The soldiers war skills
Clayton Harrison
The army teaches you to fight for your life like a lion fights for it's food. You are taught how to get skills like this one. Another thing is that we think we can adjust to our surroundings because it's a common sense. Your obviously going to be seen standing up versus laying down in a bush. This is one thing that snipers in the military use, they use the earth to help them blend using anything for cover. Especially the army vets because they come into the army without much of a skill to adapt like snipers, but when they finish their time with the army, they have all these adapting skills and their able to blend in a lot better now that their trained. Overall, the army teaches you how to adapt to your surroundings so that your more difficult to see front a stand point view.
One thing that the army teaches you is to not think about your decisions. As it says in the book “All Quiet on the Western Front,” in chapter 4, page 67 it says “ A hole is torn up in front of me. Shells hardly ever land in the same hole twice, I'll get into.” You can obviously tell that the main character, Paul, is making quick decisions and not necessarelly thinking about his actions, he's just doing it. Which in the army is a great skill to have because you don't have to think about your decisions. You see someone and you point your gun and shoot. You don't think about it. So finally, I can say that this relates to the soldiers training because in order to pass through to the army, you must know how to react without thinking and be able to hit the target they give you before time is over. This is a great thing to have because it also enhances your instinct.
Once soldiers have stopped thinking, they start relying on their instincts. This is a really good skill to have in the army, for instance, in the book “All Quiet on the Western Front,” in the 7th chapter on page 216 it says “I do not think at all, I make no decision—I strike madly at home, and feel only how the body suddenly convulses.” As you can tell, Paul didn't make any hesitations, he felt the body and stabbed like none before. This is a great tactic for soldiers to have because it gives them the ability to react without thinking which helps defend themselves during war. Another great thing about having the ability to rely on your instincts is that your first instincts usually always come to you rite as something is happening. It gives you the time to do it rite away instead of giving you that feeling that if you should do it or not and by the time you decide, it's too late and you missed your chance. Overall, using your first instinct helps you survive with quick movement and quick decisions.
Once you have both these techniques down, your most likely going to end up surviving and keeping your life. But if you have trouble doing either of those things you can be set up for a negative consequence. As “All Quiet on the Western Front” says on page 217, “The machine-gunfire so sweeps the ground that I should be shot through and through before I could make one jump.” This represents a negative consequence because the main character Paul is in trouble of getting shot by a machine gun while needing to jump toward his target to stab him. On the other side. You also come out with Positive skills “All Quiet on the Western Front” says on page 215, “He will be just as frightened as I am; when in terror we fall upon another, then I must be first.” This gets you to realize that you can overcome your fears by facing them and getting over them.
Veteran's History Project
In this project we had been given a veteran from the Vietnam war, but in our case we had gotten a veteran from Afghanistan. We were given a list of tasks we had to complete that had led up to our interview with our veteran. we had to sign up with the Veterans History Project and have our veteran fill out paper work which we needed in order to register with the VHP (Veterans History Project). We then made interview questions leading to were he served, what he did, and what he did after he was released.
Project Reflection
CJ Harrison
This interview had definitely hanged how I saw war. I had imagined war to be a lot more like it is in the video games where they have you die in 3or 4 shots but in the real world it really is about one shot to the body to wither die or get intensely injured depending where you get shot. So hearing about how you get used to the bullets whizzing over your head and people shooting at you was really interesting because you go into it with you get used to it right away because you’re not actually getting shot in real life. When you are in war it is fact that you don’t get another chance, unless you get hit in the leg and left there but your life is on the line while you’re in war. Every second counts
The one thing that I really enjoyed learning from the interview is definitely being able to hear what exactly goes on when you’re in another country fighting against them. He was saying he was there to rebuild schools and buildings but they were also cautious because of the Taliban and the target groups there. Overall, everything he said hit my mind getting me to realize what happens and how deadly it actually is.
As a historian I could use this interview to help change the view of why the US is in Afghanistan and what they are doing there. I would also help push the belief of what war really is and how it affects people both physically and emotionally. I really think as a historian it would be my job to share the information from my interview and give it to the state or push it through the military and get people to change how the media perceives war.
I think the most valuable part of this project was preparing for it. Getting the interview questions done and all the paper work done and just being able to be there at the interview and getting all the work done that led up to it. Even after the interview, getting the thank you letters written and the papers sent into the Library of Congress along with the stuff we sent to our veteran.
CJ Harrison
Tonkin Writing
Thesis:
Although there have been many different beliefs of who started the Gulf of Tonkin War, there has been a question of if there is such a place as the Gulf of Tonkin which the enemy has been keeping under control for years.
It was believed that the Gulf of Tonkin had struck a US naval ship called the “Maddox.” We don’t actually know if it was attacked, but the ship had reported accounts of an attack. “Review of action makes many reported contacts and torpedoes fired appear doubtful.” (doc. 7) This suggests that Maddox may have been attacked but they said it was doubtful for they said further, “Freak weather effects on radar and overeager sonarmen may have accounted for many reports.” (doc. 7) As you can tell, it was not official that the ship was attacked but it was possible. I really thought this document really uses contextualizing because of the perspective of the author is really trying to focus on what actually happened before the war broke out and trying to find good evidence of who was attacking and who was getting attacked. It also uses close reading because it says, “Details of action present a confusing picture although certain that the original ambush was bona fide!” (doc. 7) with this you can tell that even in a possible ambush, it is even hard to tell whether someone is attacking you or not because you don’t have exact facts of where it came from or who is shooting the torpedo.
