Image source: Facebook via SBC

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is being rocked by a separate online scandal this week.

Male soldiers in the Australian Army are already being investigated for allegedly filming themselves having sex with military and civilian women, then circulating the images and video through email.

The latest scandal involves two Facebook pages that demeaned women.

According to SBS World News, “The Australian Defence Force is investigating after the discovery of two Facebook pages demeaning women as "sluts", which appear to have serving or former Australian soldiers as members.”

As of early yesterday, the Facebook pages were online but have since been removed as reported in a follow up story that was published this morning by SBS.

Via SBS:

“A Defence spokesperson confirmed via email that the department was aware the pages had been removed, but was "unable to confirm" it was a direct result of the investigation.

In a statement released to SBS yesterday, a Defence spokesperson said “disciplinary and/or administrative action” would be taken if any serving members were found to have made offensive comments on the pages.”

A video of Australian Lieutenant General David Morrison went viral days ago and now has almost 1 million views on YouTube, at the time of this story.

In the short video, Lt-General Morrison sends a very strong message to members of Australia's military, saying those who think that it's okay to demean women, have no place in the Australian Army.

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Here's a feel-good story to start off the week about the military and social media.

According to a news story published by RTV6, National Guard soldier Jeremy Daugherty was reunited with a shadow box containing a U.S. flag, picture and medals that he lost during a recent move.

A Good Samaritan, Tanya Christie, found the shadow box on a highway and reportedly dodged traffic in order to get it.

That’s right, Christie dodged traffic just to get the shadow box.

After realizing what it was, Christie reached out to news stations to help find its owner and RTV6 responded by posting a picture of the shadow box on its Facebook wall.

The interesting part of the story is what Christie had to say about local media. "I went to all the news stations, and channel 6 was the only one that cared, and you guys helped me find him," Christie told RTV6.

RTV6 reports that the Facebook post reached more than 200,000 people and those who recognized the photo on Facebook notified Daugherty.

Full story here including pictures and video.

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Bridge dedicated in name of slain Army journalist. Three years after the death of her son, Patricia Phillips will have a new reminder of him each time she drives by the bridge near her Birmingham home.  The bridge, on state Route 113 over the Vermilion River, was named the “Staff Sgt. James P. Hunter Memorial Bridge” in Dec. 2012 after Gov. John Kasich signed Senate Bill 300, endorsed by state Sen. Gayle Manning, R-North Ridgeville, into law...
(Chronicle-Telegram)

Through Skype, overseas fathers watch WVW students graduate.  Select Wyoming Valley West graduates of the Class of 2013 were able to celebrate two occasions on the night of their commencement ceremony Thursday.  Graduates Michael Dileo and Andrea Pavlick were able to celebrate Father's Day a few days early. Their fathers are stationed overseas in the military - Dileo's father in Afghanistan and Pavlick's father in Kuwait - and thought they would miss the opportunity to watch their children receive their diplomas...
(Citizen's Voice)

Honor Flight veterans recall fear — and fun — in world's greatest war. Sometime in the mid 1940s, on a dare, Kathryn Zurbuchen, of Billings, sat on Abraham Lincoln’s gigantic lap at the Great Emancipator’s towering monument in Washington, D.C.  She and five other WAVEs had a day off from their World War II duties and couldn’t resist the allure of the nation’s premier monuments. No one challenged them, she remembered, probably because they were wearing their Navy uniforms...
(Billings Gazette)

In London, echoes of Pakistan's deadly press policies. Among the more 200,000 Pakistanis living in London is Altaf Hussain, leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement. This powerful political party is widely thought to be behind the murder of reporter Wali Khan Babar, a rising star at Geo TV who was shot dead in Karachi in 2011. His coverage focused on politically sensitive topics such as extortion, targeted killings, electricity thefts, land-grabbing, and riots...
(CPJ)

KOREAN WAR VETERANS ASKED TO SHARE STORIES OF “FORGOTTEN WAR”. “A little over 100 miles out… the engine exploded on us and caught fire,” shared Lt. Col. William McCowen of the United States Air Force, who survived the Korean War and the plane crash that nearly killed him.  The opportunity to document these experiences is fleeting. That’s why the Department of Defense Korean War 60th Anniversary Committee has opened an online forum for Korean War Veterans and those affected by the war to submit their stories...
(The Military Wire)

WWII 'Deserters': Stories Of Men Who Left The Front Lines. Few citizens are more honored than military veterans, and there's particular reverence for those who defeated the Nazis in World War II. Like any war, however, World War II was complicated and traumatic for those on the ground, and not a few deserted from the front lines...
(Iowa Public Radio)

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A video of Australian Lieutenant General David Morrison has gone viral, racking up over half a million views since being posted to YouTube earlier this week.

