DURING DANIEL MOI’S PRESIDENCY IN KENYA
BY RACHEL RAMPRASAD
The memoir It Happened on the Way to War states that Kibera is the largest slum in Africa. The author Rye Barcott creates an awareness of the horrendous living situation the citizens of Kibera have to live with. Ethnic violence, poor economy, and unsanitary living conditions are the largest problems in the slum. Kenya is a country of democracy, so shouldn’t an elected president be helping his people? As a president, it is on his shoulders that Kibera improve, not get worse. It is his job to make the environment livable for his people. President Daniel arap Moi – could he and did he help to stimulate economic growth and living conditions in Kibera?
President Moi could in fact stimulate economic growth in Kibera, he did try to until his last term, when he decided to retire (“KENYA: Focus on Clashes”). During his last term, he passed a law so that landlords in Kibera must lower their rent (“KENYA: Focus on Clashes”). This could have been one decent thing he has done his 20 year rule because by lowering the rent the people now have more money in their pockets to put elsewhere into the economy. Now at least many citizens could afford to have a roof over their heads. However, this caused a feud between landlords and tenants, and 3,000 tenants were displaced from homes. Many houses were destroyed and many became homeless (‘KENYA: Focus on Clashes”). Policemen also “raided homes and shops and stole money and property” (“KENYA: Focus on Clashes”). So, instead of the law helping the citizens and the economy, it created havoc, and further destroyed the economy by destroying shops and consumer goods.
Some may say he tried to help the citizens and the economy with lower rent, and it was the citizens that didn’t want to cooperate, but I say he was the one that caused the citizens to turn that way, and caused the economy to plummet to begin with. During President “Jomo Kenyatta’s presidency Kenya became one of the most stable and prosperous countries in Africa” (Crawfurd). When Moi took over, he created “Pro-government troublemakers”, and human rights abuses escalated (Närman). Not only that, but Kibera, a once prosperous place people went for job seeking, is now the biggest slum. The chaos could have been the President’s intention all along, not helping the Kenyans. Some believe it may possibly have been his intentions because when Ethnic clashes broke out in Kibera, the “Government stayed passive”. “Some feared that Moi would like to see chaos break out in Kenya after he gives up presidency” (Crawfurd).
Chaos did break out in Kenya. Moi is one of the people that caused different ethnic groups to hate and start fighting each other to this extent to begin with. He and his party thought that by having tribal wars, he will win the election because by having different tribes go against each other and fight, they will turn into rivals, and have no choice but to vote for him and his party (KANU). He was right because he won. The tribes preferred a national party (KANU) to win instead of a rival tribal group. Since every tribal group hated the other tribal groups, they lost votes, causing the national party to win. (See Conor O’Brien’s essay on our course blog for more on how he used different ethnic groups to win elections.) Moi has been playing with ethnic groups from the beginning to get what he wanted, so hurting them because of the rent war was only the icing on cake.
Not only did he use violence between ethnic groups to stay in office, but he cheated the voting system. Moi “use an intricate ethnic balance to ensure he had a majority behind him in parliament” (Närman). He cheated the system so that only those from different ethnic groups favoring his side won the election. By controlling who got into parliament he had no opposition which allowed him to do as he pleased. (See Nia Owens’s essay, also on our course blog, on political structure for more on how President Moi cheated the system to win elections.)
So what was Moi doing in office other than corrupting the voting system, was Moi trying to stimulate economic growth? According to Phil Ponce, the chaos hurt Kenya’s tourist industry, and that further weakened the economy. No one wants to go to a country where violence is everywhere. Foreign investors didn’t have enough confidence in the stability of the country to want to invest (Ponce). As a president he decided to introduce an economic reform program, only the $220 million loan was suspended because he failed to tackle corruption (Ponce). Corruption he helped to create, I might add. At the time he was the second richest man in Africa, yet the place he governed was a slum. He bought votes, cheated the voting system, harassed or killed opposition members, uses the police and military to benefit himself, and caused ethnic clashes (Crawfurd). One would say Moi somewhat turned into a dictator in a supposedly democratic country (Närman). He then could do whatever he wants--decreased living conditions in Kibera, ruin the economy, and remain in parliament for 20 years.
To be fair, eventually when the UN and democratized countries came down on him, he agreed to political reform. He allowed Kenya to once again have opposition parties and have more access to the radio and television (Ponce). He also requested for international aid when Kenya was lashed with severe drought and famine (“Kenya” 2283). So maybe Kibera turning into a slum with thousands unable to purchase goods and medicine wasn’t completely his fault. The drought and famine contributed greatly to that. However, if he handled the chaos and did not add to it, his country would had more aid coming in from industrialized nations bettering his people.
Also, if he were not so corrupt his people might had clean water in a drought. The World Bank suspended the public-sector water projects because large scales of the funds were misused (“Kenya” 2283). This clearly shows how corrupt the government was. Nonetheless, to be fair, “the Government banned all forms of irrigation in an attempt to conserve water supply in Nairobi” (“Kenya” 2283). But then this is only after the World Bank suspended the water supply because they (Kenya government) exploited the funds.
