Ashton Carter - On California National Guard Soliders Enlistment Bonuses

Ashton Carter On California National Guard Soldiers Enlistment Incentives delivered 26 October 2016, Brussels, Belgium (in ensuring that our service members are treated with gratitude and respect for their service; and that they get all the support they need from the Department of Defense.) Today, I ordered a series of steps to ensure fair treatment for the California National Guard soldiers who may have received incentive bonuses and tuition assistance improperly as a result of errors and in some cases criminal behavior by other members of the California Guard. First, Ive ordered the suspension of all efforts to collect reimbursement from affected California Guard members, and that suspension will continue until Im satisfied that our process is working. Second, Ive asked our top personnel official in the Department of Defense, Peter Levine, to assess the situation and to establish a streamlined and centralized process no later than January 1st of 2017, and to ensure that it it isit is capable at that time of resolving all cases by July 1st, 2017. Our goal is to have a process that honors the commitment of service members and also our responsibility to the taxpayer. Further Reading: https://www.defense.gov/News/Article/Article/987214/carter-tasks-dod-team-with-streamlining-review-process-for-13000-california-gua

Development of English as a Global Language Essay

Development of English as a Global Language - Essay Example "Standard English" is a general term for a form of written and spoken English that is considered the model for educated people. There are no set rules or vocabulary for "standard English" because, unlike languages such as French, English does not have a governing body that establishes official usage. The concept of "standard English" is therefore fluid. ELFE stands for "English as a lingua franca for Europe." It is promoted by some linguistics experts, and aims to standardise the use of the English language in the European Union. RP, as in "British RP," is short for "Received Pronunciation" - received from the Queen or King, as it were. It is sometimes defined as the "educated spoken English of south-eastern England." RP is itself sometimes called the Queen's English, which stands to reason, but the Queen's English is sometimes even defined as "the language of the United Kingdom." RP was sometimes referred to as "BBC English," since this was the traditional pronunciation to be heard on the BBC, but RP is not often called "BBC English" any more-as a result of the multitude of accents heard on the BBC these days. "Oxford English" is simply the dialect of English spoken at Oxford University. Some consider Oxford English the most standardised, and sometimes even as synonymous with "Standard English," whereas others consider it pompous and pretentious. Standard English: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_English RP: www.infowrangler.com/phpwiki/wiki.phtmltitle=Received_Pronounciation BBC English: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Received_pronunciation Oxford English: Wikipedia. The rest of the information is something that I know. Official versus Global Status How does one language achieve such a status First, the using of language is a social act (Cameron, 1995); language is the means of communication. It follows that social change will contribute to a change in status of a language, as Knowles implies in his study of the history of the English language (Knowles, 1997). Next, that medium can become the official language (as distinguished from global) of a country when it is adopted (and adapted) as the mother tongue and used by "such domains as government, the law courts, media, and the educational system [of that country]" (Crystal, 2003, p.4). Finally, language achieves a genuinely global status as it "develops a specific role that is recognised in every country" (Crystal, 2003, p.3). English, however, did not achieve global status by way of one or two variables. Several factors contributed to the process and arrival of English as a global language. These factors are part of a slowly evolving phenomenon that parallel the social changes experienced by numerous cultures over many eras. Social Changes as Influences Political, military, economic, cultural, scientific and technological changes in society propelled the English language towards the historically significant status of "global language," since no other language has ever laid stake to so grand a claim. 1. Emigration and Invasion The Old Saxon language (also called Old Low German) and related dialects influenced Germanic populations. Germanic peoples from the coast of Frisia, Lower Saxony, Jutland and Southern Sweden emigrated to Britain during the Roman occupation of Britain, lasting,

INVESTIGATING BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

INVESTIGATING BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT - Essay Example ers, it usually refers to those people who exist outside the organisation, such as, customers, suppliers, shareholders, customers, governments, and competitors. In case of the proposed companies discussed in this paper, the both categories of stakeholders are affected by the business activities and their real interest in the nature and types of decisions that the company takes. Stakeholders come together for a unified purpose and help to increases their strength to solve the business problems of conflicts at various levels to achieve common goals (Steven, Normand and Glavas, 1998; Jones, 2007). In this section, an attempt has been made to critically analyse the stakeholder composition of Asda and perform a thoughtful insight of the success features and the need for improvements, in this direction. In case of Asda, prioritizing on the quality product services and competitive price setting, the customers would be drawn towards the company due to its low-price setting and good range of products. Present day customers have high expectations from present day organisations. At the same time, they want to reap benefits and give back to the community. This way it helps to inform about the company’s dealings and ethical business proceedings. Similarly, the Asda stores and depots have community notice-boards and a monthly magazine to disseminate information. Adsa has been taken over by the American retail giant Wal-Mart. This as a result makes Wal-Mart a primary stakeholder of Asda as the business performance of the company will largely affect the financial status of Wal-Mart. The role of Wal-Mart as a stake holder lies as the owner of the majority of the condoling shares. However, the power to make decisions still dwells in the hands of Asda. Any major decision that can potentially change the organizational structure of the company needs to be approved by the parent company (Cowe, Buckingham and Martinson, 1999). Employees at Asda are conscious about the needs of