"Equality in War"

In Need of Some Help

“In Need of Some Help"

Mackayla Harris

What is a big problem that too many veterans face today? Too many of our veterans are homeless. “About 13 percent of the adult homeless population are veterans,” according to the “National Coalition for Homeless Veterans”. There should not be any homeless veterans. Most people today do not give any money to the homeless when they see them. People think they are sacrificing a few dollars to support someone’s alcohol or drug addiction. What if one of the homeless you had ignored was a veteran and you did not know it? That man or woman fought for our freedom, and they are now living in poverty. And you walked away without even caring. It is sad to know that so many people who fought for us are homeless. They fought so we could have the homes and lifestyles that we have today. We should not just sit back and watch those veterans do without. We need to do everything we can to help them.   

Why are these veterans homeless? The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates that “62,619 veterans are homeless on any given night.” Disability is a big factor in homeless veterans. Many that are disabled cannot go back to work to make money after they return from war. Without work some can not afford housing. In most cities a homeless veteran can not survive solely off of a disability check every month. It just is not enough money for food and housing. According to “Veteran Disability Compensation” the amount of basic benefit ranges “from $127 to over $3,100 per month, depending on your level of disability and number of dependents.” I know you are thinking that $3,100 should be plenty; however, a veteran does not receive that amount unless their extremely disabled and have children. They measure the disability by percentages from 10% to 100%. Unless they are missing limbs or severely disabled it is hard for them even to be considered over 50%.They also have to be able to connect their disability to an event that happened in the military with proof that it happened otherwise they do not receive any compensation. So those men and women who are not considered extremely disabled, and those who cannot connect their disability with evidence do not receive much at all.They cannot afford to pay for somewhere to live so they end up living on the streets. In some cases the military training they received is not transferable to the civilian workforce, and that leaves them at a disadvantage when trying to find a good job. According to “Soldiers Say it’s Hard to Return to Civilian Life” Spc. Nick Colgin was an Army medic who could not get a job in the civilian workforce because of the lack of certification papers. Colgin says that most people just get the very basic certifications, and they do not qualify you to receive other jobs in the civilian workforce. If the veteran is not getting a decent amount in disability, or they cannot get hired at a job because of lack of certification this can easily lead to them becoming homeless.

The Department of Veteran Affairs is trying to help the homeless veterans. The VA has programs that “provide individualized, comprehensive care to Veterans who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.” Their goal is to end veteran homelessness by the end of 2015. I truly hope they are able to accomplish their goal. The VA offers help in healthcare, financial assistance, Veteran’s compensation, rehabilitation and employment assistance, burial and memorial benefits, and many other services. The VA has helped a lot of veterans already, and they plan to help the rest.   

 

Now, I know you are asking what you can do to help. There are plenty of ways us college students can help even though we do not think we have much influence in anything. There are hundreds of organizations we can get involved in that help veterans. You can locate some of these on the “National Coalition for Homeless Veterans” webpage. We also can help get more people involved in helping. We can let people know just how easy it can be to help. We can also contact our elected officials to see what is being done for the homeless in our communities. We can contact our local Alabama State Representative K.L. Brown from Jacksonville by emailing him at klbrown@cableone.net, or by stopping by his office at 322 Nisbet Street N.W. Jacksonville, AL 36265. We could also contact our United States House of Representative Mike Rogers from Anniston. We can contact him by phone at (202) 225-3261, and his office is in Washington, D.C.They can help get things done even if we cannot. If we make more people care more people will help. Even if you can not help them all now, you can still help one, and that makes a huge difference. And next time you see someone homeless, remember it may be someone who served our country and fought for our freedom.      

The Internal War

Mackayla Harris

What is PTSD? Before this class I did not really know what PTSD was. I know it is kind of crazy for me to not know that, but I do not really know many people who have fought in a war. During this semester I have read many blog posts and articles about PTSD and it seems to really affect people after war. PTSD stands for posttraumatic stress disorder. PTSD can develop after someone has been harmed or has seen someone else harmed. It usually comes from a fear. It could be a fear of being harmed, someone else being harmed, or losing a loved one.