Similar to the World Bank even the Germans took their aid away when it was passed to the Kenyan government. The Germans only gave to the famine victims through a charitable organization, not when it was controlled by the government (“Kenya” 2283). They too knew how corrupt the government was and didn’t trust them. In the memoir Barcott states that NGO’s were spending money on themselves not on Kibera, living luxurious lives (60). President Moi one of the richest men in Africa (“Kenya”) was after all living in a mansion right outside the slum (Barcott). While it’s normal for an elected president to live well and have nice things, I don’t think he and the NGO members should have such a luxurious lifestyle when their country is suffering severe drought, famine and a plummeting economy. Where were they getting the money from? Does he deserve so much wealth? In addition, the drought affected the power industry (“Kenya 2283”) so the economy is in a deeper hole than it already was.
Did President Daniel arap Moi help to better his country’s economy and living conditions? My research shows that President Moi is the reason for his country’s economic failure and poor living conditions for his people. The president before Moi left the country as a prosperous nation. Moi left the country in a major economic crisis with thousands homeless and famished. Some say Moi left the country in a dark age, and I concur with them. He and other members of the government took money from aid around the world to benefit themselves. He also created the violence against different ethnic group to remain in office. Eventually he tried to help the country but it was too late, the country was far too corrupt for outsiders to help.
The good news in all of this is the president after Moi, Kibaki, started leading the country in the right path, focusing on rebuilding the economy and on education (Närman). He believed every kid should have free access to education. He took the power away from the corrupted party Moi was part of.
WORKS CITED
Barcott, Rye. It Happened on the Way to War. New York: Bloomsbury, 2011. Print.
Crawfurd, Jacob. “Kenya Timeline.” The Crawfurd.dk. 1996-2011. Web. 7 Sept. 2011.
“Kenya.” The Europa World Year Book 2001. 42nd ed. Vol. 2. N.p.: Europa, 2001. 2283. Print.
“KENYA: Focus on Clashes in Kibera Slum.” IRIN Humanitarian News and Analysis. IRIN, 2011. Web. 6 Sept. 2011.
Närman, Anders. “Elections in Kenya – What Now?” Nordiska Afrikainstitutet. Göteborg “U”, Sweden, n.d. Web. 7 Sept. 2011
Ponce, Phil. “A Kenyan Controversy” transcript from PBS News hour. 5 Jan. 1998. Web. 7 Sept. 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
James Campbell: Democracy in Kenya
Democracy in Kenya by James Campbell
Governments are the most important aspects of a country. The better your country is governed, the better the citizen can live. Some countries are governed by greedy politicians that steal money from people. Why do Politian’s continue to not cooperate and what is the political system? Sometimes the power of the head of the state is limited and he/she just does that “the people” expect him/her to do. Just like the United States, many countries have a constitution that helps them dictate how they live. Some countries have a less effective constitution or a weak one that does give the head of the state a lot of power. In other cases, the constitution is vague enough that men in power can take advantage of it. In most cases the head of the state creates laws and enforces them. This is different from the United States, where congress makes rules and the judicial branch enforces the law. In this essay we will discuss the effectiveness of the Kenyan Government. (2)In the 1980’s the down turn of Kenya began with the infestation of HIV/AIDS. In 1990 life expectancy began to reverse, where many are not expected to live past 53 years and the mortality rate of children five years and younger has risen slightly. Thus providing us with information that shows how the progression of Kenya since 1990 has been failing.
Africa needs help, while we are wasting a lot of money on wasted electricity and food; many Africans don’t even have food to eat of a decent place to sleep in. (3) 70% of Kenyans live in poverty, and in the largest slum in the world most of them live in a 12f by 12 foot shack living off of less than $1.25 a day. Our actions will improve the future, both for us and Africans future. We are the future leaders of the world so when our peers need help, we should try to help out. We don’t know when we are going to need help ourselves also. Although it might be difficult, we just need to take the initiative. We have to see how the government works in order to do any contributions in Kenya.
Kenya won their independence from Great Britain on December 12, 1963, and was first headed by Jomo Kenyatta (“Kenya”). (6) “Jomo himself was an enigma.” As a product of the Church of Scotland mission he was one of the only educated Agĩkũyũ he sought to gain power in “Nairobi city – the colonial seat of power.” With the knowledge of knowing thatpower there would not be ‘limited.’ Kenya is a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the president is both head of the state and head of the government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government and the National Assembly. “The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. There was growing concern especially during former presidential Daniel Arap Moi’s tenure that [1978-2002] the executive was increasingly meddling with the affairs of the judiciary” (“Kenya”). (7) He used government money to make profits with italian drugs dealers and many other things. He had “multimillion pound properties in London, New York and South Africa, as well as a 10,000-hectare ranch in Australia and bank accounts containing hundreds of millions of pounds.” Here we can see that the president has much of the government power. He has power to do most things he wants to do. This now has changed to a better government. (4)
Recently the government has improved compared to bad elections before 1998. In December 2002, Kenyans held democratic and open elections, most of which were judged free and fair by international observers. (4) The 2002 elections marked an important turning point in Kenya’s democratic evolution in that power was transferred peacefully from the Kenya African Union (KANU), which had ruled the country since independence to the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC), a coalition of political parties; these show the initial step to changing the corrupt government. Holding free elections is just the way to move towards a democratic government.
In conclusion, we can see that Kenya had moved towards a more democratic form of government. This is extremely good for the citizens now because they can elect their leader, and demand change when needed.
“Kenya.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web.12 Sept. 2011
(1) Wikipedia. "Kenya." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 28 Sept. 2011. Web. 28 Sept. 2011.
