Character Development Reflection

Military children learn to give up things starting at a young age, but it makes them strong. The boys become the men of the house, while their fathers are away and the girls become women. They learn to adapt to all the different situations that they may come across, but "at the same time, these kids have a sense of overwhelming pride" (Reese, 2004, p. 2).

I was once the big fish in a small pond, but now I find myself as a worm on a hook in an ocean of big fish. Starting this journey, I can say that I was overcome with all types of emotions all at once: anxiety, fear, excitement, inadequateness, and at the end of it all I was finally calm. Knowing that I had just accomplished something that not even six months ago wasn’t even in my life plans. As a platoon, we performed feats that as individuals or a group you would never attempt let alone think about have accomplished. The slogans during that time of my career were “be all you can be in the Army” or “we do more before 9 am than most people do all day.” Within my first four years I got to travel the world and see places that most people would only dream about from Antarctica to Panama, and even to the pyramids in Egypt, I got to see it all. The military had such a powerful and profound hold on me I couldn’t think of anywhere else I would rather be. I was once told by my 1SG after a very long and trying day he said “Private Williams, where else can grown men and women have this much fun and still get paid. “I thought and pondered on what he had said, and even today 26 years later I still ask myself the same question, and it always goes back to the same answer, wearing the uniform serving my country side by side with my brothers and sisters in

The importance of furthering education doesn’t stop there. Leaders should be enrolling in college, and counseling their subordinates to enroll in college as well. In order to become competitive within the Army’s ranks, education plays a huge role. As Major Tim Martin stated “A formal education is an important contributor to the development of leadership qualities and attributes that are crucial in the growth of a military professional (Martin, 2001).”

The reading of interest is “Anybody’s Son Will Do” by Gwynne Dyer. The author was primarily focused on the intense resocialization civilians experience during military basic training. The idea is that those who enter basic are socialized into soldiers and killers, which in return creates efficiency. Dyer argues that any man can be changed through physical and mental pressure, isolation and exhaustion, all after losing their civilian identities.

In September, I had the opportunity to visit the Naval Academy for a “Candidate Visit Weekend.” During my two-night visit, I was paired with a current midshipman, whom I accompanied to classes, meals, and a sports practice. Personally experiencing daily life at the Academy and meeting current midshipmen has reinforced my desire to join their ranks. The most inspiring thing about the midshipmen I met was the effort that they put into succeeding. Being a part of this culture, even for two days, has shown me that I can work just a little harder, and that I can push myself just a little further. Since returning home, I have done just that in numerous ways.

The author Wes, when first being forced into military school by his mother was very eager to go back home and tried everything he could to make it back home, over the course of a couple of years that idea started to change. “I was now a platoon sergeant, a cadet master sergeant, and the youngest senior noncommissioned officer in the entire corps. Three years ago I’d been one of the insubordinate kids first entering the gates of Valley Forge. In an ironic turn, I was now one of the ones in charge of them” (Moore 115). One can see the dramatic switch in the author’s motivation, he once upon a time had a mixture of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation due to where he used to live and his surroundings, now he’s eager to progress in the military with strictly intrinsic motivation, with the plus of the extrinsic motivation of making his mother happy, but he mostly did it for himself. The author at this point knows that there are no rewards in the military, no payment for training nothing but pride, and is functioning on nothing but making himself content with his achievements, he’s focusing on the human not the economic aspect (Pink 25). In the other Wes’s case, his motivation did shift a bit after his friend Levy had told him about the Job Corps. He was a bit speculate because he’d heard about it before, going to the Job Corps was purely intrinsic on his part; he wanted to get out of the dealing game. Though, he had high motivation while in the Job Corps it

Army leaders must balance the link between the Army’s culture and it’s climate and institutional practices. When there is a proper balance it has a huge impact on the mindset of the Army’s Soldiers. Their actions or inactions impacts the five key attributes of the profession, and the four fields of expertise, and have long term effects on the Army’s culture and climate. These actions influence Soldiers’ perceptions that they are serving professional who have answered the call of service to the republic, it is important that Soldiers understand that their role is a calling and not just a job.

