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Reflective Essay On Military Identity

Decent Essays

I have known from an early age that in most group situations, I will be unlike a majority of the people around me. After taking Lewis’ Cultural Classification Survey, I learned a little more vividly why I have the perception that I never quite fit in with my colleagues. I will briefly discuss two things I learned about myself after viewing the survey results, and then I will describe how I believe what I learned affect military operations.
First, it surprised me to discover how much emotions are still a significant factor in my life. I was, and am, an exceptionally emotional person; however, I realize it is seldom appropriate for a woman in the military to display emotions outwardly. Consequently, I frequently quash any outward display of emotion, particularly those emotions typically viewed with a negative connotation, such as sadness or anger. As a result, I struggled with deciding how to answer the survey, because I felt conflicted between responding as CW3 Mickelson, a soldier of nearly 30 years, or responding as Lorien, the woman of significantly more years. Ultimately, I decided to answer as the woman. Interestingly, although I was not the only woman in class, I was the only one whose survey result landed in the Multi-Active cultural category; in fact, I was apparently the only student of either gender that was not firmly ensconced in the Linear-Active category. According to Lewis’ model, those who identify as Multi-Active are more people-oriented and

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