(2) Bliss, Katherine. "Kenya: The Big Picture on Health." Google. 2011 Center for Strategic & International Studies, 12 Aug. 2011. Web. 28 Sept. 2011.
(3)Dr. Mitchell
(4) Bowen, Richard C Bowen C. "Kenya - Government." KENYA. Richard C Bowen, 1 Jan. 1996. Web. 28 Sept. 2011.
(5)http://www.google.com/search?q=diana+hacker+cite&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-Address&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7ADRA_enUS446 28 sep 2011 Does not have citation
(6) Kĩriakũ, Kĩriakũ Wa. "Who Was Jomo Kenyatta?" Kasisi Facing Mt. Kenya. 8 Jan. 2009. Web. 28 Sept. 2011
(7) Rice, Xan. "The Looting of Kenya | World News | The Guardian." Latest News, Sport and Comment from the Guardian | The Guardian. World News, 30 Aug. 2007. Web. 28 Sept. 2011.
Governments are the most important aspects of a country. The better your country is governed, the better the citizen can live. Some countries are governed by greedy politicians that steal money from people. Why do Politian’s continue to not cooperate and what is the political system? Sometimes the power of the head of the state is limited and he/she just does that “the people” expect him/her to do. Just like the United States, many countries have a constitution that helps them dictate how they live. Some countries have a less effective constitution or a weak one that does give the head of the state a lot of power. In other cases, the constitution is vague enough that men in power can take advantage of it. In most cases the head of the state creates laws and enforces them. This is different from the United States, where congress makes rules and the judicial branch enforces the law. In this essay we will discuss the effectiveness of the Kenyan Government. (2)In the 1980’s the down turn of Kenya began with the infestation of HIV/AIDS. In 1990 life expectancy began to reverse, where many are not expected to live past 53 years and the mortality rate of children five years and younger has risen slightly. Thus providing us with information that shows how the progression of Kenya since 1990 has been failing.
Africa needs help, while we are wasting a lot of money on wasted electricity and food; many Africans don’t even have food to eat of a decent place to sleep in. (3) 70% of Kenyans live in poverty, and in the largest slum in the world most of them live in a 12f by 12 foot shack living off of less than $1.25 a day. Our actions will improve the future, both for us and Africans future. We are the future leaders of the world so when our peers need help, we should try to help out. We don’t know when we are going to need help ourselves also. Although it might be difficult, we just need to take the initiative. We have to see how the government works in order to do any contributions in Kenya.
Kenya won their independence from Great Britain on December 12, 1963, and was first headed by Jomo Kenyatta (“Kenya”). (6) “Jomo himself was an enigma.” As a product of the Church of Scotland mission he was one of the only educated Agĩkũyũ he sought to gain power in “Nairobi city – the colonial seat of power.” With the knowledge of knowing thatpower there would not be ‘limited.’ Kenya is a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the president is both head of the state and head of the government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government and the National Assembly. “The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. There was growing concern especially during former presidential Daniel Arap Moi’s tenure that [1978-2002] the executive was increasingly meddling with the affairs of the judiciary” (“Kenya”). (7) He used government money to make profits with italian drugs dealers and many other things. He had “multimillion pound properties in London, New York and South Africa, as well as a 10,000-hectare ranch in Australia and bank accounts containing hundreds of millions of pounds.” Here we can see that the president has much of the government power. He has power to do most things he wants to do. This now has changed to a better government. (4)
Recently the government has improved compared to bad elections before 1998. In December 2002, Kenyans held democratic and open elections, most of which were judged free and fair by international observers. (4) The 2002 elections marked an important turning point in Kenya’s democratic evolution in that power was transferred peacefully from the Kenya African Union (KANU), which had ruled the country since independence to the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC), a coalition of political parties; these show the initial step to changing the corrupt government. Holding free elections is just the way to move towards a democratic government.
In conclusion, we can see that Kenya had moved towards a more democratic form of government. This is extremely good for the citizens now because they can elect their leader, and demand change when needed.
“Kenya.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web.12 Sept. 2011
(1) Wikipedia. "Kenya." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 28 Sept. 2011. Web. 28 Sept. 2011.
(2) Bliss, Katherine. "Kenya: The Big Picture on Health." Google. 2011 Center for Strategic & International Studies, 12 Aug. 2011. Web. 28 Sept. 2011.
(3)Dr. Mitchell
(4) Bowen, Richard C Bowen C. "Kenya - Government." KENYA. Richard C Bowen, 1 Jan. 1996. Web. 28 Sept. 2011.
(5)http://www.google.com/search?q=diana+hacker+cite&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-Address&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7ADRA_enUS446 28 sep 2011 Does not have citation
(6) Kĩriakũ, Kĩriakũ Wa. "Who Was Jomo Kenyatta?" Kasisi Facing Mt. Kenya. 8 Jan. 2009. Web. 28 Sept. 2011
(7) Rice, Xan. "The Looting of Kenya | World News | The Guardian." Latest News, Sport and Comment from the Guardian | The Guardian. World News, 30 Aug. 2007. Web. 28 Sept. 2011.
Danielle Burns: A Military Impact
A Military Impact by Danielle Burns
Values: whether they are good or bad, we all have them and use them on a daily basis, but where do these values come from? As I was reading It Happened on the Way to War by Rye Barcott, I couldn’t help but wonder what is the impact military veterans leave on their children? In this book Barcott’s father seemed to have such a strong impact on everything he did. At one point Barcott said “I wanted to be an infantry officer and then go to a reconnaissance unit, as my father had done” (Barcott 180). This quote alone shows that his father had an impact on his life. Therefore I wanted to answer the question, what is the impact military parents leave on their children’s values? Understanding the answer to this question will help us realize why Barcott acts the way he does and makes the decisions he does.
