Assignment 1-3

Tyler Teeter
HUMN-341
Assignment 3-1
“The Death of a Marine”
The hunt for the man whom took the life of a fellow marine has ended, and we can now draw a close to another murder in our recent history. According to Associated press writer Traci Carl, FBI agents and police in the small town of Tacambaro arrested Cpl. Cesar Laurean on Thursday and he is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, whose burned remains were found in January in the backyard of his home near Camp Lejeune. The FBI claimed that the man had been living off fruits and vegetables from farms around the area he was captured. The United States now has custody of him and an arrest like this makes it known that Mexico will not harbor our fugitives.
We all have been following the story as it unfolded several months ago, but a person such as me has to stop and think why anyone would do such an act. We know from watching the news that they found her burned body in his backyard. This woman was estimated to be 20 weeks pregnant and as a young Marine had her whole life ahead of her. I think he should be sentenced to the death penalty for his actions because no man whom commits such act should ever have the chance to walk the earth again. It is understandable that we all make mistakes, but no matter what the circumstances are there is never a reason to kill, and especially an innocent unborn child. Many things which we do not know of could have passed through his head before he went forward with the murder, but just what kind of demonic and insane tempers pass through someone to cause them to commit such a horrible crime. It’s almost like the Bobby Cutts Jr. case that happened here in Stark County last summer. A crazy man gets upset and cannot control his anger and emotions and kills not only a woman but his very own innocent unborn child (daughter) who was only days from being born.
These men have both committed unthinkable acts of crime and one has been sentenced to life in prison and the other, just now found in Mexico will await a trial. These men were both of stature and held positions often looked up to such as Mr. Cutts was a policeman here locally in Canton and Mr. Laurean a Marine, which is the epitome of the American military and one of the few and the proud. Both men could have been considered heroes for there roles in society, but they will forever be remembered as those who murdered innocent helpless women and unborn children.
I feel that Mr. Cutts should have received the death penalty for his crimes and the same should happen to Mr. Laurean. They both are mentally competent men whom understand the law and had a duty to uphold it. Why shouldn’t we make and example of their behaviors for the entire world to see that the United States does not tolerate that kind of behavior. Instead with the Cutts trial we decided to send him away to prison for life with parole in 35 years. We will be spending thousands of dollars a month to keep him behind bars so he can eat, sleep, and enjoy many activities that are not often afforded to some working class citizens. We have people that work hard everyday to earn a living and sacrifice luxuries that many prisoners get to include medical care and food. I think we as a nation have become week and the rest of the world knows it. A sad day for our society has come when people commit crimes just to get food, water, and shelter. I hope that the United States Marine Corps makes a better example of Mr. Laurean than the jury did for Bobby Cutts Jr. I do understand that prison life is not a luxury, but I do understand that it is a burden on the taxpayers when we could be using that money to build schools and educate people, improve our roads, and dare I say it, “LOWER TAXES.”


Reference
By TRACI CARL, Associated Press Writer
Retrieved from http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080411/ap_on_re_us/missing_marine;_ylt=AoAG9v0fcd5nYUU4YsqdVaZH2ocA

Memphis Belle/Assignment 9-2

Assignment 9-2

Movie

"MEMPHIS BELLE"

Summary

I chose the movie "Memphis Belle" because it is a movie that is totally realistic, based of the true story of the Memphis Belle (a B-17 bomber) of the WW2 era, and actually show live footage of an air battle. The crew was part of the 8th Air Force for the United States fighting on the European front. They were the first crew to successfully finish their required 25 missions and get to go home heroes. It sounded simpler than it really was as the 25 missions were bombing runs over hostile territory where surface to air mortars where everywhere along with enemy fighters dive bombing them as the B-17s were large sitting ducks. The men of the crew where all excited about haveing only one last bomb run to complete and their was a large celebration for them the night before and they were the talk of the base about their success. However the next morning in the breifing they discovered they were going right into the heart of the war as opposed the the milk run they thought would be given to them since it was their last run. There were several hundred planes that took part in the attack on a large tank factory and they had to hit it just right because there were schools close by. They fought there way through the bomb run as one problem after another came up and they became the frontg plane. All planes were to drop their bombs on the Belles orders but when dense cloud cover appeared the bombadeir had trouble seeing the target so the practicaly commited a suicide run and went back around for another run almost loosing the plane and the entire fleet. Many planes and aircrews were lost and when all the rest returned the Memphis Belle had yet to show. Dissapointment was in the air until they saw her off in the distance sputtering in on only one of the four engines running. They crash landed and made history on that day as the first American flight crew to successfully fly 25 missions. The movie is worth watching twice and I personally own it and find it to be my favorite because I had a great uncle that was a tail gunner on one and he often sits and tells me stories for hours. He is 87 now and still can describe some of the things like they happened yesterday and others he wont tell ya about at all. My grandfather was also a member of one of the air crews as a flight engineer assisting the pilots in the operation of the plane and flight. The realisim of the whole movie does a wonderful job at keeping your attention without Hollywood style spice ups to keep your attention. Its a movie all should see and think about what the men and women of our country were doing in the early 1940s!

FORMULA

The formula for this movie is the crew has met all the requirement to go home except they must finish one last mission to be successful and meet the full 25 missions flown. They are faced with many problems from enemy gunfire to mechanical error to the crew altercations while in flight, but if they can make it back to the base alive they will be heroes forever.

The formula identified is simple, but from the charachters point of view its a possibility of death every minute they are in the air and especially over enemy territory.

The formulas change over the years, but there is usually a goal and an outcome where the goal is atleast tried to be met. Like in this movie and in the real life situation they have many obstacles to overcome but in the end they must remain alive. Some times in films the people you want to live die and those you want to die lives, but for the sake of reality and the sake of the movie this aircrew lived.

If I was the director of this film I would change nothing because the stroy is real and should be kept that way. The crew lived and therefore that is how it should be portrayed. A few of their buddies on other planes died in air battles and they watched them get blow away in mid air with bullets and blood everywhere, and it would have been nice to let them live, for tha sake of the movie but it did keep it interesting and at the same time you know that was the harsh reality behind war and actually happened.