My Best Achievement

This chapter provides a detailed account of military events on June 15, 1864 east of Petersburg. Elements of the Army of the James skirmished with Confederate forces in the morning at Baylor’s Farm, slowly approaching Petersburg’s main defenses. The ranking Union officer, General William F. Smith, conducted a deliberate reconnaissance before launching his attack at about 7:00 p.m. Major assaults, including attacks by United States Colored Troops, succeeded in capturing several miles of the Southern works before nightfall. Confusion and a tardy start toward Petersburg delayed the arrival of the Army of the Potomac’s Second Corps. Its commander, General Winfield S. Hancock, and General Smith opted not to press their advantage that night, providing the Confederates a reprieve that might have saved Petersburg from capture.

TEMELJNO ŠOLANJE ČASTNIKOV V DRŽAVAH EVROPSKE UNIJE – ISKANJE ODGOVOROV NA SODOBNE ZAHTEVE

Povzetek V razpravah glede prihodnjega šolanja častnikov v Sloveniji je pomembno tudi preučevanje modelov v tujini in sodobnih problemov na tem področju. V prispevku so na kratko prikazani izzivi na področju temeljnega šolanja častnikov, predvsem z vidika razmerja med usposabljanjem za konkretne naloge in širše usmerjenim izobraževanjem. Kakovost izobraževanja je pomembna ne le za vojaško učinkovitost, temveč tudi za odnos vojske s civilnimi strukturami v državi in z mednarodnim okoljem. Prikazane so temeljne poteze šolanja častnikov v državah EU. Proces šolanja sestavljata dve medsebojno povezani komponenti: univerzitetno izobraževanje in poklicno usposabljanje. Sicer pa šolanje častnikov ostaja le pristojnost držav in v državah EU najdemo zelo različne modele. Temeljno šolanje častnikov v Sloveniji se glede glavnih sestavin ne razlikuje bistveno od prakse v večini držav EU, vendar bo v prihodnje treba odgovoriti na nekatera vprašanja, predvsem glede razvoja univerzitetnega izobraževanja. Prihodnji razvoj šolanja častnikov bo moral slediti praksi evropskih držav predvsem na vsebinskem področju. Način organiziranja pa je smiselno prilagoditi lastnim potrebam in zmožnostim. Ključne besede: vojaško izobraževanje in usposabljanje, vojaška profesija, šolanje častnikov, Evropska unija, vojska in družba. Abstract In the context of discussion about future officer education in Slovenia, it is also important to study the current educational models in foreign countries and the contemporary problems in this area. The article briefly depicts challenges of basic officer education mainly from the viewpoint of relations between specific-purpose training and more broadly oriented education. The quality of education is important not only for military efficiency but also for military’s relations with national civil structures and international environment. The article illustrates basic features of officer education in EU member states. Educational process consists of two interlinked parts: academic education and vocational training. Officer education is the sole responsibility of EU member states, and members practise very different models. Concerning its the essential parts, officer education in Slovenia does not differ significantly from that of most EU members. However, it will be necessary to address some open questions, primarily those concerning the academic part of education. The future development of officer education should follow the patterns emerging in European states, first of all regarding educational content. However, it makes sense to adapt its organisational characteristics to our own needs and abilities. Key words: Military education and training, military profession, European Union, officer education, military and society.

Silas Weir Mitchell and “The Strange Case of George Dedlow”

It has been said of Silas Weir Mitchell (1829–1914) that as a young man he was first among the physiologists of his day, in middle age first among physicians, and as an older man, one of the most noted novelists of his country. Mitchell's novels were written in his later life as a means to avoid boredom during lengthy summer vacations that were the norm for that time among the affluent members of Philadelphia society. These novels were criticized by some because of poor plots, which in some instances failed to move along, or for text that offered a stereotyped depiction of genteel society and the effects that war or personal disaster had on the characters' behavior The criticism came despite the fact that all critics agreed that Mitchell's portrayals of psychopathology in his fictional characters was unique and accurate. However, in his 30s, Mitchell had written and by chance had published a fictional short story that not only transcended such criticisms but became immensely popular. “The Strange Case of George Dedlow” portrays a union officer who was not a physician but who had some medical background and who sustained a series of war wounds leading to severe nerve pain, the author's first description of causalgia, multiple amputations, and the psychological as well as physical symptoms of phantom limb syndrome. The protagonist tells of his torments in the first person in a very engaging fashion. Thus, long before he began writing his, at that time, acclaimed novels in the 1880s, Mitchell wrote a piece of fiction that combines accurate and very important medical observations with fiction of great historical interest. The following rendering of this now classic short story includes selected quotes and some interpretation and is perhaps appropriate for this year, 2 years after the centenary year of his death in 1914.

A Controversial Reform in Indigenous Education: The Cape York Aboriginal Australian Academy

This article examines a controversial initiative in Indigenous education: the establishment of the Cape York Aboriginal Australian Academy (CYAAA). The article provides a brief description of the Academy's three campuses and their communities and considers: the circumstances of its creation, including the role of Noel Pearson and Cape York Partnerships; the rationale and philosophy underpinning the case for establishing the Academy; implementation; and some key issues relevant to assessing this reform. These include its impact on a range of performance measures, the veracity and power of the social and educational rationales on which the reform is based, the use of ‘Direct Instruction’ (DI), and the practicability of extending and broadening the reform. The time period considered is from late 2009 through 2011. The article draws on publications, and on visits to campuses of the school and meetings/communications/discussions with personnel from the Queensland Department of Education and Training (DET, now Department of Education, Training and Employment), Cape York Partnerships, the CYAAA and others undertaken in the author's role as a teacher union officer.

Writing during Wartime: Gender and Literacy in the American Civil War

One of the most talked about moments of Ken Burns's television documentary The Civil War (1990) was the dramatic reading of Sullivan Ballou's letter to his wife, Sarah, in which the Union officer anticipates his own death in the First Battle of Bull Run. This moving conclusion to the series' first episode and the sensation it caused underscore the persistence of a gendered model of wartime literacy: the ideal war-text is an eyewitness account written by a man, and read by a woman at home. Women, the Ballou letter sequence suggests, are consumers, not producers of war-texts. As innovative as Burns's documentary was, however, the dramatization of a personal letter from the front has a long history. The first chapter of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women (1868), for example, climaxes with Marmee's recitation of a letter from Mr. March, absent at the war. “Very few letters,” the narrator tells us, “were written in those hard times that were not touching, especially those which fathers sent home.” Both Burns's original script for the Ballou segment and Alcott's earlier writing about the war reveal the artificiality of the normative model of literacy presented by The Civil War and Little Women; in order to maintain exclusively male control over the production of wartime texts, documentary and novel must repress or radically circumscribe female voices. Burns originally planned to have an actress, reading as Sarah Ballou, finish the letter, but decided against it; the effect of a woman reading would have been “so emotional [ctdot ] just too much” – as if even a female audience for the male wartime text can only be hinted at, not represented.