As I began researching this question, most of the information I found was about deployment. I realize deployment has a strong impact on a child, but that’s not what I was looking for in my research, as this had nothing to do with family values. I wanted to know, in depth, the impact Marines or other military parents left on the future lives of their children. I wanted to research values they taught their children and which in turn their children carried throughout their lives.
Because my father was a Marine, I know the importance of military values. Before I was born my father was a Marine in force recon serving in two battles, Beirut and Grenada. In this paper I can contribute personal experience along with facts I found during research because I found very few sources as I did my research. My father left a lasting impact on my life and I couldn’t help but want to find out if others felt the same way. Even though I never served in the military, I hold similar values as Marines do such as loyalty and determination. Throughout this paper I use “I” a lot pertaining to my own life experiences. Although many of us learn as writers not to put our own input into our writing pieces, I received guidelines and permission from my professor to give you this information, because the resources I found were very limited. I would also like to say that many of these stories from me and otherwise are life experiences, and I don’t want to offend anyone by including these; life with military families can vary greatly.
Barcott’s story It Happened on the Way to War was a great source for my research question. Barcott, a Marine and a cofounder of a Non-Profit Organization, struggled to find peace between his two worlds. Throughout this book Barcott repeatedly reminds us of his father, who was also a Marine. He constantly questions whether his father would approve, or what his father would do in his situation. One example is one of Barcott’s first memories of wanting to be a Marine, “… And I wanted to know how I would react to it ever since I was a child and touched that old smoke grenade behind my father’s desk” (Barcott 253). In this sentence Barcott proves that his father had an impact on him wanting to go to war, whether his father realized it or not. Another important example is when Barcott answers a phone call remembering what his father had taught him, “I’d learned from my father never to identify myself first” (Barcott 241). Here Barcott tells us very simply that he still follows the advice his father gave him, even as an adult. Throughout Barcott’s book you can find many other examples showing that his father had a very strong impact on his choices (Barcott 176, 180, 199, and 212).
Mary Edwards Wertsch, author of a well-known book Military Brats: Legacies of Childhood Inside the Fortress, seems to agree with the way I think. In a radio interview about her book she describes “three masks” in the military, identifying them as “stoicism (repression of emotion), secrecy, and denial. And everything that is in military life, no matter what it is, affects the inside of a family” (“BratCon Radio”). In the Marines you are taught to think a certain way and to believe in certain things. From the beginning in basic training you are sculpted and chiseled into what they believe to be the “perfect marine.” You are taught “knowledge, endurance, unselfishness, integrity, and loyalty” (U.S. Marine Corps). Even when the men leave the Marines, these values stay with them throughout their lives. And as Wertsch says, naturally these values find their way into their family life.
Impacting a child’s life often comes more from a parent’s actions than the things you say. When growing up and even still to this day my father never really told his kids how much we meant to him. I knew this was because at war it didn’t matter how he felt, he was taught to simply take orders, not to feel. “Warriors believe in the mask of stoicism. They keep it close to them; wear it like a talisman empowered to ward off the evil eye. They expect stoic behavior of one another, except in the worst, most cataclysmic moments of combat” (Wertsch 41). Sometimes not hearing my father say how much he cared took a toll on me as a child. I would often find my self-wondering if he even cared, or whether he would help me if I were in danger. But it was the simple actions, the sacrifices that he made that never left me wondering for long. In elementary school my father had already impacted the way I thought and the actions I as making-- from silly school projects where he and I would spend weeks at a time building boats for buoyancy that had flashing lights and motors, to a pinball machine made to show simple machines, which was almost the size of a real pinball machine. Through these projects, he taught me if you’re going to do something do it with your best work and be the best. Still to this day I carry this value with me. Although I know it’s unpractical to think I can be the best at everything, I go into every challenge doing my best, knowing that I can be the best. Because that’s what a Marine does: they do their best, and they are the best.
It’s the simple acts a Marine father does that show he cares the most. Quite often military parents give odd gifts on special occasions. In a personal news essay a daughter writes about her wedding gift from her father.
I recall as a child standing in my front yard as my father raised the American flag on a flagpole he had just put in. And as each of his six children stood there, he made each of us place our small hands in the drying cement under the flag. As time went on, he taught us the Marine way of taking down a flag, folding a flag, and putting it away. This shows that military men all have something in common. They take pride in their country and want to pass this same sense of pride and satisfaction to their children.
Military fathers not only impact the values you hold, but sometimes even the professions you choose. Many children of military fathers follow in their father’s footsteps to serve their country. Many chose this simply because they saw the impact it had on their father’s life and knew they were meant to serve too, and others because they felt it was their duty to serve because their father had. In one news article a father talks about his hopes for his one-year-old daughter.
Although I clearly never served in any branch of the service my oldest brother served in the Navy. And one of my younger brothers just recently enlisted in the Army. Whether or not this choice was because of the impact my father had, I can’t honestly say. I can only speak for myself when I describe the impact my father still to this day has on my life. He has yet to stop teaching me lessons; from my first fight in middle school, to boarding an airplane for a year abroad, he continues to teach me the Marine’s values.