Other than the military, no one in the US had even heard about the Gulf of Tonkin. The people were living normal lives unaware of what their own government was doing with their country. “Why must young Americans, born into a land exultant with hope and with golden promise, toil and suffer and sometimes die in such a remote distant place.” (doc. 5) you can use contextualization to tell that this phrase tells you that the date this was made was after the war had started. Which gives you the ability to even wonder why the President had sent this letter out, after the war started, you start to think about why he didn’t send this out earlier. You also can use close reading when he says, “We did not choose to be guardians at the gate.” (doc. 5) You think about this and some may think that it would be fine because you went to go help your allies. But the thing I think about is that you do have a choice because it’s your country and you can decide but you went because you wanted to gain power so that other countries didn’t think that you didn’t go because you were afraid you would have lost. Overall, the President had lied to your country to keep the secret of him wanting to get more power to be able to protect his own country.
Although the Gulf of Tonkin was hardly know by many people, it was considered our enemy because of its political views. “The Enemy: Is communist North Vietnam and its southern arm.” (doc. 6) this tells you that the US was not pleased with this fact and because of this they were a threat because they had terrorists that could be planning to attack the US’s allies. We can use close reading to read that they said, “Still failing to win.” (doc. 6) if you couldn’t tell, this is what the US had said about the enemy. You can obviously tell that the US was not afraid of them because they were an easy target and didn’t take up much of a challenge. Finally, you can use contextualization to tell that the date this was posted, it was when the US had around 385,000 men in Vietnam and they had a good understanding of what they were all about. Overall, the US was not afraid of Vietnam because they didn’t pose much of a threat over them.
Poetry Project:
So What Can We Say
CJ Harrison
We are the epitome of life as we know it
Though we can tell you about war
And what it’s really about,
We’re just a piece of history
But also a piece of the future
Given the name of propaganda.
What can we say?
We give you words of encouragement
Like Uncle Sam, pointing at you
Telling you to join our army,
Or a soldier standing in a war zone
Telling you this is our life
Who are we?
We are those who persuade you into believing
That you make the difference
In the world around you
Or that the world around you
Is actually starting to fall apart.
What can we say?
We do say you are the one
That the army needs you
Not only because you’re the one for the job,
But that you are the one
That replaces that empty soul.
Who are we?
To tell you all these things
When were just hanging up on walls
And videos placed in TV adds
Well, you may not have noticed
But we also take on a different form
But keep with the name of propaganda.
What can we say?
We yell at you
Telling you to go faster
Though we only allow you to go so fast
When you’re jamming your finger
Up on the thumb stick.
Who are we?
Well, we are the chief or commander
In that game you love so much,
Made to look human
And made to train you
To kill like a soldier.
What can we say?
Well, we can say many things
Recorded by a voice
And put into a sound track
As we direct you
Through a world of violence and killing
Who are we?
We are those games that have been labeled
Modern Warfare and Halo
And send you out in battlefields
Commanding you to shoot down people
And pick up new guns to your advantage.
What can we say?
We do come in different forms
And do a great job from hiding our identity
To your minds attention
To you we’re only another fun game.
But in reality we are much more than that,
We are the epitome of life as we know it
Though we can tell you about war
And what it’s really about,
We’re just a piece of history
But also a piece of the future
Given the name of propaganda.
CJ Harrison
For my poem I decided to take on two different ways I could view propaganda. I started to create this idea of what propaganda sais to us or what it does to persuade us into doing this or that, especially for joining the army. I had this really cool idea to kind of wrap it into how video games like Call of Duty and Halo are posed as pieces of propaganda except in video form where you control the soldier. I know for me that hearing stories from former soldiers that this poem really inspired me to kind of tell what propaganda is all about and how it affects our knowledge of things in the military and other things like our knowledge about war and what really happens. In my poem, I tried to convey games as poetry as best as I could for example I said:
“We are those games that have been labeled
Modern Warfare and Halo,
That send you out in battlefields”
Which kind of tells you about what video games are about in my opinion, especially the more aggressive games like Modern Warfare and Halo? So overall, my poem is about propaganda and how everyone sees or uses it once every day.
My poem was inspired by the poem “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas. He gave me the idea of repetition. I used 2 questions throughout my poem to kind of lead me into what I was going to say and to give me something to answer with. Another form I used was simile because I really wanted to get a visual into the audiences mind and relate war to what we do in our daily lives. These two devices I feel really bring out the little points in my poem because the audience doesn’t want to read something that they can’t see in their mind. In particular the repetition really grabs the audience’s attention by these repeating lines and how I’m going to answer that question. Then there are the similes that really reach out to the reader by taking one example from war or propaganda and relating it to what they have done or seen at least once in their life time. It really gives them something to relate to and they will be able to remember it better when they have something in common with that one thing.
I feel that creating a video on people speaking my poem will really enhance my poem when it’s presented/ I say this because I have always had a hard time understanding something when it’s not a visual so I thought about how I can take that and incorporate it into my poem. The result I came up with was a video and how the video will affect the audience by drawing their attention to a video and really listening to what the person is saying and what is happening around them to relate to it. I really hope to emphasize the repetition of the questions by having the reader really say the sentence in a totally different tone than they do with the response to the question. This I hope will grab the audience’s attention and draw them closer to the poem.
