"Army of One" to "Army Strong" : visual media and U.S. Army recruitment during Bush"s "War on Terror"

From Bush’s September 20, 2001 “War on Terror” speech to Congress to President-Elect Barack Obama’s acceptance speech on November 4, 2008, the U.S. Army produced visual recruitment material that addressed the concerns of falling enlistment numbers—due to the prolonged and difficult war in Iraq—with quickly-evolving and compelling rhetorical appeals: from the introduction of an “Army of One” (2001) to “Army Strong” (2006); from messages focused on education and individual identity to high-energy adventure and simulated combat scenarios, distributed through everything from printed posters and music videos to first-person tactical-shooter video games. These highly polished, professional visual appeals introduced to the American public during a time of an unpopular war fought by volunteers provide rich subject matter for research and analysis. This dissertation takes a multidisciplinary approach to the visual media utilized as part of the Army’s recruitment efforts during the War on Terror, focusing on American myths—as defined by Barthes—and how these myths are both revealed and reinforced through design across media platforms. Placing each selection in its historical context, this dissertation analyzes how printed materials changed as the War on Terror continued. It examines the television ad that introduced “Army Strong” to the American public, considering how the combination of moving image, text, and music structure the message and the way we receive it. This dissertation also analyzes the video game America’s Army, focusing on how the interaction of the human player and the computer-generated player combine to enhance the persuasive qualities of the recruitment message. Each chapter discusses how the design of the particular medium facilitates engagement/interactivity of the viewer. The conclusion considers what recruitment material produced during this time period suggests about the persuasive strategies of different media and how they create distinct relationships with their spectators. It also addresses how theoretical frameworks and critical concepts used by a variety of disciplines can be combined to analyze recruitment media utilizing a Selber inspired three literacy framework (functional, critical, rhetorical) and how this framework can contribute to the multimodal classroom by allowing instructors and students to do a comparative analysis of multiple forms of visual media with similar content.

IMPLEMENTATION OF PHOTOGRAMMETRY TO IMPROVE PROACTIVE ASSESSMENT OF RETAINING WALLS ALONG TRANSPORTATION CORRIDORS

Retaining walls are important assets in the transportation infrastructure and assessing their condition is important to prolong their performance and ultimately their design life. Retaining walls are often overlooked and only a few transportation asset management programs consider them in their inventory. Because these programs are few, the techniques used to assess their condition focus on a qualitative assessment as opposed to a quantitative approach. The work presented in this thesis focuses on using photogrammetry to quantitatively assess the condition of retaining walls. Multitemporal photogrammetry is used to develop 3D models of the retaining walls, from which offset displacements are measured to assess their condition. This study presents a case study from a site along M-10 highway in Detroit, MI were several sections of retaining walls have experienced horizontal displacement towards the highway. The results are validated by comparing with field observations and measurements. The limitations of photogrammetry were also studied by using a small scale model in the laboratory. The analysis found that the accuracy of the offset displacement measurements is dependent on the distance between the retaining wall and the sensor, location of the reference points in 3D space, and the focal length of the lenses used by the camera. These parameters were not ideal for the case study at the M-10 highway site, but the results provided consistent trends in the movement of the retaining wall that couldn’t be validated from offset measurements. The findings of this study confirm that photogrammetry shows promise in generating 3D models to provide a quantitative condition assessment for retaining walls within its limitations.