Masterpiece question essay

I wouldn't consider myself the laziest person in class but I definetely did not try very hard the entire year. I went into senior year with the attitude of lets just get this shit done pass all my classes and get on with my life. I was never motivated to do any extra effort. To be honest I would be perfectly fine with graduating with straight D's as long as I got my diploma. My attitude quickly got me into trouble when my grades really started to suffer, which is not a very good during your senior year. The main reason for my attitude was simply because I wasn't worried about getting into a good college. I knew I didn't want to attend college. I knew I was going to join the military since I was a little kid. So I just slacked off the whole year knowing I have my dream job waiting for me after I graduate, and all I have to do for it is graduate. That doesn't mean I will exactly have it easy. It's not like I'm gonna be the CEO of  a fortune five hundred company immediately after I graduate. My job in the Army will be extremely difficult and dangerous but to me it's all worth it.

I have always had a huge passion for the military. I remember being very little and my dad would show me pictures of him in the Navy. I thought it was amazing all the places he got to go and the people he met and all the guns he got to shoot! I always knew I was gonna be joining a branch of the military and that's always been my passion. I wouldn't say this course has connected or reconnected me with that passion because I've always had it.

What really suprised me about this course was on the first day and all throughout the year. And that was the cussing which I thought was awesome. They say that people who swear a lot are actually better more honest people so I just thought it was cool how Dr. Preston wasn't afraid to call a student a pussy for not trying to talk to his expert.

One thing I noticed during the presentations that I've never noticed in any other class was how confident everybody seemed, especially myself. A lot of people will often speak quietly, stutter and won't look at the audience but not in our class. It's easy to not be confident about a painting you have to present in your art class if your not really passionate about art. But when you invest a lot of time and effort into something and really bust your ass making it perfect it is easy to be confident and go to the front of the class and present it and be proud of the work you did. That really taught me something. If you want to make public speeches easier be proud and confident about what your talking about or presenting. I am extremely passionate about serving in the Army and other things like politics and NO gun control. So it would be very easy for me to talk about that even in a room full of strangers.

I believe I could have done much better in this course and my other classes. But I did learn especially about public speech and presentations. Dr. Preston also did inspire me to seek out experts and professionals to give me advice about the Army. That really helps the most. Now whether I'm at work making somebody a sandwich and I notice they have a military themed tattoo or are wearing a hat or shirt related to the military I will not hesitate to ask them if they served and let then know that I'm doing the same just so they can let me in on something I might not have ever heard. Overall I have benefitted from taking this course a lot more than just taking a regular English 4 class. I could have got a lot more out of it if I would have really tried but I am proud of what I have accomplished this year.

Request for response

Raising a moral child

I had no idea parents had such and influence on there children. It usually seems like kids do the opposite of what there parents tell them. It's pretty cool that just by responding to your a child's mistakes can have such a dramtic affect on how caring and compassionate they are.

Parental involvement is overated

This article challenges what raising a moral child says. It says that parental involvement doesn't really help kids as much as we think. It says that in some cases parental involvement will actually negatively affect a child.

Recover for whom?

This article mostly compared the economy during different generations. It talked about how each generation has been worse off than the last. It talks about how difficult recovering from the recession will be but it's not impossible.

Saving young people from themselves

It's very difficult for the younger generation to save money especially for retirement. Income levels have gone down. Generations are getting poorer and hardly any young people are participating in 401k programs.

The crossroads between should and must

To be honest I almost always choose must. I don't really care what people want me to do. Sure my parents would prefer me to go off to college and be in debt for the next ten years. Then hopefully get a job which I'll most likely hate. But I'm not gonna do that.

In the military you don't get payed a whole lot but I don't care about that. You put your life on the line for your country and you expect nothing in return. Sure your taken care of by the govt but your not exactly living lavish either. The only thing I can see myself doing is joining the military. It's really all I care about. It really is something I Must do. Logically thinking I Should go to college and be safe and get a good job and make good money. I should start a family and be with them all the time and not leave for a year at a time to go off to a warzone and risk my life for my country. But fuck that. I Must join the Army and I Must go off and fight and risk my life it just what I have to do.

I see myself headed in the same direction. I definitely plan on making a career out of the Army. If I do get out early I honestly have no I idea what I will do. I don't want to go to college and I have no idea what I would do for a living. Because all I've ever wanted to do was join the Army.

Raising Digital Awareness

It's important to attract visitors to your blog because you can actually help people if they read posts from your blog. If they are intersected in joining the military and they read my blog they could gain some good information because a lot of my posts are about the military and I could know more about the military than they do. I'm addressing visitors needs by posting about the military. The only person that would really benefit from my blog would be someone that is intersted in joining the military. I can improve the value of my sight by posting more consistently. I would say human interaction is much more important than digital. Posting on a blog is pretty easy. You have a lot of time to think before you post. If your talking to someone your usually more honest because you have to answer a lot faster.

Lit analysis #3

My book "No Easy Day" by Mark Owen is an autobiography about the authors career as a US Navy SEAL. He goes into a lot of detail about his career serving in the SEAL teams, operations he took part in and the fellow SEALs he served with. The highlight of the authors career was taking part in Operation Neptune Spear, or the Osama Bin Laden raid. The author served for ten years in the Navy. He went to BUD/S right after basic training and joined SEAL Team 5. He served with ST5 for a few years before going through additional training and joining Naval Special Warfare Develepment Group or DEVGRU for short, SEAL Team 6.

Mark Owen most likely wrote this book to shed light on DEVGRU, which very little is known about. DEVGRU is very secretive and information is tightly controlled by the Pentagon. Mark Owen chose to write about his experiences not to give out information about DEVGRU, but to honor the fellow operators that he served with.

I originally chose this book because very little is known about DEVGRU and I wanted to learn more about it because I love learning anything about the military. I found it to be a very interesting book that I had trouble putting down sometimes. The stories he told from BUD/S, green team and his deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan were unreal!

Most of the characters from "No Easy Day" were fellow DEVGRU operators that were friends of Mark Owens. All of the names were changed even his own because those men don't want their names leaked to the media, in fear of Al Qaeda reprisals. 3 operators he talks about the most are Charlie, Phil and Steve. Charlie and Mark went through green team together (DEVGRU Training). After graduation they went to separate squadrons. After Phil, who was Mark Owens team leader was shot on a deployment to Afghanistan, Charlie was sent in to be the new team leader. Phil was a good friend of Marks they served with each other at DEVGRU the whole time Mark was their.

The author doesn't describe places that well because they really aren't that hard to imagine. Like mountainous Afghanistan, the Indian Ocean, Virginia and San Diego.

I will never forget a lot of things from this book. Especially the bravery and heroics of DEVGRU operators. The sacrifice those men made is unreal. They went into the most dangerous places in the world to kill terrorists and Taliban fighters to keep us Americans safe. That's why I think everyone should read this book!

Entrepreneur

A. My expert is not an entrepreneur. He was a soldier in the US Army, he wasn't in business for himself, he worked for the federal government.
B. I am not an entrepreneur. I'm joining the Army I won't be in business for myself.
C. Most entrepreneurs are experts in whatever they sell.

10 questions

1. When did you decide you wanted to join the Army?
2. What's the most rewarding thing about serving your country?
3. What did you do to prepare yourself for Special Operations?
4. How does the Army prepare you for the civilian world?
5. When did you decide you wanted to make the Army a career?
6. What's the best thing about being in the Army?
7. What's the worst thing about being in the Army?
8. What do you do in your spare time while on deployments?
9. What do you do in your spare time while in garrison?
10. What motivated you and kept you going while going through training/deployments?