Barnave J. Seguy

Category: History in the fleet

Knowledge about the Greek civilization, more specifically the history of the Spartans, will be useful when I am an officer in the fleet. One trait that is very important that the Spartans demonstrate is a sense of pride in being a warrior. The fleet has many service members who are doing their commitment and simply hoping to keep all of their benefits; the sense of pride is not what motivates them. Just like the Spartans, I can be a more influential officer by reminding those that surround me the pride of service: less than 3% of American population serves in the military and it is an honor to be part of the few.

Furthermore, the Spartans believe that if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. For example, an elder who did not correct a younger Spartan who did wrong in his presence was liable to the same reprimand. Similar to the Spartans, it is important to correct people who are doing the wrong things. If I see another person do something wrong, it is my duty as an officer to correct that person; if I do not, then I am also part of the problem.

In addition, Spartans believe in maintaining a good diet to keep their body lean because it improved their appearance and their effectiveness in the battlefield. Similarly, the military has weight standards to encourage healthier eating habits, and the conduct of exercises. Learning about healthy nutrition is a valuable tool for military officers. The better I eat, the better I look in my uniforms, and the better I physically perform. In the fleet, I will be able to teach my Marines and Sailors about the importance of a healthy nutrition and fitness.

Lastly, I am inspired by the Spartans’ bravery and perseverance. When they faced the Persians, they were outnumbered; however, they never backed down and fought until the end. That part of the Spartan history teaches me that I should never back down in the face of adversity: I should continue to fight until I die trying. I also acknowledge that my adversity can range from enemy combatants to the daily inconveniences that officers come across in the workplace.

I feel fortunate to learn their history because many of their values can be used in today’s society, especially in military leadership. When things get hard and I feel like complaining and quitting, I can always remember that others like the Spartans had it much worse than me and they never quitted.

 

Words Count: 426

 

Reference : Falkner, Caroline. “Sparta.” The Classical Review, vol. 59, no. 1, 2009, pp. 190–193. JSTOR, JSTOR,

I grew up in a Christian home, and it was not until my attendance at the Naval Academy that I learned about the similarities between Christianity and Islam. While these two monotheist religions follow different scriptures, I was surprised to see how similar they are. These similarities and differences are important to explore because it is possible that Christians and Muslims are praying the same God, just under different names and interpretations. Yahweh, the Christian God, and Allah, the God of Islam, are both transcendent and immanent. The universal God cannot be seen and its existence cannot be understood. No man on earth can explain how God was created, nor can they describe what God is like. However, both religions teach that God is immanent; Yahweh manifests His presence on earth through His Holy Spirit and the Qur’an explains the direct connection that Allah has with its followers. Matthew 18 verse 20 states that “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I [God] am there in their midst.” The bible says that God is present amongst us even if we do not see Him, and similarly, according to Qur’an 50:16, Allah is closer to His people than their jugular vein. He is quick to respond when they call upon His name.

Secondly, both Christians and Muslims recognize their sinful state. Christians recognize their sinful tendencies in result of the original sin of Adam and Eve. In order to approach Yahweh, Christians must acknowledge the work of Jesus and the grace of God will allow believers to be deemed without sin. On the other hand, Muslims believe that their innate purity, acquired at birth, allows them to turn to Allah. However, Miner states, “this innate nature has to be realized through religious education since sin leads to heedlessness and ignorance of Allah” (Miner). Both religions require a level of purity to approach God, the only difference lies in the manner that purity is attained. While Christians become pure through their faith in Christ, Muslims remain pure and wash away their sins by learning the teachings of Allah.

Lastly, some of the symbols and rituals of Christianity and Islam are very similar, and they have the same general goal. Both Christians and Muslims use baptism as a symbol of purification. Christians baptize in order to gain a new life in God through Christ. Similarly, Muslims baptize in order to be ready for communion with God.  Both religions sees fasting as a symbol of purity and they use it in order to seek a deeper connection with the universal God.

Islam and Christianity both worship one universal God, under different names. Both scriptures recognize the vulnerability of believers and their ability to sin, and their symbols and rituals are a lot similar. Despite these similarities, what separates Christians and Muslims is Jesus Christ. Christians see Jesus as God himself, while Muslims see him as a great prophet, no different from the other prophets of his time.

Miner, Maureen (01/01/2014). “Spiritual attachment in Islam and Christianity: similarities and differences”. Mental health, religion & culture (1367-4676), 17 (1), p. 79.

