this video shows a litle about what i do in the military and what the army is all about. it gives people a view inside only a little bit since we cant indulge much.

I chose this video because my topic is wether or not we should allow gays to openly serve in the military and its quite an intense debate on the topic.

Interview

For my interview I spoke to a corporal in the army. He served for two tours overseas, one in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. He went into the infantry and later switched to military intelligence. We spoke briefly on the phone today and he was more then willing to answer my question. For my argument I am writing on the law that the president is trying to pass about allowing gays to serve openly in the military. This is the interview.

Q: When did you enlist?

A: “I enlisted February of 2005”

Q: Why did you enlist?

A: “I enlisted to serve my country and for the college benefits”

Q: Did you enjoy your time in the military?

A: “There were ups and downs. There was political stuff that I hated dealing with and it can be a pain in the ass at times but overall yes.”

Q: Ok so now on to deeper things, what do you think of gays and lesbians being allowed to serve openly in the military?

A: “I think in smaller combat units that have to have a certain amount of trust in their buddies to survive a firefight it could ultimately be detrimental. There is unit cohesion that needs to happen if missions are to be pulled off without hiccups and possible deaths. Having a gay person in the unit, regardless of if it’s right or not, sometimes causes tension. I guess what I’m trying to say is that homosexuals have been stereotyped to be weaker than most military, gun fighting men and there can be no doubt in your buddies abilities when you go to war together.”

Q: So you think it would disrupt unit cohesion?

A: “Absolutely, whether that is wrong or right, the immediate effect would be total disruption in a normally functioning unit. Eventually because of forward progress, it wouldn’t be such a big deal. But, for the immediate it’s a bad idea.”

Q: If a mandate were to come down from the commander in chief saying that gays were allowed to openly serve in the military, do you think they would still be ostracized at the enlisted level?

A: “Yes. In the beginning but again after some forward progress it would stop.”

Yavapai Big Brothers and Big Sister.

We all know someone close to us that is raising a child on their own without the help of a mother or a father. This means that that literally this child does not have a father or a mother to teach them the mannerisms or characteristics that are supposed to be instilled by that person. It’s a tragedy, but these days some people can’t stand by their children and raise them because they are merely children themselves.

Yavapai Big Brothers and Big Sisters is a program that was started in Arizona in 1971 and it is all volunteers that give out of their spare time to hang out with someone’s son or daughter and give them that male or female bonding time that is crucial in the beginning years of ones life. There are some pretty impressive statistics on how this organization is helping out our community. Such as 46% of little brothers and sisters are less likely to initiate drug use and 27% are less like to start drinking at a younger age and the list goes on and on.

I will be reading articles out of local newspapers and interviewing a couple of my close friends that are currently volunteers in this program so that I can take a deeper look at this problem and how it is slowly but surely being attended to.

My Career

As far back as I can remember I have wanted to be involved in law enforcement. Whether that was a regular police officer or some kind of federal agent, I didn’t care I just wanted to be one. It drove me to read all sorts of books about it and watch all the movies and learn what I could. Even drove me to join the army and become a military police officer. I have some experience and love every minute of it.

This assignment kind of excites me because I love learning more about this career and talking to people involved in this career. I expect to learn even more about the process of being hired and job responsibilities. Also I hope to find even more agencies to apply to.