Rhetorical Analysis Marines

Rhetorical Analysis Essay
The article I read was “Weight Loss at Any Cost” by James Sanborn. Sanborn’s intended audience was the Marine Corps Times where he published the article in October 2010. He wanted to reach the Marine Corps and Marines as his intended audience. Stanborn used the Corps own words against them quoting them saying “Marines come in all shapes and sizes.” This statement is powerful and has an impact; making the Corps look hypocritical because of the tightened standards which ultimately want Marines to be the same size and shape. Despite how physically capable a Marine is if they don’t meet the standards they risk losing their career. In the past there was leniency shown to Marines who didn’t have the body-fat standards

met, yet passed their physical fitness test with high scores. Sanborn wanted to get the Marine Corps to think about the new physical standards for the Marines, and realize that Marines are now worrying about their body and partaking in extreme weight-loss measures. The audience knows a great deal about the topic, which is why Stanborn could get away with using military abbreviations that common readers wouldn’t be familiar with.
The main purpose of this article was to inform the Marine Corps about the new weight standards and the unorthodox methods Marines are using to try to meet these new standards.

The author wanted to bring awareness to the issue and get Marines input about the issue to see how large the issue is. All of the info in the article it is undeniably a large issue. The Corps has a few things to do to help their Marines get into better physical shape. For example, one task the Corps needs to do is promote the resources it already has available for Marines through the Semper Fit Program. This program was developed to educate Marines on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle and how to make sound fitness choices while providing them with the resources needed to stay in shape. In the article Taibi Said “It is important to ensure that healthier food choices are available on base.” This is very important, and the Corps has a responsibility to ensure that this happens for the Marines to be successful with the new standards. The high standard of Marines physical appearance, and fitness shouldn’t be a priority for Marines in combat zones. In combat zones they have enough risks and potentially life threatening dangers as it is. The Corps should not have “weigh-ins” in combat zones. The goal behind this article is to get General James Conway or his predecessor to do something different so that Marines have other options and more support to meet these standards or to have a little leniency like

they had before.
His stance was open to both sides of the issue, because he allowed General Conway’s speaker to voice their side and their stance on the issue.

While also having many Marines and other sources back up his main stance which is that there a large and important issue with Marines using Extreme weight-loss methods.
Stanborn recognizes other perspectives and incorporates them into the writing. An example of this is how the Although this article did lack interviews with Marines who have achieved the ideal body-fat percentage that the Corps wants all Marines to obtain. It is still a well written article.
The genre is serious, the article is about Marines who serve their country and how they now feel like they are being forced into this new body-fat standard or risk losing their careers; they have put way too much into their careers to risk losing them. The new standards they have turned to extremely risky, potentially life threatening weight-loss methods. It is also real life issue, it is a social problem because most people in America worry about their weight. I know plenty of high school girls who partake in extreme weight loss methods; yet they are under weight. But because of society and photo-shopped models on magazines they think they aren’t skinny enough. It’s a large issue Stanborn points out in his article but it isn’t only limited to

Marines.
The medium the author chose was most likely his choice, because he is a journalist. I think it is safe to assume that he chose his medium to write an article. The medium of the text determined what Stanborn could show readers with his words and descriptions. The medium he chose limited the length of the article. The article did have two pictures which helped show that most of the Marines are not what I would consider to be overweight at all. The picture that stood out the most to me is one of a Navy diver having a medical personnel perform a body composition assessment on him. The picture shows a tall physically fit man standing with a medical personal measuring his neck; the Navy divers face is not thrilled with what’s happening. If Stanborn had chosen to do a different medium like a film documentary it could have been more impactful for a different audience. I think that he chose the best medium to reach the audience he was aiming to reach.