Code of Conduct

During the Korean War in the early 1950s, the Chinese Army and North Korean Army captured some American military men. These American prisoners then faced a deadly new enemy, the Eastern World's POW environment.

For the American prisoners, brutal torture, random genocide, lack of food, absence of medical aid, and subhuman treatment became a daily way of life. Many of the Americans found that their training had not prepared them for this new battlefield.

After the war the American armed forces jointly developed a Code of Conduct. The President of the United States approved this written code in 1955. The six articles of the code create a comprehensive guide for all American military forces in time of war, and in time of peace. The articles of the code embrace (1) general statements of dedication to the United States and to the cause of freedom, (2) conduct on the battlefield, and (3) conduct as a prisoner of war.

The new Code of Conduct is not a part of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). Instead, the Code of Conduct is a personal conduct mandate for members of the American armed forces throughout the world.

Article I: I am an American, fighting in the armed forces which guard my country and our way of life. I am prepared to give my life in their defense.

Article II: I will never surrender of my own free will. If in command I will never surrender the members of my command while they still have the means to resist.

Article III: If I am captured, I will continue to resist by all means available. I will make every effort to escape and aid others to escape. I will accept neither parole nor special favors from the enemy.

Article IV: If I become a prisoner of war, I will keep faith with my fellow prisoners. I will give no information nor take part in any action which might be harmful to my comrades. If I am senior, I will take command. If not, I will obey the lawful orders of those appointed over me and will back them up in every way.

Article V: When questioned, should I become a prisoner of war, I am required to give name, rank, service, number, and date of birth. I will evade answering further questions to the utmost of my ability. I will make no oral or written statements disloyal to my country and its allies or harmful to their cause.

Article VI: I will never forget that I am an American, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which made my country free. I will trust in my God and in the United States of America.

http://www.usmcpress.com/heritage/code_conduct.htm

Test Day

I took my EMT Basic Practical Exam today. Those who passed my EMT class went up to Abbott Ambulance District today to sit around for 5 hours and wait to be tested in a patient assessment and two skills.

In the assessment, the EMT is supposed to analyze the patient, identify the chief complaint or any life threats, and prepare the patient for transport to a hospital. I got a medical assessment. My patient (they use actors) was a 40 year old man with the complaint of shortness of breath. I checked his airway, breathing, and circulation, his vitals, and asked him about his symptoms, any allergies, medications he was taking, when the event started, if anything triggered it, if anything like this had happened before, did the pain move, what did the pain feel like, did anything make it better or worse, etc. I made my patient a rapid transport and finished the rest of my assessment in about 8 minutes.
I think I hit all the critical criteria: Put patient on oxygen, etc. but at the end my evaluator did say, don't forget to assess their skin to check if they are pail or sweaty. Did I miss something by forgetting that?

For my skills station, I had airway adjuncts and the long board. I know I hit every point on the airway station. I'm not so sure about the long board. I fumbled around with the straps quite a bit because I was not used to the type of belt used and the fact that we had always practiced with 5 belts, not 4. My other concern was that the evaluator asked about when manual stabilization of the head could be released. I said after the C-collar was put in place. He asked me this several times. Should I have said "When the head is secured to the board."? I checked and it wasn't listed under the critical fail points. However, excessive movement of the patient is a fail point. I wonder if he would see releasing stabilization as allowing too much movement of the patient?

I will know Monday...

Brush Me!

Baci likes her brush.

eCommerce

Factoid #1: My Masters is in Educational Technology.
Factoid #2: My undergrad is in Elementary Education
Factoid #3: I have NEVER taken a business class before in my life, EVER!

This morning I finished grading the final assignments of my 8-week long eCommerce class. Yes, eCommerce. If you noticed the little factoids about me, you will most certainly wonder why I was teaching this course in the first place. Desperation on the part of the college, maybe? I certainly understand the "e" part of eCommerce. It's just the rest of the word that I have problems with.

Having been my first real class to teach, I was nervous and felt unprepared. I read the entire text book and perused the supplemental website. Developing methods of assessment and the syllabus was the easy part. It was teaching a topic I didn't know that scared me.

My objectives of the class were based on the course description. I stuck pretty close to the text to stay on target. I learned quickly that active discussion helped facilitate learning of the topic for myself and the students as we applied the text in to real world situations.

