Example of Soft Power- Sarah Seeliger

Sarah Seeliger
GPHC
Mr. Roddy
9/15/19

American Firefighters Training in Germany


Over the summer, there was a camp called Camp Fahrenheit 516, which was a camp where Junior Firefighters from New York and Germany spent a week together doing intense firefighting training. This year was the fifth year of the camp, but it was the first time that New York firefighting squads were joined by young firefighters from Germany. Wunderbar Together, which is one of the organizations that helps organize Camp Fahrenheit 516, 10 firefighters and 3 supervisors from Germany came to take part in the camp. Camp Farenheight 516 was hosted by the Nassau Junior Firefighters Association in Nassau County, New York. 

During the week of camp, the participants participated in practical training. They were also tested on important skills such as navigating a burning building. On top of this, the students from Germany were required to adapt and translate the testing requirements for the award given to camp participants called the Jugendflamme award. All participants of Camp Fahrenheit 516 were awarded special recognition for completing the firefighting programs for both the U.S. and Germany.  

In the GPHC textbook, soft power is defined as "achieving aims through persuasion or influence" and on the graph that shows the scale from hard to soft power, it says that soft power could be achieved through outreach or cultural ties. I think that Camp Fahrenheit 516 is a good example of soft power because it creates cultural ties between the U.S. and Germany. Since people from Germany can come train to be firefighters in the U.S., it builds a friendly bond between the two countries, which will lead to cultural ties. In fact, the Wunderbar Together website states that Camp Fahrenheit 516 campers "participated in a different type of cultural exchange" (Wunderbar Together). 

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