity as well as the implications for language teaching and language policy, I would like to discuss the following contents: A. Discuss the relationship between language, culture and identity The Sapir Whorf Hypothesis Intercultural communication Language as a core value and indentity B. What are the implications for language teaching and language policy Language policy Language and power CONTENT A. The relationship between language, culture and identity The Sapir Whorf Hypothesis In linguistics, the Sapir Whorf Hypothesis states that each language holds an own way to present its meaning that can not be understood by those belong to another language. Native languages are concerned to strongly affect peoples thinking. Whofianism is another popular name for this hypothesis and is often defined as having two versions: The strong version linguistic determinism that  states that the language you speak determines the way that you will interpret the world around you. In this case, interlocutors think much of how to speak to best express their ideas and how to avoid misunderstanding caused by spoken words. For example, in Vietnamese culture, when visiting a newborn baby, we usually say that she/ he is very ugly to mean that the baby is so cute. Vietnamese do not use direct saying to compliment a newborn baby. In Western culture, questions about ages or marriage status are considered impolite. The weak version that linguistic categories (part of speech)  and usage influence thought and certain kinds of non-linguistic behaviour. The strong version of this hypothesis has been mostly discarded but the weak form of the hypothesis is generally accepted. Defintion of UG of Noam Chomsky (1957) also states that the human brain contains a limited set of rules for organizing language. Language is governed by a set of highly abstract principles that provide parameters which are given particular settings in different languages. This set of rules is known as universal grammar. Articles in Englis such as a/an, the or gender of language mascular, feminine in French maybe appropriate examples for this part. Intercultural communication Intercultural communication generally refers to face to face interactions among people. If the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis states that there are certain thoughts of an individual in one language that cannot be understood by those who live in another language, intercultural communication, according to Samovar and Porter (1991), occurs when a member of one culture understands a produced by another whose culture is different from him. It is a good idea to use title such as Mr Mrs or Dr along with a family name in a business discussion in some parts of Europe. The first name used without permission is considered direspectful. In Japanese culture, long pauses in a conversation are normal, especially after a question. They need time to think over it. However, in other cultures, it is comfortable if interlocutors keep silence in a dialogue, there will be someone to speak to end the silence. To work together without problems, people need to understand their differences. People belonging to diverse culture are still able to understand their language each other, though, there are the potential misunderstanding and disagreement. Learning about intercultural communication is a very good idea to reduce this risk. And a language teacher as a language messenger must realize this. Language as a core value and identity Mendoza-Denton (2002:475) defines  identity to mean the active negotiation of an individuals relationship with larger social constructs. These social constructs have been understood as comprising gender, ethnicity, and class following Gumprez (1982) in some of the earliest work on identity. Ones identity was understood as whom you were, and who we are or how we are seen by others may involve differing identities. According to Zimmerman (1998), there are three types of identity: Discourse identity which is revealed through particular discourse and presented by speakers, hearers. Situational identity which is revealed through the specific situation. For example, a person who is half Italian half French may want to identify with a particular ethnicity in some social situation. (e.g., attending a soccer game). This choice may even be crucial for his personal security. Transportable identity which applies across situations and discourse and includes such constructs as ethnic, gender, and age. I would like to mention my ideal woman- Hillary Clinton and her concession to Barack Obama in 2008. In order to successfully reposition herself from an opponent to a supporter of Obama, Clinton draws on several aspects of her transportable identity to stress the similarity between herself and Obama. Next to focusing on the fact that they are both Democrats, Americans and human beings, she zooms in on their membership of two powerless groups: namely that of women and African Americans. Both from a historical and a personal perspective, these two categorizations of herself and Obama are presented in a highly persuasive way and create unity between the two former opponents. A mans identity can disclose his nationality, culture, age, profession and socio economic class. Defined by the article  Understanding Racism,  a defining feature of a persons identity, contributing to how they see themselves and the groups with which they identify. Culture may be broadly defined as the sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings, which is transmitted from one generation to another. Every community, cultural group or ethnic group has its own values, beliefs and ways of living (Understanding Racism, sect.1). This clearly shows the importance of language, culture, and heritage in forming and shaping ones personality. In my real teaching, my students are usually given the difference from phonetic transcribtion between British English and American English to distinguish the origin of the words, therefore; they are parlty trained the way of word usage for the better speaking and writing as well. The difference in writing is also explained sometimes when needed. British English American English Vocabulary block apartment   call box   phone booth pavement sidewalk yard   garden   holiday   vacation   postman   mailman   Pronunciation tomato /tÉâ„ ¢mÉ‘:tÉâ„ ¢ÃƒÅ Ã…  / /tÉâ„ ¢mÉÅ ¾itÃŽÂ ¿ÃƒÅ Ã…  / photo /à ¡Ã‚ ¸Ã… ¸Ãƒâ€°Ã¢â€ž ¢ÃƒÅ Ã…  tÉâ„ ¢ÃƒÅ Ã…  / /ˈfoÊÅ  toÊÅ  / psychology /sÉ‘É ªÃƒâ€¹Ã‹â€ kÉ’lÉâ„ ¢dÊ’i/ /sÉ‘É ªÃƒâ€¹Ã‹â€ kÉ‘Ë lÉâ„ ¢dÊ’É ª/ important /É ªmˈpɆ:tnt/ /É ªmˈpɆ:rnt/ vase /vÉ‘Ë z/ /veÉ ªz/ /veÉ ªs/ Our pronunciation of the words, our grammartical structure usage, and our utterance reveal how we view ourselves linguistically. Our language choice reflects more than the way we view ourselves. Teenagers words might be quite different from their older generations might use. That is the way how we are viewd by soceity as well. According to Rembo (2004: 33-34), A persons social identity comes from an individuals knowledge of himself as an individual in relationship to others. It can be stated that we construct our identity by how we perceive ourselves in the eyes of others. Language is not only a means of communication but also self-identification. In a globalization communication, learning other languages as a second language positively promotes intercultural understanding across languages and cultures. In addition, personally, this is also an ideal way especially for the youth of every country become aware of how our behaviours and social attitudes have been shaped by the languages and cultures we experience. The implications for language teaching and policy Learning and teaching another language will be more interested once we discover the beauty of language and successfully convey to learners. It should be exploited effectively for a better teaching; therefore, a motivated learning might be obtained. Learning a new language means accessing a new culture. Teaching students how to internalize selectively is also a leading concern a language teacher should pay much attention to besides conveying the beauty of that second language. Being a language teacher, I assum that we should realize deeply Language and Power as well as Language Policy to have an appropriate thinking to do teaching in the classroom. Language and Power During the period of domination in some countries, whether colonizers governed directly or indirectly, the political and cultural of those were greatly affected. The peoples wealth was the colonizers real aim. However, economic and political control can never be obtained without mental control. It means that once language, which is part of culture, the tool of self-definition in relationship to other nations is under controlled, that people will be truly colonized. Well understanding power of language will help students more motivated to learn the standard language as well as to selectively uncover what they take for granted and internalize as personal failure. Language Policy Language Policy is what a government does either officially through legislation, court decisions or policy to determine how languages are used cultivate language skills needed to meet national priorities or to establish the rights of individuals or groups to use and maintain languages (Wikipedia) In terms of this definition, an overview about the status of reality of teaching and learning English language in Viet Nam would be best to support this part of my writing. Since its open door policy in the mid 1980s, Viet Nam has welcomed many foreign organizations to invest and establish their business. As a result the demand for English increased greatly in all aspects The Government of Vietnam is devoted to developing English language skills on a long-term strategic basis to compete more effectively in international markets and thereby achieve sustainable economic growth. One of the biggest reflections to push this strategy is a project whose title is Teaching and Learning Foreign Languages in the National Education System, Period 2008-2020 by the Ministry of Education which was approved by Prime Minister. The authority promotes this project to obtain a result that, by 2020, the majority of young Vietnamese will be able to use English communicate confidently and be able to study and work in a multi-lingual and multi-cultural environment; thus the industrialisation and modernisation of the country will be contributed by the more dynamic and better integrated young Vietnamese people. Common knowledge in many other fields at school is a background and English as a secon language is a key to get success for the youth and the development of the country as well. In this setting, the implications for language teaching and policy  therefore vast and far reaching. Policy makers should specify their guidelines the teaching of culture in foreign language pedagogy. Curriculum should be implemented on the basis of being linguistically, culturally, and developmentally appropriate for students. A comparison between the target-language culture and the native language culture is essential to help learners avoid the mono-cultural view. As a teacher of language, one must be culturally aware  target language culture as well as the students, thus avoiding any cultural misinterpretations. CONCLUSION Language and culture are deeply related and dependent on each other. Language is formed by culture, while culture is influenced by language. Furthermore, language is not only an expression and a display of heritage and history, it is also the component of culture that makes it unique, and that creates a difference from one to another. Cultural identity is an important contributor to peoples wellbeing. Identifying with a particular culture helps people feel they belong and gives them a sense of security. However, strong cultural identity expressed in the wrong way can contribute to barriers between groups. And members of smaller cultural groups can feel excluded from society if others obstruct, or are intolerant of, their cultural practices. Peple in different cultures hold different way to view the world. As a language teacher, I now understand that it is very important to be aware of target language culture as well as the students, thus avoiding potential misinterpretations.

