The next character I will mention is Honorable Gilbert MacWhite, who replaced Ambassador Sears in Sarkhan. This character functioned in complete contrast to Sears. He understood the sensitivity of the US mission in Sarkhan and how vulnerable the Sarkhanese government was to potential communist influences. He also understood the communist threat and did not underestimate it. MacWhite’s understanding of the operational environment was clear from the beginning and made constant efforts in understanding the people of Sarkhan.
MacWhite arrived in Sarkhan well versed on the customs, language, and threats faced by the country; this aided him in everything that followed through his tour. Understanding the operational environment is critical in the proper application of all other Special Operations Imperatives. Failure to understand the environment may increase the possibility of applying other imperatives erroneously. By understanding the latter, MacWhite was able to face successfully the challenges through his time as Ambassador to Sarkhan.
MacWhite became aware early in his time as an Ambassador that the ability of the communists to gain intelligence extended beyond the local territory and into the walls of his own house. This was evident once he became aware that his own servants were actually collecting information. After he confirmed that his servants were deceptive, he realized that the communists had indeed succeeded in developing successful intelligence agents, who were able to collect firsthand information. In order to become more aware and to better analyze communist tactics, MacWhite requested permission to travel to the Philippines and Vietnam.
Through his time in both locations, MacWhite demonstrated an SO Imperative in ...
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...state. Failure to include local forces immensely reduces our span of influence and increase dependency between the host nation and the USG.
Through this essay, we have depicted three characters of “The Ugly American” and highlighted the Special Operations imperatives displayed by such characters. We saw how characters such as Ambassador Sears displayed negatively the use of such action and contrasted them against those of MacWhite. I also included a politically independent character, Atkins, who provided us with imperatives who are more personally embedded in his character. The SO imperatives provide us with the guidance to succeed through their application. Through the novel we saw multiple examples of the benefits and consequences of their application, and lack of. Clearly understanding their purpose and application is paramount for the success of our forces.
Effective planning is impossible without first understanding the problem. Commanders rely on personal observations, experiences, and input from others to develop understanding. They also prioritize information requests and incorporate additional information as those requests are answered. A complete understanding of the problem and environment builds the foundation for the operational process and ...
To write a true war story that causes the readers to feel the way the author felt during the war, one must utilize happening-truth as well as story-truth. The chapter “Good Form” begins with Tim O’Brien telling the audience that he’s forty-three years old, and he was once a soldier in the Vietnam War. He continues by informing the readers that everything else within The Things They Carried is made up, but immediately after this declaration he tells the readers that even that statement is false. As the chapter continues O’Brien further describes the difference between happening-truth and story-truth and why he chooses to utilize story-truth throughout the novel. He utilizes logical, ethical, and emotional appeals throughout the novel to demonstrate the importance of each type of truth. By focusing on the use of emotional appeals, O’Brien highlights the differences between story-truth and happening-truth and how story-truth can be more important and truer than the happening-truth.
When looking at the Special Operations (SO) Imperatives, one can gain an understanding of how to change their way of looking at problems that they are faced with in any scenario. By applying these imperatives, Special Forces Soldiers can set the conditions to succeed in any situation that they find themselves in. When reading The Ugly American by William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick, there are several examples of the correct application and the lack of application of the imperatives throughout the book. Taking a look at the Office of Strategic Service (OSS) linking up with John Colvin during the war, Father Finian and how he operated with and through others, and how Louis Krupitzyn and his wife understood their operational environment and Colonel Hillendale also mastered this skill and was the right man for the job. I will explain how the SO imperatives were applied correctly. Joe Bing and his inability to recognize the political implications while in Setkya and Tom Knox’s return trip from Cambodia serve as great examples of how the imperatives need to be applied correctly.
As he immerses his audience into combat with the soldiers, Shaara demonstrates the more emotional aspects of war by highlighting the personal lives of the men fighting. For example, when Shaara reveals the pasts of James Longstreet and Lewis Armistead’s, I started to picture them as the men that they were and not as soldiers out for blood. After suffering a devastating loss of three of his children to fever, Longstreet is tossed into battle. In Armistead’s case, he not only suffered the loss of his wife, but also of a friend fighting on the Union side, General Winfield Scott Hancock. Shaara saves his readers a front row seat to the inner turmoil of General Chamberlain regarding his hindering duty as a soldier clashes with his duty to family as he strived to serve the Union as well as protec...
American Character by Colin Woodard, is a book about America’s history and the upcoming of how the United States has become. Woodard starts off first explaining what it was like when America was colonized by the New England colonists and goes onward to present-day America. A book like this should be deemed great for a political history class because of the vast amount of information it has. Although, this book is exceptionally very small for a book of such kind, Woodard loves jumping around from era to era and can leave his readers at a disarray. Claiming so, a strong and prior knowledge of the American history and its government is strongly encouraged. Historical and economic terms are also used immensely in this book, so a thesaurus and dictionary would be of great use. If those two resources aren’t of much help, a recommendation of facts found upon the Internet regarding an era of which Woodard is explaining would be helpful.
