Blog 24: Last Presentation Reflection

1) Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your block presentation and/or your senior project? Why?

I'm most proud of the actual content that I used during my presentation. I think that the information I provided was relatively solid and interested a lot of people. Furthermore in terms of my whole senior project, I feel it is my ability to run a military simulation unit that Im most proud of in the long term.

(2) Questions to Consider

a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your block presentation?  Use the component contract to defend that assessment.

AE       P      

Even though I didnt make full presentation time, I feel that with the time that I did make I was significantly close to that time limit. Furthermore my presentation both the PowerPoint and myself speaking was formal and well done. I do not see a reason to gibe kd any less than a P simply because I didn't make seven minutes technically even though realistically it had been filled with Q and A.
b.     What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project? Use the component contract to defend that assessment.

AE 

I absolutely did an amazing job on the senior project and believe that the amount of work I put in was definitely top notch work. Because I turned in my RC always, my interviews were on time and etc I truly believe I deserve an AE.
(3) What worked for you in your senior project?

what worked for my senior project was the independent components that I did. Those definitely were the highlight of my presentation.
(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your senior project?

I would have provided a better activity for my presentations but besides that I would say it went off without a hitch.

(5) Finding Value

How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors?   Be specific and use examples.

Well the senior project helped me decide that I didn't want to go into the military and that I would prefer to focus on the military theory side of everything.

Blog: 23 Exit Interview

Exit Interview Preparation

(1) What is your essential question, and what are your answers?  What is your best answer and why?

How have recent technological advancements affected military strategy and tactics?

My answers to my question are the following;

Nuclear Weapon Miniaturization -  The miniaturization of nuclear weapons has created an environment where it is untenable for large military formations to be deployed.

Military Simulators - Military Simulators have allowed developed countries like the United States to train their soldiers far faster and in a less expensive format.

Helicopters - Helicopters have allowed Armies to no longer be tied down to airports, railroads and other ways of transportation that take a significant amount of time to create. Because of this, Armies have become much much more mobile than ever before.

(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

I arrived at this conclusion for my answers through a combination of logical deduction, research of the effects of nuclear weapons on the continued existence of our military force as a large fighting force, and other books that helped develop my concept of strategy in a military sense.

(3) What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them?

The largest problem I faced and still face is condensing such a large amount of information into such a small format.

(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

Scholesser, Eric. "Command and Control." Amazon. N.p., n.d. Web.

"Grunt: An Illustrated History of the US Infantry in Vietnam - Weapons, Equipment and Lifestyle, 1965-1973." Barnes & Noble. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2016.

Independent Component Two

Operation King's Landing

My explanation for my Independent Component Two is five pages long and only because I cut it short. For convenience, I've transferred the whole blog to a google document that can be access from the link posted right below.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yaIBm5UDpV-SCc72grtslIeFhbbLGy8FDfHSmvHRehE/edit?usp=sharing 

Blog 21: Interview 4 Reflection

Blog 21: Interview 4 Reflection

https://soundcloud.com/amir-freeman-778285123/sets/interview-4

What is the most important thing learned from the interview?

The most important thing I learned from the interview, is the bond of brotherhood you can create with the people that you fight alongside.

How will what I learned affect my final lesson?

What I learned will be apart of my heroes tales part of my presentation and about the life of a soldier.

Blog 20: Interview 4 Preparation

Interview 4 Preparation: Kevin Gaffuri

Who do you plan to interview? What is their area of expertise?

Kevin Gaffuri is a former naval officers who specialized in Information flow, and worked as an intelligence officer in the Kosovo War.

Some Questions I will ask

Which war(s) did you serve in (WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf)?
Where exactly did you go? 
Do you remember arriving and what it was like? 
What was your job/assignment? 
Did you see combat? 
Were there many casualties in your unit?
Tell me about a couple of your most memorable experiences. 
Were you a prisoner of war? 
Tell me about your experiences in captivity and when freed.
Were you awarded any medals or citations?
How did you get them?

Blog 19: Third Answer

How has modern military technology changed the way warfare is fought?

Because of the development of Helicopters, lines of contention and traditional supply lines have become irrelevant.

