Wednesday, March 30
1:00 – 2:00 PM
Student Services (Flag) Building Room 117

An overview about Student Veterans at Georgia Tech. Topics for discussion include: life in the military, transitioning from military to civilian and college life, acceptance and challenges on campus. Sponsored by the Veteran’s Resource Center.

HTS 3803-B + INTA 3803-SG/8803-SG Special Topics -- Military History of the Civil War
Location: Clough Undergraduate Learning Center (CULC) 280

This course provides students with a background in large-scale military decision making and the history and transformation of the American military by analyzing events in the United States between 1860 and 1865 and projecting forward the revolutionary changes that helped define armed conflict for the next 100 years. We will study both belligerents over the duration of the struggle. Discussion of military organization, technology, and transformation will appear in the context of our study of the land and maritime campaigns and battles. The course will begin with a brief examination of the conditions that existed at the beginning of the most definitive conflict of the American experience, then shift into a comprehensive study of the changes that transpired during the war, to include:

 Strategy

• National level strategies and their evolutions over the course of the war
• Theater level strategies and their evolution
• Naval and maritime strategies and their evolution
• The mobilization of two economies to fight the first large scale war of the industrial era

Tactics

• Command structures
• Large scale tactical maneuvers
• Field fortifications/siege
• Brown-water navy
• Combined operations
• Asymmetric warfare
• Critical infrastructure attacks
• Command and control

The Civil War Round Table of Atlanta hosted members of Professor Sy Goodman’s Military History of the Civil War class for its monthly meeting at the Capital City Club in downtown Atlanta on June 11, 2013. Co-instructor John Miller arranged their guest passes and led the group.

National Park Service Historian Emeritus Dennis Frye, renowned expert on the Battle of Antietam, provided a detailed overview of his recent academic work covering events and perceptions preceding this important battle, as seen through the eyes of newspaper reporters. His study of period newspapers revealed valuable new scholarship on national and international affairs surrounding the battle that empowered President Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.
International Affairs and Modern Languages student Nicolina Berger quipped, “Visiting the Capital City Club and hearing Dennis Frye was awesome. This is the best experience I’ve had at Georgia Tech.”

Frye took special note of one “Scion of the Southland,” Senior Mechanical Engineering student Taylor Earley, the great-grandnephew of Confederate General Jubal Early, and Taylor thoroughly enjoyed the attention. Senior Economics major Bhavik Pandya remarked, “It was so incredible that Frye spoke on the study of period newspapers to better understand perceptions of events as they occurred, because that is the topic for my term paper this semester!”

HTS 3823 and INTA 3823/8803 ‘Military History of the Civil War’ is a three credit hour course of study on the American Civil War to provide students with a background in large-scale military decision making and the history and transformation of the American military by analyzing events in the United States between 1860 and 1865 and projecting forward the revolutionary changes that helped characterize the U.S. armed forces for the next 100 years.

"War, Trauma, and Recovery in Classical Literature"

This course will examine depictions in classical literature of the psychological trauma suffered by soldiers and their communities.  As we read, we will consider how these early texts can help us better understand the experiences and needs of soldiers returning from war in the modern world and what we can do, in our own communities, to create a supportive and healing environment.  This series of readings will culminate in an individual research paper. 

This is also a service learning course: we will be working with Veteran’s Heart GA, a local non-profit organization dedicated to working to heal the psychological wounds of war.  Groups of students will interview both mental health professionals and veterans in order to become acquainted with the experiences that veterans face.  Working in groups, students will draw upon what they have learned in these interviews to adapt the ancient texts we have read into a graphic novel.  Finally, the entire class will work together, potentially collaborating with veterans, to produce a video adaptation of "Ajax."  Our goal will be to create texts that Veteran’s Heart, GA can use to initiate dialogues between soldiers and civilians about the effects of warfare on individuals and communities.  The organization will also use the texts we create as resources for counselors and therapists training to work with veterans and their loved ones.  Texts for this course will include Homer's Iliad, Sophocles's "Ajax," and Jonathan Shay's Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character, among others.

Please be advised that this course will not consider the politics of war or whether it is ethical; in fact, such viewpoints will not be permitted in discussion or assignments.  We will focus only on the experience and effects of war.  We must take the utmost care to treat the veterans who participate with respect and sensitivity.  The content of this course potentially may be upsetting, disturbing, or painful not only for them but for us as well, so we must also be prepared to experience strong feelings and to face emotional challenges.

The Civil War Center & Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park present: 1862: Following the Path to Freedom.

Date: Saturday, October 13, 2012
Times: 9:00 a.m.—12:00 p.m.
Location: Auditorium 1021 in KSU’s Social Sciences Building

For more information: http://www.kennesaw.edu/civilwarera/

Flyer: http://www.kennesaw.edu/civilwarera/Oct%202012%20symposium%20flyer.pdf

NAVSEA is hosting a virtual Career Fair on September 6 with opportunities for students to chat with recruiters from a number of federal agencies regarding both military and civilian opportunities. Sharp  critical thinking skills and excellent communication and presentation skills are part of what they are seeking-- sounds like HTS students to me!

After college, do you want a rewarding, fulfilling occupation -- a job with a future? The Marine Corps may have just what you want. However, you may not know if this career choice is right for you.

The Marine Corps has a program that will let you experience some of the challenges, responsibility, excitement and satisfaction for which the Corps is known without making any long-term commitments. This program is called the Platoon Leaders Class (PLC). As a qualified freshman, you will attend six weeks of training this summer at Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Virginia, and an additional six weeks the summer before your senior year. After successfully completing both sessions and your college degree, you will be commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps. 

For a PDF with more information on this program, click here.