lone survivor free essay sample

The eyewitness account of Operation Redwing and the lost heroes of SEAL team 10 is a true story, that like most books about the SEALs, starts out for the most part with BUD/S. There is a bit of a lead up to this and it starts with Marcus Luttrell, the lone survivor, going through his tough, country style upbringing in Texas. At a very young age Luttrell decides he wants to become a Navy Seal, seeking out help and training from a former Green Beret named Billy Shelton. The next portion of the book falls into the typical SEAL book. It begins with Luttrell’s sign-up with the Navy, leads through a short section of basic training, then takes the reader through BUD/S including the much documented â€Å"Hell Week. † I won’t go into the details of these portions, since it has been written about and shown on television so much. We will write a custom essay sample on lone survivor or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Lone Survivor does go through Luttrell’s specific experiences, difficulties, and accomplishments as well as moving into the less documented Demolitions and Tactics Training and a fascinating brief on sniper school. Next it is off to Afghanistan for a variety of different missions with a few details included. This leads into what becomes the primary mission and bulk of the book; Operation Redwing. A high up Taliban leader and known associate of Osama Bin Laden had risen up a most wanted list and it was up to Luttrell and his men to capture or kill him. On June 27 th, 2005 Marcus Luttrell, Danny Dietz, Michael Murphy, and Matthew Axelson, all SEALs, roped out of a helicopter into the rugged terrain of Afghanistan to take out their target. Luttrell initially had worries about the terrain and lack of cover that later proved just. The four SEALs quickly realized they were getting into any sniper’s worst nightmare, difficult terrain with no cover of any kind, so they had to backtrack and try to find better routes and hides. After being dug in for quite sometime, a trio of goat herders stumble upon the SEALS, causing a difficult moral and tactical decision. They knew if they let the three of them go they would more than likely notify Taliban members in the area, but if they killed them there would be not only moral  issues to deal with, but right or wrong they would also be crucified by the liberal media. The SEALs knew it would not matter whether it was the correct tactical decision and that by letting them go they may be causing their own deaths. After a lengthy discussion and tense vote, they decided to let the herders go. It did not take long at all to pay the price for this decision. Taliban fighters began ar riving on the top of the hill above the SEALs, searching for them. The SEALs were greatly outnumbered and once the firing started they truly had no reprieve as the Taliban fighters continuously rained down gunfire and RPGs from their superior position. Luttrell and his men had to constantly provide cover fire, retreat, and try to protect their flanks. The SEALs amazingly held their own for quite some time, but with so much lead coming down at them it was only a matter of time before the began taking hits. With unbelievable courage and valor, they would take hits, lock and load and keep blasting away at the enemy. Even with repetitive mortal wounds these studs would continue to pick their targets and fire away. However, the human body can only take so much damage before shutting down and for Danny, Michael (Mikey), and Matthew (Axe) that point was reached, leaving Marcus Luttrell on his own. Blown off a mountain and badly injured, Luttrell now had to hide and evade the enemies. Confrontation was out of the question, but still occurred in a few fire fights that Luttrell was able to come out of victorious and quickly move on to stay away from the enemy. Members of Luttrell’s SDV Team 1 and Navy SEAL Team 10 got word of what was happening and immediately assembled and flew out in a MH-47 helicopter. The heroic rescue team arrived at a drop location and once the back hatched was opened tragedy struck. A Taliban fighter launched a RPG directly through the open door, exploding inside the helicopter. The shot was disastrous, blowing the MH-47 out of the sky and killing everyone on board. Finally a bit of luck was had by Luttrell who was found by an Afghan that was not in favor of the Taliban, so he helped get the injured SEAL back to his village. The tribe decides to grant him Lokhay, which basically means the village will help, shelter, and most importantly protect him with their lives. This ends up being more than talk and the villagers truly risk everything to keep Luttrell safe. Lone Survivor finishes up with a wrap up of Luttrell’s experiences after the ordeal. It is an absolutely amazing account of heroism and courage. Reading the book not only gives me a greater appreciation for our Navy SEALs, but also for all our military personnel. Thank you to all that serve and have served!

