From Downunder

Another war is about to start; now it’s in Northern Africa.  Al-Qaida affiliated groups are starting to control Northern Mali. The African Union has requested 3,200 troops to push al-Qaida out of Mali. The request was sent to the United Nations Security Council and they have 45 days to help develop a plan that will push al-Qaida out of the area. The United States, France and Britain have all agreed that they will support the African Army but the African Army has to led the invasion.

I believe this is news worthy because the United States has already agreed to support the African Army with logistical support. Also this looks like the African Army will be needing help because they are only requesting 3,200 troops to solve a problem that the United States have been trying to solve for the last decade and we are using a lot more then 3,200 troops.  This could mean that thousands of U.S. troops could be put on standby to be sent over to African to support their military.  The United States could be going into another war when we have not even finished our own war we started a decade ago.

This article was a short one but it looked like the author is just getting all the key information out to the public so they know what is going to happen in the near future.  This story was also laid out nicely by telling the reader what the problem was and what the African Union is doing about it and how they plan to solve the problem. Over all, this story is a starter story for a much bigger conflict that is to come.

http://news.yahoo.com/3-200-african-troops-needed-fight-rebels-islamist-224647539.html

College prices are on the rise, and more kids are unable to go to college because of the price, or are scared of the loan that comes after college. Also, more students are worried about getting jobs after college because of the economy. There is one thing that can solve all these problems. The Army is an alterative way for a student who is in debt and jobless. What most students do not know about the Army is that it gives three ways to serve their country. The three ways are Active Duty Army, Reserve, and National Guard.  Some people believe that Army ROTC is a fourth way to serve, but it is only a different way for someone to join the army and become an officer.

Matt Martinez who is in ROTC said, “My parents were never in the military and I had no way of paying for college without loans.  I really did not want to talk loans and worry about paying them back after I graduated, so I looked into Army ROTC and saw that they will pay for your school and gives you a job afterwards. So I thought what the heck lets do it, so I signed up and I’m happy that I did.” 

A second way in joining the Army without going through ROTC, the individual have to go to basic training, which is a ten week course that breaks a person down and will build them back up. Joining the National Guard, Reserves, or active duty, a person that joins one of these have to go through basic training but in ROTC does not. The difference between these three is the commitment you have with the Army.

National Guard and Reserves are very similar in the way they work.  Soldiers have to work one weekend a month with the Army to make sure they maintain the skills in the job they are trained in doing. They also spend a month every summer doing full-scale training event.  With these two you need to have another job to make a living for yourself.  The differences between these two are the jobs that are contained within them.

The National Guard is made up of units that are more combat-related, so the infantry, combat medic, and combat engineer will fall under National Guard.  The Reserves is the opposite of National Guard.  The units that fall under Reserve would be aviation, signal, and medical. So joining these two would allow you to serve your country and have a civilian life also.

A University of South Dakota Student named Ryan Bartholomaus joined the National Guard right after high school. “Joining the Army after high school was a great experience. I got to go to a lot of different states to because of training and to see new things that most 18 year olds would never see. I had in my contract that I wanted to go to college, so I had to do my entire training first before I could enroll in classes.  Even though I’m not on the same track with the kids I graduated with, I am still happy I joined.  I get most of my school paid for, and that’s worth it,” He said.

Active Duty Army is for the person that wants to be in the Army full time. The only difference between a full time Army job and a full time civilian job is that a soldier can be working weekends and holidays and you can’t call in sick. This way is different from any life style that most people are use to, unless you been around the military. With these three ways the individual can have in their contract that they want to go to college and want college paid for.  The Army will not pay all of it, but they will pay for most of it and the individual will also get money every month for being in the Army to help with school.

Students that are graduated or about to graduate can still get loans paid down by joining the Army.  Different amounts of money are given out to people that need loans paid back.  Now you know more about the Army and what they can do for you.  You can now make a better choice about joining the Army to help with all the debt that comes with college.

A Military dog named Layka was given a medal for her heroics in Afghanistan.  The dog was part of an Air Force special operation team that was clearing out a building that was possibly booby trapped with explosives. When the dog and her handler was in the building clearing it. The dog was ambushed and shot several times in the abdomen and right front leg.  With all her injuries she was still able to protect her handler by attacking the assailant and subduing him.  When things were under controlled the handler and a physician’s assistant treated the dog’s wounds.  The dog was flown to a hospital where her front right leg had to be amputated after several surgeries.  Layka was shortly awarded a medal for her heroics after arriving in the United States, even though no official medal does exist for military dogs; Layka deserves one for what she did. Her handler adopted the Layka because she is unable to serve on active duty because of her missing leg.

I believe that is story is newsworthy because it shows a positive message about the military. This story also shows what not only humans are facing over there but also dogs and how they are putting their lives on the line for United States. This story also shows how much the military takes care of its soldiers and how much a fellow soldier will do for each other in the heat of battle.

