100 years of army history Essays - Reserve Officers Training Corps

100 years of army history Essays - Reserve Officers Training Corps Making the best military officers in the world; motivating young people to be better citizens. The Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC), as it exists today, began with President Wilson signing the National Defense Act of 1916. Although military training had been taking place in civilian colleges and universities as early as 1819, the signing of the National Defense Act brought this training under single, federally-controlled entity: The Reserve Officers' Training Corps. Army ROTC is the largest officer-producing organization with the American military, having commissioned more than half a million second lieutenants since its inception. The United States Army Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) came into being with the passage of the National Defense Act of 1916. Under the provisions of the Act, high schools were authorized the loan of federal military equipment and the assignment of active duty military personnel as instructors. In 1964, the Vitalization Act opened JROTC up to the other services and replaced most of the active duty instructors with retirees who worked for and were cost shared by the schools. Title 10 of the U.S. Code declares that "the purpose of Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps is to instill in students in United States secondary educational institutions the value of citizenship, service to the United States, personal responsibility, and a sense of accomplishment." History of Army ROTC The JROTC Program has changed greatly over the years. Once looked upon primarily as a source of enlisted recruits and officer candidates, it became a citizenship program devoted to the moral, physical and educational uplift of American youth. Although the program retained its military structure and the resultant ability to infuse in its student cadets a sense of discipline and order, it shed most of its early military content. The study of ethics, citizenship, communications, leadership, life skills and other subjects designed to prepare young men and woman to take their place in adult society, evolved as the core of the program. More recently, an improved student centered curriculum focusing on character building and civic responsibility is being presented in every JROTC classroom. JROTC is a continuing success story. From a modest beginning of 6 units in 1916, JROTC has expanded to 1645 schools today and to every state in the nation and American schools overseas. Cadet enrollment has grown to 281,000 cadets with 4,000 professional instructors in the classrooms. Comprised solely of active duty Army retirees, the JROTC instructors serve as mentors developing the outstanding young citizens of our country. Most Americans don't know there's an Army Reserve, and even many of those who do couldn't explain the difference between it and the active-duty Army. They're even more confused when it comes to distinguishing between the Army Reserve and the National Guard. So, here's all you really need to know about the Army Reserve: The Pentagon could not be fighting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq without it. As the Army Reserve turns 100 years old April 23, it's worth noting just how much its mission has changed, and what that says about the way the nation is waging war. The Army Reserve is made up of part-time soldiers, who for generations have undergone a period of full-time basic training, and then spent a weekend each month training and a week or two each year on extended exercises. (The National Guard is also a part-time force, whose members report to the governors of their states, but who can be "federalized" and sent off to war just like reservists). During its first 80 years, the Army Reserve was deployed six times, a number it has eclipsed in the 20 years since. Nearly half of the Army's supporting units everything from military police to civil-affairs units now resides in the Army Reserve. Currently 26,000 of the Army's 190,000 Reservists are on active duty, including 6,600 in Iraq and 5,700 in Afghanistan. After the Cold War, the Pentagon made dramatic cuts to its available ground forces, slicing the 770,000-strong active-duty Army to a complement of 479,000 on the eve of 9/11 (it's at 524,000 now). Dreams of waging future wars with $350 million F-22 fighters and $2 billion Virginia-class attack subs quickly evaporated as the mud-and-blood campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq showed that the U.S. would need plenty of boots on

Contradictions of Life in the Mafia essays

Contradictions of Life in the Mafia essays In the late 1800s, a collective group of people have decided to establish a second government within the United States. This certain group of people originated from different parts of Italy, and tried to duplicate the Mafia. Throughout the years, the word Mafia lost its meaning. It is now lightly used as a general term to refer to crime organizations. Although a lot of people would debate that the Mafia is nothing more than a criminal organization, a look in the past would prove otherwise. In a certain part of Italy, particularly Sicily, people have a strong sense of family and friendship. During the middle ages, Sicily was invaded by various foreigners. The consecutive foreign rule estranged the islands own populace. This in turn, discouraged the Sicilians to trust the government. The strong bond of family and friendship then laid the foundation for a secret organization, a secret organization that intended to overthrow the foreign conqueror. This secret organization drew its member s from private armies, or mafie, that were originally hired by landlords to protect their estates from bandits. The core of this organization was the code of omerta, the code of silence. The code forbade anyone to approach the government for justice and help the legal authorities in anyway. Disputes were settled privately, and the victims reserved the right to avenge any offense committed to their family. No one was allowed to cooperate with the government, anyone who did was considered dishonorable. Overtime, the Mafia became the only form of authority recognized by the Sicilian people. When immigrants from Italy moved into the United States, they were not exactly welcomed with open arms. There was a lot of prejudice against them, and once again they turn to the Mafia for protection and help. The Mafia would resolve conflicts that the Italians had with other parties. Most of the time, if not all the time, resolving conflicts oft...

The different definitions of success Assignment

The different definitions of success - Assignment Example This was explicitly described by an observation of American society in 1955: To be poor in a status society meant that a mans life was hard, but at least it was not shameful; if he made the best of a bad bargain, that was all that was expected. But in the fluid, mobile world of American society, a poor man was supposed to rise; not to do so was a sign of weakness, if not a badge of immorality ( Lynn, 1955). Lynn’s description of how American society valued success in the 50s is no more different on how society value success nowadays. Hollywood stars are considered successful once they have garnered several awards despite the fact that some films do not even imbibe ethics or morality at all. Success is viewed by the secular world as an accomplishment in any field, no matter what means was employed to hit the target or reach the goal. However, success should not be viewed by its ends alone. Success is like cooking your favorite dish, certain ingredients are needed to create a dish. The following stories of people who succeeded would reveal to us later why success is similar to the simple but skillful art of cooking. Today in the United States, there is an African American president. After so many years of oppression, and fighting, it is a very great achievement for any American to see. Overcoming the racial barriers, and all other obstacles, Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. Coming from a humble background, the son of a Kenyan immigrant, and an American mother from Kansas, Obama worked hard since a young age to achieve what he thought and knew could be his full potential. 4 p.m, Ayo got back from school daily. His dad, an extremely rich Nigerian senator, and Harvard graduate did not live with him, instead, he lived with his mother a stay at home mom. Ayo’s parents never got married, he lived with his