Military Lessons Learned - 729 Words

Military Lessons Learned Based on what I have learned from cooperative work in a mission-driven organization, I consider myself to be a strategic thinker, as opposed to a tactical planner or a logistician. All of those are important, and it is possible to have traits of more than one of them. Most people gravitate toward one or the other, however, and I have focused on strategic thinking because it is what I do best. I have determined that I am a strategic thinker based on the way I handle my daily life and the work that I do. Strategic thinkers focus on the overall picture and how they can handle things in the future. They are willing to consider all angles and aspects, and they focus themselves strongly on the mission at hand (Leet, 1998; Rohrer, Vaughn, Westermann, 1999). By being a strategic thinker, I can be highly valuable to my team in any and every mission, and I can work well with tactical planners and logisticians because we all have strengths upon which we can build. In m y work I use strategic thinking to help my team plan strong and successful missions. These missions can affect large numbers of people and can literally be life and death, so they are very important and they require careful consideration. Teamwork is a huge part of military operations and mission-driven organizations of any kind (Wall, Sobol, Solum, 1999). When a person (or an organization) is mission-driven, working together is vital to ensure that everything gets done correctly (Rohrer,Show MoreRelatedThe Lessons Learned from Vietnam Essay802 Words   |  4 PagesThe Lessons Learned from Vietnam Lorenzo M. Crowell discusses the lessons that Americans have learned from the Vietnam conflict in his article The Lessons and Ghosts of Vietnam. Crowell analyzes the lessons learned from Vietnam and applies them to the military strategies of today. Crowell does overlook some problems involving the power of Saddam Hussein after Desert Storm and the comparison of two dissimilar wars. Crowell is effective in his arguments with the use of first-hand viewpointsRead MoreThe Cold War Is A Time Of Political Tension Between The United States And The Soviet Union1154 Words   |  5 Pagescapitalism versus communism- and a fight for dominance, by utilizing every opportunity for expansion (Trueman 1). The results and lessons learned from the Cold War still remain as reminders and helpful guides for the future. With the War on Terror at hand, the United States could use the lessons learned from the Cold War as a guide. The Cold War will forever be a guide of lessons in aspects of foreign pol icy, communication, and importance of safety. Following World War II, the United States and theRead MoreThe Weaknesses And Weaknesses Of Phases Iv V And The Initial Strategic Assumptions That Affected Cdruscentcom s Oa1093 Words   |  5 Pagesstart to grow in 2004. The second weakness was the strategic assumptions of OIF that were never validated before the commencement of phases I-III and not assessed immediately after phase III concluded. These strategic assumptions were â€Å"that the military campaign would have a decisive end and would produce a stable security environment; that U.S. forces would be greeted as liberators; that Iraq’s Government Ministries would remain intact and continue administer the country; and that local forcesRead MoreEssay The Defence of Duffer’s Drift1119 Words   |  5 PagesATSJ-MPB-T-B 30 OCT 03 MEMORANDUM FOR Small Group Leader, ATTN: CAPT SETTLES, MPOBC 6-03, U.S. Army Military Police School, Fort Leonard Wood, MO 65473 SUBJECT: Book review of The Defence of Duffer’s Drift 1. Reference. The Defence of Duffer’s Drift, by Major General Sir Ernest D. Swinton. Published in U.S. Army Infantry Journal in April 1906, 72 pages. 2. Recommendations. a. Recommended Audience. I recommend this book to be read by allRead MoreLessons To Be Learned From the Study of Warfare Essay1294 Words   |  6 PagesNew and innovative ideas have proven to be instrumental in lifelong learning but there is a great deal to be learned from the study of military history. Today’s military encourages and requires a new way of doing business. Commanders at all levels offer civilian employees incentives for creative ideas to solving problems and encourage service members to â€Å"think outside of the box†; business as usual is not the ‘group think’ anymore. But as spoken in the words of General Douglas MacArthur, â€Å"†¦ButRead MoreLead A Dog s Life871 Words   |  4 Pageshealthy weight. They teach lessons to help manage mental health and healthy emotions. Jessie comforted me in my time of need. I learned about feelings and how to appropriately handle them. I learned what unconditional love is all about. My dogs do not discriminate against anyone. After she received proper love and care, Rosie became a sweet dog. Dogs showed me what it means to be fearless. Military dogs inspire me to achieve whatever I set out to accomplish. I learned never to succumb to fearRead MoreOperation Anaconda: Executive Summary853 Words   |  3 PagesExecutive Summary This paper was written by Dr. Richard L. Kugler from the National Defense University, Center of Technology and National Security. Operation Anaconda was a success, but taught many lessons for modern-era force operations and defense transformation that deserves to be remembered (Kugler, 2007). Even though the battle plan was complex and sophisticated, it was not followed by the Afghan forces, which left US ground troops to do the battle alone. US forces had to replan the battleRead MoreWhat Is The Making Of A Leader Essay980 Words   |  4 PagesThe Making of a Leader In the first eight years of my military career (overlapping time when I was a member of True