Helicopters allow Military Forces to move behind and around traditional lines of contention. Also Strategically destroying bridges is no longer a viable tactic and furthermore Airports are no longer a priority in warfare

Boyne, Walter. "How the Helicopter Changed Modern Warfare: Vietnam - The History Reader." The History Reader. N.p., 18 Nov. 2011. Web. 03 Mar. 2016.

Blog 18: Answer 2

1.  What is your EQ?

How has modern technology changed the way warfare is fought?

2.  What is your first answer?

Answer is that modern nuclear weapons have made traditional military structuring obsolete.

3.  What is your second answer?

My second answer is that Military simulators have completely changed the way in which war is fought because it is easier to train soldiers without physically doing so.

4.  List three reasons your answer is true with a real-world application for each.

1. Drone pilots are training nearly completely with software
2. Infantry Simulators allow infantry squads to work with strategies they normally wouldnt be able to work with in training.
3. Plane simulators allow pilots to be taught without actually risking a multi-million plane.

5.  What printed source best supports your answer?

Grunts: Inside the American Infantry Combat Experience, World War II Through Iraq

McManus, John C. "Grunts." Goodreads. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2016.

6.  What other source supports your answer?

Significant research done by pentagon military analyst

Pentagon. (n.d.): n. pag. Department of Defense. United States Federal Government. Web.

7.  Tie this together with a  concluding thought.

My answer two has been proven to be a good answer by ample amounts of evidence provided by the Department of Defense and first hand evidence as can be seen from the effectiveness of Drones in iraq.

Blog 17 - Interview 3 Reflection

Blog 17: Reflection

Audio:https://soundcloud.com/amir-freeman-778285123/20160218-110301mp4

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview?

 

The most important thing that Ive learned from my interview is that being a Naval officer is an incredibly hard thing to do, especially as a CIO Officer. His deployment in Kosvo was a terrifying experience as it would be for anyone whom was deployed to a different country. I definitely learned a lot from this interview and will be able to implement it in my presentation

2.  How has your approach to interviewing changed over the course of your senior project?

Well, Interview has become a lot less awkward, at first it was very hard to just sit there and ask people questions. But now it is alot easier and a lot more fluid, I think this has definitely helped my public speaking.

The text of this interview should be turned in to turnitin.com.  A verification form for Interview 3 can be printed out from the Senior Project Packet link on the side of the blog.  Do not forget to justify your mentor as an expert in your specific topic.

Blog 16: Independent Component 2 Approval

Independent Component #2 Approval

1.  Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

For the next 30 hours, I plan to continue the running of my ARMA 3 Military Simulation unit. I believe that both in my first IC blog and in its Approval blog, I proved that it was worth more than 30 hours. I have spend dozens more hours than 30 on it, and I believe that it is important and relevant enough to warrant using for my second Independent component. As I’ve mentioned in my last presentation, one of my answers is Military Simulators and so I’m actually proving the type of experience that can be gleamed from one like it.

2.  Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

I will continue not only running the unit, but also working on the Hours and Experience spreadsheet that I make for all my guys and running the server that we use to operate on. This is definitely something that more hours can be put into, because due to the versatility of the Military Simulator, there is so much more I can be teaching my guys and plan to actually teach my guys.

3.  Explain how this component will help you explore your topic in more depth.

Well, as forementioned, my third and final answer to my essential question is Military Simulators and the accelerated rate at which soldiers are capable of being trained. Actually being able to experience how my answer #3 works is an amazing bonus and gives me an edge over everyone else in being able to understand their topic. This also allows me to put alot of the tactics and a few of the strategies I learn to use.