The video is in response to the ADF's latest sex scandal.

In the 3-minute video, Lt-General Morrison sends a stern message to members of Australia's military, saying those who think that it's okay to demean women, have no place in the Australian Army.

Lt-General Morrison tells troops that females have proved themselves worthy and that they are vital to maintaining its military capability and "If that does not suit you, then get out."

The Australian writes:

“HE'S the tough-as-nails army chief who has become an internet sensation for a video speech ordering misbehaving troops to "get out" if they don't want to live by his standards.

But Lieutenant-General David Morrison has also won praise from feminist groups for campaigning for the Australian Defence Force to treat women with respect.

The praise across social media for the father-of-three included observations that he should be deployed to train the nation's politicians on leadership and gender issues before the federal election.”

More at The Australian.

You can watch the video here on YouTube.

Wikipedia: David Morrison

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Violent Extremist Content 'Still Rife' On Web. UK anti-terrorist police say almost 6,000 pieces of violent extremist content have been removed from the internet since 2010 - but a former security minister claims they have only scratched the surface.  It comes as Prime Minister David Cameron and Culture Secretary Maria Miller prepare to hold high-level talks with internet firms - including Facebook, Google, YouTube and Microsoft - on Monday to crackdown on harmful online content...
(Sky News)

Protecting Classified Information, Cybersecurity are All Hands’ Responsibilities. Recent media reports about public leaks of protected U.S. Government information may have you wondering what, as a Sailor, you should do when you come across classified material in media reports or elsewhere online. Therefore, this is a good time for a reminder about our responsibility to properly protect classified information and maintain good “cyber hygiene.”
(NAVY LIVE)

AFRS participates in first tweetchat. The Air Force Recruiting Service participated in its  first tweetchat June 6 and received more than 100 recruitment questions from online participants. During the hour-long Web event, AFRS officials answered questions about enlistment eligibility requirements, Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test scores and other career field-specific questions...
(U.S. Air Force Live)

Spanish police leverage Twitter to fight crime. Spain's national police have built up an army of more than half a million followers on Twitter, using them to help swoop on fugitives and get tip-offs on drug dealers in an open dialogue that has helped bring the force closer to the people.  Since it was set up four years ago, the Spanish feed has become one of most popular police Twitter accounts in the world, with the force regularly sending humorous tweets to attract followers...
(theSundaily)

Burma falters, backtracks on press freedom. The media landscape in Burma is more open than ever, as President Thein Sein releases imprisoned journalists and abolishes the former censorship regime. But many threats and obstacles to truly unfettered reporting remain, including restrictive laws held over from the previous military regime. The wider government’s commitment to a more open reporting environment is in doubt...
(CPJ)

Marine Experiences First Enemy Contact. The air was still and the fading sounds of morning prayers echoed throughout the valley as our convoy lumbered to a halt. The lead vehicle had become stuck in a field and couldn’t move. The patrol leader, Sgt. Brandon Bond, radioed to Marines in the stopped vehicle and asked if they could move. It was almost 5 a.m. and Bond knew people would soon begin to leave their homes and move about the city.  The vehicle was immobile, so we dismounted and began to patrol on foot to two compounds which lay just 400 meters to our north. The Marines with Weapons Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, had watched the compounds over the last few weeks and believed insurgents were using them for refuge...
(Marines Blog)

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Circle of Moms is running its annual contest to find the Top 25 Military Mom Bloggers.

Help us find the Top 25 Military Moms - 2013 by Jul 4, 2013 at 4pm PST by voting once every 24 hours for your favorite blog.

Are you a military mom blogger? We're looking for moms who blog about military life, whether you're serving in the military yourself or are partnered with someone who is.