Eleven 7 vs FIFA2004 :: Soccer Video Games Essays

Eleven 7 vs FIFA2004 Koreans are never going to forget what happened in the summer of 2002. The South Korean soccer team entered the world cup semifinals. Prior to this, the South Koreans had never passed the first round. The Koreans became the first Asian team to make the semifinals in the world cup. Since that time, I have enjoyed playing soccer related games. Because I like to play video games I spend a lot of time playing two soccer games for PlayStation2 (PS2). They are Winning Eleven 7 (WE7) and FIFA 2004, which are two of the most popular soccer games ever. WE7 is the most recent version of the popular Winning Eleven series. It is created by Konami, a Japanese company which is known around the world. The international version of the game came out in February 2004. It has many upgrades compared to the previous version, Winning Eleven 6, which was also very popular. FIFA 2004 is developed by Electronic Arts (EA), a California based entertainment software developer. Released in November 2003, it is a refined version of the well-reviewed FIFA 2003. Comparisons of these two games are discussed next. It is important to know what to look at when evaluating a soccer game. Some criteria commonly used are game play, graphics, sounds and team variety. Game play can be considered the most important one, since most customers who buy a sport video game expect it to be as close as possible to the real game. The graphics are also related to the realism of the game. Great graphics can cover up for a little drawback in other fields. Thirdly, sound effects, crowd noise and commentaries help the players get drawn into the game as it becomes more realistic. Lastly, how many teams are available to be played can be the reason why consumers choose a soccer game. If they do not have the chance to play many countries’ teams, they might get bored more easily with the game. The game play is concerned of WE7 is excellent. It is actually the strongest point of this game. Besides the fluid mechanical flow of the game, it also simulates the physical condition of a real game. Unlike other soccer games, scoring a goal is difficult as in real life.

Albert Einstein: the Miracle Mind Essay

The book, Albert Einstein: The Miracle Mind, written by Tabatha Teatts is about this century’s greatest physicist, Albert Einstein. He was born on March 14, 1879 in Ulm, Germany to Hermann Einstein and Pauline Koch. Albert’s original name was Ainstein and his ancestors were of Jewish origin. Down the generation, for some unknown reason, the name was changed to Einstein. When he was about one year old, his family moved to Munich to set up an electrical engineering company. Contrary to the belief that he must have always been a brilliant child, he was rather an unusual child. He was a slow talker and preferred to play by himself. He was thought to be â€Å"stupid† and slow due to his habits. When Albert wanted to talk, he would first think about it, then say it quietly to himself, and finally say it out loud. He was not interested in rough outdoor plays as other boys, but rather enjoyed puzzles and building houses by stacking cards. Just because he played quietly does not mean that he did not have a temper. When he was five years old, he was taught by a home tutor who never returned after almost being struck with the chair by Albert. He even had severe temper tantrums, which persisted until he was seven years old. When Albert was six years old, he had an experience that would influence his imagination and curiosity and shape his future. Albert had been ill, and to amuse Albert, his father brought home a compass. Albert was amazed that no matter which direction he turned the compass, the needle would still point north. At the age of seven, Albert was allowed to start directly at the second grade level at Volksschule – a Catholic elementary school. He did well in his studies. At the age of nine, he enrolled in Munich’s Luitpold Gymnasium (â€Å"gymnasium† is actually a German word for â€Å"secondary school†). At the age of ten, he became attracted in mathematics and science, and read many books in these fields. Albert was influenced by a book written by Aaron Bernstein that made him think about what it would feel to travel on a wave of light. This eventually led to Albert’s great theory of relativity. While he was still in school, the family’s electrical company in Germany shut down and the family moved to Pavia, Italy. Albert was to stay and finish school, but on December 29, 1894 he quit school and moved to Italy to be with his family. Albert planned to enter Federal Polytechnic University in Zurich. He studied hard in math and science but barely studied in the other subjects. He performed well in math and science, but failed in other areas. Therefore, he was not accepted into the Polytechnic. However, the head of the physics department was so awed by Albert’s math and science scores that he was invited to attend the lectures even if Albert was not accepted into Federal Polytechnic University. However, Albert could not accept it because he had to move to Aarau, Switzerland to finish his last year of secondary school at Canton School. After finishing at Canton School, Albert was accepted into Polytechnic. In his first year Albert learned about math and mechanics. He became really excited when he started learning physics, but when he soon found out that the professor never taught new lessons in physics, he lost interest in class and annoyed the teacher. This proved to be a mistake later in his future when was trying to find a job. Albert mainly studied by himself, and one of his close friends who took good notes shared them with Albert. This helped Albert get through his classes. When Albert had free time he went to cafà ©s with his friends and had long discussions on theories, experiments, and problems to occupy the time. He also loved to play his violin, which helped him to meet many new people since he was a good-looking musician. Then he met Mileva Maric, a student at Polytechnic who was very intelligent and had great knowledge in mathematics. They became friends and quickly grew close. After Albert graduated in the summer of 1900 his had planned on obtaining advanced degrees while working as an assistant to one of Polytechnic professors. His second goal was to marry Mileva, but he did not do very well on accomplishing either one of those goals. He could not find assistantship because he had irritated his physics professor while at Polytechnic. Because Mileva was a little older than Albert, was not Jewish, and had a limp from being born with a dislocated hip, Albert’s parents were very much against their relationship. Albert was not allowed to marry until he was able to find a job. By December of 1900, Albert finished writing a paper on capillarity (the interaction between liquid meeting solid), and it was published in the Annalen der Physik (Journal of Physics), but he still could not find a job as an assistant. Things started to look brighter when his friend got him a position as a patent examiner and another friend asked him to teach a class for couple of months. In May of 1901, Mileva found out she was pregnant and by end of January 1902 she had a little girl and named her baby Lieserl (Little Lisa). By then Albert was working at the patent office and getting steady pay. In October of 1902, at the age of fifty-five, Albert’s father died of heart disease. Just before he died, he gave Albert permission to marry Mileva. On January 6, 1903, Albert and Mileva were finally married. Albert continued to work for the patent office. Albert became lonely staying at home with just his wife and his daughter, so Albert and his friends met every night and discussed theories and books they were reading. They called their group â€Å"the Olympia Academy.† In May 1904, Hans Albert Einstein was born. By end of 1904 one of Albert’s close friend, Michele Besso, came to work with him at the patent office. Albert enjoyed going over questions about light with his close friend and wrote many scientific papers to Annalen der Physik even though he was working full-time. Mileva helped Albert with the mathematical facts. In March 1905, he finished his paper on light. This would become the basis for the quantum physics, which would later help us create lasers, transistors, cell phones, electron microscopes, DVD players, solar cells, weapons, cameras, aircraft, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In April 1906 Albert was promoted to â€Å"Technical Expert Second Class† and received a raise while working at the office. By 1905 and 1909 Albert wrote over two dozen papers to Annalen der Physik. On the other hand Albert’s Olympia Academy group stopped meeting each other because some members left town. While the other members of the group were gone Albert and Mileva had to occupy the time. So they drew a drawing of a machine that could measure tiny amounts of energy. After they finished their drawing they sent it to the Habicht brothers. The Habicht brothers worked on it for about twenty years. But by 1911 Albert gave up hope. In 1907 Albert went to Bern University to look for a job. Just as he was preparing to leave for the university in Zurich, his wife, Mileva, got pregnant again. So, instead of going to Zurich he decided to move the entire family to Prague, Germany for the university there. After they got to Prague, joy and tragedy struck. The good news was that they gave birth to their second son, Eduard. The bad news was is that Albert came down with stomach ailment – a condition that would cause difficulties for him for the rest of his life. By October, he was well enough to attend the first Solvay Conference in Brussels, Belgium. Albert said that he had never labored as hard. When Albert turned thirty-four in March 1913, he received a birthday card from his cousin, Elsa. After that, their letter writing began again. That summer, Albert’s friends, Max Planck and Walther Nernst, tried to convince him to move to Berlin. Albert decided to go but not until April 1914. Mileva and the children, however, remained in Zurich. He was sad to leave his children, but an exciting event was on his mind: an upcoming eclipse. In Berlin, since he had nowhere else to stay, he stayed at his cousin’s (Elsa) house. Mileva gave math and piano lessons to try to make ends meet while Albert was gone. At Easter time in 1916 Albert and Mileva divorced, and his stomach troubles got worse. Albert lost about fifty-eight pounds because of this. In October 1917 Albert finally became the director or the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics. Elsa’s daughter, Ilse, became Albert’s secretary in January 1918. Working with Ilse gave him many ideas. Albert asked Ilse if she would marry him even though he was already engaged with her mother. Although Elsa gave them her permission to marry, Ilse rejected Albert. After divorcing Albert, Mileva was not earning enough money to support herself. This made Albert feel sorry for leaving her. Thus, he told her that he would give her any Noble Prize money he won in the future. Elsa and Albert finally got married in Berlin on June 2, 1919. A couple of weeks after the marriage the solar eclipse happened. On February 20, 1920 Albert’s mother, Pauline, died. He was so sad that he went to the United States to get it off his mind. His first trip to the United States was on April 1921. He was welcomed to the White House by President Warren G. Harding. He also won the Nobel Prize in Physics in1921. He was so famous because of his theories he was asked to lecture and visit Prague, Austria, France, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Palestine between 1922 and 1923. On the personal side, his son Hans Albert married a woman named Frieda Knecht in 1927 and Ilse got married to a man named Rudolf Kayser in 1924. In 1928 Albert developed a heart condition that made him stay in bed. The Einstein’s had a summer house in Caputh, Germany that they used when they wanted to get away from the crowd for a while. When Albert turned fifty in 1929 he was well enough to appreciate his birthday gift: a sailboat. Sailing became one of his chief hobbies. Not long after this, Albert received news of tragedy and excitement. The great news was that Hans Albert and his wife gave birth to Bernhard Caesar Einstein. The horrible news was that his second son, Eduard, got sick with schizophrenia. Albert had to return back home so they left their summer home never to return again. Germans came to Albert’s summer house and burned everything down in search of him. When they could not find him, they put him in the official â€Å"Enemies of the State† book, with the caption stating â€Å"Not yet hanged.† In 1934, Albert was in Princeton, joined by Elsa’s daughter, Margot. Sadly, Ilse ha d died. Two years later, in December 1936, his wife Elsa also died. On July 1939 a man named Leo Szilard informed Albert that the Germans may be planning to drop an atomic bomb on the United States. They told this to President Roosevelt. In 1943, Albert still was not allowed to work on the Manhattan Project, but was allowed to work for the U.S. Navy as a high-explosive adviser. The Congress offered Albert an American citizenship. While he was working on his citizenship, America dropped two bombs on Japan. This was all due to Albert’s work. Albert felt devastated and ashamed. In 1948 Mileva died because of a terrible stroke. When the President of Israel, Chaim Weizmann, died in 1952, Albert was offered presidency, but he turned it down. Albert kept getting stomach pains. That same year, a radioactive metal was discovered in the debris from the first thermonuclear device explosion. The metal was designated a new chemical element and officially named â€Å"Einsteinium† for Albert Einstein in 1955. Albert became so famous that people wanted autographs, quotes, advice — even for his shoes from him! On his seventy-seventh birthday people asked him if they could take a picture of him. He agreed but when they took his picture, he stuck his tongue out instead of smiling. Also on his birthday he got a card from his friends who addressed their greetings to the â€Å"President of the Olympia Group.† On April 13, 1955, Albert’s abdominal aneurysm ruptured and he was admitted to the Princeton Hospital. He did not want any heroic measures to keep him alive. In his hospital room he tried to figure out the problem that had stumped him for so long. When he finally figured out the answer he told the nurse. Unfortunately, because he said it in German, she did not understand. Albert Einstein died on April 18, 1978, at 1:15a.m. Albert did not mind people studying his brain, but did not want the results publicized. Still today his theories are being tested and proved all over the world. Because of all his fame from his theories, an artist named Robert Berks sculpted a bronze statue of Albert Einstein in 1978. The statue stands outside of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington D.C. holding a notepad saying his famous equation, E=mc ².

