Citizen Soldiers

Citizen Soldiers: The U.S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany is a non-fiction book about World War II written by Stephen E. Ambrose and published in 1997. It deals with Allied soldiers moving in from the Normandy beaches, and through Europe (between June 7, 1944 and May 7, 1945). In addition to telling short stories of countless soldiers experiencing the war, the author also explains the events before telling the stories. He interviewed dozens of soldiers in the making of the book.

The book picks up where his previous book describing the preparations and execution of the Normandy Landings, D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II, left off.

Reviews

Praise

The book was well received and became a The New York Times best seller. Notable figures such as Colin Powell have praised the book. The Wall Street Journal has also credited the book.

Criticism

The book has also been criticized for overemphasizing the U.S. role in the liberation of Western Europe and limiting the role that British forces played in the course of the war.

3 Doors Down

3 Doors Down is an American rock band from Escatawpa, Mississippi that formed in 1996. The band originally consisted of Brad Arnold (vocals/drums), Todd Harrell (bass guitar) and Matt Roberts (guitar).They were soon joined by guitarist Chris Henderson, and later by drummer Richard Liles, who played for the band during their tour supporting their first album. Daniel Adair played drums on tour from 2002–2005. This configuration played nearly 1,000 shows across the world following the release of their hugely successful Away from the Sun album. In 2005, when Adair was hired full-time by Nickelback, Greg Upchurch (Puddle of Mudd) joined to play drums full-time. In 2012, original guitarist Matt Roberts departed due to health issues. Chet Roberts, who was formerly Chris Henderson's guitar tech, took his spot. In 2013, Harrell was ejected from the band after being charged with vehicular homicide. Bassist Justin Biltonen replaced him.

The band rose to international fame with their first single, "Kryptonite", which charted in the top three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The band then signed onto Republic Records and released their debut album, The Better Life, in 2000. The album was the 11th-best-selling album of the year and was certified 6x platinum in the United States. Their second album, Away from the Sun, (2002) continued the band's success; it debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 chart, went multi-platinum in the United States like its predecessor, and spawned the hits "When I'm Gone" and "Here Without You". The band followed it up by extensive touring for two years before releasing their third album, Seventeen Days, in 2005. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and was certified platinum within its first month of release. Their fourth, self-titled album, 3 Doors Down (2008), also debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. The band's fifth studio album, Time of My Life (2011) debuted at No. 3 at the charts.

National Guard

National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards.

National Guard may refer to:

Africa

Americas

Citizenship

Citizenship is the status of a person recognized under the custom or law as being a member of a country. A person may have multiple citizenships and a person who does not have citizenship of any state is said to be stateless.

Nationality is often used as a synonym for citizenship in English – notably in international law – although the term is sometimes understood as denoting a person's membership of a nation (a large ethnic group). In some countries, e.g. the United States, the United Kingdom, nationality and citizenship can have different meanings (for more information, see Nationality#Nationality versus citizenship).

Determining factors

A person can be a citizen for several reasons. Usually citizenship of the place of birth is automatic; in other cases an application may be required. Each country has their own policies and regulations which change the criteria of who is issued citizenship.

Soldier

A soldier is one who fights as part of an organized land-based armed force. A soldier can be an enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or junior-commissioned officer, or an officer.

Etymology

The word soldier derives from the Middle English word soudeour, from Anglo-French soudeer or soudeour, meaning mercenary, from soudee, meaning shilling's worth or wage, from sou or soud, shilling. The word is also related to the Medieval Latin soldarius, meaning soldier (literally, "one having pay"). These words ultimately derive from the Late Latin word solidus, referring to an Ancient Roman coin used in the Byzantine Empire.

Occupational designations

In most armed forces use of the word 'soldier' has taken on a more general meaning due to the increasing specialization of military occupations that require different areas of knowledge and skill-sets. As a result, 'soldiers' are referred to by names or ranks which reflect an individual's military occupation specialty arm, service, or branch of military employment, their type of unit, or operational employment or technical use such as: trooper, tanker (a member of tank crew), commando, dragoon, infantryman, marine, paratrooper, grenadier, ranger, sniper, engineer, sapper, signaller, medic, or a gunner.