The story was organized very nice. It started at the beginning with what the dog was doing before she was wounded.  Even though this story was a short one the author gave the reader everything he or she needs to know about what happen. This story also included a quote that made this story more personal and how much people care about this dog for what she did.

http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/animal-house/201210/military-dog-honored-heroics-afghanistan

College prices are on the rise and more kids are unable to go to college because of the price or scared of the loan that comes after college. Also more students are worried about getting jobs after college because of the economy is so bad. With most college students worrying about all these things, there is one thing that can solve all these problems. Even though most kids don’t understand that the Army is a better life for a student that is in debt and jobless.  Even though a person has to sign his life away for so many years the life you gain great experience.  What most students do not know about the army is that it gives you three ways to server your country and does your time. The three way are active army, reserve, and National Guard.  Some people believe that Army ROTC is the fourth way to server but it is only a different way for someone to join army and become an officer.

I have gotten the privilege to meet people that are doing one of these and are very proud of taking the extra step to serve his or her country with honor. One of the people that I meet is from University of South Dakota and is in the ROTC program.  Matt Martinez said, “ My parents were never in the military and I had no way of paying for college with out loans.  I really did not want to talk loans and worry about paying them back after I graduated, so I looked into Army ROTC and saw that they will pay for your school and gives you a job afterwards. So I thought what the heck lets do it, so I signed up and I’m happy that I did.” A student that had no way of going to college changed his life when he chooses to sever his country and get his college paid for.

The other ways that a student can go to college and get is paid for other than joining ROTC is by doing the other three. The other ways have to be done before you go to college or in the summer between college semesters.  If you join the Army without going through ROTC you have to go to basic training which is a ten week course that will break you down and will build you back up. No matter what you join National Guard, Reserves and Active duty you have to go through basic training. The difference between these three is the commitment you have with the Army. National Guard and Reserves are very similar in the way they work.  You have to work one weekend a month with the army to make sure you contain your skills in the job you are doing in the Army.  They also spend a month every summer doing full-scale training.  With these two you have to have another job to make a living for your self.  The difference between these two are the jobs that are within them.  National Guard is units that are more combat related so the infantry and combat medic and combat engineer will be under National Guard.  The Reserves is the opposite of National Guard.  The units that fall under Reserve would be aviation, signal, and medical. So joining these two would allow you to server your country and be a civilian at the same time.  A student that goes to the University of South Dakota named Ryan Bartholomaus joined the National Guard after high school talks about its experience. “Joining the Army after high school was a great experience. I got to go to a lot of different states to because of training and to see new things that most 18 year olds would never see. I had in my contract that I wanted to go to college so I had to do my entire training first before I could enroll in classes.  Even though I’m not on the same track with the kids I graduated with I am still happy I joined.  I get most of my school paid for and that’s worth it.”

Active Duty Army is for the person that wants to be in the Army full time. The only difference in a full time Army job and a full time civilian job is that you can be working weekends and holidays and you can’t call in sick. This way is different from any life style that most people are use to unless you been around the military. With these three ways you can have in your contract that you want to go to college and want it paid for.  They will not pay all of it but they will pay for most of it and you will also get money every month for being in the Army to help with school.

Students that are graduated or about to graduate you can still get your loans paid down by joining the Army.  Different amounts of money are given out to people that need loans paid back.  Now that you know more about the Army and what they can do for you.  You can now make a better chose in joining the Army to help with all the debt that comes with college.

Turkey motors strikes Syria after a Syria mortar kills five Turkey citizens in Turkey.  With the civil war going on in Syria the fighting is starting to creep closer to the Turkish border.  Turkey called it “the last straw” and NATO is fully behind Turkey in their decision on striking Syria back.  NATO urges Syria to put an end to “flagrant violations of international law”.  Turkey has placed more troops on it’s side of the border that connects with Syria just in case the Syria civil war crosses over into Turkey.

I believe that this is news worthy because Turkey might be forced into a civil war that it does not want to be in and NATO might also be forced into the war.  This could mean that the United States could be redeploying to the Middle East in force to join this conflict. The United States government also sends money to Muslim countries for some reason I am unaware of. But why does the United States still do this when these countries are starting wars and are in wars?