There are many symptoms of PTSD. According to the article “What is PTSD?” some of the most common symptoms of PTSD include “recurring memories or nightmares of the events, sleeplessness, loss of interest, or feeling numb.” Many people with PTSD relive the event that caused the disorder. They play back the scene in their head with vivid details. The memories can come back at any time, and they can feel just as terrifying as when it was actually happening. The person will often have nightmares. They also have flashbacks about the event. There are also triggers that can cause the person to remember. The person with PTSD may see, smell, or hear something that triggers the terrifying memories. PTSD can make people have a hard time concentrating and sleeping. It can cause the person to become irritable and anxious. The trauma caused by PTSD changes people’s lives. The people often do not do things they would have normally enjoyed for fear of it bringing back memories. They will go out of their way to avoid things that could be triggers. PTSD prevents people from living their lives like they should. It also affects the families of people with PTSD. The family must learn to cope with the new way the person will act. That can be very stressful for the family members because they are not used to how the person will act, and it is not how the person used to be.

There are a couple different ways to help treat PTSD. The article “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)” states that “the main treatments for people with PTSD are psychotherapy (“talk therapy”), medications, or both.” Different people need different treatments. Psychotherapy is talk therapy. The person can talk with a mental health professional about their illness. The person with PTSD can also talk to family and friends about what they are going through. The family must be understanding and ready to listen whenever the member with PTSD needs to talk about their disorder. There are many different medications approved for treating PTSD in adults. These medications are antidepressants. The medications can help the person stop thinking about the memories as often. Also, taking the medications may help people go through psychotherapy. The person with PTSD will often have to try different treatments to find what works best.

Living with PTSD is very stressful not only for the person with the disorder, but also the person’s family. It is important we keep trying to help the people with PTSD. A lot of veterans have PTSD because of their time fighting for our country, and it is only right that we do what we can to help them when they return from war. We should be willing to talk to the people with PTSD and help them cope. We should also help them find professional help to make it easier on them. They do not deserve to go through a war in their head every day while trying to fight the memories. I do not know anyone with PTSD, but I know now that it can cause many problems and that it is an awful thing to have to live with.

"The Union’s Resources"

Mackayla Harris

What was one advantage the North had over the South during the Civil War? Before deciding on writing about the Civil War, I had never given it much thought. After some research, it was not hard to see some of the advantages the North had over the South. Their advantages are what I believe pushed them to win the war. After the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1861, the Southern slave states seceded from the nation and formed the Confederacy. The North became the Union. The war began in 1861. It all started when Confederate warships bombarded Union Soldiers at Fort Sumter, South Carolina. The majority of the fighting took place in the states of Virginia and Tennessee. The North had many advantages over the South. However, I believe the biggest advantage they had was their superior resources.

Industry is one of their resources that the South did not have. The factories and industries provided the North with the much needed war materials. The article, “Strengths and Weaknesses:North vs. South”, states that in 1860, “the North manufactured 97 percent of the countries firearms, 96 percent of the countries railroad locomotives, 94 percent of its cloth, 93 percent of its pig iron, and over 90 percent of its boots and shoes."  Industries gave the North the advantage. The North always had plenty of guns and ammo. The North was the main supplier of guns. It became hard for the South to get new ones. They had to make do with what they had before the war began. The lack of firearms greatly impacted the South.

Another resource that the North had was their transportation network. According to"Letters, Telegrams, and Photographs Illustrating Factors that Affected the Civil War", the North had “a better transportation network, mainly highways, canals, and railroads, which could be easily used to resupply military forces in the field."  The North had twice as many railroads per square mile compared to the South. The North was much more capable of transporting their manufactured war supplies to their armies. It was also their way of getting food to the soldiers.

The North was also in control of the Navy. The article "Strengths and Weaknesses: North vs. South", states that " Since the North controlled the navy, the seas were in the hands of the Union.” All of the main ingredients in gunpowder during this time were imported from overseas. The North could easily use the navy to block any incoming ships from bringing more supplies to the South. When the blockades would happen, it would tremendously hurt the South.

