The film “ Where solders come from”(WSCF, 2011) follows the journey of a group of friends from North Michigan and documents their experience of enlisting in the Army National Guard. Using the Developmental Life Course Perspective I will look at the following six themes of the model (1) interplay of Human lives and historical times, (2) linked or interdependent lives, (3) Human agency in making choices, (4) Timing of lives, (5) Diversity in life course trajectories and (6) Developmental risk and protection and I will then apply them to life narrative of Dominic, Cole and Bodi.
Interplay of human lives and historical times:
In film (WSCF, 2011) the family members of the main characters talked about the timing of the young men’s decision to join the National Guard. Many of the family members felt that joining the National Guard during war times would put the young men at a greater risk to be deployed
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Many of the men featured in the film discussed that their decision to join the National Guard was influenced by the decision of their peers. Each young man in the film at some pointed referenced the fact that he enlisted as a way to stay connected with the group. The young men in the group often talked about how going to war together brought them comfort because they knew without a doubt they would fight for each other. Also in the film many of the women talked about how their lives were being effect by the young men decision to enlist in the National Guard.
Human Agency in making choices:
Dominic’s decision to enlist in the National Guard demonstrated his strength in making choices. His decision to join the National Guard came out of limited resources in his environment. Dominic’s strength not only changed the trajectory of his future but it also changes the trajectory of his childhood friend’s futures and community as a whole.
Diversity in life course
The American Revolution marked the history of many heroic events that immaculately stand as true inspirations for the generations to come in the United States. Even today, the gallantry of a few soldiers that won independence for the country is not only kept in the hearts of the people but run in the American blood to demonstrate acts of valor at times of war and hardships. One such story recorded in the history dates back to 1776, about a sixteen-year old juvenile, Joseph Plumb Martin, joined the Rebel Infantry and recorded his tribulations about forty-seven years in a memoir titled as “A Narrative of a Revolutionary Soldier”. The book mainly focuses on the sufferings through the tough situation he went through.
The biography, A Long Way Gone, Memoirs of a boy Soldier, by Ishmael Beah, tells the story of a thirteen year old boy who spends his childhood being compelled to fight in the civil war in Sierra Leone. Ishmael Beah tries to avoid fighting for the rebels by running from town to town with his friends as the rebels advanced. Finally, his luck runs out and Ishmael Baeh is forced to serve in the civil war for the rebels. The story goes on to describe his horrific childhood as a soldier in Sierra Leone and his eventual rescue by Unicef and rehabilitation center. In this passage, Ishmael Beah created a mental image that allows us to visualize how disturbing and how unreal living in wartone Sierra Leone during the early 1980’s.
Not only is the younger generation fighting to prove a point to the elders, but Yale students ran away to fight in the war. As the authors described the reality of the story, they both explain, “Yale students did rush away to get weapons and join the war in 1775” (Collier and Collier 214). The majority of the older generation did not go run to join the fight, but most young teens did. Even though the students think that they were doing something brave or bold, they did not listen to their parents to tell them otherwise.
The opportunities began building from the moment Moore’s grandparents stepped foot in America, and Wes Moore began to fully reap their benefits when he enrolled in military school. All the fortunate incidents and chances presented to Moore throughout his life lead to his achievements and overall success in life, making him an outlier of his time. What Wes Moore experiences can
In the beginning, the boys wanted and dreamed to be at home, but at the end, they wanted to stay. This is because the war has changed these young men. The war changed many boys, turning boys into men, men into warriors, warriors into beast. This is the reason why the government lied. They didn’t want old, they wanted the “new generation”
Their main concerns are mostly to fit in and keep in good standing with their family and their town. Though they all react in different ways to the news of being drafted, each of the men has something in common. The fact that they are all fighting
How it was shaped: Tim allowed the draft of the Vietnam war and societal pressures get to the best of him and he slowly tore himself apart, he started off as a confident incorrigible man. His morals later then became corrupted, he gave into the pressures, his self proclaimed Lone Ranger status had been infected and debunked by his end decision of serving in the Vietnam war. Thesis: In the story, On the Rainy River, the author, Tim O’Brien demonstrates that an individual allows societal pressures and expectations to override their core values, morals, and beliefs; peer pressure forces individuals to put their beliefs aside so they can fit in with everyone else. The narrator, Tim O’Brien faces a similar situation when he get’s drafted for the Vietnam War.
After a soldier returns home from war different outcomes from their experience will unfold when they begin civilian life. They can either isolate themselves or embrace life. In “Soldier’s Home,” Harold Krebs isolates himself and avoided situations that would make his life more complicated. Harold returned home from WWI and had a difficult time returning to civilian life. He would spend his time “reading on the front porch until he became bored” isolation himself from others (Hemingway).
The pressure of the war has gone to everyone’s heads in Devon. Anything the students did at Devon did not make them forget the pressure of the war. It is also making it harder to find themselves because of all the pressure, while the school itself shows to care, mostly it is preparing the high school seniors before they are enlisted in the war. In other words, there is an identity crisis is going through an identity crisis and Gene one of the examples that portrays this.
The praises that you receive shouldn’t be based on the mere fact that you join but maybe for those who actually wants to serve and protect. In contrast, he says “Make that choice without looking back to see the cheering faces of those who tell you your duty is to do what they are not doing for purposes you may not know nor share” (Gillman 680). None the less, the author let the reader know that these young men and women risk their own lives for purposes which may not be of any value to themselves or the country. As a result, those purposes doesn’t deserve the praises that are
On DebateWise.org it is stated that some kids join because they live in poverty and will otherwise starve to death. They feel like they don’t have any choice but to join. Other times they are convinced being a soldier will be safer for them, that they will be safer when they’re the ones behind the gun, not in front of it. In Ishmael Beah’s “Long Way Gone” he describes how during the civil war in Sierra Leone, rebels would march into cities and chose the children who seemed the strongest. Many times the rebels would then force their newly recruited members to kill weaker civilians in the city.
For a thirteen-year-old boy it was even more dangerous and difficult to survive not only because of the enemies and the fact that he didn’t have his parents but also because he had to hunt for his own food. Despite of all these challenges he even takes on the mission to find his parents. He succeeds in finding his parents and then decides to join the war fighting for the American independence. Cited
For example, many people have to take on the role as a single parent when raising their children, if they were required to join the military there would not be anyone to provide for their children. Yes, many individuals have family members that could take on the role as the parent while their loved one was serving, but what happens when you do not have any family or your family is not physically able to take care of anyone else but themselves? If you are the sole provider for another individual that is not able to thrive on their own you can not abandon
The Fourth Battalion of the 27th Infantry As my father and I sat at the kitchen table, I assumed my dad, Scott Garland, would have somewhat serious responses for being in the Army for 6 years. As he thought about the military all of his life changing memories flooded back to him. He had been stationed in many places and remembered each and every one of them.