The U.S. Navy Essay Example for Free

The U.S. Navy Essay Substance abuse is a condition in which the individual utilizes chemical substances that alter mood and behavior in a maladaptive manner, causing significant distress and failure to function normally at home, workplace, school or in social settings. Some individuals may also do dangerous acts or get themselves in trouble with the law. Some of the substances which can be misused include alcohol, marijuana, stimulants, tobacco, cocaine, etc. The incidences of substance abuse are quite high in the navy. Substance abuse is often linked with several unsolvable problems in life especially at the workplace or concerning personal issues. Individuals who cannot cope with these problems turn to alcohol, cocaine, cannabis and other substance to relieve their distress. The US Navy is quite strict about substance abuse, and maintains a ‘zero tolerance policy’ both during duty and after duty, or offshore and afloat. According to this policy, misuse of drugs or alcohol in the Navy is not suited in maintaining the high standard of performance, discipline and promptness. It destroys the navy’s goal of installing pride and sense of professionalism However, several individuals in the navy may have a drug problem, and the leaders should try to retain such staff and help them to get back to normal life and functioning. The Navy has lost several of its sailors due to substance abuse, which has resulted in a number of families getting destroyed. A survey conducted by the Department of Defense in 1980 found that 46% of the navy personnel used cannabis during the last 1 month. Out of these, about 26% confessed that they had been under the influence of drugs at their work. The incidences of cannabis use were especially high in individuals who had experienced a traumatic event at their work. Cannabis is one of the most misused drugs in the navy. There is a common misconception that cannabis use is safer than smoking tobacco. However, studies conducted showed that smoking cannabis significantly increased the risk of developing cancers of the head, neck and the lungs. Many individuals also felt that it was easier to quit cannabis use. However, studies conducted on individuals trying to quit the habit showed that they had severe problems including sleeplessness, irritability and aggression. Amongst all positive urine test results, cocaine accounted for 14% to 22% in Navy personnel in the last four years. Cocaine can be consumed through various means such as smoking, snorting, etc. The drug makes the individual feels euphoric, energetic, mentally alert and sensitive to various stimuli. Cocaine produces several ill-effects on the heart, blood vessels, lungs, nerves and the brain. In developing a program to combat substance abuse in the navy, it is very important to make the participants understand the ill-effects and the risks associated with substance abuse. The program has to include certain aims, goals, objectives and the certain means have to be implemented in a planned manner to attain these goals. The main aim of the program is to stop illicit substance use by the navy personnel. The goals of the program include educating the participants about various signs/indications through which substance abuse can be recognized. They should also be educated about the ill-effects, risk and consequences of the drug use.

Essay on the Symbol of Pearl in Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter :: Scarlet Letter essays

The Symbol of Pearl in The Scarlet Letter The Scarlet Letter is a book of much symbolism. One of the most complex and misunderstood symbols in the book is Pearl, the daughter of Hester Prynne. Pearl symbolizes a real and constant reminder of Hester’s sins, she is much more prominent and evident than the â€Å"A† that Hester wore, for she is a real living breathing person who will always remain a part Hester. Hawthorne places Pearl in the novel to explore the theme of Romanticism, to create a character who is passionate and true, one who questions the behavior and values of Hester and Dimmesdale. Pearl’s behavior towards her mother varied at different times. She would often constantly nag her mother and became infatuated with the scarlet "A" which her mother wore. She is anything but a normal Puritan child, and Hawthorne creates her character very interestingly. â€Å"The child could not be made amenable to rules. In giving her existence, a great law had been broken.....† (91)Pearl was so very aware of this â€Å"A† even if she did not fully understand the meaning of it at her young age. Although, she did have a sense of what this letter meant, and would also make her own to wear. â€Å"Mother, the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom. Now see! There it is, playing, a good way off. Stand you here, and let me run and catch it. I am but a child. It will not flee from me, for I wear nothing on my bosom yet† (192). This symbolizes Pearl’s constant curiousity and truth, and her knowing that the letter her mother must wear retricts her from being ‘loved by the sun’, in other words, Hester must remain in the dark about her feelings, while Pearl can stay in the sun. Again another example of Pearl’s free emotion, a symbolism of the Romanticism in the novel. Although Hester had so much trouble with Pearl, she still felt that Pearl was her treasure. Being alienated from society and without Dimmesdale to confess his part in the sin, Pearl was really the only thing that Hester had in life. Hester cherished Pearl’s existence, though she was born out of what Puritans considered a sin. Here, Pearl symbolizes a person that Hester can hold on to and call her own, when it seems as though she has nothing left in the world.