Victory Deliverance Tabernacle), I exhibited transactional leadership more than transformational leadership. This is perhaps attributable to being a young leader in direct senior-subordinate relationships with young soldiers. While teamwork was always important, the emphasis at the time was more on accomplishing the mission than on creating harmonious relationships. Looking backRead MoreLessons Learned from the American Experience in Vietnam Essay994 Words   |  4 PagesLessons Learned from the American Experience in Vietnam DeVry University HUMN415: Vietnam and the 20th Century Experience Spring A 2010 Lessons Learned from the American Experience in Vietnam The Vietnam War was a war that seems to have thought the American Military and Government officials a lot about diplomatic negotiations, presidential leadership, and cultural/social contexts. Each American involved most likely has a different story to tell about the War from the ground soldiers allRead MoreEssay on Book Report for Rifleman Dodd956 Words   |  4 Pagesmain fortress. While sabotaging the city he was able to sneak through its gates undetected and set fire to the bridges ropes. Tactical lessons learned from this book: A few of the tactical lessons I learned from rifleman Matthew Dodd include proper concealment, guerrilla warfare-like maneuvers, keeping a safe distance from enemy forces, absolute military bearing, and choosing your targets wisely, as well as, knowing when to fire at those targets. Furthermore, Dodd was very successful with

Essay Philosophical Debate - 1211 Words

The philosophical debate begins as Socrates states that a true philosopher â€Å"has reason to be of good cheer when he is about to die†, although suicide is not acceptable. Cebes is confused by what seems to be a contradiction because for those who would consider death a blessing, cannot take their own lives, but must wait for their lives to be taken from them. Socrates explains that the â€Å"gods are our guardians, and that we are a possession of theirs†, and so have no right to harm ourselves. True philosophers spend their entire lives preparing for death and dying, so it would be inappropriate if they were to be sad when the moment of death finally arrived. â€Å"I am afraid that other people do not realize that the one aim of those who practice†¦show more content†¦As Socrates explains it, death is nothing more than the separation of the soul from the body. â€Å"Dead is the attainment of this separation when the soul exists in herself, and is parted fr om the body and the body is parted from the soul†. People would exchange pleasures for pleasures and pains for pains. Socrates would exchange all these things for wisdom, the only thing of true value. This pursuit of wisdom will cleanse the philosopher of all the impurities of bodily life and its infatuations, preparing him for an exalted afterlife among the gods. When Plato is discussing the soul, I receive the image of the soul being imprisoned by the body. Thus, death is a kind of liberation from this prison. However if the gods are such good masters, why have they imprisoned us within these imperfect bodies, torturing and restricting the freedom of our souls in the first place? In addition, Socrates advocates learning with only the mind, which implies that you must learn without the body or senses. Does Plato truly mean that we can and should learn without the senses? It would be very difficult to acquire skills vital to knowledge if we could make no use of our senses. Plato then goes on to speak about the sensibles and the form of properties. Plato is trying to show that the sensibles are not the same things as the Forms. An example of the sensibles would be thingsShow MoreRelatedThe Philosophical Aspects Of The Abortion Debate1672 Words   |  7 PagesThe philosophical aspects of the abortion debate form two logical arguments, which oppose and support abortion. These arguments are based on what is ethical and the rights of an individual. 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This however does not entail that there will never be a point in the future where such theories will be shown to be false. According to Putnam when we cannot falsify a theory, statement or proposition it is ‘epistemically reasonable’ to continueRead More Abortion Essay1162 Words   |  5 Pages Abortion has been one of the topics of hot debate for the last three decades in our nation. Since the Roe v/s Wade decision in 1973, some Americans feel the need to ponder whether aborting fetuses is a moral action. On the one hand, some people feel that abortion should be legal because a woman has a right to choose whether she wants to continue a pregnancy or not. Its her body. On the other hand, some feel that fetuses have no advocates and deserve a right to live, so it is immoral to abandonRead MoreAbortion Vs Abortion1080 Words   |  5 Pageslife begin? And Is abortion murder? Obviously the second question hinges upon your answer for the first. This paper will try to accurately represent both positions in an effort to understand the issue. Pro-choice proponents usually lean towards philosophical outlooks to what defines life and usually believe that the fetus is not alive. Their reasoning is often one of the following: A fetus cant survive on its own. It is fully dependent on its mothers body, unlike born human beings, or that a babyRead MoreWhy Abortion Is Permissible? Essay1587 Words   |  7 PagesKantian perspective, we must understand is the real circumstance of having an abortion. We cannot precisely answer whether or not abortion is permissible to form a Kantian perspective. As we have seen, discussing abortion involved an extensive debate of philosophical arguments that must be analyzed