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The Army

In the first text by Sarah Palin – “Why they serve”, we heat about Sarah Palin and her son Track, who enlisted in the army. The main reason Track serves is family. He has a little sister, baby brother and a nephew, he wants to be a part of making the best possible world, which is safe and welcoming for them.
The young American women and men who chose to defend America are not just defending a regular country. America is the only country in history that is not founded on a particular territory or culture, but on an idea. The young people, who are fighting for America is not just defending a piece of land, but also the idea of America itself.

The second text “A soldier’s story: War affects whole family” by David Zucchino is about the consequences after you have served in the army. We hear about Ryan Kahlor and his family’s story. Ryan Kahlor has been in Iraq and has got a lot of damages on him, like a detached retina, a ruptured disk and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. In the story we also hear about Ryan’s parents and how they fell. His dad says - “”I was so naïve. I was a kid from the Bible Belt who thought our country would take care of our soldiers” Tim Kahlor said. “I have guilt for helping him get into this”” (p. 4 l. 27-28). This shows that, a lot of people joining the army maybe have the thought, that It does not happen to me. Even though his parents would rather have Ryan attend to college, they are proud of him defending their country.

In the last and third text “The making of a Marine officer” by Joel Pitney, he decides to join the marines, because he is in search of an adventure, which he thinks only can be found there in our postmodern culture. He wanted an experience, which was transformative. “Something that might kill me – or leave me better, stronger, more capable. I wanted to be a warrior” (p. 6 l. 20-21). But after two tours of duty, he had got the adventure he wanted and decided to leave the marine, because he did not see himself as a military man.

If we go back to the first text and look at the engagement of the reader, we can see it is a very personal text, where we hear Sarah Palins own story. She tells about her position as governor of Alaska and a vice-presidential candidate, where she uses the appeal form ethos in a professional aspect, her position is in politic and therefore she must have a background and opinion about the military and war. But after she writes that she “That day I was just one of thousands of proud but wary American women: I was the mom of a young soldier being sent overseas to defend our country” – (p. 2 l. 9-10). Then she shows another side of her and is appealing to other moms or women, who can relate to her feelings, she is using pathos.
She starts with sharing her professional life and then goes to the personal, which shows she is also human, so you can say, that by sharing her own experience and feelings, it is a mix between ethos and pathos.
She also shares the reason for her son’s decision to serve in the army, which young people with the thought of enlisted in the army can relate to. So Sarah Palin engages both parents and young people as reader, by using pathos. With the engagement of the readers she can help, both parents and the young soldiers, to see the things from the other person’s eyes and in that way maybe help them to give an understanding to the decision. If we take this example:
“He wants a world that is safe and welcoming for them” (p. 2 l. 20). A safe world is a wish everyone is striving after, so parents are also wishing for a safe world and if they know, this is the reason for serving the army. They can hopefully better live with and understand the choice their children having taken.

If you ask the question what motivates young people to defend their country, there will come a lot of answer from person to person. In the third text by Joel Pitney – “The Making of a Marine Officer”, they are different views on the decision to serve the army. In the first line of it ask the question “Is the Marine Corps the last bastion of manhood in American society” So if you want to be a man-man, you can enlisted in the Marine Corps as a passage, if you are in doubt about your manhood. But on the other hand, we hear in the media about a new man-type, a real man can cook and change a diaper etc. So then there pops another question up – What defines a real man? Is a real man, a man that can handle a gun or handle a pot? You can get a lot different answer to that question.

Another reason to enlist in the army can be, that they think their lives are beginning to be boring and regular, they need some adventure in their lives. “Something that might kill me – or leave me better, stronger, more capable.” They need the excitement right now, but also they want to go out on the other side as a better person, who has learnt something about life.
You might be more blessed with what you have in your life after, you almost got kill. The army will put things in perspective and you might get another view on your life and maybe some other things, like political question or maybe the view on kids? – Maybe they don’t want kids after, because the have see the most evil things in this world. War.

Most of the people, who enlisted in the army, do to get an experience, which they think will make them a better person on the other side. Some do it as a passage, some need the adventure and other do to defend their country.