I believe that the advantage of the North's superior resources is what helped them win the war. With the end of the Civil War came the opening of the Thirteenth Amendment. The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in the United States. It also led to the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. The Fourteenth Amendment granted citizenship to all people born or naturalized in the United States. The Fifteenth Amendment guaranteed that no American would be denied the right to vote based on race. The Civil War changed a lot of ideas in the United States.  

"Women in the Revolution"

Mackayla Harris

    What role did women play in the American Revolution? Since I attended DAR School from kindergarten through 12th grade, the American Revolution has been ingrained in me. DAR stands for Daughters of the American Revolution. The American Revolution was between the American Colonists and the British. In 1775 a problem began when the British starting taxing American Colonists without their consent. The colonists believed they were entitled to certain fundamental rights. They wanted to be represented in Parliament. During the war almost all the men left for the army, and a lot of the women and children followed. The women and children would follow behind the soldiers as they moved from place to place. Women are not mentioned much when talking about the American Revolution. That is probably because most of them stayed behind the soldiers and out of the way. However, women did play a very important role in the American Revolution. The women were nurses, maids, wagoners, spies, and even soldiers.

    Many of the women performed daily tasks for the soldiers. Gillian Courtney states that, “their duties consisted primarily of cooking, mending, laundry, childcare, and nursing the sick.” These women were called the Women of the Army. They would almost always start out as camp followers. They would wash, cook, and do daily chores for the soldiers. Most of these women were also nurses. These women sold their services to the soldiers in return for money and occasionally half rations of food. The nursing jobs were at times very hard. The women would search the battle ground directly after the fight to look for any soldiers still alive. They also had to retrieve the dead and prepare them for burial.

    During the American Revolution the moving armies had to carry their ammunition, food, and other supplies with them wherever they went. The army hired wagoners to transport the supplies from the supply center to wherever the armies were at. The wagoners would follow along with the armies carrying the supplies in their wagons. John U. Rees from Continental Line states that, "Wagons were the most important mode of transporting those supplies armies needed to carry with them, since waterways did not always follow the direction dictated by military necessity or were under enemy control." Many of the wagoners were women. These people, men and women, were paid for their services. The wagoners were a huge part of the army. Without them the soldiers would not have been able to receive the supplies they needed.

    

    Also, there was a small amount of women who were spies during the American Revolution. The National Women's History website explains, "With their almost unrestricted access to soldiers' campsites, these women could eavesdrop on conversations about troop movements, leadership changes, and equipment shortages and deliveries without raising suspicion." Both armies used women as spies. However, they still thought women were innocent, and that they would not do any harm. The women would report the information straight to the military and civilian leaders. It was easier for a woman to transport a document through the town than it was for men. The women were not suspected of hiding any information. However, men were usually stopped and searched because of the fear of transporting information.

    Many women became soldiers during the American Revolution. At the time women were not allowed to join the army. However, the women would serve as secret soldiers. Rebecca Brooks, the author of “The Roles of Women in the Revolution” states, "These female soldiers usually disguised themselves as men by cutting their hair, binding their breasts with bandages and adopting masculine names." Many of the women joined in order to earn money for their families. Some just wanted the opportunity to fight for freedom. If the women were caught they were sent to jail. The women also risked getting made fun of for not following their traditional gender roles in society. The women during this age were not supposed to be doing men's work.

    Women played a very important role in the American Revolution, not only for the home front but also on the battle ground. The women were beginning to become more involved in war efforts. This Revolution changed how women were viewed in a time of war. Their efforts showed that they could be useful during the war in many ways.

Experimenting in War

Experimenting in War

Mackayla Harris

Why did Hitler experiment on the Jews? During World War 2, Nazi scientists began medical experiments on large amounts of Jewish prisoners. In some cases they would experiment on other races. The prisoners were forced to participate, and they did not inform the prisoners of what was going to happen. According to “Nazi Medical Experiments,” “The first category consists of experiments aimed at facilitating the survival of Axis military personnel… The second category of experimentation aimed at developing and testing pharmaceuticals and treatment methods for injuries...The third category of medical experimentation sought to advance the racial ideological tenets of the Nazi worldview.”