The Garden of Love

This poem uses the deterioration of an Edenic garden to represent the corrupting effect of organised religion upon our internal state of being. Blake's ‘The Garden of Love' functions as a criticism upon organised religion, poignantly reflecting on its capacity to replace humanity's innocent joys with rules and empty routines. Stanza 1 The name ‘Garden of Love' almost appears hackneyed through its traditional, Edenic connotations. It is a representation of innocence, with green, open spaces often being associated with childhood in Blake's poetry. The speaker comments that they saw â€Å"what [they] never had seen†, which seems to imply that something material has changed external to themselves, namely the altered landscape that is subsequently detailed; however, this poem, in the context of the ‘Songs of Innocence and Experience', symbolises an internal fall from innocence, and it is therefore only the speaker's perspective that has changed. The Church is then introduced as the object of the poet's condemnation, represented through the synecdoche of the â€Å"Chapel†. It is built â€Å"in the midst†, implying that organised religion is central to the corruption that infected the zeitgeist of the late 18th century. Furthermore, the aural suggestion of ‘mist' subtly evokes a somewhat disquieting image of the Chapel being shrouded in vapour, which is often a symbol of materialism in Blake and could therefore imply a preoccupation with wealth in Christianity. This contrasts with the â€Å"green†, a representation of childhood, where the speaker used to â€Å"play†, a verb with similar connotations. Stanza 2 The gates of the chapel are said to be â€Å"shut†, suggesting that the religiosity of the Church is an exclusive privilege. Indeed, Blake was very critical of an institution which effectively heralds its clergy as closer to God than ordinary worshippers; in his eyes, every human is equal before the natural order. He extends his condemnation to the Old Testament in the subsequent line, commenting that â€Å"Thou shalt not† was â€Å"writ over the door†. This is an allusion to the Ten Commandments, which Blake deemed to be overly regulatory; he instead put his faith into the New Testament, which conversely advises humanity as to how it should conduct itself, therefore placing a greater emphasis on free will. The speaker then â€Å"turn[s]† to the Garden of Love, unveiling a poignant tableau in which they realise that the green innocence of their youth, which â€Å"so many sweet flowers bore†, has become devastated beyond hope. The final stanza is extremely bleak, alluding to death through its evocation of â€Å"graves† and â€Å"tombstones†, which have now replaced the â€Å"flowers† of the speaker's youth. The poem ends with a rhyming couplet, whose swaying rhythm represents an endless cycle of innocence into experience, an idea reinforced by the use of language such as â€Å"rounds† and â€Å"briars†. The reference to priests confirms that this poem is an attack on organised religion, which has repressed our â€Å"joys and desires†. It therefore serves to mentally imprison us, acting, along with the government, monarchy and other formal institutions, as a fortification of experience.

The Relationship of the United States With Russia

From 1922 to 1991, Russia represented the largest portion of the Soviet Union, and it dominated the coalition of Marxist proto-states. Through most the final half of the 20th century, the United States and the Soviet Union, also known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), were the principal actors in an epic battle, referred to as a Cold War, for global domination. This battle was, in the broadest sense, a struggle between communist and capitalist forms of economy and social organization. Even though Russia has now nominally adopted democratic and capitalist structures, Cold War history still colors U.S.-Russian relations.​ World War II Prior to entering World War II, the United States gave the Soviet Union and other countries millions of dollars worth of weapons and other support for their fight against Nazi Germany. The two nations became allies in the liberation of Europe. At wars end, countries occupied by Soviet forces, including a large part of Germany, were dominated by Soviet influence. British Prime Minister  Winston Churchill described this territory as being behind an Iron Curtain. The division provided the framework for the Cold War  which ran from roughly 1947 to 1991. Fall of the Soviet Union In the mid-1980s Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev led a series of reforms known as glasnost and perestroika which eventually brought the dissolution of the Soviet empire into a variety of independent states. In 1991, Boris Yeltsin became the first democratically elected Russian president. The dramatic change led to an overhaul of U.S. foreign and defense policy. The new era of tranquility that ensued also led the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists to set the Doomsday Clock back to 17 minutes to midnight (the farthest away the clocks minute hand has ever been), a sign of stability on the world stage. New Cooperation The end of the Cold War gave the United States and Russia new opportunities to cooperate. Russia took over the permanent seat (with full veto power) previously held by the Soviet Union at the United Nations Security Council. The Cold War had created gridlock in the council, but the new arrangement meant a rebirth in U.N. action. Russia was also invited to join the informal Group of Seven (G-7) gathering of the worlds largest economic powers, making it the G-8. The United States and Russia also found ways to cooperate in securing loose nukes—enriched uranium or other nuclear material on the black market—in former Soviet territory. There is still much to be done on this issue, however. Old Frictions Despite friendlier efforts, the United States and Russia still have found plenty of areas to clash: The United States has pushed hard for further political and economic reforms in Russia, while Russia bristles at what it sees as meddling in its internal affairs.The United States and its allies in NATO have invited new, former Soviet, nations to join the alliance in the face of deep Russian opposition.Russia and the United States have clashed over how best to settle the final status of Kosovo and how to treat Irans efforts to gain nuclear weapons.Russias controversial annexation of Crimea and military action in Georgia highlighted the rift in U.S.-Russian relations. Sources The Collapse of the Soviet Union U.S. Department of Stateâ€Å"Loose Nukes.†Ã‚  Loose Nukes: The Race to Secure Nuclear Material -- United Nations and 21st Century Security -- The Stanley Foundation