Here are answers to the most frequently asked questions about the contest.

Voting ends on July 4, 2013 at 4pm PST.

The top 5 Military Mom Bloggers who have received the most votes so far are:

1. The Only Girl Among Boys
2. The Deployment Diatribes
3. 5 Nuts in a Nutshell
4. wanderlynn
5. Hooah and Hiccups

More at Circle of Moms.

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The Australian Defence Force is the latest military organization to be caught up in a scandal.

Over the last couple weeks, the Israel Defence Force was making headlines after several female soldiers posted semi-nude photos and video of themselves online.

But the problem with the Australian Army is far worse.

According to a number of news sites including The Australian, “Three officers have been suspended and more than 100 others are being investigated over the creation and distribution of explicit and "profane" material featuring several women on defence computers and the internet.”

Apparently, the soldiers filmed themselves having sex with military and civilian women, then circulated the images through email.

“It's understood the material, which was uncovered on April 10, includes images of defence women in sporting attire accompanied by offensive commentary.

Other imagery was digitally altered to be offensive.

Images of naked women and videos of sex acts were also discovered, although it's yet to be verified if they feature defence personnel.

General Morrison said more than five women so far identified were members of the defence force, public servants and civilians.”

Australian Army Lt-General David Morrison declared it was worse than the 2011 "Skype scandal" in which an Australian Defence Force Academy recruit used Skype to stream video of him having sex with a female cadet.

More here at The Australian.

Wikipedia: Australian Defence Force

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Touched by Magic. Until a few months ago, Rosa Yassin Hassan was filing daily reports on the war in Syria in her blog, "Diary of the Syrian Revolution". Her accounts detailed both the suffering of civilians and the brutal acts committed by both the regime and the opposition. Persecuted by the regime, she fled to Germany in the autumn of 2012. Laura Overmeyer spoke to her...
(Qantara.de)

Military law experts: Marines may not be able to ban troops from offensive sites. The commandant of the Marine Corps said the service is looking into making certain websites and social media pages off-limits to Marines — one possible response to the objectionable images and content that troops are posting to the Web. But military law experts say the endeavor is a legal minefield...
(MarineTimes)

Vets' story captures crowd and replaces film. Bernie Friedenberg still has vivid memories of D-Day — the longest day of his life, where he was at the epicenter of what he considered the most dangerous place on Earth. As a U.S. Army medic, he spent the entire day on Omaha Beach in France going everywhere the shouts of “medic” took him to treat the wounded. Thousands of American soldiers died around Friedenberg on June 6, 1944, the start of the battle for France in World War II...
(The Daily Journal)

Online and in danger in Burma. Early moves by Thein Sein to ease Internet censorship are viewed as a limited concession to press freedom, since Burma has one of the lowest Internet penetration rates in the world. Now, planned foreign investments in mobile infrastructure promise to expand access, but a draft telecommunications law would leave intact many of the vague legal restrictions used to curb online freedoms in the past...
(CPJ)

War stories to be told. THE last known communications between local soldiers from Pyramid Hill and their loved ones during World War One will be turned into a book following a funding announcement on Saturday. Member for Swan Hill, Peter Walsh confirmed a State Government financial boost for the Pyramid Hill Historical Society staff to assist them in their latest endeavour...
(The Northern Times)

Army reality TV shows a hit in South Korea. Army reality TV shows have become unmissable viewing in South Korea as episodes see people face early starts and gruelling tank-firing exercises. Reports suggest more people are tuning into shows like 'The Real Men' which follows people as they are put through their paces military-style...
(ITV)

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A video emerged earlier this week of female soldiers within the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) dancing around half-naked.

One soldier is seen pole dancing with her rifle.

The Times of Israel reports:

“In the video, apparently taken with a cellphone camera, the soldiers can be heard egging each other on. One of them can be heard telling another to “dance on the rifle like a slut.”

The fact that other soldiers have been disciplined for similar behavior in the past apparently was no deterrent. Indeed, the camerawoman can be heard saying that she plans to post the video on Facebook and tag those who participated.”

The new footage, which has gone viral, follows the recent Facebook photo scandal of female IDF soldiers in their combat gear and underwear. 

The Facebook photo incident took place in early June and prompted the IDF to develop a "social networking code of ethics".

