Afganistan war Veteran Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Afganistan war Veteran - Essay Example I researched literature on the country’s culture and people, and this served to help me to avoid the common pitfall that most of my colleagues fell into of incorrectly stereotyping the country’s people. When we finally landed in the country, I discovered that most of the material I had read on the country had essentially been written during a period when peace prevailed and since then, a number of things had changed with the advent of war. The Afghani people were initially apprehensive and prejudiced about us and our mission. Years of living under the severely repressive Taliban regime had caused them to grow apprehensive of strangers. However, when we started winning against the dreaded Taliban insurgents, the people became quite welcoming towards us and would often greet us in the streets cheerfully and hail us as their hero’s (Kerry, 2010). In Afghanistan, the majority of the soldiers happen to serve in various support functions that include accounting, logistics or even laundry. For these officers, the war frontline is essentially the camp’s front gate. A typical day for me generally involved getting a briefing in the morning as to the current situation and what was expected to occur during the day. We would then embark on a patrol of the local town and its environs. It was not uncommon for newly deployed troops that were assigned to engage with the local leaders to quickly grow comfortable with these leaders in a case of assumed similarity. These troops would incorrectly assume that these leaders happened to share similar characteristics with themselves and it was thus important that the recruits be accompanied with experienced veterans (Kenny, 1994). These veterans would help the recruits engage with these leaders and locals in a professional manner as the recruits gradually adapted to the country’s cu stoms and culture. After the patrol, we would then report back

Reading response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Reading response - Essay Example For instance, the word chair – we only of the word chair as the object itself but we cannot make any other significance to the word beyond its own definition â€Å"unless† we combine it with other parts of speech: This chair is mine. Now it makes a lot of sense. In a nutshell, and as a student, it is not enough to simply learn the words of a language but to know the context in which they can be spoken, written or used in any other way possible. Chapter 9 is probably the most crucial and interesting one considering that at the end of day, the purpose of having a language is to send message and express meaning. The central point of this chapter is the duality of an English expression: (1) the sentence construction; (2) the meaning of the sentence construction (132). As mentioned earlier, words do not make any other sense aside from their individual significance in a language unless combined with other parts of speech to create a complete thought and a whole new meaning. I n the same way, in expressing meaning, words should be chosen based on which king of meaning we intend to express: command, request or question. By having this knowledge as a student, I am always being reminded to not only focus on words but on meaning too to ensure clarity of expression. In the initial passages of chapter 10 entitled â€Å"The Link between Language and Culture†, a very strong point has been brought across: â€Å"acquiring the ability to understand the social meaning of an utterance is an important part of learning a language† (175). This is particularly true, most especially for cultures that are heavily rooted from extreme conservatism. Significantly, there is a certain degree of interlocked relationship between language and culture considering that language is basically moulded from the dynamics and general consensus of a particular community. For instance, accent variations tell a lot about a person’s nationality or regional affiliation such that New York residents pronounce the word car differently from residents of Michigan or Boston area for that matter (175). Furthermore, in the context of religious conservatism, there are countries that are very strict when it comes to using certain terminologies such as the world â€Å"Allah† – Muslim for â€Å"God† – which is prevalently agreed to be used only by Muslims. As a student, having knowledge of the social and cultural significance of a certain language will help establish smooth and amicable communication with people of different nationalities, language or culture; it encourages dynamism and flexibility. Chapter 10 and Chapter 11 make tessellated points in so far as the importance of understanding the context in which a language is being spoken and used is concerned. Politeness is substantial for the language learner because the standards of certain virtues like politeness are â€Å"determined by a given culture based on assumptions about what it means to be polite in that society† (194). This point provides a great deal of learning: it allows the language learner to understand the array of differences in which the essence of politeness in a certain language can be carried out or manifested. As a student, this will surely help in ensuring that language