full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Wes Moore: How to talk to veterans about war

Unscramble the Blue Letters

By the time I finished that up and I rejoined my military unit and we were getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan, there were soldiers in my unit who were now on their second and third dlyotmeepns before I even had my first. I rmbemeer wnilakg out with my unit for the first time, and when you join the Army and you go through a combat tour, everyone looks at your shoulder, because on your shoulder is your coabmt patch. And so immediately as you meet people, you shake their hand, and then your eyes go to their shoulder, because you want to see where did they serve, or what unit did they serve with? And I was the only prsoen walking around with a bare shoulder, and it brnued every time someone stared at it.

Open Cloze

By the time I finished that up and I rejoined my military unit and we were getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan, there were soldiers in my unit who were now on their second and third ___________ before I even had my first. I ________ _______ out with my unit for the first time, and when you join the Army and you go through a combat tour, everyone looks at your shoulder, because on your shoulder is your ______ patch. And so immediately as you meet people, you shake their hand, and then your eyes go to their shoulder, because you want to see where did they serve, or what unit did they serve with? And I was the only ______ walking around with a bare shoulder, and it ______ every time someone stared at it.

Solution

  1. burned
  2. deployments
  3. combat
  4. remember
  5. person
  6. walking

Original Text

By the time I finished that up and I rejoined my military unit and we were getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan, there were soldiers in my unit who were now on their second and third deployments before I even had my first. I remember walking out with my unit for the first time, and when you join the Army and you go through a combat tour, everyone looks at your shoulder, because on your shoulder is your combat patch. And so immediately as you meet people, you shake their hand, and then your eyes go to their shoulder, because you want to see where did they serve, or what unit did they serve with? And I was the only person walking around with a bare shoulder, and it burned every time someone stared at it.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
couple years 3
wanted people 3
military school 2
black gates 2
united states 2
army officer 2
heading overseas 2
vast majority 2
entire time 2
percent light 2
means acknowledging 2

Important Words

  1. afghanistan
  2. army
  3. bare
  4. burned
  5. combat
  6. deploy
  7. deployments
  8. eyes
  9. finished
  10. hand
  11. immediately
  12. join
  13. meet
  14. military
  15. patch
  16. people
  17. person
  18. ready
  19. rejoined
  20. remember
  21. serve
  22. shake
  23. shoulder
  24. soldiers
  25. stared
  26. time
  27. tour
  28. unit
  29. walking