Ynetnews writes that the IDF issued orders, Tuesday, on the same day the video surfaced that limits soldiers' use of social networking sites and establishes new rules.

As I wrote last week, guidelines don’t mean that embarrassing incidents for the IDF will disappear, but hopefully it’ll provide guidance to those who just don’t know better.

The NY Daily News has the video posted online.

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Photo via Facebook

I came across this story on the U.S. Army’s Twitter feed about a heartbreaking photo taken by Traci Wise that went viral on the internet.

The photo shows Traci’s young son Luke sitting in front of a photo of his father, SFC Benjamin B. Wise.  

SFC Wise died January 15, 2012, serving during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

According to the MilitaryTimes, SFC Wise was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group.  He died Jan. 15 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany, of injuries sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with small-arms fire.

At the time of this story being posted, the photo has been shared on Facebook nearly 12,000 times.

A message posted along with the photo by Wise reads, ““Found my son sitting having a moment with his daddy the other day. We lost him Jan. 15 in Afghanistan. ... We cannot forget about the incredible loss these children must undertake.”

More at International Business Times.

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Navy stops 'shouting,' ditches all-caps requirement. Until just recently, the Navy had a lot in common with your obnoxious uncle who just now discovered the Internet and has been celebrating ever since by posting Facebook updates in all capital letters. Naval messages have been sent in all caps since the 1850s, but a fresh directive has abolished the practice...
(CNET)

Project to tell stories of Stokesley's fallen soldiers.  A PROJECT to bring to life every name written on a town’s war memorials has uncovered a moving account of the cost of the First World War.  Keith Burton began the project with Stokesley Heritage Group to collect the names of everyone from Stokesley who died in the war and write down their story in time for next year’s centenary of the Great War...
(The Northern Echo)

Taliban Ambush From a Machine Gunner's Perspective. While heading back to FOB Sperwan Ghar in Kandahar province Afghanistan, taliban fighters ambush a US Army patrol. The reason the patrol is staying on the road is because the threat of IED's off the road is extremely high in this area...
(YouTube)

Tweets provisionally admitted at Bradley Manning's court-martial. Two archived Twitter posts were submitted into evidence in the trial against the U.S. Army private charged with conspiring to leak documents to WikiLeaks.  When submitting the two posts Monday at the start of week two of the trial against Pfc. Bradley Manning, prosecutors said they support their version of the disputed events, Courthouse News Service reported...
(Big News Network)

U.S. disrupts al-Qaeda’s online magazine. U.S. intelligence operatives covertly sabotaged a prominent al-Qaeda online magazine last month in an apparent attempt to sow confusion among the group’s followers, according to officials.  The operation succeeded, at least temporarily, in thwarting publication of the latest issue of Inspire, the English-language magazine distributed by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. When it appeared online, the text on the second page was garbled and the following 20 pages were blank...
(The Washington Post)

Scandal over the “Taliban” videos. There is a scandal developing in Georgia, concerning the video clips released via YouTube, just before the suicide attack on a Georgian military base in Afghanistan which resulted in the death of seven Georgian servicemen and numerous injuries...
(The Messenger)

Does Media Help or Hinder War on Terror? Sparked by the advent of Twitter, the media is having a profound effect on how we fight the war on terror in the United States.  As we saw in the case of the Boston Marathon bombings, a terrorist act can be carried out by a few lunatics and no longer need to be the handiwork of an elaborate international network...
(NewsMax)

Woolwich attack: Soldier death website post case dropped. A man accused of making offensive comments on a social media website following the killing of Drummer Lee Rigby has had his case dropped...
(BBC)

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This year marks the 60^th anniversary of the Korean War’s end.

The Department of Defense looks to commemorate the event and has a website online.

The mission of the website is threefold:

HONOR the service and sacrifice of Korean War Veterans, American service members, and their allies who fought heroically to preserve Freedom.

COMMEMORATE the key events of the war. The Korean War was the first "hot"conflict of the Cold War and includes both historic battles and offensives as well as important technological and medical advances.

EDUCATE the American people about the significance of the Korean War. The Korean War is often referred as "The Forgotten War." The events and battles of the war are little known by the American public today. The committee seeks to further the public's awareness of the history and impact of the Korean War.