The first week at his military school, Wes tried several times to went home. He had access to do a phone call to whoever he wanted to talk, if he would be able to convince that person in five minutes, then he could go back to home. On the phone his mother said, “Wes you don’t go anywhere until you give this place a try” (Moore 95). Wes wasn’t persuaded at first, but the words his mother told him must have stuck. He started doing better in school because he realized what his family has sacrificed in order for him to be there. Gradually, he became sergeant of platoon, a cadet master sergeant, and the youngest senior noncommissioned officer in the entire corps. Even though he was forced to stay in military school; slowly he changed his outlook in military school.

The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) are a unique institution consisting of a wide cross section of our nation’s population. It is due to this vast representation of cultural and regional upbringings that there lies a requirement for an integration process into military life. In this paper I will discuss some training procedures utilized during my basic recruit school training in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, and the theories and models of psychology and behaviour they were based upon.

“The academic setting is completely different than the military setting. The personalities, the ideals, the philosophies are completely different. The way people interact with

The beliefs, values, and customs that are associated with the armed forces has cultivated into a unique culture within the military community (Hall, 2016, p. 41). In essence, a sub-culture has been established that is distinctly different from the culture of the United States. Thus, those that enter military service resign themselves to the fact that the military lifestyle is a departure from the civilian lifestyle and therefore, will differ from society as a whole. The military itself is rigidly structured, an aspect that essential not just to the military’s purpose, but to its continued existence. Thus, personnel, and by extension their families, are required to not only adhere to the many rules and regulations, but embrace them as well (Hall, 2016). Honor is a central tenet within the armed services and is ingrained within the culture (Hall, 2016). As such, the military mission has created a culture that champions having “the right stuff”, so to speak, and encourages the suppression of feelings and emotions (Hall, 2016, p. 11). Moreover, this warrior society embraces secrecy, stoicism, and denial, as these concepts are viewed as essential ingredients to the success of the self,

In actuality, veterans continue to face barriers on their process for resocialization. Despite the effort that society puts in to ease such transition veterans find difficulty adapting to modern society due to a warfare identity. The military trains its veterans with the purpose to make them stronger in personality as well as to teach them how to control their emotions. Veterans are force to assimilate the military culture by detaching from their very own self-identity prior to the military. The identity that has been created by the military is also responsible for the negative stigma that our veterans’ currently suffer in today’s society. They are often portray as, murderous and violent. These traits are not strictly related to combat, but

One of my favorite saying in the Army is "failure is not an option." I was born in Haiti and moved to the United States at the age of seven. I joined the military in 2009 and eight years later here I am. Though I'm not where I want to be, I am not where I used to be. I got married at the age of 20. It was devastating when my husband and I got divorced after five years of marriage. I am currently raising my two kids, going to school and working full time. My strength of not giving up has me believe that in life you should not allow the cannot to be your final destination. So far in this class, I have learned my work preference is being open-minded. Determination, perseverance, and drive as my personal trait play a role in my work preference. Let's not forget about my attributes of persistence. It embodies who Vanessa Banks

My military service reshaped who I am. My training stripped away any sense of entitlement and I learned more about myself in four months than I’d ever known before. It not only gave me discipline and taught me to perform under pressure, but everything I did wasn’t just for me anymore. I was working hard for the marines next to me in my platoon. The time came when each of us hit a breaking point physically or mentally.

Now that I am reaching the end of my undergraduate career I feel like it’s fit to reflect on how far i’ve come and some high and low points during this time of my life. Some people may say that these four years of college are the most wonderful times of their life, and for the most part that is correct. But there is this whole other part of college life that is super stressful and even scary. During this paper I will address my personal development and how certain experiences played a role in those developments. Even though I feel like i’ve grown a lot and have developed and learned new things, I have run into some issues. Those issues being family/culture, social and emotional growth, intellectual growth, values and beliefs, citizen and community member.