Each person has a set of cultural identifiers that indicate his position in society. However, some qualities are more critical for the individual since they are more closely related to their character and history. For me, the most significant cultural identifiers are the United States Army Veteran rank, Texas as the home residence, and marital status. This list is especially important to me since I chose each of its components myself. I spent 21 years in the US Army, only retiring in 2017. After retirement, I decided to live in Texas because of the attachment to this place. Finally, I value my family, parents, and partner, and they mean a lot to me.
In my workplace at the Department of Defense, I am surrounded by people with similar cultural identifiers in many ways. Firstly, we all live in Texas, and most people have lived here for quite a few years. Secondly, most of the Department of Defense personnel are veterans, although their marital status varies. These factors provide diversity among ministry employees; however, of the two types of diversity, demographic rather than cultural prevails. For the most part, people working in the Department of Defense are similar in their culture but differ in gender, race, and age (Organizational behavior, 2017). Thus, there is little diversity, which allows for better cooperation between colleagues (Brunetta et al., 2019). Due to these factors, the adaptation of new members of the team takes place quite quickly.
Among my cultural identifiers, the most significant to me is serving in the US Army. Firstly, I have devoted almost most of my life to her, and this occupation has shaped me in the form I am at the moment. This type of activity helped me acquire a lot of knowledge and skills, including leadership qualities. Being a veteran is both a responsibility and an honorific title that reflects commitment and patriotism towards the country. The latter factor is critical for me because I am proud of my country and honored to serve it.
Referring to the same list of identifiers, while all of them are practically equally significant to me, my residence place can be considered the least important of the three. Although I chose this place of residence on my own after leaving the army, I have not yet lived here enough time to connect with the local culture, customs, and traditions deeply. As a result, from time to time, I feel uncomfortable being in this area. There are quite a few native Texas people around me who have many habits and traditions woven into the state’s culture. Their presence does not irritate me, but it shows my less significant position in this cultural identifier sphere.
Since I work among people who understand the army’s specifics, I rarely encounter stereotypes about US veterans at work. However, in everyday life, I often meet a prejudice against individuals who served in the army, which frequently stems from a lack of awareness of this structure’s work. First, when faced with a veteran, people often assume that ex-soldiers have seen many terrible things and usually have PTSD. This is a common misconception that does not necessarily apply to all veterans, as well as to me. Secondly, people assume that veterans who know how to handle weapons are much more likely to use them, thus seeing them not as human beings but as machines. This misconception comes from the false connection between the instrument and the person and does not apply to many veterans or me. Finally, society is often mistaken that all veterans receive or actively seek disability benefits acquired in the service. This is also not true since neither most of my acquaintances nor I am actively seeking any advantages due to military service.
References
Brunetta, F., Marchegiani, L., & Peruffo, E. (2019). When birds of a feather don’t flock together: Diversity and innovation outcomes in international R&D collaborations. Journal of Business Research, 1-10. Web.
Organizational behavior. (2017). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing Edition. Web.