Gender culture and ethnicity

The understanding of the terms gender, ethnicity, and culture and their influence on the family is the core factor in this paper. These terms have diverse definitions though the understanding is basically the same. This is because the terms are applied differently in different social set-ups. Culture can refer to the common beliefs, values, symbols and meanings, passed on from one generation to another in time.Ethnicity would refer to a common ancestral linage, sense of belonging, and is a major factor in the determination of identity through which communities evolve and develop common value systems and. Gender, as a term has two components mainly role and identity it is the characteristics that society and individuals attach to males or females. Gender identity is the private sense of being masculine or feminine. While gender roles are the prescribed expectations of society towards men or women. Table of contents Abstract 2 Introduction 4Understanding of gender, culture, and ethnici ty 5 Family rituals, traditions, and transitions 7 Conclusion 9 Reference †¦10. Introduction The combined roles of gender, ethnicity, and culture have an important impact in any family set-up. While gender identity is a private perception of being masculine of feminine the expectations of society is what mainly determines an individual’s perception of the same (McGoldrick et al 1996). Although the roles of gender are dictated by the greater society transitions in families and exposure can bring a shift from the norm.While culture would refer to the common beliefs, values, symbols and meanings, passed on from one generation to another in time (Goldenburg & Goldenburg, 2000), this is always subject to change as value systems are dynamic and are influenced by outside factors such as education and to a large extent globalization and its effects on individuals. While ethnicity would refer to a common ancestral linage and sense of belonging (McGoldrick et al,1996), it does not change what changes is its influence in the individual’s interpersonal relationships as other factors come into play.These factors are mainly exposure and education. Understanding of gender, culture, and ethnicity A three-generation family genogram. Legend Examples of gender roles in my family of origin. The gender roles in my family of origin were not quite clearly spelt out. This is because as society in Chile would demand the men were the family bread winners, and they carried the family’s vision. However, we were brought up from a tender age by our mother almost single handedly. The reason being my father had an alcoholic problem which led into a troubled marriage ending in divorce.My mother had to work to bring us up. The preservation of family traditions is the prerogative of the man and this was done by our paternal grandfather. Now that he is quite old, family traditions are no longer adhered to unlike the case in the past. People of different race or ethnic o rientation, were not welcome in our family. The major reason being the older generation was not accommodating to them. The feeling among the family was the people of different race or ethnicity were second class citizens.The roles of men and women were not clear since in my family my father was absent and my mother performed the roles that society regarded as masculine such as working to raise the family. Women were normally expected to stay at home as housewives taking care of the children and day-day household chores. An outsider is any person who does not belong into our family ancestral blood-line or assimilated into the family by way of marriage. These were treated with suspicion and at times contempt. Whereas an insider is that person born into the blood-line or married into the family line, and were treated with respect.These messages have broadened my view of interpersonal relationships. Biases, prejudices, and stereotypes. Biases, prejudices, and stereotypes learnt: I came to look down upon domestic servants as a low class people. This is basically from the stereotyping in our society, since these jobs were mainly for the uneducated and were lowly paid. People of different color or ethnicity were seen as second class and were marginalized in every sphere of life including the job market. Education in our family was seen as the only means to getting acceptable standards of living. Family rituals, traditions, and transitionsRituals in my family. Saying prayers every day before dinner was a ritual our family grew up with. This occurred because my mother was a strong religious woman who instilled moral and religious values in us. She was a strong Catholic woman and prayers were the family cornerstone. Since my paternal grandparents are still alive and are the stronger side of our family, the entire family as well as the extended family needs to congregate at our grandparents’ home for holidays like Christmas. This will bring our father back into th e family as we spend time together and reflect on the events of our lives as a family in the past year.It will help all the family appreciate each other and provide room for change where necessary. In developing a ritual for a family one has to first understand the daily or calendar routine of the family. A family ritual assists the family to develop close bonding. Spending good quality time together especially at the dinner table is one ritual that would serve this purpose. At this time the family members would reflect on the events of the day and issues that arise can be discussed at this time. Dinner needs to be served at a time convenient to all members of the family.This will assist the family to grow as a close knit unit where each family member is responsible for the general well being of the family as a whole. A tradition in my family. As we grew up one tradition was to visit our paternal grandparents every holiday. We would spend time with them at the beach over the summer holidays for as long as two months. They were a loving couple and very close to their family. The time we would spend with them helped me as I grew to appreciate family bonding as I felt the love and warmth they gave to all of us. This affected me directly because I did not see the same love and affection between my own parents.My parents were divorced after a troubled marriage, since my father was an alcoholic. The time spent with our grandparents made me appreciate the institution of marriage as a life-long commitment. Transition in my family. One major transition in our family was my father’s alcoholic problem. Alcoholism destroyed our family structure in that my parents got divorced when we were young children and we were brought up by our mother almost single-handedly. In my country Chile, men were the bread winners and household heads while women were basically housewives. This was however not the case in our family. Our family was a woman-headed household.It was my mot her who instilled religious and moral values in us. She was the one who carried the family burden although our father would help us occasionally. A tradition in my family that needs to be changed. A tradition that needs to be changed in our family is that of employing maids, chauffeurs and all sorts of servants. As much as this helps in the growth of the national economy in terms of employment, at the family level it drains family resources and also encourages a dependency syndrome in the children. This is because they grow up seeing other people do things for them, and therefore lack a sense of responsibility.It does not help in molding children into responsible adults. This tradition needs to be changed and families should only employ a minimal number of servants leaving the children and young adults with some responsibilities to take care of. This would help our family in that the men would grow up dealing with their responsibilities as society demands and not leave their househo lds to be headed by their wives. The women will grow to be strong women like our mother being able to provide for their families even when the men neglect responsibilities.Conclusion In conclusion, the influence of gender, culture and ethnicity has greatly molded my family. Gender, culture and ethnicity need to be understood in a modern sense since they are the major sources of stereotyping. The influence of exposure and education is what has positively impacted on the families inter personal relationships. References Goldeburg, I. , Goldenburg, H. (2000). Family therapy 5th ed. Australia: Brooks/Cole McGoldrick, M. , Giordano, J. , & Pearce, J. (1996). Ethnicity and family therapy. New York. Guilford

