First Thought Of The Cold War example essay topic

The Cold War 1944-1990 By Sara Wilson War. The first war I can remember was when my father, Robert Wilson went away to the Persian Gulf War in 1991. When I think of war I think of disagreements and fighting, but I have learned that the Cold War was not really like that. I first chose to do a paper on the Vietnam War but I decided doing an overview would be better because I wouldn't have a paper about one certain thing. When I first thought of the Cold War, I really didn't know what it was. All I knew was that it had to do with the Berlin Wall and Communists, that's all.

In school I learned that I was sort of right but there were more things involved like how the Allies defeated Japan and drove the last foreign powers out of China. Also how in 1950 the Korean War broke out when Communist (North Korea) invaded Democrats (South Korea). They did it in an attempt to unify the country under Communist power. I also think in 1953, both sides decided to sign a treaty and stop fighting. That treaty still stands today. I also learned stuff about the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, Soviets A-bomb testing, Georgy Malenkov, Nikita Khrushchev, Sputnik, the Space Race, and the U 2 incident.

Right now were learning about the U 2 incident, Vietnam Conflict, President JFK and President Johnson. To get information from people about the Cold War I decided to talk to my mother, like a 3rd person type of thing, about my Pe-pop being in the Vietnam War. I talked to her one night at home and she told me that her father, Richard Prov in always wanted to be a solider. He enlisted in the Army and his two brothers enlisted in the Navy in 1949. She told me about how he was overseas fighting in the Korean War when she was born. She didn't know much about his time there because she was too young.

She also told me about his two tours in the Vietnam War. He was in the 1st Infantry Division in both tours. In the first tour he told her about how they were in the jungle and never stayed in one place long they always moved around. He was a Mess Sergeant and he helped move a portable kitchen so they could have food.

She said that the first time he came back he had changed, "He was always a quiet person and never really talked about it in detail. In his 2nd tour he stayed at the main camp and helped there. He also got a purple heart for being wounded in action... I know that there hasn't been one night that I have slept under that same roof as my father and he hasn't woken up with nightmares. He never talked about the hard stuff only about where he had been...

I remember when I was younger around the early 60's, we lived on a base and we would go to the drive in movie and he'd be in his START outfit and we would hear them call his name over the intercom because his division was going out into the field or something and he had to get back to the post. I also remember during the Cuban Missile Crisis being scared to live on a base because everyone thought we were going to get bombed or attacked. The difference between how I grew up and how you did is because back then we had bomb shelters and you guys didn't, after awhile we felt safe and the world wasn't afraid anyone would hurt us". That night I had learned more about my Pe-pop's past and how he always wanted to be a solider. When I found out about this project I knew I wanted to talk with people from my mothers office so I talked to my mom and she told me about Mrs. Pam, who works with my mom everyday and Senior Chief Alexander, who work's upstairs from my mother and is a purple heart recipient.

Since I always procrastinate I couldn't get a personal interview, so I decided to write an email which included these questions: When were you born? , What does the term Cold War mean to you? , When did you first hear about it? , Were you or any of your family members enlisted in the Armed Services during the Cold War? Who, When? Did you serve in any other military conflicts during the times of the Cold War?

How has military life changed since the end of the Cold War? The first person I emailed was Senior Chief Alexander. She wrote that she was born in 1960 and enlisted when she was 18 in 1978. She had 3 other family members in the Armed Services at that time too: D'More (1979-1989); Diane (1977-1997); Uncle (1950-1955). She also told me during the Cold War time she kind of participated Operation "Just Cause" 1983 or Operation "Urgent Fury" 1989, her unit provided critical intelligence used to support combat missions. When I researched what these were I found out that Operation "Just Cause" was about the military help set up a democratic government after the invasion of Panama.

I also found out that Operation "Urgent Fury" was about the planning and execution of joint operations in Grenada. When I asked her if the military has changed since the Cold War she wrote, "Military life has not changed too much. We " re still underpaid for what we do and till train / deploy in support of conflicts "du jour". However, our focus has now shifted to Third World countries and the war on global terrorism rather than the old Soviet cat and mouse game of the Cold War. Although our military is poised and ready to take on the challenges of 21st century unconventional warfare, we are ever mindful of September 11 2001. So one change that I've observed is that we are constantly on a high state of alert for terrorist attacks, especially here on U.S. soil".

The second e-mail I wrote was to Mrs. Pam and she told me that she was born in 1953, like my mom and enlisted in U.S. Navy for 22 years from 1976-1998. She also told me that two of her brothers were in the U.S. Army for short terms in the late 70's and early 80's. She said she first heard about the Cold War when she enlisted and that she was in the Navy during Desert Storm and Gulf War. When I had asked her if she thought the military has changed she wrote that.

"I think we are more technical and our attention has shifted to other areas and countries". From doing this I-Search paper I have learned lots more than I thought I would about my family and how other people feel about the War. I have also learned that it isn't just about the Berlin Wall and Communists, it was more than that, the war meant something for people; it gave them freedom. I didn't learn as much as I wanted to because I procrastinated but I know next time I will do a lot better!