Ww Ii Essays - Combat, Military, , Term Papers

Ww Ii Journal of Social History Summer, 1999 The World Within War: America's Combat Experience in World War II.(Review) Author/s: Michael Neiberg By Gerald F. Linderman (New York: The Free Press, 1997. viii plus 408pp.). More than 16,000,000 Americans served in the Armed Forces during World War U, but only 800,00 (or just 5%) took part in what Gerald Linderman calls extended combat. (1) Their world, he convincingly argues, differed so fundamentally from the world of non-combat soldiers that it constituted a separate world within war. Combat, over and above military service generally, altered the very world view of the soldier and shook his basic assumptions about his enemy, his peers, his God, and the nation he had pledged his life to defend. Linderman uses the letters, diaries, and books of combat veterans along with a survey done by the Army War College to let the combat veterans speak for themselves. He focuses primarily on ground combat in Europe, North Africa, and the Pacific, though he addresses the air war in chapter one. In chapters 3 and 4 he argues that the geographic, cultural, and military contexts of the three theaters produced very different kinds of war and different understandings of what the rules of war meant. Linderman is not the first scholar to write about this world. Paul Fussell's 1989 book Wartime argued that the world of the combat soldier was so much as odds with any non-combatant's ability to understand it that the real war will never get in the books. Linderman agrees. Indeed, the combat soldiers themselves understood that civilians and non-combatants could not (and perhaps should not) know about the world of combat. In this world, men became callous to the deaths of enemies and of comrades alike, acted in ways that contradicted a lifetime of church and school, and sometimes found themselves inexplicably fascinated by the enduring appeals of battle. The distinct world of combat, and its inaccessibility to anyone who has not experienced it, underscored the sense of alienation that the combat soldier felt from everyone except his closest comrades. Only those men who had fought together that men in combat developed. Combat veterans knew all too well that their world lay beyond the ability of outsiders to understand. Witness two Marine Corps veterans asked to leave a theater during a showing of SANDS OF IWO JIMA because they could not stop laughing at a Hollywood depiction of a real war (315). Linderman's best chapter examines the close relationship between American values and the combat experience. Americans, coming from the Great Depression, saw the war, and combat more specifically, as a job to be completed as soon as possible. The likening of combat to a job gave combat veterans a way of dealing with the horrible acts they were required to perform as well as the knowledge that their death or survival had become purely a matter of chance. Ironically, those same values made combat appealing for some. Combat was the one place where true comradeship, without concern for background (except race - the Armed Forces remained segregated until 1948), ethnicity, or even military rank, existed. It was also the one part of military life where chicken *censored* military discipline and regulations (particularly anathema to American soldiers) mattered very little. Paradoxical as it may seem, the world of combat was, in many ways, the most un-military part of the thousand yard stare. While those at home enjoyed high wages and savings accounts, and noncombat personnel experienced relative comforts like beds and hot food, the combat veteran lived with the knowledge that only the end of the war or his own death would end his suffering. In order to survive, imagination, tenderness, and compassion had to die. Soldiers often believed in God (male and benevolent) or luck (female and usually malevolent) to get them through. Because their ex periences outstripped their ability to explain them, they relied on men like Ernie Pyle and Bill Mauldin to explain the war to civilians in words that would convey some semblance of truth without the shock of the whole truth. Because so few people experienced this world within war, World War II has come to be thought of as the Good War. The recent Enola Gay controversy reveals America's unease with