4.  Post a log in your Senior Project Hours link and label it "Independent Component 2" log.

Dones

Independent Component #1

LITERAL

• (a) Write: “I, Amir Freeman, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents ____ hours of work.”
• (b) Marine Corps, U.S. "USMC Training Manual" Fairy Tale Review 10.1, The Emerald Issue (2014): 190-203. United States Marine Corp. U.S.M.C. Web.
• (c) Done
• (d) For my IC #1 I took on the task of operating a Military Simulation Unit in ARMA 3. I did the adminstrative task of manning the roster, came up with the curriculum, lead the trainings and squads during our operations alongside operating the server so that our guys were capable of getting on to train. ARMA 3 has realistic ballistics, combat and even medical systems that has made it into a game that has seized to be so much a game but a military simulator. When I first started playing it three years, I became invested in a type of gaming called "MilSim Gaming." An attempt to make ARMA even more realistic than it already was through usage of mods that added advanced medical systems (so advanced, they require a player in game to know how to administer morphine, check blood pressure and diagnose a patient) and mods that would make the A.I behave even more like real people. For a year, I "served" as a line infantry soldier in multiple different units that operated in MilSim. Eventually, I was promoted to the rank of Staff Sergeant in one of these military simulation units and began leading squads of real guys in game, commanding ten to twelve men in this game. After another six months, I was promoted to the rank of 1st lieutenant and began leading 30 or so men. This investment of time in these units was what lead me to becoming interested in Military Strategy and Tactics. It is important to understand the very realistic nature of ARMA 3, while nothing can ever be the real thing or very close to actual combat, this is the closet that most people can get.

Interpretive

As a founding member, LTO and OC I have a lot to do outside of the gain to make sure everything is running smoothly for our members. I create a Unit Roster (UR) so I know who is currently a part of our organization.. The UR contains the emails, names, ranks, and attendance of every member currently a part of OTSF. All  to provide an easier time for our non-comissioned officers who have to be able to just look and know who is who, what squad theyre in, and what their personality is. The two most important things in the UR though, is the Player UID and the Attendance sheet both of which are an integral part to making sure our operations run smoothly and everyone is showing up to the training. The UR is pictured below this paragraph.

The next important administrative thing I have to do is creating a training curriculum that I can glance over to make sure that all our guys are on par with the high standards we have for our members. This is done for every single position we have available, if youre a combat medic, you must go through specific combat medic training. If youre a pilot, you must go through 15 hours of pilot training if you want to fly transports and 30 hours if you want to fly air support for ground troops. These different classes are what we call specializations in OTSF, but no matter what specialization you choose, ever member has to go through Infantry Training Courses (ITC) which is also referred to as Small-Unit Operators Course and the curriculum for that is pictured above. The ITC Curriculum consist of ten pages separated into an outline like that picture above and an page where each drill/tactic is summarized. The ITC from our previous months will have a portion linked below for review by you.

The rest of the Independent Component was actually particpating in the Training Operations that I created and leading the men. With that in mind, I have provided access to one of our previous hours and operation logs alongside pictures taken with my various subordinates during our operations. We hold our operations and training every sunday at 5pm PST with training typically lasting two to three hours and operations lasting anywhere from 5 to 8 hours. These operations are done with military simulation in mind and are very professionally done. This is because as a milsim group, as soon as we get in game, we assume the demeanor of an actual military unit completing its objective assigned by high command. You will not hear our guys referring to each other as "brad" or "tom" in videos but as "Alpha 1-1" and "Alpha 1-2."

Running a Military Simulation Unit takes a lot of time and dedication, I spend most of my day working with developers and then studying USMC training manuals to constantly come up with new things that are fun but practical to teach my guys. I have spent way more than 30 hours doing this since the beginning of the Senior Project and can prove it to be well documented.

APPLIED

This component gave me such a better understanding of how terrifying it is in the middle of combat. When you're in the middle of a firefight and you have 40-ish guys looking to you for leadership, and you only have a split second to decide what to do, It can be very stressful. Furthermore, it shows you how to critically think and gives you an understanding of how why the United States Military is so ridgidly discplined. An example would be when we were trying to teach twenty new recruits how to work together. We gave them a mission that was impossible to complete without teamwork. The goal of the mission was simple, to teach the recruits that ARMA 3 is not like a shooter. It is not a game that you can just rush in, shoot everything and win. It is a game that actually simulates real-life and you will not get through things without working together with one and other.

