Any conflict from "Trident K9 Warriors" is usually physical combat between the soldiers and any threat to the US. There is also emotional conflict that the main character and narrator, Mike Ritland, has to face every time he has to provide another military dog to the army. To him, these are not just any dogs, but are dogs that he has spent years training. Every time he has to provide one for the troops, he loses one of his closest friends knowing that the dog might possibly die on the battlefield. There is also some physical conflict that he must face, and so must his fellow sodliers. As a soldier, he gets very close to his squad mates and they are his family on the battlefield. Whenever one of those fellow sodliers dies, it is very emotionally straining for Mike. He also has to fight against the threats the US faces every day, so he has to fight against people who don't care about when someone dies or about anyone else other than causing pain. Fighting against such an enemy is mentally straining for Mike and his fellow soldiers. He fights against what most people are too afraid to fight against. He and his dogs have saved lives since "Trident K9 Warriors" is based on a true story.
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The main plot of "Trident K9 Warriors" is mostly a mix of physical combat and battling with emotions. Mike Ritland always struggles to separate himself from the dogs he had been training for years, but can't focus on that to much or otherwise he would become sloppy on the battlefield. He helps the military fight whoever their enemy is by providing them with trained military dogs and sometimes going on the battlefield himself. The plot is rather complicated because there is a lot of jumping around from moments from his life. The main plot formulates in his memories where he remembers why he chose to train dogs and how useful they could be. He realized how important they were after he saw a dog warn the squad there was a hostile around a bend and that there was a IED(Improvised Explosive Device) in the doorway. Since it is always hard to detach himself from the dogs he trained, he visits the owners and sees how the squad and handlers operate on the battlefield. Plot changes depending on which dog he is remembering, although they all involve the trained dogs saving some soldiers from some sort of life threatening situation.
Trident K9 Warrior is a non-fiction book based on soldiers and man's best friend, dogs. More specifically, military dogs that have been trained for several purposes. These purposes vary depending on what the soldiers need. These dogs can be trained to sniff out IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) that human technology can't find. The main character is the narrator, Mike Ritland. Other important characters are his fellow soldiers and his trained dogs. Mike was a military dog trainer, training them from an early age specificly for the military. The other main character is a retired trained dog named Duco. Most characters are dynamic, heavily affected by the scars of war, such as stated by Mike. "So we knew that despite the ghost-town appearance of Tikrit, there was plenty ofresistance we might encounter." (17) Knowing that Mike and his squad might get attacked at any moment, it makes the majority of the squad paranoid, changing their personalities and possibly more violent. He also says "As the weeks passed, life took on a kind of routine-a combat normalcy that had you hypervigilant and never fully able to rest at any time." (17) Sleep deprivation leads to lack of concentration, as well as being less tolerable. Scars from war can be covered, but never heal.
Mrs. Jo is the mother of the grown man, Dan. He is clearly the her favorite, although it may not be that obvious until she reveals it herself. Dan had left the city for a time to look for a job that he would love. He may not be the most successful child, but every time he comes back from a trip he seems to have changed for the better. "He may never do anything great or get rich; but if the wild boy makes an honest man, I'm satisfied." This is one of the points where the children begin to realize the hardships of life. It helps them somewhat realize that life is not as easy as they expected it to be. Mrs. Jo then reacts to the children's statements of favoritism by saying "I'd rather send my boys off to see the world in that way than leave them alone in a city full of temptations with nothing to do but waste time, money, and health, as so many are left." This is more of the rising action, as it shows the children that life is not at all easy. The only thing that contradicts Mrs. Jo's statement is that she could have unknowingly sent her favorite son to his death.
In "Jo's Boys and How They Turned Out", the most prominent thing found is change. This is even discussed by the now grown up main characters. Mrs. Jo states that "If any one had told me what wonderful changes were to take place here in ten years, I wouldn't have believed it." The countryside had now been overrun with man-made buildings. The roads they had run along 10 years ago was now a busy street used by students. They're little cottage was now practically gone, completely enveloped by the newly built city. "It certainly did look as if magic had been at work, for quiet Plumfield was transformed into a busy little world." While in the previous books the children had believed in fairies, run around, made a mess, and acted just as children were expected to behave, everything changed the more time passed. A few of the children they had grown up with had passed away while the urban life had slowly taken forever. One of the hills where the children had always played together was now a college. The world they grew up in had changed drastically, for better or for worse depends on the perspective of the reader.
The main problem in The Lost Conspiracy is the main protagonist, Hathin, and Arilou run away from everything they know when the common people massacred the Lace. Everyone they knew is dead and they are the only survivors. A manhunt is declared on the pair while several people are hired to hunt them down and exterminate them. The only reason the Lace were massacred was basically being at the wrong place at the wrong time. All of the Lost died of unknown means other than Arilou. Everyone accused the Lace of murdering all the Lost just so they would be the only tribe with a Lost. The Lost were the only things keeping the tribes connected to each other. Without the Lost, the tribes could not communicate with each other, which raised suspicion when Arilou is the only survivor. The conflict for Hathin is external and internal. She fights her emotions while at the same time tries to keep herself and Arilou alive. "There had been no time for the villagers to send a cout up ahead, up the Path of Gongs. The attacking towners had known about the cave of the Scorpion's Tail, and with the sounf of pursuit behind them, the Lace had no choice but to slip into the icy darkness and trust to the mercy of the mountain. And so the foremost had drowned, grappling desperately with the rocky barrier, the others behind her unwittingly blocking her retreat, knowing that she did not advance, and unable to retreat themselves as the air died in their lungs." (160) Hathin battles her emotion as Arilou seems to not care about the massacre of the tribe. Hathin completely bursts with anger at this. "I should have let the Death Rattle take you!" The caves' many voices joined Hathin in a chorus. "I should have let Whish push you into the sea! All of this, all of this, happened because of you!" (160) It takes time before Hathin then regrets her outburst of absolute rage.
Raglan Skein is one of the main characters in "The Lost Conspiracy". Other main characters would be Arilou, Hathin, and Minchard Pox. Skein and Pox are Lost, a rare people who can separate their senses from their physical body. Skein and Pox are part of the Lost Council, so they are very serious about most things. Pox is very nervous around the Lace Tribe, because of all their bad reputation. Arilou's tribe believes that she is one of the Lost, because she never seems to be in complete control of her physical body. Her sister Hathin makes outsiders believe that she is the first Lady Lost in fifty years by "translating". Arilou doesn't have complete control of her tongue, which is expected of the Lost. All of them are static for the majority of the story other than Hathin. Hathin is a dynamic character, as she changes from doing whatever the village wants to generate money to survive, into doing what she believes is right. In page 26, "On the rare occasions she found herself without Arilou, she felt a guilty, giddy sense of lightness." This feeling she gets slowly gets stronger and stronger. In page 11, "Down there three dozen faces, all smiling. Just because they're smiling, it doesn't mean they like you." This is told from the perspective of Pox. It shows how Pox is very untrustworthy of other people who are not Lost.
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