Literature Analysis #2

My book No Easy Day by Mark Owen is about a U.S. Navy SEAL and his entire 10 year career of service to our nation. The book centers around the authors time in SEAL Team Six and his his participation in the raid on Osama Bin Ladens compound in Pakistan. But most of the book is about his career prior to the raid. The author had nearly a dozen deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan before the raid, and his career ended when he left the Navy soon after the raid.

The author chose to write about his Navy career and the Bin Laden Raid because their was a lot of misinformation about the mission afterward coming from people that didn't know anything about it. The author wrote the book to set the record straight about the Bin Laden raid and SEAL Team Six.

The reason I chose to read this book was because I'm joining the military and I hope to one day join a special ops unit and I thought the book was really interesting because it was written  by a SEAL Team Six member.

I found the book to be pretty realistic even though some of the stuff the men in the book went through were pretty incredible. I wasn't able to make many connections between my life and theirs because theirs are so different than mine. The things they go through on a daily basis are way different than what I go through.

A few characters from the book that the author talks a lot about is Phil and Steve those aren't their real names he had to change them because their lives could be at risk if their names are released. They all went through their training together prior to joining SEAL Team Six, so they were really close by the time they joined the team. He doesn't really go into detail about their lives other than physical aspects. He says their both very tall large framed guys they both have thick beards to like a lot of special ops guys do.

The author used a journalistic style he just talked about the places he had been to and the things he did. The author is a round character. I feel like I knew the character pretty well after reading his book.

I will never forget what I read in No Easy Day. The kinds of things that the author and his fellow SEALs did for this country is incedible and I will never forget their stories and sacrifices.

To act or not to act

I must have read hamlets soliloquy 10 times and I still didn't understand anything  the only thing I know is that it has something to do with his uncle and how he is going to kill him.

Dear Steve

I never new that that Steve Jobs was a college drop out and I think that's pretty incredible that he was the CEO of Apple and he never graduated from college. Also the way he feels about surprised me, how he says it was one of the best things that ever happened to him. I like how all these bad things happened to him like how his parents couldn't afford to put him through college so he dropped out and he got fired from his own company he started but they still ended up being good things for him in the end.

Vocabulary Fall # 6

 amicable: having a spirit of friendliness
 averse: having a strong dislike of or opposition to something.
 belligerent: hostile and aggressive.
 benevolent: well meaning and kindly.
 cursory: hasty and therefore not thorough or detailed.
 duplicity: deceitfulness.
 extol: praise enthusiastically.
 feasible: possible to do easily or conveniently.
 grimace: an ugly, twisted expression on a person's face.
 holocaust: an ugly, twisted expression on a person's face.
 impervious: not allowing fluid to pass through.
 impetus: the force or energy with which a body moves.
 jeopardy: danger of loss, harm, or failure.
 meticulous: showing great attention to detail
 nostalgia:  sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past.
 quintessence: the most perfect or typical example of a quality or class.
 retrogress: go back to an earlier state, typically a worse one.
 scrutinize: examine or inspect closely and thoroughly.
 tepid: only slightly warm.
 accede: assent or agree to a demand.
 brandish: wave or flourish.
 comprise: consist of; be made up of.
 deft: neatly skillful and quick in one's movements.
 destitute: lacking basic necessities of life.
 explicit: stated clearly and in detail.
 extirpate: oot out and destroy completely.
 inopportune: occurring at an inconvenient or inappropriate time.
 ironic: using or characterized by irony.
 musty: having a stale, moldy, or damp smell.
 officious: assertive of authority in an annoyingly domineering way.
 ominous: giving the impression that something bad or unpleasant is going to happen.
 pinnacle: a high, pointed piece of rock.
 premeditated: think out or plan beforehand.
 rampant: flourishing or spreading unchecked.
 solace: comfort or consolation in a time of distress or sadness.
 stately: having a dignified, unhurried, and grand manner.
 supple: bending and moving easily and gracefully.
 suppress: forcibly put an end to.
 venal: showing or motivated by susceptibility to bribery.

