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Short essay about a veteran
Short essay about a veteran
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I am a United States military veteran; I am proud of my service, and the uniform I wore. I served in the Air Force from 2005-2009 and completed two deployments overseas. When I decided to enlist in the military I was lost in life; I was struggling to find myself. I was looking for a way to motivate myself, and discover what I really wanted to achieve in life. This was my reason for enlisting, however, every veteran has their own personal reasons to why they enlisted; love of country, money for school, family tradition, traveling the world, or learning a trade are just a few examples. However, it is equally important to realize that every veteran’s military journey is unique. Some veterans serve during a time of war, some see combat, some get injured, some repair jets, some drive tanks, some work in administration, and some serve in intelligence. Veterans are nurses, doctors, lawyers, and pilots. Some veterans return heroes whereas some return emotionally traumatized. Given that each military veteran’s experience is unique, it’s disconcerting to realize the portrayal of veterans in movies usually focus on certain negative stereotypes, and in effect is making it difficult …show more content…
This movie shows Ron’s struggles to adjust and integrate back into American society, one that doesn’t value his sacrifice. Ron spends months recovering inside a rundown VA hospital where resources are scarce and veterans are seen abusing drugs and having sex with prostitutes. When Ron gets out of the hospital he realizes that American people have no respect for his sacrifice and he starts drinking heavily to deal with his isolation, disability, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Ron eventually realizes the government doesn’t value his sacrifice and he becomes a political activist speaking out against the war he once
...g to have a baby, and despite his situation Rondal ultimately becomes at peace with his life. In the end he dies, but he will rest on the mountain side where Carrie “walks past the cemetery where Rondal would at last have a place of his own.” (Giardina 290) This brings back a story that I read “How Much Land Does One Man Need”. In the end like everybody else Rondal will leave a legacy and it won’t be how much how owned but how much he loved and how much he gave of himself to others.
The heart wrenching tale of Jason Poole is an evident picture of the lost potentials of all the heavily injured veterans who came back to an entirely different “home”. Grady shows us that life as a veteran, who has put their life on the line to protect their country, after coming home is like having to start from scratch. “‘Jason was definitely a ladies’ man’, said Zillah Hodgkins, who had been a friend for nine years.” (5, Grady) Grady utilizes this quote by previously showing us the current state of
Today’s veterans often come home to find that although they are willing to die for their country, they’re not sure how to live for it. It’s hard to know how to live for a country that regularity tears itself apart along every possible ethnic and demographic boundary… In combat, soldiers all but ignore differences of race, religion,and politics within their platoon. It’s no wonder they get so depressed when they come home. (Junger
The Vietnam War was a psychological and physical battle for all the young men who were drafted or volunteered. Caputo's own reasons for volunteering illustrate the mentality for some of the men entering into this journey. Those who are inducted into Vietnam face disturbing moral dilemmas that can be expected in an "ethical wilderness." The draft introduced a myriad of young men to the once forgotten moral ambiguity of war. Average American citizens must balance right from wrong in a world without morals or meaning. Caputo himself struggles with the idea that killing in combat is morally justified.
The reality that shapes individuals as they fight in war can lead to the resentment they have with the world and the tragedies that they had experienced in the past. Veterans are often times overwhelmed with their fears and sensations of their past that commonly disables them to transgress and live beyond the emotions and apprehensions they witness in posttraumatic experiences. This is also seen in everyday lives of people as they too experience traumatic events such as September 11th and the fall of the World Trade Center or simply by regrets of decisions that is made. Ones fears, emotions and disturbances that are embraced through the past are the only result of the unconscious reality of ones future.
In Audre Lorde’s bildungsroman essay “The Fourth of July” (1997), she recalls her family’s trip to the nation’s capital that represented the end of her childhood ignorance by being exposed to the harsh reality of racialization in the mid 1900s. Lorde explains that her parents are to blame for shaping her skewed perception of America by shamefully dismissing frequent acts of racism. Utilizing copious examples of her family being negatively affected by racism, Lorde expresses her anger towards her parents’ refusal to address the blatant, humiliating acts of discrimination in order to emphasize her confusion as to why objecting to racism is a taboo. Lorde’s use of a transformational tone of excitement to anger, and dramatic irony allows those
For a school project we interviewed veterans and reflected on those interviews, I gained a better understanding of how to answer the question: why are veterans important to us. Veterans remind us of the horrors of war, of the innocent lives that were lost, and the millions of people those lost lives affected. Each of those veterans that we see has served our country fighting not only for our rights but also for the rights of those across the world. They chose to leave their families, jobs, and life back home to go and make sure that those human rights were being maintained across the world. That sacrifice of leaving everything behind is mind blowing.