Korean War veterans are also being asked to share their story.

Veterans are asked for information such as name, email address, telephone number, and their story.

The website is full of information about the Korean War and there is a History section that includes service history, social advances, wartime advances, biographies, personal history, historical photos and much more.

If you’re interested in getting more first-hand accounts about the Korean War, you can also check out the Veterans History Project by the Library of Congress.  The project has collected literally thousands of personal accounts from World War I to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Wikipedia: Korean War

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Fifth installment of the War Era Story Project commemorates Memorial Day and the 69th Anniversary of D-Day. The fifth installment of the War Era Story Project (www.aging.ohio.gov/news/storyprojects) released by the Ohio Departments of Aging and Veterans Services commemorates Memorial Day and the 69th Anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1944, with a collection of 27 stories of Ohioans who participated in or supported the invasion of Normandy and the subsequent march across Europe to defeat Hitler...
(The Daily Jeffersonian)

Will Seoul block a fake North Korean Facebook page? The National Police Agency said on Thursday that it's requesting the South Korean government block the "official" Facebook fan page of Korean Central Television, or KCTV, the Korea Herald reports. In case you've never seen it, KCTV stars a cast of melodramatic announcers who praise the Supreme Leader, Kim Jong Un, and the glorious achievements of the army.  When global politics get tumultuous, they'll wish the occasional inferno of death on the US and South Korea. It's an entertaining watch...
(Alaska Dispatch)

Harrow student given community service for tweeting people in Help for Heroes T-shirts 'deserve to be beheaded'' after Drummer Lee Rigby's murder.  A student who tweeted that anyone wearing a Help for Heroes T-shirt should be beheaded just hours after Lee Rigby was murdered has been spared jail.  Deyka Ayan Hassan, 21, posted the message on Twitter at around 4pm on Wednesday, May 22, shortly after the soldier was hacked to death in Woolwich, and was immediately inundated with rape and death threats...
(This Is Local London)

NE Indiana woman using letters, diaries of soldiers for 2nd book about Civil War troops.  Margaret Hobson is bringing to life stories rarely told.  At her rural Spencerville home, Hobson's filing cabinets are stockpiled with photos, letters, newspaper articles and muster rolls from the Civil War era...
(Daily Reporter)

Hillary Clinton joins Twitter. Twitter, meet (at)HillaryClinton. Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton joined Twitter on Monday, describing herself with a dash of humor as a "pantsuit aficionado" and a "hair icon."  The former New York senator and first lady sent out her first tweet under the handle (at)HillaryClinton, thanking the creators of the popular online parodies called "Texts from Hillary." Clinton's initial tweet thanked Adam Smith and Stacy Lambe for their inspiration and said, "I'll take it from here," concluding with a hashtag (hash)tweetsfromhillary...
(Nebraska.tv)

New archive tells moving, funny, sad and fascinating stories from war.  Old wartime airfields may seem like dead places today, but Martin Hesp has been taking a tour around an amazing new archive which brings one Westcountry base alive.  The present can sometimes throw light on the past – and never has this been more true than when hi-tech internet technology is used to illuminate history...
(This is Cornwall)

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In early June, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) issued new social networking guidelines.  The so-called "social networking code of ethics" came in the wake of semi-nude photos of female IDF soldiers appearing on Facebook.

With all the attention the IDF has drawn, it's no surprise that more military organizations around the world will re-examine their own policies to ensure they are clear and communicated well.

Though it may seem common sense, not a week seems to go by without some type of incident.

News is out that the Nigerian Army has warned its officers against disseminating sensitive operational information on sites like Facebook or Twitter.

Premium Times Nigeria is reporting:

The Commandant, Nigerian Defence Academy, NDA, Chukwuemeka Onwuamaegbu, gave the warning at the opening of the second quarter study meeting of officers of the Directorate of Army Public Relations, DAPR, in Kaduna.

Mr. Onwuamaegbu said although the social media has a global appeal, the officers must be cautious in using it, to avert security breach.

“In addition to all the benefit we can get from the new media, we also have drawbacks. I have personally seen a few posting on Facebook, twitter by service personnel that should not be there.

