* Service members are not considered for promotional opportunities, miss interviews, face closed application periods upon return from military service…
Another one of the benefits military service members receive is free housing. In many instances the housing is sub-par and does not suit the needs of the residents. Family housing units are often too small and the wait to receive a unit can be from eight to 10 months (Sgt. Paul Fowler). Junior service members, those serving in the rank of E-4 and below, are often cramped into dormitory style buildings similar to those found on college campuses. The basic problem in this instance is space.…
Higher pay should be aimed at enlistees whose skills require job experience and extended training. A specific pay system can be arranged to give long term enlistees higher pay than the draftees. Sadly, the U.S now has overpaid recruits and underpaid sergeants. Bonuses and pay raises shouldn’t be focused on the recruits, but instead the career force. This can only be done if we reconstruct a draft system. During the last draft, the pay ratio between a master sergeant and a private was 6:1 while today it’s decreased to 3:1. (Charles Moskos). In order to restore the old ratio of master sergeants to privates and fill in leadership positions, the draft must be brought back. Even with a large active duty and reserve number, only about half of male components will be needed to serve the…
Karney and Crown (2007) posited military women are likely to identify with the least traditional gender roles while military men are likely to identify with the most traditional gender roles. Kanzler et al. (2011) discussed women who do not work full time and identify with traditional gender roles are less likely to be divorced. A concept that supports Karney & Crown’s (2007) data analysis concluding military men married to civilian women are the least likely to divorce. Traditional gender roles may be difficult for military women to balance with their military requirements. Dilworth (2004) stated “marital satisfaction in women has been connected to a perceived equity of domestic labor”(p. 247) supporting Kanzler et al.’s (2011) theory that military women fare better with a partner who has egalitarian views of gender roles and accommodates the demands of their occupation and lifestyle. Without an egalitarian partner, they risk a gender role mismatch potentially leading to conflict and dissolution of the…
The spouse now has to act as a single parent and take on dual roles of both parents. The spouse must now budget expenses and pay bills without the help of the service member. Making time for afterschool activities and homework for multiple children proves to be challenging. With all of these extra responsibilities the spouse must also find time for house and yard work. Deployment can put many strains on a marriage.…
One of the most controversial things associated with the military is the amount of pay soldiers get. Many think that for the sacrifices they make they are not earning what they should. Ultimately, a person will have to determine for themselves if the amount given is fair. In a perfect world military persons should receive the salaries of actors or ball players, especially since it’s the military man or woman that is actually doing something productive for society. But since this won’t happen, people will just have to live with the pay standards that the government has set up for its servicemen. But cultivating a career in the military is still one of the most stable and rewarding choices one can make.…
While it is true that the institution of the military is largely based on fraternal bonding that should not be cleaved by social factionalism, the call of the modern changing times have rendered the U.S. military ready for the open—not un-manifested—gay presence.…
Jonathan Swift’s, A Modest Proposal, is a satire about the social, political, and religious positions of Britain and Ireland. In this Swift proposes that children, at the age of one years old, should be sold and eaten, and their skins be used to make profitable products. He supports this claim by stating that this would help society because it would provide food, and take starving children off the streets. Also it would discourage abortions, and men beating their pregnant wives because they child would become profitable. This proposal highlights Britain’s exploitation of Ireland. Also Swift underscores England’s barbarity by using a narrator who offers a rational, and reasonable sounding solution to the problem of Ireland’s crushing poverty. Swift exposes the immorality of English politicians who made policies that made them rich while leaving everyone else hungry and poor. The rational view of the narrator satirizes the Enlightenment’s view of human society as a…
In “Gender- and Class-Based Role Expectations for Army Spouses” author Margaret Harrell discusses how class-based identities shape role expectations and perceptions of Army spouses (69). She begins by discussing what these gender roles mean by arguing that the spouse roles that exist within the army are culturally constructed, and these roles are not expected of men which proves they are gendered (Harrell, 70). She goes on to argue that these roles are culturally constructed because there is nothing preventing men from filling the role of officer’s spouse (Harrell, 70). Harrell then progresses through a brief history of Army spouses and how the military community was primarily concerned with officer’s family life (74). Harrell quotes Roger…
There is always more then one way at looking at things. Henry David Thoreau once said “the question is not what you look at, but how you see”. Every full proof plan or a perfect solution must and will have a flaw in it as what seems like a perfect plan to some people may not seem like that to some one else. It will depend on each individual’s point of view which will obviously vary.…
On September 20, 2011 President Obama lifted the ban on gays in the military. “The change will allow service members to be open about their sexual orientation” (Youssef & Tate, 2011, p. 1). Some limitations and apprehensions about gays in the armed forces center on military effectiveness, unit cohesion, and combat operations. There is a high probability for potential moral, legal and ethical challenges such as “housing allowances, health care for spouses and children, or support for their families during overseas deployments” (Youssef & Tate, 2011, p. 1).…
The Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy strips many rights away from gay, lesbian, and bisexual soldiers that are serving. A gay soldier must lie and hide his or her true identity on a daily basis. Gay service members who live openly and share information about their spouses, significant others, or dating life risk investigation and involuntary expulsion. Under DADT, any statement that one is gay, to anyone, at any time, before or after enlistment, can be reason for investigation and discharge. Your life is a constant liability to your career when you are gay in the military.…
I’m not to the point yet to where I have to start thinking about this but, most marine wives have to be on their toes at all times and be ready to either follow their marine wherever they go or be ready to say goodbye for a long while. “Prepare yourself for deployment. Marines are subject to deployment with very little notice” (Holley). Never knowing when and where your marine will be is always hard but part of being the significant other is being supportive and following them where they need to go. For the wives who want to follow their husbands, having anything permanent is nearly impossible. A permanent house is hard to maintain especially because you never know when you’re going to have to leave and live possibly in Rhode Island for 5 years. This makes it very hard to start a family as well because you won’t be sure where to send your kids for school and they may not have a steady home to grow up in. “The best advice I’ve ever received about military life is ‘Semper Gumby,’ which translates to mean ‘Always Flexible.’ Life being married to a military member—and staying married—requires that you’re always flexible”(O’Neill). Staying flexible is key to being a marine wife because you may have to drop everything you’ve got and move somewhere new one day. Your…
On the current assignment I chose the Swift’s A Modest Proposal to write about. The reason I chose this topic it caught my attention of selling children to the kingdom for food to clean their street of beggars. I will be giving my opinion on the author’s way of cleaning the streets of one kingdom. I must really say “WOW” after reading this proposal.…
A troubled economist, Jonathan Swift, writes “A Modest Proposal” to sarcastically suggest his solution to Irelands economic struggles. Swift begins his writing rationally and factual; then, he continues to, not so modestly, propose that eating the poor populations children will solve all the kingdoms’ problems. The suggestion is narrated so nonchalantly. He enlightens his readers that selling the children of the poor to the richer will help provide nourishment, unburden mothers, and reduce the population of beggars. Swift moves on by suggesting rational, helpful ideas as if they are outlandish and inferior to his solution. This narration is attempting to expose the rash way the people have been dealing with social and economic problems. In addition, he is drawing attention to the problems in Ireland, including the numerous amount of underprivileged citizens.…