Demand in economics Essay Example

Demand in economics Essay Example Demand in economics Essay Demand in economics Essay Name: Instructor: Course: Date: Demand in economics Demand is an economic standard that refers to customer’s desire and motivation to pay a certain price for goods or services. Demand displays how much in terms of quantity of products that buyers may desire. The demand relationship refers to the price and quantity changes when consumers demand a certain quantity at a certain price. Demand signifies the willingness or ability to purchase a product at a certain price. Conversely, quantity demanded makes an implication of the measure of commodity that corresponds to a specified price as per the demand curve. The quantity demanded is the physical measure of commodity that consumers are willing to purchase at a given price as per the demand curve. A change in the quantity required refers to reaction by customers to the alterations in the prices of commodities when all factors are held constant. The difference lies in the fact that quantity demand occurs at one point on the curve and not the whole curve. Changes in price Substitute goods can be defined as goods that can be exchanged in the event of changed circumstances. Changes in the cost of a substitute and complementary goods affect the demand of a good both negatively and positively. Substitute goods can replace another good completely. Positive alterations in the cost of the alternate good lower the quantity demanded for the other good. Scientifically, the variable representing the value of the substitute good will contributes towards a negative effect on the demand function. An example of a substitute product and the effect of changes in its price can be found in margarine and butter. A consumer that uses butter can easily switch to margarine and vice versa when either is missing from a store. When the price of butter rises, a consequent drop in the demand of butter shall be experienced. Consumers will instead opt for the cheaper margarine as it will serve the same purpose. The reverse is true in that a good’s demand increases when the substitute good’s price increases. Decrease in the market for Blu Ray discs The increase in the demand for Blu Ray players and other related products has been largely contributed by the popularity of high-definition media and home theater equipment. The increased growth in the purchases of Blu Ray was because of increased quality and size of the Blu Ray discs. Blu Ray is the only media capable of high definition media play back. Normal quality videos lost their quality when displayed on larger screens. Blu Ray was somewhat expensive but had the advantage of higher quality. A product was available for customers who had large HD televisions and more money to pay for the Blu Ray. The drop in the Blu Ray prices over the months mainly because most people have realized that they are not particularly interested in the products. Most consumers were using DVD and CD players before the development of Blu Ray. Other people were even using VHS. However, the same movie were being offered online free of charge. As a result, the DVD sales keep on dropping after every fiscal quarter. The expected increase in sales due to the switch to Blu Ray was unplanned and mistaken. The opening up of the Internet provided a substitute product for no price. Compared to the hefty price of about $40 for a standard Blu ray movie, most people opted for the cheaper substitute-the Internet. However, studies done by Taiwan Blu Ray manufacturers predicted that the growing popularity of Blu Ray discs would make the price drop up to a minimum of $1 while their American counterparts predicted around $5. The development of the Internet and cable or satellite TV killed the Blu Ray market within America. Using cable or satellite, a consumer can purchase or freely download films in HD at a cheaper rate than buying Blu Ray. The attempt by Blu Ray companies to block companies from offering free HD movies online sparked prices that further painted the company in a bad light. Blu Ray also has numerous restrictions that have discouraged users such as DRM, RIAA and HDMI that control the flexibility of watching a movie.

Training Policy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Training Policy - Assignment Example It needs to be mentioned in this regard that the training programs or policies not only concentrate on individual development but also on the facet of organizational development which is imperative to be gauged together with individual development (Rae, L., â€Å"Effective Planning in Training and Development†). Training relates to the coaching or knowledge enhancement conducts that are carried out for the principal rationale of aiding the members of a particular organization to obtain and to implement the learning proficiencies, aptitudes and approach required by that organization in order to obtain and practice the same. To put it differently, it can be stated that training is considered to be the conduct of augmenting the understanding and competency with regard to the employees in the field of their respective tasks. The environment of business has been observed to undergo through a constant alteration which is not only intensifying the degree of competition but is also ch allenging the sustained existence. This is making it necessary for the organizations to adapt to the altering scenario in order to ensure its development as well as existence. Developing fresh training policies for the organizations are considered to be an effective way for them in dealing with the alterations and modifications made with regard to the business operations. Employees are considered to be vital components, who are regarded as a fundamental part for leading the organizations towards failure or accomplishments (Rae, L., â€Å"Effective Planning in Training and Development†). Every individual organization is believed to entail the engagement of competently trained as well as experienced individuals for the reason of carrying out their respective responsibilities that form a part of the regular business operations with regard to the organization. The altering business environment is making it necessary for the employees of different organizations operating in divers e sectors to cope up with the changing requirements. Therefore, training is measured to be the aspect that is known to facilitate the growth of such capable employees by enhancing and honing their respective proficiencies. In this present society that is supposed to be changing speedily, the aspect of formulating training policies is not just observed to be a conduct that is wanted but the organizations also need to assign resources in an attempt to ensure the existence of a practical and experienced workforce (Rae, L., â€Å"Effective Planning in Training and Development†). Training policies are believed to provide significant advantages that are reaped in the long run by a definite organization. The notion related to the formulation of training policies is also measured to ascertain along with enhancing the returns gained in terms of the investment made by that organization. Therefore, the factor of providing training or structuring training policies helps the organizations to a great extent in keeping hold of the most excellent resources with the purpose of garnering the best from them (Rae, L., â€Å"Effective Planning in Training and Development†). Overview of the Company The Gulf Centre for Aviation Studies (GCAS) is a company which is located in Abu Dhabi and it is identified as a centre that aims at offering excellent training