According to Wikipedia, the Nigerian Army is the largest component of Nigeria’s Armed Forces with 100,000+ personnel.

More here.

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In late May, the United States Marine Corps became the first military branch to hit 3 million likes on Facebook. 

What’s amazing is that the next military page to reach the 3 million mark will also be a Marines page.  Facebook.com/marines currently has over 2.6 million fans.

So, where do the other branches stand in terms of fans as of today?

While none of the military pages has over 50 million fans like the Bieber's page, you still might be impressed by the number of fans that official military pages attract.

Here’s a look.

Marines – 2,634,173 likes

The U.S. Army - 1,810,393 likes

National Guard – 1,349,771 likes

United States Air Force - 1,236,449 likes

U.S. Coast Guard - 194,301 likes

You can learn a lot about Facebook Page metrics at PageData. 

The website is an independent Facebook Page tracking service.

To see the top 30 "Most Liked" government organizations on Facebook, go here.

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Student sentenced over Lee Rigby Help For Heroes ‘beheading’ tweet. A student who wrote on Twitter that anyone wearing a Help For Heroes T-shirt ‘deserved to be beheaded’ as news broke of the death of soldier Lee Rigby has appeared in court.  Deyka Ayan Hassan, 21, was arrested after complaining to police about receiving threatening replies to her tweet, Hendon magistrates’ court, in north London, heard...
(Metro)

How Dangerous Is a Terrorist with a Twitter Handle? - by Jonathan Schanzer.  Sensational reports in the Guardian and Washington Post recently blew the lid off of the National Security Agency's (NSA) electronic surveillance efforts, which have harvested everything from phone calls to Facebook posts for intelligence purposes.  Curiously, Twitter still appears outside the grasp of the NSA's PRISM program, which gathers information from major U.S. Internet companies. But a group of lawmakers are concerned that the popular microblogging service has become too hospitable an environment for terrorist groups. The platform hosts a number of official feeds for terrorist groups, including Somalia's al-Shabab, the North African al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Syria's Jabhat al-Nusra, the Taliban, and Hamas...
(Foreign Policy)

Syria's online troops wage counter-revolutionary cyber war. Sometimes, attacks in Syria's bloody civil war start not with a bullet or a bomb blast, but with an innocuous-looking email.  A message pings into an inbox, apparently from a friend or colleague. The recipient clicks a link, and suddenly hackers are one step closer to snatching sensitive information - including passwords to a company's social media sites...
(GlobalPost)

Alabama National Guard to soldiers: Keep your thoughts on Democrats, guns and Barack Obama to yourself.  Soldiers using social media should avoid comments on gun control, Democrats, President Barack Obama or personal opinions about state and federal government, according to an email sent to an Alabama National Guard member and covered on the Military Times blog Outside the Wire...
(al.com)

Facebook terror post: 1 month in prison sees 18-year-old freed for bad rap. A Facebook terror post sparked major controversy in the news this week, as the Social News Daily reported this Friday, June 7, that an 18-year-old from Massachusetts was recently released from prison after spending a full month in jail after writing what law officials deemed a threatening, potentially dangerous status on social media site Facebook...
(Examiner)

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Solomon Fein, a Normandy D-Day veteran and the world’s oldest known military blogger, posted an update to his blog Normandy D Day Vet celebrating the D-Day anniversary.

It’s been more than 5 months since Fein last posted an update, but he’s been active elsewhere on the web on sites like Facebook.

On his latest post, 90-year old Fein wrote about his opinion of the recently released book called “What Soldiers Do”, saying, “…a shoddy book was released giving references of criminality by soldiers stationed in France during WWII.  Unfortunately, or was it intentionally, the week of the release corresponds with the Memorial Day period of 2013..A despicable time to release this trashy title to humiliate Service Persons.”