Events Leading to the Scramble for Africa

Events Leading to the Scramble for Africa The Scramble for Africa (1880–1900) was a period of rapid colonization of the African continent by European powers. But it wouldnt have happened except for the particular economic, social, and military evolution Europe was going through. Europeans in Africa up to the 1880s By the beginning of the 1880s, only a small part of Africa was under European rule, and that area was largely restricted to the coast and a short distance inland along major rivers such as the Niger and the Congo. Britain had Freetown in Sierra Leone, forts along the coast of The Gambia, a presence at Lagos, the Gold Coast protectorate, and a fairly major set of colonies in Southern Africa (Cape Colony, Natal, and the Transvaal which it had annexed in 1877).Southern Africa also had the independent Boer Oranje-Vrystaat (Orange Free State).France had settlements at Dakar and St Louis in Senegal and had penetrated a fair distance up the river Senegal, the Assinie, and Grand Bassam regions of Cote dIvoire, a protectorate over the coastal region of Dahomey (now Benin), and had begun colonization of Algeria as early as 1830.Portugal had long-established bases in Angola (first arriving in 1482, and subsequently retaking the port of Luanda from the Dutch in 1648) and Mozambique (first arriving in 1498 and creating trading posts by 1505).Spain had small enclaves in northwest Africa at Ceuta and Melilla (frica Septentrional Espaà ±ola or Spanish North Africa).The Ottoman Turks controlled Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia (the strength of Ottoman rule varied greatly). Causes of the Scramble for Africa There were several factors that created the impetus for the Scramble for Africa, and most of these were to do with events in Europe rather than in Africa. End of the Slave Trade:  Britain had had some success in halting the slave trade around the shores of Africa, but inland the story was different. Muslim traders from north of the Sahara and on the East Coast still traded inland, and many local chiefs were reluctant to give up the use of slaves. Reports of slaving trips and markets were brought back to Europe by various explorers such as David Livingstone, and abolitionists in Britain and Europe were calling for more to be done.Exploration:  During the 19th century, barely a year went by without a European expedition into Africa. The boom in exploration was triggered to a great extent by the creation of the African Association by wealthy Englishmen in 1788, who wanted someone to find the fabled city of Timbuktu and chart the course of the Niger River. As the 19th century wore on, the goal of the European explorer changed, and rather than traveling out of pure curiosity they began to record details of markets, goods, and resources for the wealthy philanthropists who financed their trips. Henry Morton Stanley:  This naturalized American (born in Wales) was the explorer most closely connected to the start of the Scramble for Africa. Stanley had crossed the continent and located the missing Livingstone, but he is more infamously known for his explorations on behalf of King Leopold II of Belgium. Leopold hired Stanley to obtain treaties with local chieftains along the course of the River Congo with an eye on creating his own colony. Belgium was not in a financial position to fund a colony at that time. Stanleys work triggered a rush of European explorers such as the German journalist Carl Peters to do the same for various European countries.Capitalism:  The end of European trading in slaves left a need for commerce between Europe and Africa. Capitalists may have seen the light over slavery, but they still wanted to exploit the continent. New legitimate trade would be encouraged. Explorers located vast reserves of raw materials, plotted the course of trade routes, nav igated rivers, and identified population centers that could serve as markets for manufactured goods from Europe. It was a time of plantations and cash crops, when the regions workforce was put to work to producing rubber, coffee, sugar, palm oil, timber, etc for Europe. And the benefits were more enticing if a colony could be set up, which gave the European nation a monopoly. Steam Engines and Iron Hulled Boats:  In 1840, the  first British ocean-going iron warship called Nemesis  arrived at Macao, south China. It changed the face of international relations between Europe and the rest of the world. The  Nemesis  had a shallow draft (five feet), a hull of iron, and two powerful steam engines. It could navigate the non-tidal sections of rivers, allowing inland access, and it was heavily armed. Livingstone used a steamer to travel up the Zambezi River in 1858 and had the parts transported overland to Lake Nyassa. Steamers also allowed Henry Morton Stanley and Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza to explore the Congo.Quinine and Medical Advances:  Africa, especially the western regions, was known as the White Mans Grave because of the danger of two diseases: malaria and yellow fever. During the 18th century, only one in 10 Europeans sent out to the continent by the Royal African Company survived. Six of the 10 died in their first year. In 1817, French scien tists Pierre-Joseph Pelletier and Joseph Bienaimà © Caventou extracted quinine from the bark of the South American cinchona tree. It proved to be the solution to malaria; Europeans could now survive the  ravages of the disease  in Africa. Unfortunately,  yellow fever  continued to be a problem, and even today there is no specific treatment for the disease. Politics:  After the creation of a unified Germany (1871) and Italy (a longer process, but its capital relocated to Rome in 1871) there was no room left in Europe for expansion. Britain, France, and Germany were in an intricate political dance, trying to maintain their dominance, and an overseas empire would secure it. France, which had lost two provinces to Germany in 1870, looked to Africa to gain more territory. Britain looked toward Egypt and the control of the Suez Canal as well as pursuing territory in gold-rich southern Africa. Germany, under the expert management of  Chancellor Bismarck, had come late to the idea of overseas colonies but was now fully convinced of their worth. All that was needed was some mechanism to be put in place to stop overt conflict over the coming land grab.Military Innovation: At the beginning of the 19th century, Europe was only marginally ahead of Africa in terms of available weapons, as traders had long supplied them to local chiefs and many h ad stockpiles of guns and gunpowder. But two innovations gave Europe a massive advantage. In the late 1860s, percussion caps were being incorporated into cartridges. What previously came as a separate bullet, powder, and wadding was now a single entity, easily transported and relatively weatherproof. The second innovation was the breech-loading rifle. Older model muskets, held by most Africans, were front loaders, which were slow to use (maximum of three rounds per minute) and had to be loaded while standing. Breech-loading guns, in comparison, could be fired between two to four times faster and could be loaded even in a prone position. Europeans, with an eye to colonization and conquest, restricted the sale of the new weaponry to Africa maintaining military superiority. The Mad Rush Into Africa in the Early 1880s Within just 20 years, the political face of Africa had changed, with only Liberia (a colony run by ex-African-American slaves) and Ethiopia remaining free of European control. The start of the 1880s saw a rapid increase in European nations claiming territory in Africa: In 1880, the region to the north of the river Congo became a French protectorate following a treaty between the King of the Bateke, Makoko, and the explorer Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza.In 1881, Tunisia became a French protectorate and the Transvaal regained its independence.In 1882, Britain occupied Egypt (France pulled out of joint occupation), and Italy began colonization of Eritrea.In 1884, British and French Somaliland were created.In 1884,  German South West Africa, Cameroon, German East Africa, and Togo were created and Rà ­o de Oro claimed by Spain. Europeans Set the Rules for Dividing up the Continent The  Berlin Conference of 1884–1885  (and the resultant  General Act of the Conference at Berlin) laid down ground rules for the further partitioning of Africa. Navigation on the Niger and Congo rivers was to be free to all, and to declare a protectorate over a region the European colonizer must show effective occupancy and develop a sphere of influence. The floodgates of European colonization had opened. Sources and Further Reading Bryceson, Deborah Fahy. The Scramble in Africa: Reorienting Rural Livelihoods. World Development 30.5 (2002): 725–39.Chamberlain, Muriel Evelyn. The Scramble for Africa, 3rd ed. London: Routledge, 2010.Michalopoulos, Stelios, and Elias Papaioannou. The Long-Run Effects of the Scramble for Africa. American Economic Review 106.7 (2016): 1802–48.Pakenham, Thomas. The Scramble For Africa. Little, Brown: 2015.