Throughout my research, most of the impacts military fathers left on their families were good. However, in my research I did find a bad side. On rare occasions the reality of war becomes so real to a soldier they bring this violence into their homes, sometimes without even realizing that they are behaving badly. In one article the author talks about the murder of four wives on base, “In 2002, the murders of four military wives [were committed] by their soldier husbands within six weeks” (“Fearing Fort Bragg”). Sometimes the life of war is too stressful for some men to handle, and they develop a problem called Post Traumatic Syndrome Disorder (PTSD) (“Military’s Mental Health System Is Broken”). In Barcott’s book, he also mentions PTSD when he discusses a Marine that attempted suicide because of this disorder (Barcott 254). This stressful time can be hard for the entire family ending many marriages to soldiers in divorces that tear families apart. “In 2004 7,152 divorces occurred according to the Army figures” (Zoroya). Many soldiers who come back from war still believe they are in war. Barcott discusses this when he mentions a man who “was trapped in his own wartime trauma” (Barcott 255). I don’t think it’s fair to generalize all experiences with military as good, because sometimes it results in divorce, lifelong illness, or even death
Values that military fathers pass on to their children could in fact be good or bad values, such as loyalty and violence. So this question has no definite answer. It depends on the soldier, their children, and their families. As for It Happened on the Way to War, Barcott’s father seems to have a very strong role in his life. On many occasions in the book Barcott thinks about advice his father once gave him and thinks about what he would say. We never find out if his father’s role made him choose the Marines or not, but through the information I found, I believe his father did have an impact on the career he chose, the choices he makes, and his behavior.
Works Citied
“BrattCon Radio” Radio Pilot. Voice of America. Web. September 7, 2011
“Fearing Fort Bragg”Economist 2/14/2004, Vol.370, Issue 8362. Web.
Gregg Zoroya “Soldiers divorce rates up sharply” USA Today. USA Today. 6/7/2005. Web. September 9, 2011
Healy Melissa. “New Set of Marching Orders: Women in Combat. Gay service Personnel. An end to the rootlessness. These are some profound shifts America’s armed forces may undergo” Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times. November 02, 1992. Web. September 07, 2011.
“Military’s Mental Health System Is Broken” YouTube. CBS Evening News. Web. September 9, 2011
Rye Barcott. It happened on the Way to War. New York, Bloomsbury USA. 2011. Print.
U.S. Marines Corps. “ Quality Citizens.” Marines The Few. The Proud. 7. Web. September 2011
Wertsch Mary Edwards. Military Brats. New York. Harmony Books. 1991. Print.
“Why I’ll always Wave the Flag of my Father” The Daily Beast. The Newsweek/Daily Beast Company LLC. November 19, 2006. Web. September 9, 2011
Values: whether they are good or bad, we all have them and use them on a daily basis, but where do these values come from? As I was reading It Happened on the Way to War by Rye Barcott, I couldn’t help but wonder what is the impact military veterans leave on their children? In this book Barcott’s father seemed to have such a strong impact on everything he did. At one point Barcott said “I wanted to be an infantry officer and then go to a reconnaissance unit, as my father had done” (Barcott 180). This quote alone shows that his father had an impact on his life. Therefore I wanted to answer the question, what is the impact military parents leave on their children’s values? Understanding the answer to this question will help us realize why Barcott acts the way he does and makes the decisions he does.
As I began researching this question, most of the information I found was about deployment. I realize deployment has a strong impact on a child, but that’s not what I was looking for in my research, as this had nothing to do with family values. I wanted to know, in depth, the impact Marines or other military parents left on the future lives of their children. I wanted to research values they taught their children and which in turn their children carried throughout their lives.
Because my father was a Marine, I know the importance of military values. Before I was born my father was a Marine in force recon serving in two battles, Beirut and Grenada. In this paper I can contribute personal experience along with facts I found during research because I found very few sources as I did my research. My father left a lasting impact on my life and I couldn’t help but want to find out if others felt the same way. Even though I never served in the military, I hold similar values as Marines do such as loyalty and determination. Throughout this paper I use “I” a lot pertaining to my own life experiences. Although many of us learn as writers not to put our own input into our writing pieces, I received guidelines and permission from my professor to give you this information, because the resources I found were very limited. I would also like to say that many of these stories from me and otherwise are life experiences, and I don’t want to offend anyone by including these; life with military families can vary greatly.
Barcott’s story It Happened on the Way to War was a great source for my research question. Barcott, a Marine and a cofounder of a Non-Profit Organization, struggled to find peace between his two worlds. Throughout this book Barcott repeatedly reminds us of his father, who was also a Marine. He constantly questions whether his father would approve, or what his father would do in his situation. One example is one of Barcott’s first memories of wanting to be a Marine, “… And I wanted to know how I would react to it ever since I was a child and touched that old smoke grenade behind my father’s desk” (Barcott 253). In this sentence Barcott proves that his father had an impact on him wanting to go to war, whether his father realized it or not. Another important example is when Barcott answers a phone call remembering what his father had taught him, “I’d learned from my father never to identify myself first” (Barcott 241). Here Barcott tells us very simply that he still follows the advice his father gave him, even as an adult. Throughout Barcott’s book you can find many other examples showing that his father had a very strong impact on his choices (Barcott 176, 180, 199, and 212).
