It is well known that veterans have the opportunity to pursue a college education after they have served. The problem is students do not know how to appropriately approach or interact with them. Society has even been led to fear them. Edward Palm, author of, “The Veterans are Coming! The Veterans are Coming!”, uses his personal experience to argue that there are five applications of “common sense” to be used when interacting with veterans. Because Palm very effectively uses Ethos in his argument, along with the connotation that veteran interaction is simply “common sense”, any “typical” CU student would more than likely be persuaded. Although Palm’s argument is already very well constructed, there are still some changes he could have made to …show more content…
Overall, the issue is society does not how how to interact with veterans, especially on college campuses. He notes that when he went to college, some people felt compelled to thank him or ensure he was welcomed on campus, which just made him feel uneasy. Just like any “typical” student, Palm was on campus simply just trying to find himself and earn a degree. Another issue Palm discusses is the fear of veterans that has been instilled on campus. Students and faculty fear veterans because they have associated PTSD with danger. Therefore, veterans are viewed as a threat on campus. Palm denotes this by stating,
“...the great majority of PTSD sufferers are not disruptive or violent and should not be viewed as such until or unless they provide reasonable cause.” (pg.792)
Palm also makes a great point in proving the fear of veterans is absolutely ridiculous. He says,
“In all fairness, I have no doubt that these symposia are worthwhile, and I will take it on faith that the organizers are not viewing a potential influx of veterans as a threat to campus safety and simply want to be prepared...Most faculty and administrators, I would hope, realize that, of all the horrific campus shooting we have heard about in recent years, not one of the perpetrators was a military veteran.”
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794).
In summation, Palm is basically advising his audience to treat the veterans as you would any other student, and to not ask questions, or initiate or avoid conversations that you would not normally ask, initiate, or avoid. Because Palm seems reasonably credible (due to the fact that he is a veteran and presumably should know what he is talking about) and has also implied that these steps were “common sense”, it would be highly unlikely for the audience to not be persuaded. However, no argument is perfect and could always use some improvement to make it even stronger. Palm’s biggest fault in his argument is the use of the fallacy generalization. When explaining the five steps in how veterans should be treated, he explains it as though it should be applied to every single veteran in existence. It should be noted that using this fallacy makes sense, because to the audience Palm seems to know what he is talking about when he explaining how veterans should be treated, what they do and do not like about others’ interactions with them and so on. Therefore, it would make sense that he states to “generally” treat all veterans the same. However, because he does so, Palm sometimes fails to address or even acknowledge that not every veteran is the same. It is very possible that there are some veterans who do not mind being thanked for their service by strangers. There may very well be veterans who do not mind answering people’s questions. For some,
The mission statement of the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) is, “To fulfill President Lincoln's promise ‘To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan’ by serving and honoring the men and women who are America’s vete...
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
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.
Veterans had a hard time finding employment after the war. Employers considered a veteran’s service in the Vietnam War as evidence of drug addiction, and refused to hire them. The rejections only made the soldier’s struggles adjusting back to normal life even harder and encouraged their drinking and drug use. These harmful habits were their way of coping with the hate and rejection from society while still helping them forget their experiences in Vietnam. Veterans from the Vietnam War were the victims of an unprepared government.
Americans are defined by the respect they have for their country and its government, in taking advantage of their freedoms and rights that they gain by showing respect through allegiance, pride, and loyalty.
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.
Prior to war and the passage of the GI Bill the average American could only dream about college and owning a home. Designed to be used for college, technical or vocational courses, apprenticeship/on-the-job ship/on-the-job training, certificate programs, flight training and correspondence courses and home loan guaranty, the GI Bill has been credited with establishing the foundation of today’s middle class. By 1984, when the GI Bill was revamped, 7.8 World War II Veterans had participated in education or vocational training programs. The updated program became known as the Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB), after former Mississippi Congressman Gillespie V. “Sonny” Montgomery. His goal was to continue education programs and the VA home loan guaranty for the latest as well as, future generations ...
Murray, and Deborah are among some 50,000 veterans who are homeless, or 1.4 million who are considered at risk of homelessness on any given day, due to poverty, lack of support networks, and marginal living conditions in substandard housing, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. They, and all those who put on the uniforms of our nation 's armed services, sacrifice so much to defend the freedoms that we all enjoy and take for granted. Far too many, however, come home unable to defend themselves from the ravages of combat.” (Cole, 2015, Para. 23). Cole also goes on to continue stating “Providing shelter to our female and male veterans is not enough; it is simply one step. The transition from soldier to civilian is often the most difficult part of a veteran 's life. Yet the hardships of going from combat to job application, mortgage payments and working a typical 9-to-5 job, far too often are after-thoughts on the post-military agenda. It is no wonder that long after their active tours, many veterans continue to fight to reclaim their health and well-being.(Cole, 2015, Para.
On the other hand, acting cooperatively does not only protect, but can also enrich our lives. To echo World War II veteran J. Glenn Gray, “many veterans who are honest with themselves will admit, I believe, that the experience of communal effort in battle, even under the altered conditions of modern war, has been a high point in their lives” feeling “earnest and gay at such moments […] liberated from [their] individual impotence and […] drunk with the power that union with [their] fellows brings” (44;45). Perhaps the attractiveness of community and cooperation stems from its central role in our survival. However, it also facilitates acting in a manner that reflects positive moral principles. Gray proceeds to describe that there exists a “willingness
“A Veteran is someone, who at one point in their life, wrote a blank check payable to the United States of America for an amount up to, and including, their life. Regardless of personal political views, that is an honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer remember that fact.”
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...
Veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder need to receive better care, because post traumatic stress disorder is curable, damages relationships, and veterans made many dramatic sacrifices. The health care for veterans needs to be more easily accessible.
Veteran’s healthcare has recently been the subject of much discussion within American political circles. However, most ordinary Americans know little of this burning issue. Although support for veterans has risen to its highest levels compared to other times in American history, veterans need more than support to survive; they ne...
Colonel Malham M. Wakin, in his evening address, asks whether Plato's claim that "knowledge is virtue" is true. Much contemporary experience suggests otherwise. To some extent, such an observation could apply to the military as well. Col Wakin argues that we do have some basic knowledge about human conduct, but that we live in a highly pluralistic society in which some practices reject that basic knowledge. Nonetheless, even though we draw members of the military from that pluralistic society, the uniqueness of the military function will always keep its leading practitioners apart from the mainstream of civilian society. The military profession swears to defend the values, the lifestyle that incorporates the minimal conditions for human dignity. After examining the convergence of the values that are functionally necessary for the military and those that we know are fundamental to social existence, he concludes that a competent military profession can serve as a moral anchor for its parent society.