Physical Security of Arms, Ammunition Essays

Physical Security of Arms, Ammunition Essays Physical Security of Arms, Ammunition Essay Physical Security of Arms, Ammunition Essay Physical security of arms, ammunition. The importance of securing weapons comes down to maintaining accountability for operation security, mission success, and a soldier’s over all readiness. The habits of exercising security and accountability of a soldier’s items allow the soldier and their team to operate to the highest standards or have items be accessed by an opposing adversary creating loss of overall mission success. Any time anything happens or you are preparing to go to the field or deployment of course you have to have accountability and order. Without that there would be chaos. Accountability is not an abstract concept, it is actually really simple. Accountability means saying what you mean, meaning what you say, and doing what you say you are going to do. In short, accountability is taking responsibility for your words and actions. I have compiled a long list of strong reasons why weapons accountability is critically important, but I believe they boil down to three central issues: First, I am ineffective without my weapon; Second, an unmonitored weapon puts all of us in danger; and Last, a lost weapon will prompt many undesirable bureaucratic consequences. Finally, I will conclude this essay with a look at why I joined the military and what I hope to personally gain from this experience. What’s the worst that could happen? The worst that can happen is for a bad guy, either foreign or domestic, to take your weapon and use it against you or your buddies. It is bad enough to lose one’s life with one’s own weapon. It is even worse, in my opinion, to live with the knowledge that your weapon was used to take the lives of others. Thus proving not only is one ineffective without their weapon but it puts everyone else in danger. Why does it happen? It seems that weapon accountability is something we take for granted. There will be many times when a soldier is not within arms length of his weapon. Whether he or she is eating, working on a vehicle, or just hanging around the living quarters, their rifle is not likely to be in hand or slung behind their back. Another fact of why weapons can get left unattended is complacency. Soldiers will get in the habit of thinking their firearm as something you have to carry around all the time and less as an actual weapon that is used for the protection of themselves and their comrades. Lastly, distractions can play a key role in why weapons are left unattended. Different situations can bring their own share of distractions which makes it hard to concentrate on anything else. What can we learn from it? So what does this teach us? It teaches us that even if your in a place where you would think that your weapon is the most important thing you would think about, it is not. Being only human, highly trained, intelligent soldiers will forget where their weapons are. How do we ensure that this never happens to us? To ensure that this never happens to us, there are some common sense steps to take. First, team leaders must stress accountability. Each team member should be able to answer for where every important item they own is at any given time of day. When a team goes out for training, the team leader must make certain that every person in the team can account for their weapons and other important pieces of gear. The team leader can perform inspections, make sure that sensitive items are placed in a standard location when not in use, develop standard loading plans for vehicles, have weapon racks inside tents or buildings, and even stacking arms. The habit must be formed by each team member to always be conscious of where their weapons are. And the buddy system is great because buddies can watch out for each other. They will supervise and check each other, which can save the team leader a lot of headache. It is always good practice to keep your weapon within arms distance at all times. If I was to forget my weapon in a combat situation, I would have no way to defend myself or my fellow service members. Then I would have to live with that for the rest of my life. The repercussion of my actions could have fallen back on my platoon sergeant and my squad leader and cause embarassment for the entire platoon and company. That is not something I would want to happen as a result of me being complacent. One example of the dangers of leaving weapons unattended takes place in northeast Philadelphia. A police officer left a loaded gun on a table and a neighbor used it to accidentally kill his host. Another incident is a hunting accident. A twenty-one-year old male was killed while hunting when a shotgun accidentally discharged. The loaded weapon had been lying on the ground with the safety off and discharged when a dog stepped on the trigger. As important as it is to remember where your weapon is at all times, it is equally important to remember a few gun safety tips: Always treat every gun as if it were loaded. Never point a gun at something you would not want to shoot, hurt, or destroy, even if the gun is empty. When you are not shooting, always keep the muzzle of your weapon pointed in a safe direction. Never leave a loaded weapon unattended. Always keep your trigger finger outside of the trigger guard until the moment you’re going to fire. Always know what you are aiming at. Besides keeping weapons safe for the obvious reason of accountability, it is also important to remember your guard duties and responsibilities as a soldier. Guard duty is a very important job as a soldier serving in the US Army. When you are selected for this task, you are required to follow the Three General Orders. First General Order: I will guard everything within the limits of my post and quit my post only when properly relieved. Second General Order: I will obey my special orders and perform all of my duties in a military manner. Third General Order: I will report violations of my special orders, emergencies, and anything not covered in my instructions to the commander of the relief. Besides being on guard in a constant state of readiness, you are also obligated to perform various secondary tasks, such as verifying and maintaining one hundred percent accountability on personnel, weapons, and other equipment essential to the mission. When mission essential equipment is involved, special care and supervision is to be taken to make sure these items do not just â€Å"walk away†. Sometimes guard duty can result in a long amount of time with no relief, even temporary, such as a break to utilize the latrine. These situations happen, but under NO circumstances are you allowed to leave without proper relief. If proper relief, such as a soldier who was briefed on the same mission and is authorized to relieve you happens to be available, then he or she may relieve you. You are to make sure to report back in a timely manner. If you are on guard duty and an emergency issue, such as missing or damaged personnel or sensitive items, arises, you are to immediately report this to your relief and/ or your non- commissioned officer in charge. Should you fail these actions, you can and probably will ultimately be held responsible for these incidents or losses. Falling asleep on guard duty is highly discouraged. Falling asleep on guard duty can result in an Article Fifteen. Leaving weapons unattended is also punishable under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which falls under the category of punitive orders. This order is described as leaving any tools, keys, weapons or any other work related materials necessary to perform your mission unattended or within the reach of persons unauthorized to possess them, or bringing any materials not necessary for the performance of the mission into a sensitive area or detainee area. A person who violates this order either negligently or intentionally may be punished under Article ninety-two for violating a lawful general order, or receive adverse administrative actions, or both. Consequences of violating this order could result in an Article Fifteen, which can result with loss of rank, pay, extra duty, or even jail time. The U. S. Army values are as follows Loyalty bear true faith and allegiance to the U. S. constitution, Army, your unit, and other soldiers. Duty, fulfill your obligations. Respect; treat people how you want to be treated. Selfless service put the welfare of the nation, the Army, and your subordinates before your own. Honor live up to the Army values. Integrity Do what’s right legally and morally, And Personal Courage, face fear, danger or adversity (physical and moral. Loyalty†¦ Loyalty is faithfulness or a devotion to a person or cause. I’m sure my trust with my NCOs support chain is all but gone. What I did was wrong and not loyal to the trust and respect you once had placed in me. When I took my oath on the day I joined I swore to serve the United States of America both honestly and faithfully. After the 27th of October I believe I have a lot of work to do before I am a responsible adult and soldier. I come a long way since I joined the army, but I still have a bit to go. Duty†¦ is a term that conveys a sense of moral commitment to someone or something. The moral commitment is the sort that results in action, and it is not a matter of passive feeling or mere recognition. When someone recognizes a duty, that person commits himself/herself to the cause involved without considering the self-interested courses of actions that may have been relevant previously. This is not to suggest that living a life of duty precludes one from the best sort of life, but duty does involve some sacrifice of immediate self-interest. By not being where I said I was going to be, I in no way fulfilled my obligations to the army, the company, or any of my NCOs. The formation I missed was important because I missed information that was prudent to me alone, which in fact I only hurt myself by having to miss even more time to take care of what I should have been doing on Monday. RESPECT†¦ Respect is esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or ability. Along with the trust that I need to gain back from not only my NCOs but everyone else in my company, I also lost and have to gain the respect back from all the people who I lied to and hurt by my actions. I totally disrespected all soldiers and have no excuse for my actions. Selfless service†¦ Selfless Service is a commonly used term to denote a service which is performed without any expectation of result or award for the person performing it. I didn’t put the welfare of anyone in front of my own. Instead of selfless service I was only selfish and need to mature a lot but I have time to do it I believe. Honor†¦ honesty, fairness, or integrity in ones beliefs and actions . What I did was a great dishonor to me and most of all to my platoon in the eyes of the 1st Sergeant Syndnor. I made it to where the 1st sergeant now doesn’t trust the word of my platoon sergeants, and now she is second guessing them and making them double check everything. Personal courage†¦ Personal courage isnt the absence of fear; rather, its the ability to put fear aside and do whats necessary. It takes two forms, physical and moral. Good leaders demonstrate both. I believe that I showed some personal courage in finally telling the truth and facing what I had coming. Physical courage means overcoming fears of bodily harm and doing your duty. Its the bravery that allows a soldier to take risks in combat in spite of the fear of wounds or death. Physical courage is what gets the soldier at Airborne School out the aircraft door. Its what allows an infantryman to assault a bunker to save his buddies. In contrast, moral courage is the willingness to stand firm on your values, principles, and convictions, even when threatened. It enables leaders to stand up for what they believe is right, regardless of the consequences. Leaders, who take responsibility for their decisions and actions, even when things go wrong, display moral courage. Courageous leaders are willing to look critically inside themselves, consider new ideas, and change what needs changing. Accountability is a concept in ethics with several meanings. It is often used synonymously with such concepts as answerability, enforcement, responsibility , blameworthiness, liability and other terms associated with the expectation of account-giving. As an aspect of governance, it has been central to discussions related to problems in both the public and private worlds. Accountability is very important because it allows for your chain of command to know where you are at the moment, It is also important because it ells the unit commanders also the none commissioned officers how around how many personnel are available to perform certain tasks, If a leader does not know around how many troops are available then he/she will not know who is available to do what, Everything must be accounted for, from food, rounds, troops, vehicles, fuel, and so on. Discipline and accou ntability to your unit is a must, so they know where you are and that you are safe and the military is run off discipline without it we wouldn’t be the greatest military/army in the history of the world. Also the U. S. rmy values imply that soldiers are accountable for their actions. Being accountable means being dependable-arriving to work on time and appointments on time, meeting deadlines, being in the right place at the right time, doing the right thing at the right time. Morning formation is the most important formation of the day. It is made to get accountability of everyone and put out any information that there needs to be dealt with. Without having accountability there is no knowing of where everybody is or whats going on. As a result of me showing up late and not calling in or lying I am pending U. C. M. J action under article 15. Knowing and realizing the severity of what I have done, I have realized that is an important asset always showing up on time at the right place of duty. Not only does accountability matter in formation it is also imperative to have accountability of all your weapons and sensitive items. The obligation imposed by law or lawful order or regulation on an officer or