Mary Edwards Wertsch, author of a well-known book Military Brats: Legacies of Childhood Inside the Fortress, seems to agree with the way I think. In a radio interview about her book she describes “three masks” in the military, identifying them as “stoicism (repression of emotion), secrecy, and denial. And everything that is in military life, no matter what it is, affects the inside of a family” (“BratCon Radio”). In the Marines you are taught to think a certain way and to believe in certain things. From the beginning in basic training you are sculpted and chiseled into what they believe to be the “perfect marine.” You are taught “knowledge, endurance, unselfishness, integrity, and loyalty” (U.S. Marine Corps). Even when the men leave the Marines, these values stay with them throughout their lives. And as Wertsch says, naturally these values find their way into their family life.
Impacting a child’s life often comes more from a parent’s actions than the things you say. When growing up and even still to this day my father never really told his kids how much we meant to him. I knew this was because at war it didn’t matter how he felt, he was taught to simply take orders, not to feel. “Warriors believe in the mask of stoicism. They keep it close to them; wear it like a talisman empowered to ward off the evil eye. They expect stoic behavior of one another, except in the worst, most cataclysmic moments of combat” (Wertsch 41). Sometimes not hearing my father say how much he cared took a toll on me as a child. I would often find my self-wondering if he even cared, or whether he would help me if I were in danger. But it was the simple actions, the sacrifices that he made that never left me wondering for long. In elementary school my father had already impacted the way I thought and the actions I as making-- from silly school projects where he and I would spend weeks at a time building boats for buoyancy that had flashing lights and motors, to a pinball machine made to show simple machines, which was almost the size of a real pinball machine. Through these projects, he taught me if you’re going to do something do it with your best work and be the best. Still to this day I carry this value with me. Although I know it’s unpractical to think I can be the best at everything, I go into every challenge doing my best, knowing that I can be the best. Because that’s what a Marine does: they do their best, and they are the best.
It’s the simple acts a Marine father does that show he cares the most. Quite often military parents give odd gifts on special occasions. In a personal news essay a daughter writes about her wedding gift from her father.
“To commemorate the occasion, my thoughtful father gave us an American flag. To him, it was only proper that we had one of our own. As time went on this military father called every holiday to make sure his daughter’s flag was flying high. This simple tribute meant a lot to her father, and as daughter of a father in the armed forces, she continues this tradition, even after her father passed away” (“Why I’ll Always Wave the Flag of My Father”).
I recall as a child standing in my front yard as my father raised the American flag on a flagpole he had just put in. And as each of his six children stood there, he made each of us place our small hands in the drying cement under the flag. As time went on, he taught us the Marine way of taking down a flag, folding a flag, and putting it away. This shows that military men all have something in common. They take pride in their country and want to pass this same sense of pride and satisfaction to their children.
Military fathers not only impact the values you hold, but sometimes even the professions you choose. Many children of military fathers follow in their father’s footsteps to serve their country. Many chose this simply because they saw the impact it had on their father’s life and knew they were meant to serve too, and others because they felt it was their duty to serve because their father had. In one news article a father talks about his hopes for his one-year-old daughter.
“Jack McMullen says he’d like to see Carly, who has his blue eyes, fly the Air Force’s next generation fighter plane. Even though she was only a year old at the time her father had high hopes his daughter would take after him and his father in the third generation fighter pilot” (Healy 1).
Although I clearly never served in any branch of the service my oldest brother served in the Navy. And one of my younger brothers just recently enlisted in the Army. Whether or not this choice was because of the impact my father had, I can’t honestly say. I can only speak for myself when I describe the impact my father still to this day has on my life. He has yet to stop teaching me lessons; from my first fight in middle school, to boarding an airplane for a year abroad, he continues to teach me the Marine’s values.
Throughout my research, most of the impacts military fathers left on their families were good. However, in my research I did find a bad side. On rare occasions the reality of war becomes so real to a soldier they bring this violence into their homes, sometimes without even realizing that they are behaving badly. In one article the author talks about the murder of four wives on base, “In 2002, the murders of four military wives [were committed] by their soldier husbands within six weeks” (“Fearing Fort Bragg”). Sometimes the life of war is too stressful for some men to handle, and they develop a problem called Post Traumatic Syndrome Disorder (PTSD) (“Military’s Mental Health System Is Broken”). In Barcott’s book, he also mentions PTSD when he discusses a Marine that attempted suicide because of this disorder (Barcott 254). This stressful time can be hard for the entire family ending many marriages to soldiers in divorces that tear families apart. “In 2004 7,152 divorces occurred according to the Army figures” (Zoroya). Many soldiers who come back from war still believe they are in war. Barcott discusses this when he mentions a man who “was trapped in his own wartime trauma” (Barcott 255). I don’t think it’s fair to generalize all experiences with military as good, because sometimes it results in divorce, lifelong illness, or even death
Values that military fathers pass on to their children could in fact be good or bad values, such as loyalty and violence. So this question has no definite answer. It depends on the soldier, their children, and their families. As for It Happened on the Way to War, Barcott’s father seems to have a very strong role in his life. On many occasions in the book Barcott thinks about advice his father once gave him and thinks about what he would say. We never find out if his father’s role made him choose the Marines or not, but through the information I found, I believe his father did have an impact on the career he chose, the choices he makes, and his behavior.
Works Citied
“BrattCon Radio” Radio Pilot. Voice of America. Web. September 7, 2011
“Fearing Fort Bragg”Economist 2/14/2004, Vol.370, Issue 8362. Web.