when addressing the issue. The problem sometimes is that people refuse to do so and very often rely solely on opinions. Deepen into different perspectives even when we refuse to accept them can lead us to expandRead MoreThe Ethics And Morals Of Abortion Essay1643 Words   |  7 Pagesmean that the woman must now give up everything to raise a child. Women should be able to indulge in intercourse with their significant others without becoming mothers when they have no desire to be one. The extremists of preserving life have a philosophical view on a potential life and an actual adolescent. Ellen Kenner, a licensed clinical psychologist, expresses that â€Å"a tumor has no â€Å"right† to stay in your body and neither does any other mass of cells. Neither has a soul; neither has a life in theRead MoreThe Debate Over The Controversy Of Abortion1600 Words   |  7 PagesWhen taking the emotional aspect out of the abortion argument, what premise would most support individual liberty? The debate over the controversy of abortion continues because of its frequency of occurrence, and the cultural, legal and religious status that varies extensively in different parts of the United States. While the emotional arguments regarding abortion can be compelling, but should have no bearing in the legal discussion, the individuals’ rights to life and liberty should be held aboveRead MoreThe Moral Issue Of Abortion Essay1134 Words   |  5 Pagesproblem that surrounds this concerns the life of the fetus or the unborn child. On whether it has a right to life or whether the mother of the unborn fetus has a right to terminate it or not. A lot of controversies has surrounded this area of the debate, and it is the basis of this discussion that issue has been chosen. Those who hold opposing views about abortion base their argument on the idea that the fet us though unborn has a life like any other born being. Terminating it to them equates to aggressing

Factors that Influence Perception-Free-Samples-Myassignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss the factors that limit and distort our Perception and Contribute to bias. What can individuals and Organisations do to overcome this? Answer: Introduction Perception is called a process that makes the individual organises the ideas interprets the sensory impression to give meaning to the environment. The behaviour of the individual in an organisation depends on the perception of what the reality is. It is not based on the reality itself. The focus is given more on the behavioural importance. Information is received, stored and interpreted by us all through our lives. Certain beliefs values are established by us that create a mind-set. A confirmation bias is developed by us in order to make a confirmation of these beliefs that are established. The information that we gather does not fit with the pre-existed information. Here we want to fit the new information with the pre-existed information. We also do not accept the new information and we do not create new beliefs because we feel that there will be conflicts with pre-existed beliefs(James, 2012). Thus bias tends to bend the information in order to fit a mind-set that may be in favour of or may be against the things. This leads to the unreasonable judgement. Thus bias is considered as the opinions that are conceived in the mind unreasonably. Factors that influence perception There are three factors that influence perception. They are the perceiver, target and the situation. The attitude, motive, interest, experience and the expectation of the perceiver influence the perception. The targets that influence perception are background, similarity, size and proximity(Brass, 2012). The situation refers to the situations related to social, the setting of work and the time factors. The individual perception refers to the making judgements about the other individuals. The attribute theory of the perception discusses the observation of the behaviour made by an individual. The individual seeks to determine the behaviour caused by the internal or external factors. The internal factor refers to the personal control of the individual and the external factor refers to the external force that makes the individual behave in a particular way(Daft, 2010). The temperament of underestimating the influence of the factors of outside force and the overestimation of the factors of the internal forces affect in the process of making a judgment on the behaviour of the people. Thus the individual carries a tendency to attribute his or her own success to in the internal factor and puts blame on the external factors for the failures (kepion.com, 2017). The attribution theory discusses the shortcuts used by the individual in judging the other individuals. The individual interprets selectively what he or she sees. This is made on the basis of the observation of interest, background, experience attitude. The perception is also made on the basis of the general impression on the individual based on a single characteristic. The individual perception also evaluates the characteristics of a person and compare them with the other individuals(Ferrel, Ferrell, Fradrich, 2008). This makes an analysis of the rank of the individuals based on the characteristics of the individuals. The perception also encourages to attribute the characteristics of one individual with other individuals. The perception also leads to judging the individual on the groups perception. This becomes very stereotyping in nature. Value conflicts The management of the organisation faces difficulties to recognise to respond to the value conflicts. The value conflicts in the organisation are created when the organisation remains blind to the social problems. The