This story was well organized by the start with the lede, it was an eye catcher and it made me want to read more about what happened.  The story had a lot of information and gave all the angles of what is happening about this aggressive act. It also tells the reader what the next step Turkey is going to make and what NATO is planning to do about the conflict of the two nations. This story was over all well organized and well informing.

http://news.yahoo.com/blasts-syrian-city-aleppo-kill-27-lebanese-hezbollah-083606024.html

A Teenager dressed in a white sheet carrying a fake RPG was on a busy intersection on July 28, 2012.  He was aiming the fake RPG at passing cars to see how fast the Phoenix police would respond to this terrorist act.  When cops did come no arrest were made after Turley who would be arrested on September 24, 2012 told them he was making a movie.  Turley was arrested after the video was uploaded to YouTube.  39-year-old Michael D. Turley is being charged with false impression of a terrorist act, endangerment and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

I believe this is news worth because people need to realize that terrorist can be anywhere and need to act fast when a terrorist act is happening.  With all the conflicts around the world it will only be time when things start to go wrong in our country. The police need to act fast and make arrest even if someone says it’s for a movie, terrorist act need to be taken seriously for the safety for others.  What would happen if someone in one of those cars had a gun on them and thought it was a threat to his or her life.  Then news would have blown up saying how a kid messing around was shot because someone thought the kid was a threat.

Even though the story was really short it gave all the information that was needed to make a good lede. I saw the video earlier today that had the story and explained what was going on.  The writer really just gave all the information up front and told it how it was. Also the writer did not give his opinion on the subject like most writers do.

Each student got a sheet of paper that had a mission on it to go find someone that would give you an item. My mission was to find someone outside of the library to give me some pocket lint. This is going to be the weirdest question that anyone will be asked and also the weirdest question I will ever ask someone. So my quest for some lint starts at the Student Center. I found one young lady that had a nice smile working in the bookstore that was not doing anything. I told her what I was doing and showed her the sheet of paper and how she needs to help me so I can be done with it. She searched all her pockets and found nothing. This mission started to look harder then what I thought it was going to be.  Finally searching my third building for anyone that would talk to me and give me some lint. I finally saw my prey walking down the hall; he looked like he had nothing to do but to talk to me.  I waited for him to walk down a hallway that had no escape, so he had to walk right passed me. I introduced my self and he had a confused look on his face.  The guy I ended up stopping was Cade Herrig. He said he was thinking, “Why is this guy telling who he is and talking to me” when I stopped him.  After explaining what I wanted from him he started laughing and said, “Why pocket lint?”

Showing him the sheet of paper that told me what I had to do and asking him if he would like to help me out.  He was kind enough to start checking his pockets for lint that he could give to me. He had on dark blue jeans that were as dark as the sea. When my luck was about to run out he finally found some in his last pocket and handed it over. The lint did not look like it even came from the jeans because it was as white as snow. He told me to take care of it and not lose it because it was his last one.

The United Nations has confirmed that Iran is shipping weapons to Syria to help Syria’s military fight the rebels.  Both countries are denying that this is happening and Iraq had not knowledge that weapons were being shipped or their airspace.  The United Nations believes that Iraq did not know about the weapons and was told not to question the planes that were flying in Iraq’s airspace. The planes that are being used to transport weapons are civilian 747s and being organized by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The United States is threating to take aid away from Iran for helping Syria.  The United States wants no part in paying Iran when they are shipping weapons to Syria.  This has not been the first time this conflict has been brought up.  Before planes were flying in Iraq’s airspace to Syria they were flying in Turkey’s airspace to Syria. The planes over Turkey’s airspace have been ceased for some time now and the United Nations plan to stop to Iran’s weapon transport to Syria but has not revealed how.

This is news worth because the transport of weapons to Syria is going to keep the civil war continuing and the war can trigger more conflicts in surrounding countries. This could become a big problem for the United States if the war starts more conflicts.  The United States is already trying to leave the Middle East and more conflicts are not going to help that process.  The United States is going to try and stop the planes before more troops have to be put on the ground to make it stop.

The author developed this story really well. The beginning stated what was happening and the United Nations is dealing with the problem.  It also gave a lot of quotes to back up the story and make the reader more informed.  The story had a second part talking about what the United States was going to do about this problem. Over all the story was written really well.

http://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-western-report-says-iran-ships-arms-personnel-183854532.html

The things that I would like to work on and need to fix is the sentence structure and able to have the whole story just flow.  Another thing that needs some work on is punctuation and spelling. Pretty much I need to work on everything when it comes to writing

In Libya, another attack on the United States ended with the death of four Americans. One of these Americans, Chris Stevens, was the American ambassador in Libya. The identity of the others is classified.  Fifty Marines were sent to Libya to provide security for American personal and to oversee the evacuation of American officials.  Seven countries are being watched carefully in Africa and the Middle East to prevent this from happening again.

This is news worthy because the U.S. could deploy more troops in Africa or Middle East to protect American ambassadors. This story was a wake up call for most Americans that think the U.S. is out of the hot zone with most people.  With little information about the raid it still gave a good lede and provided as much information as is allowed at this time. More information is likely to be released as the situation settles.

The author wrote this story really well I thought. The Lede had a very strong beginning by “President Obama Rushed Fifty Marines to Libya to Safe Guard Americans”. With this story only coming out only hours ago and some information is still classified it still gave good information about the raid and how President Obama reacted to the situation.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/u-probing-whether-libya-attack-extremist-plot-221442344–election.html