other person for keeping accurate record of property, documents, or funds. The person having this obligation may or may not have actual possession of the property, documents, or funds. Accountability is concerned primarily with records, while responsibility is concerned primarily with custody, care, and safekeeping. Accountability can be is a responsibility anyone can have at any time. The accountability usually goes to the higher ranking that is in charge at that time. I have been in charge many times to keep accountability on things that were sensitive items. The importance of keeping accountability of your weapon, and other equipment you may have, is very high because if in the wrong hands it can be used against us. It can be used against us in war. It also can be used against us on our own streets. Whether we leave it around for a couple minutes or a half an hour, someone can take our equipment with us not realizing it. Leaving your equipment or weapon around can not only be bad for you, but for your buddy next to you. Your buddy might also get into trouble if he was there with you when you lost track of that equipment or weapon. In order to be a good soldier, and a good leader, you have to understand how important it is to keep accountability of your equipment and weapon. If your are in a position to take care of other soldiers or you are higher ranking of other soldiers, you can not be messing up. Soldiers will follow what you do and think that it is okay to slack off. Meaning that if you are not accounting for something that you should be accountable for, you do not care about your job or the ones around you. If you do not keep accountability of your weapon, your are not following the Soldiers Creed. In the Soldiers Creed, you swear to always maintain your arms, your equipment and yourself. This is a very important part of the Soldiers Creed. If you do not do this, you can not complete your mission to the standards you are required to meet. Not completing your mission can and will cause the lives of you or other soldiers. So you can see that losing or not keeping accountability of your weapon will not just have one effect on you or others, but many more beyond that. We all know the worst that could happen-that’s easy. The worst that could happen is for a bad guy (here or at home) to take your weapon and use it against you or your buddies. Frankly, I don’t know which is worse; losing one’s life to one’s own weapon, or living with knowing that your buddies are dead through your carelessness. What’s this teach us? Very simply, it teaches us that even in a place where you would think your weapon is the most important thing you think about, it ain’t. Highly trained and intelligent soldiers, being only human, will forget where their weapons are. No sense denying it. It happens here and can happen to you or me at home. Now what do we do to minimize the likelihood of this happening to us? There’s no one foolproof system. As a former co-worker of mine back home used to say that there’s no such thing as foolproof†¦the best you can hope for is ‘idiot-resistant. ’ There are common-sense steps to take, though, and they must be scrupulously observed. Team leaders MUST stress accountability. Every team member must be able to answer where every important thing they own is at any given time of day. This doesn’t happen overnight, it must be trained. Whenever a team goes out for training, the team leader must ensure that everyone can account for their rifles and other important pieces of gear at all times. The team leader has a number of tools at his disposal to ensure this is done. He can perform inspections. He can ensure that sensitive items are placed in a standard location when not in use or carried (as when bivouacking). He can develop standard loading plans for vehicles. He can have weapon racks inside tents or buildings. Even stacking arms in a bivouac site has merit; there’s a very good reason soldiers are still taught to stack their assault rifles, just like their great-great grandfathers stacked their muskets. Team members must get in the habit of always being conscious of where their weapons are. I have only a few places I keep my rifle at any given time, and I put it in the same place every time. While at work, my rifle is stored in a rack, in the same slot every time. At the mess hall, it’s at my feet. When I’m in my living quarters, it’s next to the same corner of my cot every time. I never have to think about where it is, because I’ve learned to leave it in the same place every time. Buddies have to look out for each other. Buddy teams are great. When they work, they save the team leader tons of headache and indigestion, because buddies will supervise and check each other, if for no other reason than to keep from getting in trouble with the team leader. The bottom line is for everyone to understand that people WILL misplace their weapons, and must train themselves into simple, common-sense habits that minimize the possibility of it happening to them. Team leaders must also understand this, and make accountability an important part of everything their team does. The other day, when I left my weapon back at work, I not only ruined my image more, but I showed everyone in the platoon that I still have some work to do when it comes to my accountability skills and my attitude. By the end of this paper I hope I have shown those who’ve read this that I do understand the seriousness of maintaining accountability of not only my personally assigned weapon, but all of my sensitive items and everything else I’m personally responsible for. After taking some time to think and brainstorm about what I wanted to get across with this essay, I think weapons accountability simply comes down to three basic concepts. First is the fact that I am pretty much useless in battle without my weapon. Second is that a weapon left alone is a weapon begging for the enemy to pick it up and use it against us. And third, a lost weapon or lost anything really, shows a lack of self discipline and a ‘I don’t really give two shits’ attitude. Accountability, in some way, shape, or form, has something to do with pretty much everything we do in the rmy, from everyday formations, to field exercises, to combat deployments. I also feel that sometimes something as simple as weapons accountability is taken for granted. I should never go anywhere without it and it is always good practice to keep it within a arms distance at all times. If i was to forget it in a combat situation i would have no way to defend myself or my fellow service members. Then i would have to live with that for the rest of my life. If the company had done one hundred percent accountability the repercussion of my actions could have fallen back on my platoon Sgt. nd my squad leader and cause embarrassment for the entire platoon and company. That is not something i would want to have happen as a result of me being complacent. And although it may have been a simple oversight, this simple oversight could have compounded into a massive issue. The army gives us the M9 to defend ourselves if the situation arises and I would not of been able to do that so instead of helping the situation I would have been hurting it. I would never intentionally hurt or set up my battle buddies for failure. Keeping your rifle on you is just as important as keeping it clean or count of the ammo that goes with it. This equipment is critical to our war fighting capability and highly desired by criminal and terrorist elements. It is imperative that commanders and leaders at all levels of command manage the control of sensitive items. While on base, weapons and sensitive items will be centrally controlled by a designated individual. Hand receipts will be utilized during training events where weapons or sensitive items are needed and will be signed out to the individual soldier. Weapons and sensitive item not being accountable, is a very big mistake on who is supposed to keep track of these items. Equipment accountability is crucial to completing any and every mission placed before a soldier, a squad, a company, platoon, team, etc. If the necessary obligation of accountability is ignored, a duty, a mission, or aborted due to the lack of cooperation and respect to the rule of equipment accountability. The soldiers creed states the following â€Å"I am physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in my warrior tasks and drills, I always maintain my arms, my equipment and myself† This can not be done without the proper equipment. The only way to keep track of the right equipment is to write information down, remember the location of the written note or remember which person has the proper information for which duty, drill, or any other assignment. Like weapons, vehicles and round counts, a soldiers ID card is one of the most important elements and pieces a soldier should and must ave on his person at all times, day and night, rain or shine. Without an ID card, military personal may be subject to not only failing to report to work on time, or be unable to buy groceries on base but, also more importantly failing to comply with the soldiers creed. It is an official document used by the military: a way of life to ones life and obligation to our government and the nations families. The ID and the weapon are extremely vital and sensitive article for a soldier. A soldiers ID is not only a picture, it carries personal information from the color of your eyes to ones social security number. It Is kind of like a secret folder that holds all the key information needed by another person to steal ones identity and gain access to personal information for multiple uses. It is expected of the soldier whos picture and social is on the card to care for this item, and to hold it in utmost security. A soldier is one individual. A soldier is one person of one group, in a group to create our army. The army must act as one unit, cooperate with one another, communicate amongst each other, put faith in one another – in all, put one soldiers life in the hands of the army. This is for the protection of our nations people. Therefore, equipment accountability for even one warrior must be held as if he was the highest chain of command. It is so simple: each soldier is one piece to the whole; if one is astray for the pack, then where is the unit? The group? The leadership? None are in existance because of one unaccounted-for-piece of information. This is because there is a hole in the system: a lack that must be repaired immediately to ensure the safety and smooth duties, missions, and every other obligation out military is called upon for. It is very important at all times for a soldier to know where their weapon ,headset or any equipment are. Especially when at war. A soldier without his/her equipment is handicapped, he she can not defend him or herself from enemy fire without having their weapon ready ,nor communicate with people in their convoy without their headset. Having your weapon and headset secure is also a matter of safety. Going out on any mission in the military without necessary equipment is dangerous. A soldier can not be ready to engage the enemy without his/her necessary equipment near and ready. Also when you know where your weapons, headsets, and other equipment are you are providing a good xample to other soldiers on how to always keep track of important items. Keeping track of important items is part of a soldier’s many duties. Accountability in the Army is very important. Whether it be with people or with items and weapons. In the United States Military, losing a weapon is unacceptable. I could write this five thousand word essay and fill it with excuses as to why I forgot my weapon, but the fact of the matter is that there is no excuse. Being accountable is very important. The U. S. Army values Soldiers that are accountable for their actions. Not only does the U. S. Army value Soldiers who are accountable for themselves, they value dependable Soldiers. To be a dependable Soldier you must show your NCO’s that you can arriving to work and appointments on time, meet deadlines, be in the right place at the right time, and doing the right thing at the right time. Morning formation is the most important formation of the day. It is made to get accountability of everyone and put out any information that there needs to be dealt with. Without having accountability there is no knowing of where everybody is or whats going on. Now knowing the severity of my actions, I have realized that is an important asset to always be accountable for my weapons. Not only does accountability matter in formation it is also imperative to have accountability of work and appointments. In case of emergency and something were to happen to myself no one would have any knowing if I was hurt or involved, therefore causing a lot of confusion and drama within my Change of Command. Without accountability the U. S. Army would be unorganized and chaos. Accountability is concerned primarily with records, while responsibility is concerned primarily with custody, care, and safekeeping. A leader takes charge and takes accountability for all those who fall under his or her leadership. Personnel accountability is critical in the event of a disaster or national emergency. Ensuring strict accountability for our military members is relatively easy because they are required to provide supervisors with contact information when they depart on leave even on there off time they are required to be accounted for. One who takes responsibility for those who works under his or her authority needs to have accountability at all times. Being accountable is what the military is all about. Being accountable means being dependable, arriving to work, and appointments on time, meeting deadlines, being in the right place at the right time, and doing the right things at all times even when no one is looking. Being accountable also includes being in the right uniform, and having all necessary equipment, gear, and documents that you might need for that day in order to accomplish that days mission. Accountability is a vital part of all military operations. If one person is late, missing, or doesn’t have the required military equipment or documents then the entire mission is compromised and has the risk of failing.