Gregg Zoroya “Soldiers divorce rates up sharply” USA Today. USA Today. 6/7/2005. Web. September 9, 2011
Healy Melissa. “New Set of Marching Orders: Women in Combat. Gay service Personnel. An end to the rootlessness. These are some profound shifts America’s armed forces may undergo” Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times. November 02, 1992. Web. September 07, 2011.
“Military’s Mental Health System Is Broken” YouTube. CBS Evening News. Web. September 9, 2011
Rye Barcott. It happened on the Way to War. New York, Bloomsbury USA. 2011. Print.
U.S. Marines Corps. “ Quality Citizens.” Marines The Few. The Proud. 7. Web. September 2011
Wertsch Mary Edwards. Military Brats. New York. Harmony Books. 1991. Print.
“Why I’ll always Wave the Flag of my Father” The Daily Beast. The Newsweek/Daily Beast Company LLC. November 19, 2006. Web. September 9, 2011
Dillon Thomas: How Would You Feel?
How Would You Feel? by Dillon Thomas
Marines can affect environments in many different ways, some good, some bad. For example or Specifically, Marines’ actions have negative and positive effects on civilians in other countries. A Marine, while one of the deadliest forces known to man, can also be influential in bettering a country. However, while this help, in a Marines eyes can be for the good of the people, it is sometimes unwanted by civilians. Rye Barcott does do humanitarian volunteer work; although he is part of the Marines, he was not doing this work as a Marine but as a volunteer. While on duty, he asks his superior if he would let him take time off to do some volunteer work, and his superior allows this which raises the question “do most Marines support humanitarian efforts to better the countries they are in?”
Civilians are a key part in the success of Marines’ missions. The better a Marine is able to help civilians, the more the Marines can get out of them, due to the trust that is created (Restrepo). One question in researching the positive and negative effects of Marines in other countries that repeatedly popped into my head was, how would I feel if this force was in my town patrolling and making orders and trying to take control? If someone was to attack my country, I would doubt whether there is a higher power because if there was one, how could they be letting this happen to us?
In times of war or great disasters, you see almost everyone believing in a higher power to provide them with hope, because without hope life can seem meaningless. “How could they let this happen to us?”. This question seems like it would be the most common question asked by civilians at a time of war. When an outside force is attacking and killing innocent women and children, it seems like the right question to be asked. Marines can have a negative affect on civilians when they start to kill them. This means as a Marine it would seem as though they should always be on high alert. This has happened before, so it isn’t wrong for civilians not to trust Marines. Marines have found it hard to relate to the civilians in foreign countries such as Djibouti. “Half of them didn’t like us being there; half of them loved us being there,” Kornegay said. “All of them wanted our money” (Pecquet, Julian). This can pose a problem in my eyes because if you do not know who likes you and who doesn’t, then how do you know who poses a threat. Much of the time you see that civilians are killed by poorly executed airstrikes on enemies that end up hitting civilians’ houses (Restrepo).
In therapy sessions the doctor always asks, “How does that make you feel?” This question is relevant in many situations. So now I ask, how would you feel if you had a group of outsiders who are infiltrating your country, are patrolling your streets, barely speak your language, and are asking for your help? I feel like when put into that situation, I would have to consider many things. I would have to get a clear understanding of why these people are here, what their true intentions are. Barcott mentioned that his primary mission was to do intelligence collection, not development aid like he did for CFK, when working with the Marines (Barcott pg.233). I would wonder if soldiers were in my country to help, do recon, or to attack the civilians? After finding the answers to these questions, I would decide whether to help them or to defend my country. If you didn’t make the right choice, you might be betraying your country. Would you be able to work with and help this outside force so they could achieve their goal? I think that if things were so out of hand that change was needed to survive, I would have to adapt to change.
Although Marines have been known to kill civilians that have got in the way in completing their missions, they have also found ways in which they are able to help these civilians in a positive way.
Marines are trained with such good discipline you see many of them going out to help these people in need at a time of war. "We're not just into building schools and leaving. We're here for the long run. We're about sustainable development" says Major Greg Catarra (Paul Salopek). Some ways in which a Marine can do their job better and more efficiently is by getting help from the inside. Who better to get the inside scoop of things than the people who live there; the civilians. Marines are often known to communicate with the people living in the towns to try to see if any civilians want to help change what they are trying to change or help what ever intentions the Marines have. “My source, a local power broker in the slums, was the type of contact who might provide nothing for months until he heard something of value and decided to call because we had established a relationship” (Barcott pg.240).Barcott mentions, when talking to his mentor Colonel Greenwood, that his battalion would probably take on a hybrid mission to establish security and provide humanitarian aid. This mission was for something called a “three-block war.” This was the idea that Marines had to be ready to face combat, peacekeeping, and humanitarian aid at the same time (Barcott pg.183). It seemed as though the Marines had to do this to build the nation they were in and make it a stronger more well rounded nation. This might be one way to prevent or stop wars or terrorist groups.
Can Marines be helpful to civilians in foreign countries? Yes, but they can also have negative affects if they are unwelcome or if they had done something to not gain the civilians’ trust. It all depends on the situation the are put into. My research on this subject has made me keep my opinion that we must do our research on an outside force before judging them. Every situation is unique and because of this there are always precautions to take which can lead to negative and positive affects.
Works Cited
Barcott, Rye. It happened on the way to war. New York, NY: Bloomsbury, 2011. Print.
