Response to "Charge of the Light Brigade"

This poem talks about brave men who were well disciplined and destroyed the enemy. Each and every individual showed courage and was sure what they were fighting for was right. Their hearts and minds were filled with that thought and that is what they were fighting for. That is why they won the battle. 600 men rode in, 600 men rode out. It was an intense battle and each solider had courage and were willing to risk their lives for what that ideal. These men fought for their country and every citizen owes them a debt. The bravery that was born inside them and that their commander's manipulated and grew. The commanders set the soldiers to the mold and that is what this poem shows. It is the effect of the well trained and well grown men. These are great soldiers and fought in the brutality of war. That is what the "Charge of the Light Brigade" is about.

Pre-Poem Response

A time when people must obey orders even though they don't want to is in war. People will be sent into a dangerous spot on a dangerous mission and are fighting for a cause they don't anything about. Therefore they disagree with what they are fighting for but have to risk their lives anyways. Then the mission may go haywire. Then the men will call in for a confirm of a retreat. Higher authority may deny his request. Then they have to stay there even though they don't want to. There they are stuck in a spot they didn't even want to be in the first place.

In my opinion, commanders must conduct harsh punishment/discipline to their soliders varying on a case-by-case basis. They should treat them harshly for a certain period of time. This builds discipline, character and it embeddes the tactics and other things they want you to learn better. It also creats control so each person will forfill their duty as a group/team so they can win battles.

I think it is important for military outfits to work as a team and isolated. A team is what the military is based off of. Watching each others back and playing a certain roll as best as possiable and then being ready to forfill another roll if your buddy gets hurt and he is unable to forfill his roll.

Some consquences of commanders unable to keep thier army's under control is losing the war, losing men, failing the mission. If disiclipine is not expressed to the soliders, it will cost them their lives.

Reaction to Overture of 1812

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-4SRvGUtn8&feature=related

I though that this song showed the parts of battle. Notice how some parts of the song get louder and then softer. These are the Parts of battle where it gets really intense, and the soft parts of the song they are hiding behind the wall and the bullets aren't hitting them. This is when they really realize the truth of war but then have to go back to being the offence instead of the defence. The music could also resemble the gunfire of the enemy. When the music gets more intense the gunfire is more intense, and vice versa. Also the cannons actually being fired during the preformance coinside with the music and the intensity of the music. That is what I think of the Overture of 1812.

Great Leaders and Great Decisions, Courage, Honor, Justice and Vengance

Hannibal was one of the greatest leaders of all time. He destroyed the Romans in the Battle of Cannae. the Romans lost 50,000-70,000 (either killed or captured). Later he was destroyed at the battle of Zama by Publius Cornelius Scipio or Scipio Africanus.
One thing that is being debated about is tourture. Should we tourture Terrorists to get information? Is it considered justice or vengance?
An example of great battles was the Battle of Crecy. Where the English's Longbow helped them defeat the French. It was a remarkable battle. The English longbow could fire up to 300 yards.

What Angle We Chose and Why

We chose an angle of 40 degrees because it should project the furthest without going too high so will be blown back by the wind. That is why we chose the angle of 40 degrees.

Angle Research

Range Formula

Reflection

Ours did not shoot or even budge. It just burned the plastic. The reason it didn't work is for two reasons. One is the Gay-lussac's law states that the colder the air the less volume of a gas. So the co2 wouldn't expand as much as expected. Therefore the ball didn't shoot. The reason the plastic burned is because, in our design, the combustion chamber was doubled up and there was one tube of plastic inside another so the plastic wouldn't expand and there would be more pressure on the ball as opposed to more pressure on the plastic going outwards. Therefore, we had to make two holes in the combustion chamber and when we stuck the burning stick inside the combustion chamber to light the ethanol, we put the stick through the first hole but not the second hole where the ethanol is. So it just burned the plastic. And that is why the cannon failed. If we could do this differently we would change the design so the combustion chamber wasn't doubled up.

Design

Today we shot of the cannon. Our design was a combustion chamber and a barrel that was 1.5 times the size of the combustion chamber. There was a plastic separation between the combustion chamber and the barrel. Then you poke holes in the plastic separation and put ethanol on both sides of the separation. This magnifies the blast and sends the ball flying.

M4 Sherman

M4 Sherman

1900's

This tank was used by the USA during WWII. This was basically a well-rounded weapon. It was easy to make, reliable, and fast. It stood well against other tanks. Except for German Tiger Tanks. They were Medium strength but High to US standards. But it isn't the tank, it is the people operating the tank. We were able to out maneuver them and had better flanking tactics. The majority of losses of this tank were land mines. The M4's traction isn't very good on mud or snow, compared to desert or hilly terrain. The armor was 63 mm for the Hull. The M4 got grave nicknames because they were prone to burning when hit by large shells. They were over all, a very good and successful tank.

Howitzers

The Howitzer

1800's

The Howitzer were used by the Confederates during the Civil War. They were short barreled guns which fired explosive shells and had a high trajectory. They are similar to modern day mortars. They are used to shoot projectiles over high walls (i.e. into a fort). It was generally made of bronze. They are similar to cannons but in a box container that keeps them pointed high. So the Projectile goes higher than it does farther. One problem could be accuracy. It is more of a point and shoot cannon.

The Ballista

The Ballista

pre-1800's

The Ballista was first invented by the Romans in 399 B.C. They combined two Greek weapons to make theirs. It works like a extremely big crossbow, and The Ballista is used for siege technology. They way it works is: one person will wind a crank pulling back the string, drawing the crossbow. Then they put the projectile in front of the string. When it is released, it will send the projectile flying through the air. The Romans were also know to be able to pick certain people out using this weapon. Obviously, it is very accurate. "Ballista" means "Throw" and is a Greek word.