Who Will Write My Paper Overnight

Who Will Write My Paper Overnight Who Will Write My Paper Overnight? Gone are the times when teachers used to assign their students brief assignments and a lot of time to complete the short assignments. In the present day, students are given several lengthy assignments and are expected to write those assignments within very few hours. As a result of the pressure to complete orders fast many students find themselves online searching for reliable services that have the skilled writers and can help them write several papers overnight and write the papers very well. Our writing service is definitely one that you should contact when urgent papers are what you need. Our writers have a lot of knowledge in different fields and use their extensive writing skills for all sorts of paper in relatively short periods of time. Even if the paper that you need is very urgent and you need it written for you by morning, we will ensure that your order is carried out properly and according to your instructions. The whole process of writing the papers you require is always done by our team, supporters and writers, to present you with well written content that will plagiarism free and original, and delivered to you on time. A lot of the students that have requested for help with their papers, which they thought were very difficult, ended up with fast, high quality assistance, that was very beneficial to their studies. Moreover, many of our customers return to us with more requests. Impressing the customers is one of our goal, along with high quality, affordable papers of different kind. If the paper you need is very urgent and important, dont hesitate to contact us any time of the day and order a paper you need help with. Dont forget that the process of buying a paper is very simple, you only need to fill out the details of the paper you want to order and pay for it. But remember, the more details you give, the easier it would be for the writer to fulfill your wishes. We employ only the writers, who have successfully passed the application test and have graduated from a college or university. So, whenever you feel the need in academic assistance, order from our service and get high quality affordable papers. In addition to this, you will get some free features, such as the title page and bibliography. You should not feel ashamed of asking for help with any of your writing assignments. Remember that asking questions is part of the learning process. And we are always ready to assist you in this learning process. You still wonder Who can write my paper for me overnight? feel free to contact professional custom writing company. We provide high-quality essays, research papers and even dissertations.

Afghanistan in the Cold War Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Afghanistan in the Cold War - Research Paper Example After the withdrawal of the soviet in the year 1989, a fierce civil war broke out among the local rival factions which ultimately lead to the emergence of the Taliban who seemingly ruled until the year2001 only to be stopped by the United States led invasion of Afghanistan. The Afghanistan war veterans have been reported to have played a big role in restructuring the soviet society. This they did through political activism though not directly related to party politics. However, it should be noted that not all Afghans contributed to this occurrence. However it was the potency of the actions of those who participated that registered their contribution. In the veterans mindset there was a great short of ideas on exactly what political and societal transformations needed to be implemented. This in return led to a wide spread societal activism that is said the Afghans contributed to. The Soviet Union began getting involved in Afghanistan in the month of December in ninenetten seventy nine . They regarded it a small scale invasion that would take only a couple of months to be accomplish. Contrary to this, the war lasted for quite a long span that saw the killing of several thousands and wounding of the soviet soldiers. As the year 1980 began, the government media of the Soviet Union issued a statement that that it was the Afghanistan government who had requested the soviet army to assist them in combat unrelated activities and humanitarian aid. Soon to follow the press statement were more soviet soldiers that were maimed as war casualties. Most theorists front the idea the main cause of cold war in the Afghanistan was as a result of ideological differences between factions. Both the United States and the Soviet Union have been said to have actively participated in this war in order to advance their supremacy and influence. The soviet having realized that they were no longer able to control the entire of Europe embarked on exerting its influence on other regions. How t he United States got into the war was rather complex after being a neutral state in world affairs for so many years. The Soviet Union on the other hand was exploiting the decolonization process to its advantage aiming to exert more influence to the newly liberated countries. The United States had as soft spot for the developing countries that were just struggling to attain self rule from colonialists. Some scholars suggest that Afghans were rebellious to the United States for what they say was their increasingly dominate nature which made every state uncomfortable. In addition, leaders of several revolutions that had been weary of oppressive nature of capitalist during colonization found themselves naturally aligned to the communist ideas. This to a great deal have put the United States in a compromising situation since it was regarded with a lot of suspicion among several states. However, self interest’s theorists have countered this assertion. They have argued that the Unit ed States was not driven by any ideology and that is why they did not support any revolution that took place earlier in Afghanistan. That if the United States was genuine enough as it claims in its role in Afghanistan, it would have supported earlier forms of revolutions and not only in later years to counter the Soviet Union. They assert that the United States failure to support these revolutions and take a back bench when they were needed most drives home the fact that they wanted to either maintain or gain economic and political allies. This school of thought has also questioned some of the strategies used by the United States

Twe assingments each one is one page Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Twe assingments each one is one page - Essay Example However, the war has already crossed the 60 days limit and the Congress still remains silent. The March 21 notification of Obama was that U.S would engage in a ‘limited and well-defined mission’ in Libya. However, by May 20, as Huffpost Politics reports, Obama wrote to the Congress that U.S is ‘no longer in lead’ but the participation involves non-kinetic support like intelligence and refueling, and kinetic attacks on Libyan air defenses and NATO-led forces. Obama violated the law by not seeking the formal approval of the Congress for military operations in Libya. Secondly, he violated the law by not certifying in writing that there is ‘unavoidable military necessity’ in Libya so that the military operation continues after 60 days. Now, what Obama has to do is to seek and receive the permission from Congress before the completion of 90 days. In addition, he will have to withdraw all the forces and resources from Libya in 90 days. II Article II, Section I of the American Constitution states that Congress would decide the date of appointment of electors. So, in 1845, Congress enacted a law providing that Tuesday after the first Monday of November of the year in which the electors are to be appointed is the Election Day. There are many reasons behind the selection of Tuesday as the Election Day.