The first category of experiments performed on Jews was mainly to learn how to protect Hitler’s men. The experiments that the Nazi scientists performed often killed the Jews. If they did not kill them, it left them disfigured or disabled. Vivien Spitz states in “Doctors from Hell” that, “the human experiments included “high-altitude” experiments in which concentration camp inmates were forced, without oxygen, into high-altitude chambers that duplicated conditions at up to 68,000 feet.” The high-altitude tests were used to see when a person could safely jump out of an aircraft in case of an emergency.  Hitler had the scientists perform a multitude of dangerous experiments on the Jews. The scientists would also perform experiments where they would put the Jews in ice baths for hours to find treatment for hypothermia. The scientists wanted to see if they could extend the time a person could remain in freezing water. Hypothermia was an issue for the German pilots when they would be shot down over the North Sea. The “Nazi Medical Experimentation” states that, “the Nazi doctors considered “military necessity” adequate justification for their experiments.” The first set of experiments were done so that more of Hitler's men would survive.

The second category of experimenting was to find methods of treating wounds caused during battle. The Nazis needed better pharmaceuticals to apply to their wounds, and to find new ones that worked they tested them on the Jews. The scientists would use mustard gas on the Jews to find ways to treat the wounds created by the gas. “Nazi Medical Experimentation” states that, “Wartime wounds were recreated and inflicted on healthy Jews designated to be treated by the new drug.” The Nazi scientists  also needed to find new antibiotics to treat the soldiers with when they would have illnesses. They conducted experiments to find out if there were any immunizations for Tuberculosis. They needed a vaccination for it. They would inject the Tuberculosis bacteria straight into the lungs of the helpless Jews.

The third category of experiments were purely for racial reasons. Hitler and his army wanted to create the perfect Aryan race. Peter Tyson states in “The Experience” that, “ in an effort to find ways to more effectively multiply the German race, Josef Mengele performed experiments on twins at Auschwitz in hopes of plumbing the secrets of multiple births.” The scientists wanted to learn how to make women give birth to multiples every time. Hitler thought this would be a great way to expand the German population. The Nazi scientists also figured that if they sterilized the Jewish men and women that it would help in removing the impurities from their Aryan race. They would inject substances into Jewish women that they believed would prevent them from giving birth. It did cause horrible pain and internal bleeding.  

As surprising as it seems, Hitler had a reason for doing those experiments. The things they did were sick and twisted, but to them they had a reason. The Nazi’s performed their experiments in order to try to learn cures for things they would experience themselves. Such as the mustard gas experiments where they tested the wounds caused by mustard gas. They wanted to find the best way to treat the burns. Hitlers’ experiments were to help learn how to protect the Nazi soldiers, and to help cleanse the world of the his view of an undesirable race. However, the fact that Hitler had reasons for experimenting on the Jews still does not justify what he did. He had so much hatred for any other race than his own. He wanted to make sure nothing would harm his perfect Aryan race. So all though the experiments his people performed were awful, he did not care. He wanted to protect his Nazi men so that they could go on killing the undesirable races.

About Me

My name is Mackayla Harris and I am a freshman at Jacksonville State University. I am pursuing a degree in Business Management. One of my hobbies is traveling. I absolutely love traveling! I am from the small town of Grant, Alabama. I graduated from Kate Duncan Smith DAR High School. (DAR for short since no one wants to say all of that.) I had been at DAR since kindergarten. In high school clubs were my thing. I held offices nearly every year. I graduated as President of my school's FBLA chapter, President of the LEO club, Senior class Treasurer, and FCCLA Secretary. I had also worked at the local Dairy Queen in Guntersville for over two and a half years before moving to JSU. Being at this university is different than being back at my old high school. I don't know many people here, and I haven't joined any clubs yet. However, this is a new adventure in my life, and I plan to make the most of it.