decision makers the leaders of the organisation believe that there is to protect the stability of the system of the organisation by taking care of the principles within their pattern of hierarchy. The systems of rules regulations defined by the management of the organisation become the principles of the behaviour of the employees of the organisation(George, 2017). The rules the regulations of the organisation defines how the people behave in the organisation. The management tries to ensure that fairness justice is there in the organisation by the enforcement of the policies, rules the regulations. Fear to understand Lack of communication also creates problems in the organisation to build a community. The objective of the community is to share the vision and goals of the organisation in order to achieve the goals of the organisation. Fear of difference and mistrust create a problem for the individuals and the organisation to build community in the organisation. Role perceptions Employees in the organisation require appropriate rile perception in order to perform their jobs in an appropriate way. The perception here refers to the clear understanding of the job responsibility that has been assigned to the employees(Drucker, Leadership vs. Management, 2014). The perception ranges from the clarity of the role to the ambiguity of role. The improvement of the performance of the employees depends on their knowledge about the needs of the organisation. The priority of the employees is to know about the expectations of the organisation from them. The clarity of the role of the employees exists in three forms. The clear role perception of the employees is found when the employees understand the specific duties assigned to them. They must know that for what jobs they are accountable for(James, 2012). The employees are not judged on the basis of their responsibilities and the employees do not know the tasks expectations of the performance. The problem arises between the quantities of service to the quality of the service. Clarity of the role helps the employees of an organisation to decide the ways to allocate time resources. The organisation will get to know how to develop the skills of the employees and how to meet the demand the customers the suppliers(George, 2017). The role clarity will help to understand the pattern behaviour and procedure for the accomplishment of the assigned tasks. Role perception helps the employees to direct the efforts so that they can perform their work efficiently. The employees with no role perception will perform wrongly and accomplishment of the task will be difficult. Role clarity is important in the organisation. This helps to bring coordination with the employees of the organisation with the other stakeholders of the organisation.(Weiss, 2009) Role clarity also helps the employees to be motivated as the employees understand that the efforts made by them for the accomplishment of the task will bring the expected outcomes. The required efforts are confidently put by the employees to bring the expected outcomes. Applications of perception in the organisation Perception is also found in an organisation when the interview is conducted. This has been found that perception does not help to take appropriate judgement. In the context of the performance, this has also been found that every individual wants to validate his or her perception of reality even though she or he commits mistakes. The prophecy of the self-fulfilment is formulated on the basis of the expectations that determines the behaviour.(Shady Abd El-Nasser, 2010) This is used as one of the important techniques used by the managers in the organisation. The organisation evaluates the performance of the employees on the basis of perceptions. The connection of perception with decision making of an individual The decision is made by an individual when he or she gets a chance to choose one between two or more number of alternatives. In this process, the problem is found in between the current states of affairs with that of the desired state. Thus it is very important for the individual to make his or her decision-making process appropriate. Decision-making process required in organisation Rational decision making is very important for an organisation. The organisation requires following the steps defined below for the rational decision making in the organisation. Defining problem is very important for the organisation. The next step is the identification of the criteria of decision Development of the alternatives Evaluation of the alternative Selection of the best alternative Assumption related to the rational decision makin The problem should clear very ambiguous. The clarity of the problem will help to develop rational decisions. The decision makers should have the knowledge and should identify the relevant criteria the acceptable alternatives. The alternative criteria should be ranked and weighted in the order of merit. The decision criteria should be constant and weights assigned to it must be stable. The choice of the alternative will produce the most accepted perceived values. The decision making can be improved and be creative when the organisation or the individual focuses on three important areas. They are expertise, skills of the creative thinking and motivation related to the intrinsic task. The individuals make decisions without focusing on all the complexities of the problems. Perception is always used in the process of the decision making when there is a high degree of uncertainty. Here the facts are very limited and data is used less(aasw.asn.au, 2017). The pressure of less time for making a decision is also a factor in the process of decision. Issues relatedinthe