Colin Abercrombie English 1101 Mr.

B November 7, 2012 Ethnography Every day, even as you read this right now, there are men and woman who are risking their lives for to keep our country safe. There is no greater courage than laying your life on the line for others wellbeing. Not everyone can do it, only the few, only the brave. In order to be successful in the military their communication must be on point. I observed the Air Force and Army branches of ROTC at UNCC. ROTC stands for reserve officers training corps and was started at the University of North Carolina Charlotte in 1981. The purpose of this paper is the highlight how the men and women in the armed forces use the most efficient and effect means of communication and leadership that they possibly can. There are many types of communication and leadership techniques that the armed forces and ROTC uses. From positive or negative motivation, individual or public criticism, higher or lower rank communication, short hand acronyms and military alphabet all used to communicate and motivate in the armed forces

They say that boot camp is the hardest thing a human being can do in their life. I wouldnt doubt it, not only is it physically demanding and strenuous, but it is also incredibly tolling emotionally. Day in and day out you have an angry raging monster yelling down your throat trying to break you down. If you have ever seen the movie Full Metal Jacket you know exactly what Im talking about. These average Joe-smoes walk in off the street and right off the bat they get chewed out to let them know they arent playing around here. Not all are coming right in out of nowhere; ROTC cadets go through boot camp between their sophomore and junior year. They have two years of training before becoming reserves. A lot of the training is motivational and leadership tactics. They are not individuals, they are an army of one and must perform as a working machine. Dwight Eisenhower once said Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. This hits the nail on the head. If you need something done, you want somebody to do it that wants it done more than you.

The motivational tactics are not easy to take. They are harsh and brutal meant to break you down or get you moving in the right direction. It is not for everyone, and for that reason they need to make sure that only the serious and hard make it through. It makes sense, if you are going to risk your neck who do you want watching your back, the slacker that coasted his way there or the hard fought marine that will take a bullet for you? The choice is a no brainer. They must be harsh so that only the serious and deserving move on. If you hear from a upper classman who has gone through boot camp, they tell you a different reasoning. Zell Miller explains that there is more to it than just to sift out the weak. There is so much information to teach that a soldier could use in the field of battle, too much to learn. They are pressed on time and must get the information as effective as possible. Unfortunately for everyone who wants to be in the military, that has to be through grueling weeks of physical and verbal punishment. The recruits take all this verbal punishment and only respond with either sire yes sir or sir no sir the only time the sergeants will want to hear anything else is when they ask rhetorical questions to emphasize how foolish the individual is being. This communication of yes sir, no sir is common military dialog, but at this level it is not only done for communication, it is done in unity as one army. They scream their cadence as a group, a whole, as one voice. This brings them closer, they are all going through this together and all they need is each other. It is an effective form of team building. It makes perfect sense, the bond between soldiers is forever lasting, and they become brothers. It works so effectively that in almost every sport the same technique is used; football, basketball, wrestling, lacrosse, almost every sport. They all go through a few weeks they call dog days or hell week and it is grueling sacrifice to get better. The technique they got from military but instead of a week or a month, its all the

time. Negative motivation is not always the answer, if somebody is struggling for reasons unknown, maybe theyre just not in the right state of mind, but still putting forth 100% effect, they might call them aside individually and ask them politely what is troubling them. The cadets interviewed said the Air Force ROTC will positively motivate cadets that are struggling, while the Army might use negative motivation by threatening them with punishment to get them going. if a cadet is struggling, they will be given an example of somebody who is doing it right to give them a goal. If the continue to struggle I might call them aside and politely talk to them about what they are doing wrong (Shelby Olivera, cadet captain ROTC). I asked the cadets that I interviewed what they think common traits that make up a good leader, they all the same answers; good communication skills, confidence, understanding, humble (Mike Robinson, Shelby Olivera, Malory Warner). The communication and motivation are one of the many traits that leaders need in order to be successful. They need to be able to take a glance at a situation or group of people and know what action to take and what to say to get the group motivated to get the job done. One thing that makes cadets of ROTC great leaders is their experience. They dont wait for the situation to arise where they have to take action to step up to the plate. They are thrown into the water to sink or swim. They are pressured as underclassmen in situation where they have to take command and make choices and be confident in those choices. They will make mistakes, but they will learn from these mistakes to make them better leaders. Consider ROTC and boot camp like homework, if you make a mistake you want to make it on homework so if you were to mess up, its no big deal. You make a mistake on homework you wont make it on the test. ROTC is your homework and the real world military is the test.