Going back to the leadership aspect, there were many times when I was learning to be an officer in the unit when we’d give permadeath missions. These missions were designed to enforce discpline and drill into everyones head what Milsim is about. These operations would take upwards of 5-7 hours but here was the catch. If you died in game, you were required to be present at your computer for the duration of the operation. Which means if something went wrong an hour into the operation, youd be stuck at your computer for another 4 hours doing nothing. This was the closest to real death we could get, and people were a lot more serious when they realized how boring that would be. As an officer, you're faced with making decisions that in the case of ARMA might consign guys to hours of boredom and in real life, death.

NOTE: INDEPENDENT COMPONENT HOURS LOG HAS BEEN AMENDED ONTO MY SCHOOL HOUR MENTORSHIP LOG

Lesson 2 Reflection

Military Strategy and Tactics

1.What are you most proud of in your Lesson 2 Presentation and why?

In my Lesson 2 Presentation, I am most proud of my activity which I think turned out really well and I was complimented on.

2. a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 2 Presentation (self-assessment)?
AE

     b.     Explain why you deserve that grade using evidence from the Lesson 2 component contract.

I fulfilled everything in the Lesson 2 Contract and more, which should justify a good grade on the component.

3. What worked for you in your Lesson 2?

The ability to use a powerpoint presentation really helped with letting people understand the scale of Nuclear Weapons

4. What didn't work? If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your Lesson 2?

I would have added just a few more pictures of my mentor instead of just describing him.

5. What do you think your answer #2 is going to be?

Military Simulators!!!!

Blog 14 - Third Interview prep

Third Interview: Kessler Smith

How have advances in military technology changed modern warfare?

1.  Who do you plan to interview?  What is this person's area of expertise?

I plan to interview Kessler Smith, an ex-military soldier whom current runs a landscaping company for veterans and leads a military simulation unit.

2.  Verify that you have called your interviewee to schedule an interview.  What is the date and time of the interview? 

1/16/15 5pm

3.  Phrase an open-ended question that will help you find research resources that would help to answer the EQ.

What are some interesting articles that you've read that shows military tactics havent caught up with advancing technology?

4.  Phrase an open-ended question that will help you think about other useful activities you might do to help you answer the EQ (IC2, possible experts to talk to, etc).

,
Can you think of anything I can do for a second independent component which will help people understand how obsolete U.S military tactics are compared to advancing technology.

5.  Phrase two open-ended questions that help you to understand your interviewee's perspective on an aspect of your EQ. 

What is your opinion on how the U.S Military has handled advancing technology in relation to its aging tactics?
If you could give three suggestions on strategies and tactics you would implement instead thatd be great

Blog 13 - 10 Hour Mentorship Check In

Blog 13: 10 Hour Mentorship Check-In

1.   Where are you doing your mentorship?

Various places, mostly at my mentors house using mock setups we build in the garage.

2.   Who is your contact?  What makes this person an expert?

Kyle McDaniel, he is an expert because he was a designated squad leader in the United Staes Marines

3.   How many  hours have you done during the school year? (Summer Mentorship Hours and Mentorship Hours should be reflected separately in your Senior Project Hours log located on the right hand side of your blog).

Ive done a total of 13 hours so far during the school year.

4.   Succinctly summarize what you did, how well you and your mentor worked together, and how you plan to complete the remaining hours.

My mentor and I have always worked well together and have been making considerable progress in teaching me. I plan to spend a good portion of the remaining hours pouring over United States Military training manuals and putting the methods learned in them to the test via my Independent Component

Blog 12 - Holiday Project Update

It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or we are in school.  What did you do over the break with your senior project?

Over senior break, I researched different military commanders from over the past 2 thousand years.  The people I studied include Augustus, Ghenghis Khan, Jubil Khan, and Alexander the Great.

2.  What was the most important thing you learned from what you did, and why?  What was the source of what you learned?
The mosy important thing I learned was from the case of Augustus. What I learned was it is just as important to be humble and charismatic as a leader as it is to be beautiful and efficient. I learned it from the biography Augustus.

3.  Your third interview will be a 10 question interview related to possible answers for your EQ. Who do you plan to talk to and why?
I plan to do this interview with nother U.S Marine who worked as a logistic manager and I will be asking questions about his duties as a logistics manager and how logistics runs an army.