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Mlinarcik 1

John Mlinarcik

Dr. Kyburz

College Writing 2

25 SEP 15

Gender Bias in Combat Arms, Why?

I do not understand why there is still gender bias with the ability for females to join Combat Arms. Combat Arms are the jobs that involve fighting directly with the enemy instead of playing a support role I was reading an article the other about the two females who graduated Ranger School, one of the Army’s most prestigious combat schools, and some of the comments from soldiers just did not make sense. I believe that if females are able to complete the same training as men they should not be looked at in a lesser capacity.

I think that one of main reasons there is so much prejudice is due to the false idea that women are not as strong as men. This is clearly proved false because females go through the same training during Basic Combat Training and some women do better than most men. In the case with the two Ranger School graduates, they are completing a school with a very high failure rate and I give them a lot of respect. Another reason I believe there is this bias is due to the idea women are unable to make smart tactical decisions in combat. Women would be fully capable of making those decisions and in a sense add a whole new perspective into combat that has not been seen.

Overall women deserve the opportunity to have any job in the Army they desire. If they put in the time and training, I do not see why there has to be that Gender Boundary.

Not your average war story

1.) What has been your experience with documentary films? Have you seen many? Why? Why not? Do you have a favorite? Why?

When it comes to the documentaries I would consider myself in between an expert and an amateur. I have seen more than a handful of documentaries and I always find that I am drawn to Documentaries that involve current Military issues or Military history. I myself am always on the search for more knowledge in that field of interest. I blame it on my obsession with making a career out of the United States Army. My favorite documentary by far is Restrepo. This documentary of a company of U.S Army troops in Korengal gives you an inside look of the soldiers daily lives in one of the most dangerous places in Afghanistan. I highly suggest Restrepo to anyone regardless of your standpoint on military affairs, it is well done and tells a great story of brotherhood and hardships faced when home is so far away.

2.) How can using documentary films as subject matter for this course help you as a writer? Relate to things we have discussed, or add new ideas from your deep reflection.

 Documentary films can be beneficial to a writer because they allow us access to real life events in a way that a newspaper could not. They offer us as writers a visual to information being talked about. If the words in a documentary were to just play on a screen, I think they would be less successful. Documentaries show writers that imagery is a key factor in all aspects of writing. If what is happening cannot be visualized then it will be boring to the audience. Documentaries encourage writers to put more detail into their works and add more emotions where needed. They make writers want to work harder.

3.) Assuming you have watched your film for the Documentary Project, tell us a bit about your response to it, adding some reflective writing on how watching the documentary will help you as a writer and communicator (aka "rhetor").

After finishing watching Restrepo it gives you a sense of patriotism and makes you feel for all the soldiers on deployments and dealing with hardships they have to face. It also is very informative to get an inside look at what a soldier does on a deployment and is interesting to see how they deal with the hardships. I feel after watching this it will help me become a better writer because of the depth of emotions in the documentary. In watching the documentary and experiencing the different emotions it in turn helps me with developing different emotions in writing.