The mistakes made in ROTC, in a controlled environment are the same situation cadets will see out in the heat of battle. All the cadets stated all the traits that they thought made a great leader, I also asked them if these traits are hereditary or are they learned. They all said they are learned through ROTC. They are put into situations that would make most people uncomfortable. They must take action and be able to communicate to the group without hesitation, biased, and make choices for the well-being of the group. So what makes a good leader? Experience. You become better leader by leading others and learning what traits work best, when to give praise for doing good, or when to fire someone up that is struggling. They learn everyday what it takes to be a better leader so when the situation arises for them to step up, they are more than ready. The leadership tactics used by the military are also used in the business world. Business managers are taught different methods of motivation to get their employees to work at their best. In the military they use some of these theories as well. The Reinforcement Theory suggests that reinforcement can influence behavior (Intro to Business 332). Positive reinforcement motivates employees by providing rewards for high performance, and negative reinforcement motivates employees by encouraging them to behave in a manner that avoids unfavorable consequences. Pretty clear how it can be applied to the military, if a cadet or soldier is doing a good job they are rewarded with a break or reward, or just recognition for their work. If they are struggling they are chewed out, threatened, and embarrassed in front of their peers to get them in gear. The men and women in the US military put their lives on the line everyday to keep us safe and have proven time and time again that they are the best in world. They use the most efficient forms of communication and leadership that they can to make themselves and others

better each and every day. Whether its the different motivational tactics to get each individual to their best from positive or negative motivation, or learning new leadership skills and traits and putting those traits in real life situations to make everyone better around them. Not everyone can risk their life every day for others, but the few that do are the bravest and selfless people in the world.

Works Cited About/careers/usmilitary.com phonetic alphabet. 2012. Web. November 5 2012 This this was incredibly helpful in showing the advancement in the communication in the military. The phonetic alphabet was created to limit confusion. Since so many words sound similar and have similar spelling, the phonetic gives a direct and defined meaning. The alphabet has changed over the years, though it has remained same since 1957 they have changed 5 times over the years. With social communication changing so does the military communication, always simplifying and improving. "Army" would be "Alfa Romeo Mike Yankee" when spelled in the phonetic alphabet This practice helps to prevent confusion between similar sounding letters, such as "m" and "n", and to clarify communications that may be garbled during transmission. The words chosen to represent some letters have changed since the phonetic alphabet was introduced. When these changes occur, they are made by international agreement. The current phonetic alphabet was adopted in 1957. This site is credible since it is a career website designed to look at military as a profession. It showed the advancement of communication through the years and how they eliminated the confusion in the complex communication executed through daily military activities. It is a creative way of thinking of an entirely new language for the military that can be used across all branches of the armed forces.

Grammar.yourmilitarydictionary.com military slang sayings. 2012. Web. November 5, 2012 This brings the unofficial terms of the military. It was an amusing take on the acronyms that soldiers use in the heat of battle. When the shots are firing there is no time for full sentences, the information needs to be told immediately. This is more of a language that brothers and close friends use, not terms used to superiors. The language used isnt suitable for everyone, and even the quotes used are censored, the military isnt known for proper language. So what does FUBAR mean? Its an acronym for Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition (there may be other words that can used in place of fouled, but well leave that to your imagination.) Military acronyms are a very shorthanded way of saying a lot in a little bit of space. Time is of the essence on the battlefield, so memorizing acronyms is a common way soldiers express themselves AQAP