Confucius And Confucianism Essays - Confucianism, Chinese Philosophy

Confucius And Confucianism Essays - Confucianism, Chinese Philosophy Confucius and Confucianism LIFE OF CONFUCIUS Confucius was believed to have been born in 551 BC., in the state of Lu, known today as the Shandong province. His parents, who died while he was a child, named him Kong Qui. Confucius was derived from the Latin word Kongfuzi which means Great Master Kong. Confucius was the most influential and respected philosopher in Chinese history. His ideas were the single strongest influence on Chinese society from around 100 BC. to the AD. 1900's. The Chinese government made his ideas the official state philosophy and many nearby countries honored his beliefs. Confucius wanted to gain the position as an adviser to a wise ruler, but he failed. He hoped to do this in order to be able to employ his ideas for reforming society. If it wasn't for the disciples of Confucius his teachings would have never been spread around China, and he would have never been made known. His teachings were never written down by him, but his conversations and sayings were written down by his disciples in the analects. CONFUCIANISM Confucianism was the single most important thing in Chinese life. It affected everything in China; education, government, and attitudes toward behavior in public and private life. Confucianism is not a religion, but it is more a philosophy and a guide to morality and good government. At the time Confucius was born, China was in a conezt state of war, and rapid political change altered the structure of Chinese society so much that people no longer respected the established behavioral guidelines. Confucius stated that the ideal person was one of good moral character. The ideal person was also truly reverent in worship and sincerely respected his father and his ruler. He was expected to think for himself, guided by definite rules of conduct. As Confucius said, he was expected to take "as much trouble to discover what was right as lesser men take to discover what will pay". Confucius believed that this type of behavior by rulers had a greater effect on the people than did laws or codes of punishment. So when these types of people were rulers, their moral example would inspire the people to lead good lives. Confucius died sometime around 479 B.C., and his philosophy was not very well known. If it weren't for his disciples his ideas would probably still be unknown. Confucius never wrote anything down himself; his disciples wrote all of his sayings down in a collection of books called the Analects. These contain all that modern day man knows about Confucius. There existed two important Confucian philosophers-Mencius (390-305 BC) and Xunzi (mid 200's B.C.). They held beliefs similar to Confucius but they were somewhat different. Mencius's viewpoint was that people were born good, and that they had to "preserve the natural compassion of the heart". Xunzi opposed this by saying that people could be good and live peacefully only if their minds were shaped by education and conduct. Both of these ideas parallel Confucius', in that they both state that people can be good. Confucianism was concerned primarily with the needs of society, and unlike Buddhism and Taoism, not the ability for a person to live in harmony with nature. Beginning in the 200's B.C. Buddhism and Taoism began to affect and reshape the ezdards of Confucianism, and things such as nature came into play. Around A.D. 200 to 600, there was a rapid decline in the Confucian Beliefs in China. This was partly because Confucianism now had to compete with Buddhism and Taoism, which were developed around this time. These religions were to Confucianism as night is to day, in other words, they were exact opposites. Buddhism and Taoism were largely concerned with the meaning of suffering and death, while Confucianism largely ignored these. The revival of Confucianism began around the 600's and was fully revived by the 700's. In the 1100's, there was a movement lead by Zhu-Xi called the Neo-Confucianism movement. He developed a branch of this movement known as the rational-wing, it dealt with the study of Li, the relationship between humans and nature. Another branch was called the intuitional-wing and it dealt mostly with enlightenment by a combination of meditation and moral action.In the 1900's there was a

Conflict Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Conflict - Essay Example Confidence is one of the key principles that guide my conflict handling approach. I always try my best to exude high level of confidence in dealing with conflicting issues. The major step towards having confidence is to evaluate the situation at hand, approach it with calmness and composure and have an open-minded approach (Kellett, 2007). While handling a conflict, I always fight the negative overtones to ensure that I do not appear fearful or panicky, while getting ready to compromise in the event it is necessary to do so that to achieve the conflict resolution. Therefore, one of the main strengths in handling conflicts is trying to control emotions and display confidence, which serves to show the other party that one is able to resolve the issues at hand, otherwise one may send out a message of weakness in a conflict situation (Dana, 2001). Another of my strength that works well in handling conflicts is open-mindedness, which allows me to approach a conflicting situation aware tha t there are different ways of bring the conflict to a resolution, and thus prepare for any of the ways. open-mindedness is a crucial approach towards resolving a conflict, since it opens various avenues through which individuals can handle the conflict, as opposed to rigidity, which makes individuals to approach a situation with only one expectation, an aspect that makes conflict resolution even harder, and may even accelerate the conflict, since rigid individuals do not leave any chance of compromise and negotiation (Lansford, 2008). Another of my strength in conflict resolution is the fact that I am considerate. This is an important character in conflict resolution, since it allows me to put into consideration all the issues that the other parties to the conflict are raising, and effectively come up with an agreement that is favorable to all the parties. Nevertheless, there are several areas that I need to enhance, to become well equipped for conflict handling. One such area is to lerance. I have very little tolerance for arrogance, something that can make me react without sufficient consideration. This ends-up creating even more problems. Therefore, tolerance to arrogance is one of the areas that I require to enhance, so that I can react calmly to people who are arrogant, since calmness and tolerance are major milestones towards conflict resolution (Tidwell, 2001). Another area that I need to enhance is patience. Whenever a conflict arises, I have the tendency of seeking for an instant solution, other than giving the whole situation time, and reverting to address it later. This has always made conflict resolution an onerous task for me, since being haste means that the people involved in a conflict will handle it out of their emotional imbalance, thus may not easily come to an amicable solution. While individuals take time to cool off and then handle a conflict, there are higher chances of getting to an agreement, since both parties are calm, sober and willi ng to listen, as opposed to where individuals are handling conflict with feelings of anger, resentment and emotional instability (Wandberg, 2001). There is a great need of taking personal responsibility for ones feelings (Kellett, 2007). This is because, taking responsibility means that an individual is in a good position to control their feelings, while also reasoning and considering other parties’ points of view (Lansford, 2008). This makes it easy to reach an agreement and