Questions

1. Master Sgt. Matthew O. Williams was awarded the Medal of Honor this week. It is _______________, bestowed on members of the U.S. military who distinguish themselves through “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her life above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States.” Williams is an Army Green Beret who fought his way up a frozen mountain in Afghanistan to help rescue wounded comrades during a mission to kill or capture a terrorist leader.
a) common
b) the nation's highest military honor
c) a really great medal
d) given to all service members who fought in Afghanistan

2. Sgt. Williams has completed five tours in Afghanistan (and one deployment to Africa). Significant about his Medal of Honor is that he is still _______________. It’s rare for a service member to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor while _______________. (SAME ANSWER FOR BOTH BLANKS)
a) on active duty
b) in Afghanistan
c) a Green Beret
d) a sergeant

3. November 8 marks 40 years since Iranian “students” overran the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans hostage, demanding the U.S. send the ousted Shah of Iran back from New York, where he was undergoing cancer treatment. During their captivity, the Islamic Revolutionaries:
a) treated the American hostages with dignity and respect
b) allowed the International Red Cross access to the hostages
c) made the hostages comfortable and told them to “feel at home”
d) beat the hostages, withheld mail from their families, stole their possessions, threatened to boil their feet in oil and cut their eyes out and also held mock executions that terrified the hostages

4. The Islamic Revolutionaries in Iran held the Americans for over a year (444 days) and only released them:
a) the day Ronald Reagan was inaugurated
b) after President Jimmy Carter met with the Ayatollah Khomeini
c) the day after it was known that President Jimmy Carter refused to consider a military action against the revolutionaries
d) after the hostages said they wanted to go home

5. To prevent football teams from running up the score against opponents, the Athletic Association of Nassau County, NY passed a “lopsided score” rule that mandates the coach of a team that wins by more than _______________ points must submit in writing the lengths to which they went to avoid running up the score.
a) two
b) twelve
c) twenty-two
d) forty-two

6 Under the lopsided score rule, the head coach of Plainedge High School has been suspended for one game. The committee reviewing his explanation of why the score was so lopsided said the coach did not demonstrate that he was trying to avoid a lopsided score. The coach made the following arguments to defend himself:
a) the intent of the rule is to prevent coaches from running up the score ON PURPOSE
b) the opposing team’s coach was not upset - he did not complain that Plainledge ran up the score
c) the purpose of the rule is to prevent better teams from running up the score on lesser teams; both teams in his case went into the game undefeated
d) all of the above

7. The U.S. navy has been conducting a three-week International Maritime Exercise (IMX), after a number of commercial vessels were attacked _______________ over the past six months, ratcheting up regional tensions.
a) in the Gulf of Aden
b) in the South China Sea
c) in the Persian Gulf
d) in the Indian Ocean

8. The purpose of the International Maritime Exercises is to:
a) build an alliance to counter Iranian aggression
b) build a coalition to fight ISIS
c) both a) and b)
d) neither a) nor b)

9. Veterans Day is a day to honor ___________________; Memorial Day is a day to remember and honor the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.
a) all living veterans
b) all active duty military personnel
c) all military personnel injured in the line of duty
d) all military personnel who saw combat

10. Until 1954, Veterans Day was called ____________________ because it was primarily a day set aside to honor veterans of World War I and signified the day that fighting ceased between the Allied nations and Germany.
a) Memorial Day
b) Armistice Day
c) Elevensies
d) WWI Remembrance Day