USF Economics Military Memorandum Project

Writing Requirements 

This assignment is the first of four steps in completing the military memorandum.  This assignment will require you to articulate an understanding of the problem and the audience, by answering the questions about the problem below.  Then you will demonstrate an ability to solve, understand, and explain a statistical problem in language appropriate to the professional status and background of the audience you are addressing by completing a draft of your military memorandum.   To understand what you are expected to do in the memorandum review the Military Memorandum Guide. You may also want to look at the rubric on assignment 1.4 to see how the final assignment in this memorandum series will be graded.  The linked Military Memorandum Pre-writing Example provides an illustration of how the assignment should be laid out.  You will be expected to follow the provided format for presenting the material, a practice that will extend into your professional life. You are expected to use editing software to review your work for grammar and punctuation errors prior to turning it in. 

Problem Definition Questions 

Read the problem description at the bottom of this assignment. Then, cut and paste each question below into your assignment and provide the answers below each question.  These answers will be located on a separate page before the memorandum.  This page will NOT be included in the final memorandum.  

1. What problem you have been asked to address? While you are using statistics to support a particular answer, the question you are being asked to address is not a formula or a description of the calculations you will complete.  You need to describe the problem you are being asked to solve in plain language. 
2. How can the data provided inform an intervention recommendation? 
3. What is the outcome you are supposed to provide in this memorandum?  
4. a) To whom have you been asked to address this memorandum (find the name of the CURRENT person holding the job and their official title)? b) What is this person likely to need from you?  (You may need to do a quick internet search of this role.)
5. a) Who will you be copying this memorandum to (they are a secondary audience).  b) What are the addressees likely to need from reading the memorandum? (This is a critical thinking exercise, so research what the addressees’ responsibilities are and use that to think about what they need to know from you).

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 and 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  (Links to an external site.)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 Current 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 (Links to an external site.) 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),  (Links to an external site.)and clear evidence  (Links to an external site.)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.
• Edit and check grammar and spelling before turning the document in.  

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

Data Coding: 

Cause of Fatality Code Typhus 1Dysentery2Cholera 3Staph infection4Fragment wound 5Burn wound6Gunshot wound7Exploding ordnance wound  8Blood hemorrhage 9