I am very much an advocate of authentic assessment. Though this requires much more time on the instructor's part, the outcome is tremendous for the students. In this case, the class developed eBusiness plans for company they were involved in and developed an actual web presence for the company.

One student whose grade was suffering during the first part of the term and had already maxed out her absences became noticeably interested in developing her website. Once she made the connection that her eBusiness plan had a purpose, her plan changed and she started putting effort in the class.

If I had known that Aaron was going to come home during this class, I am not so sure I would have taken it on. But, God's timing is perfect and for whatever reason, I was supposed to have this experience. Aaron was sent home from OCS hours before the second class was to begin. This class drained me in that I spent at least 150 hours preparing for the class, being in the class, and grading the work. I am also taking a 9 hour EMT class this semester, teach an aerobics class once a week at my church, and teach children's church once a month. Somehow God has allowed my not to stress out over my schedule and has kept me calm through the last few weeks.

Just as I began to feel I was just holding on to get by until this class was finished, I overheard several of my students talking in the hall one night before class began. Another student had asked what their next class was. My students responded that it was eCommerce and the inquiring student asked how the class was going. I was taken aback when I heard my students respond that this was the first class where they felt they had actually learned something in their two years at the college.

I realized that the effort I had put into this class was making a positive impact on my students. Instantly, every bit of stress had been worth it and I was determined to give the remaining weeks of class my best effort. I've often heard that the best way to learn something is to teach it. If nothing else, I have learned that I can make a difference.

The Value of a Human Life...

...is apparently equivalent to 620 round trip flights across the Atlantic.

Children 'bad for planet'

Having large families should be frowned upon as an environmental misdemeanour in the same way as frequent long-haul flights, driving a big car and failing to reuse plastic bags, says a report to be published today by a green think tank. The paper by the Optimum Population Trust will say that if couples had two children instead of three they could cut their family's carbon dioxide output by the equivalent of 620 return flights a year between London and New York.

John Guillebaud, co-chairman of OPT and emeritus professor of family planning at University College London, said: "The effect on the planet of having one child less is an order of magnitude greater than all these other things we might do, such as switching off lights. "The greatest thing anyone in Britain could do to help the future of the planet would be to have one less child."

In his latest comments, the academic says that when couples are planning a family they should be encouraged to think about the environmental consequences. "The decision to have children should be seen as a very big one and one that should take the environment into account," he added. Professor Guillebaud says that, as a general guideline, couples should produce no more than two offspring.

The world's population is expected to increase by 2.5 billion to 9.2 billion by 2050. Almost all the growth will take place in developing countries. The population of developed nations is expected to remain unchanged and would have declined but for migration. The British fertility rate is 1.7. The EU average is 1.5. Despite this, Professor Guillebaud says rich countries should be the most concerned about family size as their children have higher per capita carbon dioxide emissions.

"The greatest thing anyone in Britain could do to help the future of the planet would be to have one less child."

What a powerful statement. Having never held a newborn child in my arms (my own or someone elses) I know I do not have full understanding of the impact a new life brings. This said, there is still a certain since of hope seen in a child's eyes that gives hope for the future.

Believing a human life as a determent to the environment rather than a living soul is a dangerous path to travel. Will one less child make our future better? Or have we lost vision of our most basic understanding? Children are our future.

Wildlife Conservation Part 1

Aaron and I went for a hike today at a local wildlife conservation. It was beautiful today. Sunny and warm, rolling hills and tall green trees. We hiked about 3-4 miles. It rained all during the week so the creeks were pretty swollen and the trails were sometimes muddy. I love water and the squishing of mud under my boots. So that was an added bonus.

My pack had two hydration packs totaling about 5.5 liters of water, 20 oz. of Gatoraid, a first aid kit, our Glock, and some snacks. With my pack and my boots, I was about 20 lbs heavier. Just past the halfway point, I decided to switch packs with Aaron. He filled his with all kinds of stuff so it weighed about 30 lbs. I carried it about 1 mile. It wasn't too bad until we started a steep descent. My body just wasn't used to the extra weight and I sunk into the mud farther than I expected.

Wildlife Conservation Part 2

Today, Aaron and I went to a wildlife conservation. Aaron has been looking for a gun range ever since getting back from Officer Candidate School last month. Most on the indoor gun ranges are really expensive. Well, one of the local wildlife conservations has an outdoor gun range that's free, so we went.