Pecquet, Julian. “Tallahasseeans at center of U.S. mission in the Horn of Africa” icfj. Tallahassee Democrat, December 16, 2007. Web. September, 15, 2011
Restrepo. Dir. Tim Hetherington, Sebastian Junger. National Geographic Channel. 2010. DVD
Salopek, Paul. “War on terror's hidden front U.S. military quietly trying to wage peace in Africa” chicagotribune. Chicago Tribune, November 18, 2008. Web. September 15, 2011
Marines can affect environments in many different ways, some good, some bad. For example or Specifically, Marines’ actions have negative and positive effects on civilians in other countries. A Marine, while one of the deadliest forces known to man, can also be influential in bettering a country. However, while this help, in a Marines eyes can be for the good of the people, it is sometimes unwanted by civilians. Rye Barcott does do humanitarian volunteer work; although he is part of the Marines, he was not doing this work as a Marine but as a volunteer. While on duty, he asks his superior if he would let him take time off to do some volunteer work, and his superior allows this which raises the question “do most Marines support humanitarian efforts to better the countries they are in?”
Civilians are a key part in the success of Marines’ missions. The better a Marine is able to help civilians, the more the Marines can get out of them, due to the trust that is created (Restrepo). One question in researching the positive and negative effects of Marines in other countries that repeatedly popped into my head was, how would I feel if this force was in my town patrolling and making orders and trying to take control? If someone was to attack my country, I would doubt whether there is a higher power because if there was one, how could they be letting this happen to us?
In times of war or great disasters, you see almost everyone believing in a higher power to provide them with hope, because without hope life can seem meaningless. “How could they let this happen to us?”. This question seems like it would be the most common question asked by civilians at a time of war. When an outside force is attacking and killing innocent women and children, it seems like the right question to be asked. Marines can have a negative affect on civilians when they start to kill them. This means as a Marine it would seem as though they should always be on high alert. This has happened before, so it isn’t wrong for civilians not to trust Marines. Marines have found it hard to relate to the civilians in foreign countries such as Djibouti. “Half of them didn’t like us being there; half of them loved us being there,” Kornegay said. “All of them wanted our money” (Pecquet, Julian). This can pose a problem in my eyes because if you do not know who likes you and who doesn’t, then how do you know who poses a threat. Much of the time you see that civilians are killed by poorly executed airstrikes on enemies that end up hitting civilians’ houses (Restrepo).
In therapy sessions the doctor always asks, “How does that make you feel?” This question is relevant in many situations. So now I ask, how would you feel if you had a group of outsiders who are infiltrating your country, are patrolling your streets, barely speak your language, and are asking for your help? I feel like when put into that situation, I would have to consider many things. I would have to get a clear understanding of why these people are here, what their true intentions are. Barcott mentioned that his primary mission was to do intelligence collection, not development aid like he did for CFK, when working with the Marines (Barcott pg.233). I would wonder if soldiers were in my country to help, do recon, or to attack the civilians? After finding the answers to these questions, I would decide whether to help them or to defend my country. If you didn’t make the right choice, you might be betraying your country. Would you be able to work with and help this outside force so they could achieve their goal? I think that if things were so out of hand that change was needed to survive, I would have to adapt to change.
Although Marines have been known to kill civilians that have got in the way in completing their missions, they have also found ways in which they are able to help these civilians in a positive way.
Marines are trained with such good discipline you see many of them going out to help these people in need at a time of war. "We're not just into building schools and leaving. We're here for the long run. We're about sustainable development" says Major Greg Catarra (Paul Salopek). Some ways in which a Marine can do their job better and more efficiently is by getting help from the inside. Who better to get the inside scoop of things than the people who live there; the civilians. Marines are often known to communicate with the people living in the towns to try to see if any civilians want to help change what they are trying to change or help what ever intentions the Marines have. “My source, a local power broker in the slums, was the type of contact who might provide nothing for months until he heard something of value and decided to call because we had established a relationship” (Barcott pg.240).Barcott mentions, when talking to his mentor Colonel Greenwood, that his battalion would probably take on a hybrid mission to establish security and provide humanitarian aid. This mission was for something called a “three-block war.” This was the idea that Marines had to be ready to face combat, peacekeeping, and humanitarian aid at the same time (Barcott pg.183). It seemed as though the Marines had to do this to build the nation they were in and make it a stronger more well rounded nation. This might be one way to prevent or stop wars or terrorist groups.
Can Marines be helpful to civilians in foreign countries? Yes, but they can also have negative affects if they are unwelcome or if they had done something to not gain the civilians’ trust. It all depends on the situation the are put into. My research on this subject has made me keep my opinion that we must do our research on an outside force before judging them. Every situation is unique and because of this there are always precautions to take which can lead to negative and positive affects.
Works Cited
Barcott, Rye. It happened on the way to war. New York, NY: Bloomsbury, 2011. Print.
Pecquet, Julian. “Tallahasseeans at center of U.S. mission in the Horn of Africa” icfj. Tallahassee Democrat, December 16, 2007. Web. September, 15, 2011
Restrepo. Dir. Tim Hetherington, Sebastian Junger. National Geographic Channel. 2010. DVD
Salopek, Paul. “War on terror's hidden front U.S. military quietly trying to wage peace in Africa” chicagotribune. Chicago Tribune, November 18, 2008. Web. September 15, 2011
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