Refining Solutions
The purpose of this paper is to refine the solution to the problem of whether to separate from the United States Army and become a civilian or re-enlist in the Army. Refining the solution to the problem will involve the three steps in the Refining process outlined in chapter 10 and 11 in the text.
The original issue that involved whether or not I should separated from the Army or re-enlist was a problem that I had to deal with four years ago as I was on the tail end of a 15 month deployment to Iraq as an Infantry Squad leader.
My initial resolutions were to re-enlist for 6 years with a tax free bonus of $20,000 dollars and further service of my country. That re-enlistment would have put me at 15 years of service in the Army, leaving me just 5 years away from retirement. The other resolution was to separate from the Army with an honorable discharge and 9 years of service, and to use the Post 9-11 GI bill to further educate myself and my family.
The best solution in my mind was to separate from the Army after 9 years of honorable service. As stated in the text in chapter 10, when critically examining the best solution in step one . If your solution involved doing something then a number of questions are needed to be asked. Some of the questions that pertained to me were; How exactly was it to be done, step by step? When is it to be done? Who will finance it? (Ruggiero, 2009)
The answer to the first question of how exactly was it to be done I first completed research about the post 9-11 GI bill, separated from the Army, applied for the Post 9-11 GI Bill, received the certificate of eligibility, and then enrolled into University of Phoenix. The second question was when it was to be done? I started the Process of researching one year before I was to separate from the military, the rest was completed after separation. The last question was who will finance it? The Post 9-11 GI Bill pays for 36 months of schooling and for 36 month I would also receive a monthly housing allowance as long as I maintained a C average and went to school fill time. (Veterans Administration)
In the evaluation of the argument I made a list of the PROs and CONs of separating from the Military. The PROs of separating from the Army consisted of no more strict rules, physical training every day, wearing heavy body armor, 15 month deployments, dangerous deployments, and separation from family. The CONs of separating from the Army were bad economy, starting over, having to find a new job, getting out of military comfort zone, and losing all military benefits.
In refining your solution with an implementation plan the best approach is to ask and answer the following four questions from chapter 10 in the text book. 1) How exactly will your solution be applied? 2) What difficulties could arise in its implementation? 3)Why might others resist this solution? 4)Who might you have to persuade of the solutions value. The answer to question one was already answered in the paragraph about the best solution so I will start with the