Ethics and Professional Code of Conduct Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ethics and Professional Code of Conduct - Essay Example Integrity ensures that such persons respect the citizens’ constitutional rights, liberty and adhere to the values of justice and fairness in their duties to the citizens (Gaines & Kappeler, 2011, p 345). In this case, the professional is capable of ensuring fairness in his or her duties and refraining from unjust use of authority. Secondly, ethics and integrity ensures that police chief exercises reasonable courtesy while interacting with the public. In this case, the police chief or county sheriff is able to refrain from mocking, embarrassing, ridiculing or humiliating subordinates or fellow officers in order to incite them to violence. Thirdly, ethics and integrity will enable such professionals to observe confidentiality of information that is available to them in their capacity as senior law enforcement officers (Gaines & Kappeler , p 343). The officers should not willfully violate any legal restrictions that restrict the dissemination of the private information and should not disclose information that may endanger the life of a complaint or victim to a crime. There is a clear difference between ethics, morality and law as pertains to the duties of law enforcement officers. Ethics are external standards that are set by the law enforcement profession and are regarded as the social system or framework that should offer the acceptable behavior in the execution of duties of the law enforcement officer (Hess & Orthmann, 2011, p189). Morality refers to the law enforcement officer’s own principles regarding what is right or wrong. Morality is internal as it reflects the habits, beliefs, culture, and religion of an individual while ethics are external since they are set by the profession. Morality is guided by the existing cultural norms while the ethics are guided by the legal and professional guidelines. Dutelle (2011) asserts that the morals are

Organisational behaviour individual case study assignment

Organisational behaviour individual case study - Assignment Example The purchase of Costwise by Orton therefore presents possibilities for synergy in that Costwise stores presently existing, and the strong turnover figures it has been registering, would provide an added capacity for Orton and shall extend its reach to markets it does not currently serve. While the two companies cater to the retail merchandising industry, they have markedly different strategic thrusts. Orton caters to a homogeneous market, Costwise caters to varied markets in different locations. The management styles were also different, a matter which is to be expected because of the different markets they cater to. Orton’s management style is centralized and more-or-less autocratic, because all decisions and plans emanate from the center, including matters involving pricing, product offerings, salaries, new hires, promotions, and so forth. On the other hand, Costwise, when it was operating as an independent concern, devolved many managerial decision-making functions to the s tores. The stores were therefore able to establish store practices and devise market strategies that were particularly effective in the localities they operated in. This accounted for the loyal patronage and strong turnovers generated by this store from the local communities the individual stores operated in. While Costwise employees had a running quarrel with management about the When the acquisition pulled through, Orton, as the dominant entity, imposed its own methods, processes and policies on Costwise. Aside from the organizational structure and culture, management style, and market strategy, the employees were aware of a general sense of being ignored and disregarded by management, and therefore no longer performed at the same level they used to, which was reflected in the noticeable drop in revenues. This, coupled with higher costs related to the merger activities and the change in image of the emergent firm, has resulted in a drop in profit or even potential losses if the tr end continues. II. The likely motivational state of Costwise employees When speaking of motivation, it is best to view the Orton case through the framework of Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory. According to this theory, there are two factors that influence the attitude and behaviour of individuals towards their work – the hygiene or maintenance factors, and the motivators (Mukherjee, 2009, p. 152). The two types of factors both work to influence the behaviour and attitudes of workers, but in different ways. 1. The hygiene factors The maintenance or hygiene factors are those factors which, if absent, cause dissatisfaction, but even if present, do not necessarily create a positive attitude towards work. Thus, hygiene factors must be present to prevent dissatisfaction. They are mostly related to the environmental or extrinsic factors, rather than the context of the job (Davies & Hertig, 2007, p. 81). In the David Orton case, one might say that the hygiene factors that were determinative of the attitudes of the Costwise employees are their pay, the need to be informed about matters that bear upon their working conditions, and security at their jobs. In this case, the employees had been expecting a ‘levelling up’ of their salaries, a natural expectation in light of the higher salaries enjoyed by their counterparts

Consumer behavior analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Consumer behavior analysis - Essay Example A company can come up with a reward system. The reward system will reward customers who make consistent purchases and customers who will make referrals to their friends. A company can come up with smart cards, which the customers should use when making their routine purchases. In such a situation, the company will determine the customers who always purchase their brand. The customers can be awarded rewarded with reward points, which they can redeem in the future. A company can also use the reward system to award the loyal customers with gifts on special occasions such as public holidays. The gifts can act as a token of appreciation and they can be used to encourage the customers to continue purchasing the company’s products. The other way in which the reward system can work can work is by the company coming up with a feedback system. The feedback system will ask the new customers where they got information about the company. If the information came as a referral, the new customer and the customer who made the referral are rewarded by the company. The system will encourage the customers to talk more about the products of the company. The system will be beneficial to both the customer and the company. The company will benefit from the increased sales while the customer benefits from the reward points that should be redeemable. The other problem that companies are facing is changing the detractors to passives and passive to promoters. That is the hardest task because the perception of a customer is based on his or her mindset. The company can run training programs that should be aimed at informing customers on the advantages of using the company programs. That may include the use of the company products and the reason as to why the company products are better as compared to the competitor’s products. The training program can be done in the form of adverts. The adverts can be used to illustrate the usage of the company.

Marketing Principles Adopted by 1st Division Football Clubs Dissertation

Marketing Principles Adopted by 1st Division Football Clubs - Dissertation Example Over past few years, sports marketing have drawn the interest of a number of researchers. Though this topic has been widely explored in the last three decades, yet the most surprising part remains that sports marketing does not have a clear definition. The term, sports marketing, was coined in Advertising Age of 1979 (Mullin, Hardy and Sutton 11). In the initial times, it had been used to define activities of consumers, industrial products and service marketers who had emphasized on using sports as promotional vehicle. Various researchers and authors have different views regarding the notion of sports marketing. According to the view of Kaser and Oelkers, sports marketing use sports as a vehicle to market products. This implies that popularity of sport is utilized in order to market or promote products (Kaser and Oelkers 12). Then again, according to the views of Shilbury, Quick and Westerbeek, sports marketing are defined as a social and a managerial process that is used by sports m anagers to realize goals of the sports organization. In order to achieve this, they create and exchange products and value with others (Shilbury, Quick and Westerbeek 17). The unique features of sports marketing had been observed by researchers and they had realized that because of these peculiarities, sports marketing deserved additional attention from conventional marketing (Walters and Chadwick 52). The peculiarity of sports marketing lies in unique nature of the sports industry, sports products and consumers.

Consumer behavior analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Consumer behavior analysis - Essay Example A company can come up with a reward system. The reward system will reward customers who make consistent purchases and customers who will make referrals to their friends. A company can come up with smart cards, which the customers should use when making their routine purchases. In such a situation, the company will determine the customers who always purchase their brand. The customers can be awarded rewarded with reward points, which they can redeem in the future. A company can also use the reward system to award the loyal customers with gifts on special occasions such as public holidays. The gifts can act as a token of appreciation and they can be used to encourage the customers to continue purchasing the company’s products. The other way in which the reward system can work can work is by the company coming up with a feedback system. The feedback system will ask the new customers where they got information about the company. If the information came as a referral, the new customer and the customer who made the referral are rewarded by the company. The system will encourage the customers to talk more about the products of the company. The system will be beneficial to both the customer and the company. The company will benefit from the increased sales while the customer benefits from the reward points that should be redeemable. The other problem that companies are facing is changing the detractors to passives and passive to promoters. That is the hardest task because the perception of a customer is based on his or her mindset. The company can run training programs that should be aimed at informing customers on the advantages of using the company programs. That may include the use of the company products and the reason as to why the company products are better as compared to the competitor’s products. The training program can be done in the form of adverts. The adverts can be used to illustrate the usage of the company.

Ayatollah Khomeini and Gamal Abdul-Nasser Essay

Ayatollah Khomeini and Gamal Abdul-Nasser - Essay Example However, this assertion is contested. This is because at the time of the revolution, Iran was experiencing un-employment rate of approximately 30%1. Unemployment is one of the indicators of poor development and economic growth. Based on this fact, the assertion that Iran was politically and economically stable is false, and does not hold any ground. On the other hand, the revolution in Egypt occurred when the country was experiencing a series of poor political and economic governance. Despite the differences in these revolutions, and the two leaders, Gamal Abdul Nasser and Ayatollah Khomeini shared a lot of similarities as well as differences in their leadership structure and system2. One major similarity is that the two leaders were charismatic, and they sought to eliminate any form of opposition to their leadership. For instance, Nasser ordered a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, a group that was opposing his leadership, while Ayatollah Khomeini sought to kill any political supporters of the Shah. This paper takes a stand that both Ayatollah Khomeini and Gamal Abdul-Nasser were charismatic leaders, who influenced their societies and people, despite their undemocratic systems of governance. Gamal Abdul Nasser was the second Egyptian president, and he began his presidency in the year 1956, to the time he died, which was in 1970. He played an instrumental role in the overthrow of the Egyptian monarch in the year 1952, and as a result, he was rewarded with a post, as a deputy prime minister3. This is an indication that Gamal Abdul Nasser was an important leader to the revolutionaries, and he was held in high esteem. Furthermore, the power and authority that Gamal Abdul Nasser had is depicted when he managed to arrest President Muhammad Naguib, and place him under house arrest.