The philosophy behind Sun Tzu Art of War is that a great leader can make the best out every situation if he or she knows himself or herself and the enemies. With good self-awareness, and some good intelligence about the enemy, a general can pick his battle: he will decide to fight if the enemy is weaker and he will evade if the enemy is stronger. If he decides to fight, he will know the areas where the enemy is weak and he will attack the enemy in these areas. A good general, according to Sun Tzu will hide his strengths and weaknesses to fool his enemies and catch them by surprise.

The Academy does a good job teaching us how to self-reflect to become aware of our strengths and weaknesses. In addition, we are aware of the importance of gathering the right amount of intelligence on the enemy. However, the academy, or the U.S. military in general, uses a different strategy than Sun Tzu: we prefer letting the enemy know how strong we are, as opposed to hiding our strengths. The deterrence tactic that the U.S. military uses consists of displaying our strengths so that the enemy will be afraid to attack us. When discussing current events at the Naval Academy, we talk about events like the 14 bombers who dropped live bombs near North Korea in order to make them fear us. Furthermore, looking at our history, we never backed down even when the enemy appeared to be stronger. During the battle of Iwo Jima, our troops were clearly outnumbered. The Japanese leader stated that a million men could not take this island in a hundred years.  Nevertheless, the Marines still fought with the little bit that they had and they made the best out of it.

I think our current military tactics are a lot better than the tactics proposed by Sun Tzu. While it is still important to know ourselves as well as the enemy, showing the enemy how strong we are deter many conflicts. Our deterrence technique is advantageous because no life is taken that way and less money is spent. In addition, our history shows the benefits of our tactics; we fought most battles where the enemy outnumbered us. Our perseverance and our desire to be free led us to victory throughout history. We won battles that we were never expected to win because the war veterans before us did not quit in the face of adversity. We owe it to them to take chances and stand up against any enemy. The right strategy is to use the tools we have and make the best out of it.

Reference :

Dimovski, Vlado, et al. “Sun Tzu’s “the Art of War” and Implications for Leadership: Theoretical Discussion.” Organizacija, vol. 45, no. 4, 2012, pp. 151-158.

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Before the 3^rd c. CE, Romans feared the expansion of Christianity because they saw them as a threat to the stability of the empire. I believe that the fear that the Romans felt was valid because of the impact Christianity had in the empire and the outbreaks caused by different provinces who opposed Christianity. The imperial government was very susceptible of any rising society and the officials always made sure to monitor these societies very closely. Christians met privately at night and early in the mornings to sing hymns and worship Christ. That behavior was very unusual for the Romans; they usually control everything that happens within the empire, but Christianity was becoming out of their reach because of their privacy. Romans began to doubt the loyalty of the Christians and feared that they were conspiring against the Roman Empire. While the Christian leaders confirmed their loyalty to Rome, they still bound themselves to keep certain commands and refused to worship the traditional gods of Rome. Romans were unfamiliar with monotheism, and they characterized that behavior as stubbornness. The Eastern provinces were disturbing the peace to show their discontentment with the Christians and they wanted Christians to be legally punished for their stubbornness.

Christians were feared because not only they were very committed to their religion practices and boundaries, but they were also expanding the religion by converting other habitants of Rome. Traditionally, a wife has to follow the religion and worship the gods of her husband. She is expected to ignore any other foreign religion that surfaces in Rome. However, many wives were converting to Christianity. In addition, Christians were also reaching out to slaves. When slaves attended the Christian meetings, they felt powerful because they were treated fairly with respect and were able to find their identity through Christianity (Russell). In Corinthian, St. Paul suggested that if slaves have the opportunity to gain their freedom, they should do so. While Paul is not trying to abolish slavery, he is telling slaves that it is okay to turn against their masters and break the rules of the Empire. Due to the Christian expansion and their beliefs, Christians were blamed for many things that went wrong in Rome. Romans felt as if Christianity was a poison for Rome, and it was ruining the traditional way that Romans rule the empire.

Finally, Christians condemned the pagans. Christians were preaching against the pagans, and that behavior was not welcomed in Rome because traditionally, Romans were welcome to practice the religion of their choice, as long as it did not interfere with Roman practices, or threaten the peace. However, that did not stop the Christians to do what they believed was right. When Roman officials try to stop them, Christians were relentless and chose prison, torture, and even death rather than rejecting their religion. Facing that kind of determination, the Romans felt threatened because they feared that they were losing the control of the empire. While they were able to abuse the body of Christians, but they felt powerless because they could not control what they do, or who they influence.

