Platoon Sergeant

The Other Wes Moore, written by Wes Moore, is a chilling and often intense novel about two very similar men who share the same name, but somewhere along their journey in life became two very different people. The novel is organized chronologically from their childhoods to adolescents. Each chapter in the novel indicates a specific time in each of their lives and includes both of their stories. The first chapter, “Is Daddy Coming with us?” is the story of their childhoods, and is where the…

War is not what is advertised, portrayed in Hollywood, or in games like Call of Duty. The experiences of war like atrocities and misfortunes lead to drastic changes in the morals of soldiers. The alteration of morals leaves many soldiers prone to commit unscrupulous actions as they disregard morals by focusing on of surviving in war’s hostile environment. Additionally, many soldiers form part of the war culture found around the world as they envision violence as a viable problem solver. Kate…

As Stojkovic and his colleagues point out, “leadership is a process that effectively accomplishes organizational goals.” As clearly and eloquently stated, leadership is not something that can be accomplished in a day or two. Instead, it is process that takes time and demands patience, think of it like a married couple who are through a rough patch in their marriage and they decided to see a marriage counselor to help them improve. The marriage counselor will see their problems and give them some…

The Critical Analysis of Tim O’Brien War never changes, but war changes people. The soldier pays the ultimate price for freedom and peace. The war always stays with the soldier even long after the battles are over. Tim O’Brien is one of those soldiers who payed the price and survived the war, but internally never leaving the Vietnam War. In The Things They Carried, O’Brien uses his life experiences from the Vietnam War and his childhood, the protest during the war, and his ideologies from the…

Anthony Swofford’s Winter Soldier Iraq and Afghanistan: Eyewitness Accounts of the Occupations, was published in 2008. This book talks upon the occuring war in Iraq and Afghanistan. This book thoroughly demonstrates and speaks upon the hardships shared by fellow war veterans to show a clear representation of what occurs during wars. These war veterans speaks upon the horrors that may seem to be ignored by the common folk. Reviving the purpose and willpower of these fellow soldiers that had to…

Careful analysis of Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” and Harold Moore’s and Joseph Galloway’s “We Were Soldiers Once… And Young” reveals two markedly different portrayals of the United States’ army during the Vietnam War. This change mirrors the dwindling optimism of the American people from Moore and Galloway’s account of the 1965 Battle of la Drang and O’Brien’s more comprehensive account of the later stages of the war and post-war period. While O’Brien, Moore, and Galloway all served…

From the Americans in the My Lai massacre to the Nazis in the Holocaust, soldiers have followed orders no matter how immoral. Obedience to authority is necessary for the stability and protection of people. While obedience is necessary in society, it is absolutely essential in the military. The United States military is based on the principle that lives will be lost if soldiers choose which orders to obey or which to ignore. Although obedience is required, it comes with great responsibility for…

Vietnam, this was some of the soldiers greatest fears. During the trip, the platoon usually stopped at a couple different locations to refuel and get off the boat, for Boquist they stopped at Panama before making the complete journey across the ocean. This was a pretty common spot for the boats to stop. During this time there was no leave for the soldiers unless they had family there and they could prove it, the sergeants did not want to take the risk of anyone running away. After the 2 week…

forgiveness. Ray Aleman has been the best friend a guy could ask for. We had many great times playing sports together and I hope we will get together and relive some of them in the near future. Jack Massucci is another lifelong pal and confidant who was part of our community band of brothers. As youngsters, he and I were inseparable and I am blessed to still count him among my good friends. Nonetheless, I am deeply saddened by the loss of my dear friend, Ron Moreland. Ron, who was one of…

The United States of America has been at war since 2001. The two campaigns are known as Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraq Freedom. Since the beginning, there has been over 1.5 million troops deployed to the region (Savitsky, Illingsworth, & Dulaney, 2009). It does not matter what the job is, the chances that a soldier will experience a form of trauma is almost guaranteed. It was no different for Lieutenant Commander Heidi Kraft. In her book, Rule Number Two: Lessons I Learned in…