Another unique aspect to this book is the constant change in point of view. This change in point of view emphasizes the disorder associated with war. At some points during the book, it is a first person point of view, and at other times it changes to an outside third person point of view. In the first chapter of the book, “The Things They Carried,” O’Brien writes, “The things they carried were largely determined by necessity (2).
In A Tactical Ethic, Moral Conduct in the Insurgent Battlespace, author Dick Couch addresses what he believes to be an underlying problem, most typical of small units, of wanton ethical and moral behavior partly stemming from the negative “ethical climate and moral culture” of today’s America (Couch, D., 2010, p. 15). In chapter one, he reveals what A Tactical Ethic will hope to accomplish; that is identify the current ethics of today’s military warriors, highlight what is lacking, and make suggestions about what can be done to make better the ethical behavior of those on the battlefield and in garrison. He touches on some historic anecdotes to highlight the need for high ethics amongst today’s military warriors as well as briefly mentions
In examining the military history, one can easily find out that the main role of military leaders in the field is to decrease confusion and to guide units to achieve the desired end state. In accomplishing these tasks, Situational Understanding and Visualization have become necessary steps especially in today’s complex environment. This importance legitimates the question about their relationship between these two steps and the challenges facing leaders to achieve situational understanding and visualization. Commander’s visualization depends on Situational understanding. Leader’s success in these two phases remains conditioned by overcoming some challenges related to his bias, time and the efficiency of his staff.
The Soviet-Afghan War changed the course of millions of lives. Samady’s father is no exception. He went from an engineering student to a person devastated by war. Without the war, he would have never endured a coma or known what it was like to live in a refugee ghetto. More importantly, he would not be the person his daughter has
...realistic points. Tim O’Brien does a wonderful job in presenting realistic ideas in “The Things They Carried,” which is a story that sits on the fine line between “crazy and almost crazy” (Kaplan 232). Whether it is imagery, conflict, or any other literary device, Tim O’Brien uses these items along with his great understanding of fiction to accurately portray what happened in Vietnam (Kaplan 230). It is because of this talent that Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” will remain a perfect example of truthful fictitious literature. Richard Nixon’s quote may have applied quite well to America whenever he was president; however, after the release of Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried,” this quote is now invalid because Tim O’Brien has proved that the truth can be told about Vietnam, it just needs to be told in a piece of fiction for its truth to be heard.
Mark Twain, an American author of the 1800s, narrates the adventures of Huckleberry Finn in his novel The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn. Twain’s purpose is to expose the greedy nature of humanity and what effect it has to the society and the people. Twain highlights the lengths that people are willing to go through to benefit or gain for themselves through the satirical strategies of humour, irony, and derision. The author has adopted a humorous yet serious tone in order to compel the yearning for the refuge from the constraint environment of greed of the post-Civil War American easterners.
America is a beautiful seventeen year old girl from Tepoztlan in Mexico who crossed the border with her brother-in-law to the US to make a better living, things did not go according to plan and this led to some actions and reactions that summed up bringing out her inner character. The character America has an interesting perspective on her decision making process which one can attribute to many factors of her culture, origin and I believe her age.
A character that was admirable in the novel “we all fall down” is John. John is the father of Will who is the main character, they spend nearly the entire story together looking for a way out of the world trade center during the 9/11 attacks. During the story you learn that John is very smart, brave, and respected. These are all characteristics which play a crucial role in saving lives such as his co-workers and a random lady they find on the way named ting, but mainly in the ending John and Will successfully escape.
O’Brien’s unique verisimilitude writing style fills the novel with deep meaning and emotion. Analyzing the novel through a psychological lens only adds to its allure. Understanding why characters act the way they do helps bring this novel to life. The reader begins to empathize with the characters. Every day, the soldiers’ lives hang in the balance. How these soldiers react to life-threatening situations will inspire the reader. Life has an expiration date. Reading about people who are held captive by their minds and who die in the name of war, will inspire the reader to live everyday as if they are currently in the
When choosing an author for my paper, I chose international suspense because I am very interested in foreign relations and the technology of modern day war. I have read stories by Edgar Allen Poe, with suspense and vivid imagery, which reminded me of Clancy's work. I decided to choose Tom Clancy because of his talent to weave such realistic tales of international suspense. Clancy creates the scenes in his books with such detail, it makes the reader feel like he/she is there. My first choice for this paper was Dr. Suess, but because he has passed away, I had to keep looking. I knew very little information about my author before writing this paper. I had read two of his books, but had no real knowledge of his personal life or past history. Tom Clancy, a successful American author of international suspense, has captured his love of military and technology and profitably employed it in the books he writes.