Writing Prompt: What’s the Real Purpose of Having a Military Presence in Foreign Countries?

Writing Prompt 120

What do you think is the real purpose of having a military presence in foreign countries?

After 9/11, the United States began aggressively seeking to put into effect anti-terrorism measures in other countries by regularly deploying troops, most recently in Afghanistan. News agencies often report these efforts as a war. If the people in the United States see these actions as war-like, how do you think the people in other countries react?

Despite previous deployments, there are now reports that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is interested in negotiating with Afghanistan in order to possibly end the war. He is there right now, though it is unclear whether these peace talks will result in the United States removing its military forces.

The sequence of events of military deployments and the passionate pleas of Americans make the issue of military presence in foreign countries a difficult one with no simple solution. What is your opinion? What do you think is the real purpose of establishing a military presence?

Nonfiction Writing: Persuasive

Persuasive writing is a fascinating but difficult form of nonfiction writing. Writers who want to write persuasive documents must put in a fair amount of time doing research on a topic of interest. It is a great idea to remove emotional attachment in persuasive writing because that makes it easier to understand the pros and cons of a given topic.

Choosing controversial topics to write about is often the easiest way to create persuasive writing because there is already a great deal of resources and information out there. For example, suppose you want to write about why it’s a good idea to legalize marijuana, permissible to allow abortions in instances of crime, or a valid solution to decrease the quantity of sex issues in the Catholic church by advocating for priests to be allowed to be married. The great thing about these hot topics is that so many people have already weighed in, providing varied and distinguished positions on both sides.

Being an emotional writer is easy. Having an opinion about something is as simple and delicious as eating a piece of chocolate. On the flip side, detaching yourself from emotions and putting some serious effort into understanding how an issue can go both ways is very, very difficult. This is the stuff of attorneys. Those who go to law school are trained to be persuasive and argue in a court of law on behalf of their clients, irrespective of whether the client is truly “guilty” of doing or not doing something.

Law-related materials such as legal briefs and research papers are one type of persuasive writing. If law is not your thing, you can also think about writing newspaper editorials, most popularly referred to as op-eds. This category also includes speeches and grant writing. Anything that requires you to take a position and argue for or against an issue is classified as persuasive writing.

National Nonfiction Writing Month will be here soon. Are you ready to take the challenge?

To participate in the Write Nonfiction in November (WNFIN) challenge, register here. To find out more about WNFIN and NaNonFiWriMo, click here.

About the Author

Amanda M. Socci is the creator of the 10-month training program for Write Nonfiction in November called “I Know I Can” WNFIN. The first two blog posts of the series explain more about this program and its benefits.

Amanda refers to herself as the Creative Idea Gal because she comes up with original ideas for herself and others. Based in Alexandria, VA, she is a devoted mother of two and a hopeless fanatic of all things creative. Connect with Amanda on Google+ or Twitter.