Freedom of Choice

Being responsible for your own decision making does present pros and cons. Obviously having freedom of choice is a good thing and most people would prefer that to being told what to do. But if you make all of your own decisions and you make a bad one you have to suffer the consequences. But if you don't have freedom of choice then you have to listen to someone tell you what to do everyday.

vocabulary fall #5

adroit: clever or skillful in using the hands or mind.
amicable: having a spirit of friendliness.
averse: having a strong dislike of or opposition to something.
belligerent: hostile and aggressive.
benevolent: well meaning and kindly.
cursory: hasty and therefore not thorough or detailed.
duplicity: deceitfulness.
extol: praise enthusiastically.
feasible: possible to do easily.
grimace: an ugly, twisted expression on a person's face.
holocaust: destruction or slaughter on a mass scale.
impervious: not allowing fluid to pass through.
impetus: the force or energy with which a body moves.
jeopardy: danger of loss.
meticulous: showing great attention to detail.
nostalgia: a sentimental longing or wistful affection.
quintessence: the most perfect or typical example of a quality or class.
retrogress: go back to an earlier state.
scrutinize: examine or inspect closely.
tepid: only slightly warm.

No Child Left Untableted

I don't think having tablets in classrooms is a bad idea, but at the same time I think the schools with their budget crises should focus on other things besides $30 Million on tablets for middle schoolers. As far as learning I think having a tablet could be more affective than having 6 textbooks to read every night. But your also gonna find good information in textbooks so I think they should save their money for something else.

Non Fiction Analysis

I'm reading "Lone Survivor" by Marcus Luttrell. It's about the authors experiences as a Navy SEAL. Most of the book is about his deployment Afghanistan where his entire platoon of Navy SEALs were killed and he was the only one that lived. The rest of the book is about his childhood growing up on a ranch in Texas, his training to become a Navy SEAL and his life after that deployment to Afghanistan.

The author clearly states why he wrote the book and that is to honor all of his fallen brothers and tell their story so they are not forgotten. The reason why I chose to read this book was because I'm joining the military and I enjoy reading books written by people in the military so I can gain insight into what it's like being in the military. It was also #1 on the New York Times best seller list for several weeks. What made me want to keep reading it was because it was very well written and it's intriguing to find out information about the SEAL teams because not much information is released about the teams. I thought the book was realistic but some of the stories he told were unbelievable because of how brave and heroic the Navy SEALs were.

One of the most important characters in the book was Lieutenent Michael Murphy. Lt Murphy was the authors best friend he was a tall, bearded, brown haired man. He was very physically fit since he was a Navy SEAL. The author says that he was a very smart man. He was excepted to several law schools before he decided to join the Navy instead. He also says he was the best officer he ever met and one of the finest SEALs. Another important character was Petty Officer Matthew Axelson also one of the authors team mates and best friends. The author describes him as being 6'4 with blonde curly hair. He was a quiet man and very smart. He was also a very professional and mature SEAL. Shane Patton was another important character, also one of the authors teammates in the SEAL teams. He's described as a big, robust, blonde man. He was the authors protege as he was training him to take over as the teams radio operator. What makes them interesting to right about is because they're all Navy SEALs and they all fought and died for each other.

The author uses a more journalistic style. He just describes all the events about his training and his Afghanistan deployment. He lengthly describes the places he went to and people in the book. The attitude he has towards the subject is mostly anger and sadness, because all of his best friends that he calls his brothers died in one day. His attitude towards the people is love and brotherhood.

One thing I will never forget from reading this book is the dedication and love the characters have and the incredible sacrifices they made for each other and their country. 4 Navy SEALs were ambushed by over 200 Taliban fighters, the SEALs never stopped fighting until they were all dead except for one who was badly wounded and had to crawl for miles until he found refuge in a local village.

I will study for food

I don't plan on attending college next year, instead I am joining the US Army. Before I took the asvab I bought a book and studied it nearly everyday to do my best. I did a lot better than I expected. Now the only thing I can do to prepare myself is workout, get strong and run a lot since I'm going into infantry.

Vocabulary Fall #3

accomplice: a person who helps another commit a crime.
annihilate: to destroy, obliterate.
arbitrary: based on random choice.
brazen: bold and without shame.
catalyst: a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction.
exodus: a mass departure of people.
facilitate: make easy or easier.
incorrigible: not able to be corrected.
latent: existing but not yet developed.
militant: combative and aggressive in support of a political cause.
morose: sullen and ill tempered.
opaque: not able to be seen through.
paramount: more important than anything else.
prattle: talk at length in a foolish way.
rebut: claim or prove that something is false.
reprimand: a rebuke, esp an official one.
servitude: state of being a slave.
slapdash: done to hurriedly and carelessly.
stagnant: no current or flow.
succumb: fail to resist.