Here’s an excerpt from his blog:

Soldiers know what they do better than anybody..
More than 2 million American Servicemen in Europe, away
from their family and loved ones, mostly in England, later in France,
but earlier in Africa, and Italy, some for more than two years
Very busy keeping it together for Duty in WWII.
War is not a palatable commodity.
The opposing combatants,maybe, are sometimes,
all Morally Right, in their own way.
The winners and losers kill their enemy and themselves.
What’s moral about that.
War is bad.
Some Soldiers are bad .
They do bad things.
These Soldiers have lost their Morals.
The civilians complain to the Authorities
The Soldiers are punished.
More than 60, almost 70 years later, a Historian published
a book condemning all soldiers for what
they did in France because of a letter written in 1945,
by the Mayor of Le Havre, after the liberation of his Country.
How soon we forget.
We must remember the tens of thousands of lives
lost in the war in France, fighting for that Liberty.
That’s what that weekend is really about.
A Department of Veterans Affairs reports, at the end of World War II, there were 16 million veterans. Today, there are about 1 million.
By 2036, it is estimated there will be no living veterans of World War II

Read the full post here.

If you’d like to comment or thank Solomon for his service, go to: http://www.sofine-normandyvet.blogspot.com/

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Soldier Told Not to Read Levin, Limbaugh or Hannity in Uniform. A veteran member of the U.S. Army Band said he is facing retribution and punishment from the military for having anti-Obama bumper stickers on his car, reading books written by conservative authors like Mark Levin and David Limbaugh, and serving Chick-fil-A sandwiches at his promotion party...
(Fox News)

Local’s photo named Army photo of year. A photo by Boulder Creek resident and military mother Kim Monack was named Photo of the Year by the United States Army. The photo is of her one-year-old grandson Edmund Monack while he stands in front of an etching of the Soldiers Creed in Cupertino...
(Press-Banner)

Facebook Terror Post: Teen Released From Custody after Grand Jury Refuses to Indict. A Massachusetts teenager who was put in jail a month ago as a result of a Facebook post, has been released after a grand jury refused to idict him. Cameron D'Ambrosio was arrested on May 1 and accused of "communicating a terrorist threat."
(HNGN)

Project Preserves Memories of U.S. War Veterans. Thursday was the 69th anniversary of D-Day, when U.S. forces stormed the shores of Normandy during World War II.  A project aims to save American military history. They are just a few of the thousands of stories of America's war veterans being preserved by the Library of Congress.  The Library of Congress has collected 87,000 stories through audio and video recordings. It also preserves photographs, letters and diaries...
(WSAW)

1st SGT v. 1st Amendment? Facebook not for “volatile” topics. Earlier today, a disgruntled member of an Alabama Army National Guard unit forwarded the e-mail below from a first sergeant outlining the do’s and don’t of social media with the subject line, “Troops 1st Amendment Rights being denied.”  The email cautions troops to steer clear of posts about “gun control, the Democrats, the President, Congress, or personal opinions about STATE or FEDERAL GOVERNMENT matters.”
(Military Times)

Israel launches military unit to document operations. The Israeli military has inaugurated a new unit tasked with spearheading the Jewish state's efforts to record operations, The Jerusalem Post reported Thursday.  Assigned under the IDF Spokesman's Office, the unit, whose soldiers have received extensive training in video and still photography, will accompany combat units on operations to document their work, the report said...
(Xinhua)

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Paul Iloilo Leti, a U.S. Army soldier deployed to Afghanistan, has posted a pretty amazing video of him singing a cover version of Rihanna's Stay.

The video has gone viral.

It's been posted to YouTube several times and has gotten thousands of views and comments from viewers.

Hours ago the story appeared on Yahoo! Music.

Stop The Presses! writer Laura Ferreiro writes, "We don't know whether Rihanna has seen his cover yet, but we can only imagine she'd be blown away."

You can watch the video here.

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Image via Facebook

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF), is taking action, not only against several female IDF soldiers who recently posted semi-nude photos of themselves to Facebook, but also taking action against the Israeli military as a whole.

Haaretz Daily Newspaper, is reporting that the IDF has begun drafting an official directive defining accepted practices for its members on social networks.

The "social networking code of ethics" places a ban on the use of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter by classified IDF units.

But the directive goes beyond classified IDF units.

"Other sensitive units, like pilots and intelligence officers, will be allowed to have social media accounts but won't be able to say they're soldiers or upload any photos showing themselves in uniform," reports CNET.

This isn't a big surprise, considering the number of controversies that have cropped up over the last year or so.

These guidelines don’t mean that embarrassing incidents like last week’s Facebook incident will disappear, but hopefully it’ll provide guidance to those who just don’t know better.

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