Cover Letter

For my discourse community I chose my fathers work. He works for the

DRG(Delaware Resource Group) on Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. I chose this
group because I wasnt entirely sure it was a discourse group and I want to find out
for myself whether it is or isnt by observing and interviewing the employees in
their natural work habitat. In this paper I hope to prove to myself and the
individuals reading this paper that the DRG is a discourse group.

Madison Martin
Megan Weaver
Rhetoric 1
October 17, 2014

Ethnography Paper
Discourse communities are groups that have common goals, lexis, old and new
members, provide feedback to each other, intercommunicate, and have a genre. An
example of a discourse community may be a sports team or school club. They all have
one common shared goal or similar individual goals, they talk with a certain lexis and
genre, they intercommunicate and provide feedback , and they have old and new
members or experienced and inexperienced members. Though not all discourse
communities have all of these characteristics. As Swales asked, Do you need to assimate
all of this to be a discourse community? Discourse communities can not be specifically
defined. If a discourse community has a majority of these traits then it can be considered
a discourse community/
A discourse community that caught my attention was my Fathers work. He
works for the DRG (Delaware Resource Group) on SJAFB in Goldsboro, North Carolina.
The DRG is a group of specialized (mostly retired) airmen who are now flight instructors.
When I was given this assignment I immediately thought of this group of flight
instructors. I already know that they are a discourse community, but I want to be able to
prove to others that they are a Discourse community. I am going to obtain this

information by researching. By observing the work group I can collect any information
that seems important or may prove that it is a discourse community. I plan on taking
notes on the temperature of the room, the set up of their desks, how often they
intercommunicate and how they intercommunicate, and what lexis is used. During their
lunch breaks I will interview one or two individuals and ask them questions about a
typical/regular day in the office, what it is like working with the others, do they think
they are a discourse community, and do they provide feedback to one another. Writing
down any and all information during these observations will give me all of the details I
need. It will also give me a more thorough evaluation on how it is a discourse
community.
I chose to perform my evaluation on a Tuesday when they have their first brief
and debrief of the F15E flight course. Upon arrival to the SIM (simulation) building, my
Father gave me the run down. The DRG is a very professional, secured organization.
When entering the building I was to turn off any mobile/cellular devices and store them
in my Fathers locker. The building was very cold, open, and quite. All employees were
to use inside voices and keep doors closed. As a visitor I was not allowed to walk around
unescorted so I was to sit beside my fathers desk and take notes. My father had an hour
before his first class started so he went through his daily schedule and made a point that
he is very busy on days he has classes. Since he had an hour of free time I started my
interview. The first question I asked is what a regular day is like. Like my father just said,
their day depends on the schedule. Their schedules are always fluctuating. One day they
may have many classes and others they wont have any classes at all. Depending on how
many classes they have determines how many briefs and debriefs they have. I noticed

that we had yet to see or talk to another instructor. My next question was how do they
communicate and how often do they communicate. My Father is always interacting with
his coworkers. When they are not making small talk they are either briefing, flying or
working 2-ship debriefing SIMs together. They are a very professional group, yet they
still have laidback conversations not pertaining to work. While passing in the hallways of
the building they will say Hey or How is your day? My father said that during day
they are not busy he makes talk with his cubicle neighbor, Cheese. Hearing this I had to
ask, Who is Cheese? He explained that each fighter pilot has a call sign or a nick name.
Cheese was unfortunate to have the First name of Colby and middle name of Jack.
Without asking, my Father continued and said that they speak in their own language. The
lexis used is very complicated. If you are not a fighter pilot or have an Air Force
background you would not be able to fit in or join this community. The most common
lexis used that almost everyone who isnt in the military knows is military time. When
someone says The meeting is at 1600pm you know that it is 4:00 in the afternoon
because it is based off of a 24 hour clock. Some other lexis used is check 6, break right,
flare, 2s blind, tally target, 1s joker, 2 is bingo fuel, TIC(troops in contact), and over
G. All of these terms are used in the classroom by my father, other flight instructors,
and the fighter pilot trainees. Of course my Father knows that I do not know what any of
these mean so he says, That is main characteristic that makes us a discourse
community.
They provide feedback to each other almost everyday. As SMEs( Subject
Matter Experts) they have to evaluate each other in the class room and provide
feedback so that they can instruct the fighter pilots in training to the best of their

knowledge. As a discourse community they all have one common goal, to produce
the best F-15E fighter pilots and WSOs we can for the operational squadrons. They
teach these young airmen how to kill the enemy and survive through scenarios in a
simulator or practice course in real F-15Es. However my Father says, The mundane
goal is to graduate the classes on time to man combat squadrons where they will
continue their training. Another characteristic of a discourse community is their
ability to bring in new inexperienced members. Since this job is very professional
they cant have inexperienced personnel. The only new members are the students
that they teach. My Father would be considered an experienced member while the
fighter pilots he instructs are the inexperienced members.
The characteristic that stood out the most to me was the lexis. It is not hard
to tell that they are a discourse community when you sit through one of their
classes. It is very confusing yet intriguing. I want to be a part of this DC group
because I want to understand their way of communication. The final question I
asked the people I interviewed is, Do you consider your workforce a discourse
community? After explaining to them what makes up a discourse community and
gave examples of a few I was able to receive the answer I was looking for. They do
consider themselves a discourse community.. It is a tight, close knitted group that is
not easily influenced by other groups and linguistics.