Overview
Military Memorandum Guide
Problem Description:
The United States military has been involved as a peace-keeping force in a humanitarian effort to prevent further genocide in the country of Lorian. Many soldiers have died in this effort. The government has recently approved the use of emergency funds to reduce the loss of soldiers' lives, but funding will only support one initiative. The officer in charge of the theater of operations, your commanding officer, has asked you, a military engineer, rank of Lieutenant, to evaluate the situation and recommend a course of action to reduce the number of soldier fatalities which is necessary to enable the peace-keeping force to remain in place. Analyze the provided data regarding soldier fatalities in a one-month period and make a recommendation regarding what the government and military should do.
Audience: Any time you prepare a professional document, you should consider the audience that you are writing the document for. You should tailor the content, language, tone, and structure of the document to the audience you are addressing. This document is being prepared for senior-level government and military members. Ask yourself what they can be reasonably expected to know about this topic, and what they need to know to make an informed decision. Address the memorandum to the United States Secretary of Defense (Find the current Secretary of Defense's name and title).
Provide carbon copies (cc)'s to :
- The House of Representatives Defense Subcommittee
- The United States Senate Defense Subcommittee
Tone: The Audience for this document requires that the style is precise and professional.
- Utilize plain language when describing your analysis, as you cannot assume all readers will be statistically literate. However, there are also some who will understand statistics and will want to understand the statistical logic that you used to determine your recommendation.
- Start the document with a summary that readers can read to understand the essential elements of the document – the context of the issue, what is being examined and how, and the recommendation you will make.
- Develop the document around a direct, coherent message (thesis), and clear evidence to support it.
- Do not use contractions, slang or colloquialisms (Links to an external site.), clichés (Links to an external site.), abbreviations, or text message shortcuts.
Data: The attached data spreadsheet documents the causes of the deaths of soldiers who died in the most recent full month. Each number on the attached spreadsheet identifies the cause of the death of one soldier who died in that month. The cause of death represented by each number is identified in the table below. Use the data from the entire month in your calculations.
Soldier Fatalities Data