process of the decision making The problems identification is made based on the vision problems in stead problems of the importance. The problem identification is affected by the self-interest of the decision makers. The address of the problem is made in the best interest of the decision maker(Treacy, 2015). This reflects the ability to perceive attack the problems. Instead of taking appropriate measures for the solution, the decision makers put incremental efforts. They do not make comprehensive efforts. The decision makers compare the alternatives in steading of measuring the values of them. This results in an unnecessary examination and finding their outputs. It shows that the decision makers take little steps and limit themselves to the comparisons. Biases in the process of the decision making The shortcuts initiated by the decision makers in the process of the decision making create huge error bias. The individuals become more optimistic and that results in overconfidence bias. It happens when there is low in the intellect interpersonal abilities. The bias related to anchoring focuses on the information gathered in the initial time(Weiss, 2009). The biases are also found when we seek our process of the decision making in the past and want to use them in the present. That contradicts with the judgement of the past. Another bias occurs when the people make their judgement based on the information available to them(Shady Abd El-Nasser, 2010). The bias in the decision making is also seen when the decision makers assess the occurrence of the identical situation. The bias is also seen when negative information of the previous decision is not escalated. There is also a bias found in the decision making which is called hindsight bias. We believe that we could have predicted the consequences after the consequences are known actually. Differences in the decision making styles of the individuals There are different styles of the decision-making process of the individuals. The individual focuses on the directive style seeks rationality and has a low tolerance for the ambiguity. The analytical style encourages people to focus tolerance for ambiguity instead of rational decision making(James, 2012). The conceptual style of decision making encourages people to be broad and seek for many alternatives. The behavioural style is used by the people who prefer to work with others. Gender also plays an important role in the process of decision making. The women take a long time to make a decision and they analyse the decision before after the fact. Conflicts based on the different values of the cultures The conflict based on the different values of the cultures is found in the workplace. The leaders of the organisation find it difficult for managing the conflicts of the values of the different cultures. The organisation develops systems to resolve the conflicts on a particular culture. The single system cannot help the leaders to understand the people of the different cultures in the organisation and resolve the conflicts in a just and fair manner( Williams, 2007). Thus the individual perception cannot work out here. The leaders should focus on seeking a solution that will focus on resolving the problems. The task of determining an appropriate process is necessary for the leaders. But the task is not easy. It is not easy to deal people from different cultures in one organisation. Conclusion The perception of the individuals is based on their seeing believing. The perception of the individuals from their work place influence their productivity. The individual perceptions are also influenced by the turnover, satisfaction of the job and the absenteeism. Before making any decision individuals think reason. The rational decision-making process does not occur always. Thus for the improvement of the decision making it is important to analyse the situation and to remain aware of the biases. The rational analysis should be combined with intuition. The manager of the organisation should not assume that the specific decision-making style of him or her is always perfect. The manager should enhance the creativity so that decision making will be unique and appropriate. Bibliography Parker, C., Evans, A. (2014). Inside Lawyers' Ethics - Page 347 - Google Books Result. Retrieved from Christine Parker, Adrian Evans: https://books.google.co.in/books?isbn=110764173X Williams, D. J. (2007). How does our perception of risk influence decision-making . Retrieved from www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14639220500484419 Woiceshyn, J. (2011). A model for ethical decision making in business; Reasoning, interaction and rational moral principles,. Journal of Business Ethics, 104(3), 311-323. aasw.asn.au. (2017). Preparing for culturally responsive and inclusive social work ... - AASW. Retrieved from https://www.aasw.asn.au/document/item/7006 Brass. (2012). Information Technology impacts on Human Resource Management (4 ed.). Harlow Press. Chang, Y. F., Chen, C., Zhou, H. (2009). Smartphone for mobile commerce. Computer Standards and Interfaces, 31, 740-747. Daft, R. L. (2010). Organization Theory and Design (10 ed.). South-Western CENGAGE Learning. Drucker, P. (2014). Leadership vs. Management. Retrieved from Diffen: https://www.diffen.com/difference/Leadership_vs_Management Drucker, P. (2017). Managerial Point of view. Retrieved may 07, 2017, from solaas.com: http;//solaas.com.ar/harald/en/liderazgo2 Ferrel, O. C., Ferrell, L., Fradrich, J. (2008). Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases (8 ed.). South-Western CENGAGE Learning. Gelfand, M. J., Erez, M., Aycan, Z. (2007). Cross-Cultural approaches to Organisational Behaviour. Annual Review of Psychology, 479-515. George, N. (2017, 08 10). Five Components of an Organization's External Environment. Retrieved from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/five-components-organizations-external-environment-17634.html James, B. (2012, 10 11). How Perception Affects Important Business Decisions - Noam Kostucki . Retrieved from www.the-eba.com/.../how-perception-affects-important-business-decisions-noam-kost. kepion.com. (2017). Drive forward your workforce planning process. Retrieved 08 14, 2017, from https://www.kepion.com/solutions/workforce-planning Littlechild, B. (2012). Values and cultural issues in social work. Retrieved from periodika.osu.cz/eris/dok/2012-01/07_values_and_cultural_issues_in_sw.pdf Shady Abd El-Nasser, S. (2010, 09 27). How can perception affects the decision making process? | Shady Abd ... Retrieved from https://shadyelnasser.wordpress.com/2010/.../how-perception-affects-decision-making... Treacy, L. (2015, 04 08). Exploration of perceptions and decision-making processes related to ... Retrieved from https://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12884-015-0500-9 Weiss, J. W. (2009). Business Ethics: A Stakeholder Issues Management Approach. South Western CENGAGE Learning. Whyte, J. (2016). Managing change in the delivery of complex projects: Configuration. Retrieved 04 07, 2017, from www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0263786315000393

The Egyptian Civilization Essays - Religion, Geography Of Africa

The Egyptian Civilization Egyptian civilization formed along the Nile river and the earliest traces of human life in that region are from the Paleolithic Age, (Old Stone Age), about 300,000 B.C., at the very edges of the Nile Valley. Beyond, on both sides of the river the land was and still is desert. At that time the people moved from place to place, ate berries, roots, and any animals they could find, but stood close to their lifeline, the Nile. The lands along the Nile were rich enough to be farmed, so over time the people started to grow crops. They found ways to store the yearly floodwaters and then use them for the dry seasons. The farmers learned to lift water out of the Nile or wells and send it across the fields through a system of canals. In order for all of this to work out they had to work together, no one could do any of it alone. So as the farmers and people began to cooperate, an organization began to grow. They found leaders among them who directed the work. A form of government developed and due to that they soon began to build cities, to manufacture things, in time to trade with their neighbors. That is how it all started. Over a period from 3100 B.C. to 332 B.C. they grew in culture, arts, religion, science, medicine, and many other fields. The early Egyptian people grew food by the Nile and lived mainly by hunting for meat, fishing, and gathering wild plants. They kept a small number of cattle, sheep, or goats, and grew a few crops. Their crops were flax, barley, and a primitive kind of wheat called 'emmer.' They got the sheep and goats from the middle east, and their crops too. Farming provided most of the food and helped their population grow. Later on in time, the basic diet of the ordinary people was bread and beer. The wealthier ones ate more meat and drank wine instead of beer. The most common clothes women wore were tunic dresses. Those were made by folding a rectangle of cloth in half, sewing it up at the sides, leaving holes for the arms, and cutting a key hole for the head. Some had sleeves and some were sleeveless. This looks very different from the tomb paintings where women are shown wearing skintight transparent dresses with no underclothes. I guess they wanted the art more attractive. Men usually wore loin-cloths and short kilts. Much of the people's clothes were made of linen because for the mostly hot weather they needed light, loose, and easily washed clothes. Linen was perfect for that. Children went naked whenever it was warm enough. At about the age of 10 they started to wear the same kind of tunics or kilts as their parents. Egyptian doctors were the most famous in the ancient world. Today some scholars call them "the first real doctors." The people who were doctors were often priests as well. They were trained in the temple medical schools. Their medicine was a mixture of science, religion, and magic. In many kingdoms all over the Mediterranean if medical help was needed their services were at demand. Their medical writings include all sorts of magic charms and chants, but they had a lot of practical knowledge. They knew how to deal with broken bones, wounds, and fevers. It is said that they approached their study of medicine in a remarkably scientific way. An example of likely treatment in those early times is the binding of a slice of raw meat over a stitched wound. Also wounds were treated with willow leaves, which contain salicylic acid (aspirin), to reduce inflammation, plus copper, sodium salts to help dry up the wound. Cream and flour were mixed to make a cast for a broken limb. With very bad diseases, where they didn't understand the cause, magic spells were mixed with the potions. Even if the magic didn't work itself the patient felt a little better just thinking it might work. There are many gods and goddesses to be found in the beliefs of ancient Egypt. The gods were associated with individual provinces, and their names varied throughout the country. The basic belief of most Egyptians was that in the beginning there was only water. Then, just as happened after the Nile floods every year, the first mound of earth rose out of the waters of chaos. What they believed happened next depended on where they lived. There were common gods to all though.