Which branch are you in?

          Language, according to Gee, is a misleading term. He had written down in his article, "Literacy, Discourse and Linguistics" as to how us people in the society can "know perfectly the grammar of the language and not know how to use that language" (1). As we use a certain language everyday, we often forget there is more to it than just spoken words. Gee stated that, "It is not just what you say, but how you say it". More often because of that, misinterpretation happens.

             Living in the Southern California, specifically, here in San Diego, it is common to know many people from the military. I have friends and family in every branch, they often teach me about their field of work and so I gained a lot of knowledge about it. It is true that, according to Gee, when "at any moment we are using language we must say or write the write thing in the right way while playing the right social role and (appearing) to hold the right values, beliefs and attitudes", we as individuals fit into that specific social circle quite easy without them knowing that you live in a totally opposite world.This type of language might be different from the everyday language. 

There's a lot of interesting things I found out and having military friends taught me a lot of terms, acronyms or abbreviations they use in their field of work.

For example, I can name ships where my friends are in or easily know what type of job they have such as CS= Culinary specialist, STG= Sonar Tech, or AO= Aviation Ordinance

Since then, here are the common questions I often get:

What's your rate? 

or What's your rank?

or maybe... What ship are you on?

They do not know that I am JUST a civilian trying to hang out and have fun with friends on base. But guess what, sometimes they often don't even ask me anymore, they just presume right away because of how much I know about the military. Having to gain so much knowledge I used it as my advantage to interact with other people more confident than I normally am.

In many occasions, I've survived social gatherings with my military friends because I make it look like I am part of their world. Well that didn't last, one person told me that if I did not mention that I'm in college they wouldn't have known that I am a civilian. Most of the time because I know what they are talking about, I am not left out in conversations and it seem like I really belong.

There was no language barrier. Never the less, it was honestly a learning experience for me just because I got to experience something new, something that was out of the norm for me. I'd lie if I say that I did not grow interest in it. One day, I sat down and wondered... probably, I'd like to be in this field too but just on the medical side of it.