180. G. Russell. “The Jews, the Roman Empire, and Christianity, A. D. 50-180.” Greece & Rome, vol. 6, no. 18, 1937, pp. 170–178. JSTOR

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Athenian democracy system is different from our representative democracy, but it has significant similarities that cannot be ignored. Just like the founding fathers wrote the constitution to protect the freedom of Americans, Athenians were very concerned with the freedom of the individual of the citizens of Athens.  During the colonial era, the British did not respect the privacy and freedom of American citizens and Thomas Jefferson wrote the bills of rights, a formal document informing the British colonists that we are aware of our alienated rights and we were willing to go to any measures to enjoy our freedom as citizens. Similarly, Athenians sought freedom for every citizens, and prohibited slavery. Solon freed enslaved debtors by cancelling all of their debts and he forbid any future enslavement of debtors.

In addition, Athens prevented the lower class from being dominated by the elite class. Any Athenian citizen was allowed to represent himself in court and not have a representative from the elite class. Athens made it so that citizens from a lower class did not have to depend on someone from a higher class. Also, if a person elects to have a representative in court, many laws were set in place in order to ensure that the representative was not trying to manipulate the client. For example, if a wealthy person is going against someone that is much poorer, Athenians create a system to allow them to be on the same playing field. They ensure that the rich person is not bribing any other members of the court. “There was another safeguarad against elite manipulation – the suspicion of the jury itself. The jurors were wary of the rhetorical smoke-and-mirror tactics of deceptive speakers, especially when directed against private citizens” (Alwine 2016). Just like our judicial system, every party going into the courtroom has the same rights, regardless of social status. In our society, if a lawyer cannot be afforded, one is provided in order to make up for the unfair advantage that comes with the lack of knowledge and experience in the court system.

Furthermore, the votes of each social class mattered for Athenians. Decisions that affect the government of Athens happen during assemblies, and every attendants of these assemblies were encouraged to continue attending with a guaranteed pay. While everyone was being paid, regardless of social class, the pay played a huge role for the lower class because they give up multiple days of work to attend these assemblies, which can lead to a financial challenge. While America does not pay its citizens to vote, every citizen is encouraged to do so, and also to take part of important discussions that influence the decisions of American citizens.

Citation :

Alwine, Andrew T. (2016). “Freedom and Patronage in the Athenian Democracy”. The Journal of Hellenic studies (0075-4269), 136

The movie 300 is definitely a great one to watch. While it gives a good overview of the Battle of Thermopyle, it also has a lot of inaccurate information. It is clear that it is a very expensive movie to produce and considering that kind of investment, the moviemakers made some changes to the plot to get a better reaction out of the audience. In the beginning of the movie, it shows Leonidas becoming king at a very young age while sources reveal that he did not become king until he was about 40 years old, in year 490 B.C.E. (Petersen). In the movie, Leonidas gets the kingdom after killing a lion that was chasing him. His actions showed his bravery, strength, and other values that Spartans live for.

Furthermore, in the movie, King Xerxes is portrayed as a god while all the men under him are portrayed as worthless slaves. When king Xerxes attempts to cut a deal with king Leonidas in the movie, he gets off his chariot and uses the back of his men as steps. When he gets near king Leonidas, King Leonidas told him that his men are treated like slaves while Spartans are warriors. In reality, the Persians pay their workers because they do not believe in free servitude. The purpose of that is to make king Xerxes appear as a heartless ruler while King Leonidas gets to be the good person.

Lastly, the movie exaggerated the size of the Persian army, while lowering the true number of Greeks that fought during that battle. “By the time he reached Thermopylae, Leonidas had assembled a force of about seven thousand men” (Petersen). While the Greeks are divided in many tribes, when it comes time to battle another nation, the Greeks come together as one to protect their land. In addition to the size of the Greek army, the Greeks “also knew that the Aegean in August was subject to violent, unexpected windstorms, and storms did occur with extraordinary force and frequency, destroying a significant portion of the Persian fleet” (Petersen). The Spartans were great warriors, the movie made it seem like their combat skills were the main reason they defeated the Persians, omitting to mention any weather conditions that affected the Persians army.

Source :

Petersen, Nis. “Leonidas.” Great Lives from History: The Ancient World, Prehistory-476 c.e., edited by Christina A. Salowey, Salem, 2004. Salem Online.