Members of the armed services have a tendency to use acronyms as words. it can become quite comical, as in I need an IFAK because of the POC of the IED thats in the LZ. Translated, this acronym salad means: I need an individual first aid kit because of the point of contact of an improvised explosive device thats in the landing zone. This is a credible source, the author seems to have a military background and definetly has experience in this field. I like the way they used examples of the acronyms that would be used in the heat of battle. Not just a word here or there, but half of their sentences consist of acronyms to make things as simple as possible. http://delivery.acm.org. Dialog architecture for military story capture. 2002. Web. November 5 2012 This article gives a perfect diagnostic of the military dialog. It provides examples of a typical conversation between a soldier and his/her superior officer. It gives what the superior officer expects from planned military actions. The dialog used for all aspects of military actions and division; Referring to time of a task, or referring to a superior in general. This is exactly what I am looking for in the communication between two official military officers. move delta to the four pack in two hoursmove alpha to checkpoint alpha one starting one hour after that What is destination time? Start plus three zero minutes Military forces are organized into hierarchies. A company is composed of platoons which is composed of squads which is composed of soldiers Overall I think this is a very creditable source, it is not an average website, it is an organization and is well put together. It provides perfect examples of the communication between two military personnel and some of the language used that is uncommon between average citizens

Full Metal Jacket. Dir. Stanley Kubrick. Perf. Matthew Modine, R. Lee Ermey, Vincent DOnofrio. 1987. Film. One of the best military films ever produced, it puts a view on the viet nam war that wasnt put out before, but more importantly it shows more dialog used by the military. Before anyone become a marine or soldier they must go through basic training. The military must sift out the weak and keep the strong, they do this through verbal abuse. Through this film they show some of the punishment and humiliation that recruits must go through in order to be a part of the military brotherhood. The performance that R. Lee Ermey puts on is a dead on accurate interoperation of what a sergeant does during basic training.

I am Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, your senior drill instructor. From now on you will speak only when spoken to, and the first and last words out of your filthy sewers will be "Sir". Do you maggots understand that? If you ladies leave my island, if you survive recruit training, you will be a weapon. You will be a minister of death praying for war. But until that day you are pukes. You are the lowest form of life on Earth. You are not even human ******* beings. You are nothing but unorganized grabastic pieces of amphibian shit! Because I am hard, you will not like me. But the more you hate me, the more you will learn. I am hard but I am fair. There is no racial bigotry here Here you are all equally worthless. And my orders are to weed out all non-hackers who do not pack the gear to serve in my beloved Corps. Do you maggots understand that? This is a credible source because it is 100% accurate. This is how recruits are treated during basic training and provides excellent example of communication of a sergeant to a recruit who is not even in the armed forces yet. His job is to brake him, and he will use all assets of his vocabulary to do so. This is considered one of the best military movies of all time as it should be. It provides an inside look of what it takes to get to war, before they go to the hell of war, they go through the hell of basic training.

Miller, Zell. Corps Values. New York: Longstreet Press. 1996. Print. Personal reflection of a man who was in the marines and learned everything he knows today from doing so. He brakes it down into 12 different lessons he learned, from neatness to respect to loyalty. The most important to my research is the punctuation tap. He talks about how the drill instructor used a brutal combination of verbal and physical brutality to get his men in line. There are two reasons for this: to sift out the weak and thin the herd, and there is only a limited time for the drill instructor to teach, orders must be said only once. Better late than never well, the marines turn that around in a hurry in boot camp. Their version is an unequivocal better never than late for want of a nail, a horseshoe was lost, for want of a horseshoe, a horse was lost, for want of a horse, the battle was lost This is a highly credible source, the author was in the military and went through it himself and at the time of writing this was the governor of Georgia, making him a credible source well respected. Zell Miller is known as one of Americas most respected leaders. He recounts the simple but powerful lessons and morals learned through boot camp that all these years laster he still holds today. On the back of the book, he has compliments from hall of famer baseball players, Medal of Honor winners, and CEOs. The lessons taught in this book can be applied to all aspects of life.