Veterans have struggles with their civilian life after separating from the U.S Armed Forces. Returning to the civilian life seem to be a big challenge for veterans who have no prior job’s skills for civilian life because they had been influenced from military’s training, have physical and psychological damage.
First, Obama demonstrates the use of anecdotes about veterans to support her claim that there are women in the military who need to be honored . Throughout her speech Obama shares life stories and accomplishments of veterans and present military women. She employs this technique to prove that women are strong and powerful and can accomplish great things in the
As men and women serve this country we often forget the importance of what they did and how we give back to them for what they have experienced. Through student surveys that have been gathered, it has been proven in the course of knowledge that 80% of all thirty students surveyed that say they know of someone who is or was a veteran and only 57% of those Veterans receive help. Richelle E. Goodrich stated, “Have you ever stopped to ponder the amount of blood spilt, the volume of tears shed, the degree of pain and anguish endured, the number of noble men a...
Born on the Fourth of July is a film starring Tom Cruise who plays the role of Ron Kovic, a Vietnam War Veteran that deals with the repeated taunting of his deployment overseas and the aftermath associated with his decision to join in the war. He was injured and paralyzed on his tour and has to constantly cope with the flashbacks to his experience of killing innocent civilians while in the war setting. Throughout the film you see how a boy from a Massapequa, NY grows up and becomes a Marine in a time where people either seemingly supported the war or downright disagreed with it. With Kovic as the director, the viewer can really understand how he...
Andy grew up as a military child and he assures, “Being in a military family I can appreciate the veterans and their families more.” (Moore) Military children recognize the importance of sacrificial service that their parent committed. This ensures parents that raising a child in the military can help develop an appreciative, respectful, and prideful child by experiencing and interacting within the military lifestyle. The military provides a strong structure or values and traits that promote a healthy development of characteristics for
Many of veterans i've met personally have a different way of living because of what they have experienced and are hard for them to live many horrible memories they have gone through. At first when I didn’t know better and I would meet someone that has served war I would ask them about their experience there. Until one time when I was a little older one of the veterans I met told me that for them the veterans, they will never really tell you what exactly happened because for us the civilized people that haven’t experienced harsh moments. Would be too much to handle and is why they try to avoid telling us those moments even though for them is hard to not think of them. But not long ago I met a guy in school he had just come from Iraq this guy was very much affected by the time he served in war. You couldn’t walk up to him without calling him from his name with some distance from him because he would get startled and try to hurt you because of one incident he went through in war. He would tell us these crazy stories these I did believe where true war stories he didn’t hold anything back we would all sit in class listening to him tell his stories to the professor which also was fascinated and also a little to curious. Well since we were in a class room full of grown men already and the professor himself seamed crazy well was actually he actually felt like telling the story how it was. I don’t really remember the story how it
The story “The Fourth of July” by Audre Lorde demonstrates that she comes across a realization that she had to speak up for her rights and independence when she visited the capital city of the United States, Washington, D.C. Lorde explains how she was frustrated with the situation that occurred in Washington, D.C., which shows that she had learned the reality of the society. She writes about many things that she came across during the trip to Washington D.C. in the summer vacation. In the essay, the meanings of independence for Lorde are to fight for it and to speak up for the rights that they deserve. Lorde and her family visit many places in the capital city where they were told to leave the place because black people were not allowed there.
As I sat in the waiting room at the San Francisco VAMC, I found myself staring at a picture on the wall. The picture (Image 1) was a poster displaying a Sailor marching with an American flag and the statement “Join the Navy, America’s new prestige in world affairs will mean a greater Navy. Be a part of it”. Our society has been bombarded by such images calling for support of the military and I am in a VA hospital, so I wasn’t completely shocked by this photo. After my visit, I walked a few of the many halls of the San Francisco VAMC on my way to the pharmacy and found three additional pictures (Images 2, 3 and 4) that were specifically calling for support and enlistment in the military, which made me begin thinking about the evolution