The film Bad Voodoo's War airs on April 1st.  Deborah Scranton and my Platoon Sergeant SFC Toby Nunn, have done an outstanding job telling the story of the Bad Voodoo soldiers.  I know for a fact, my family, friends, and several of my readers are excited to see what I finally do over here.  

It's always tough to explain my job.  Even after my last deployment to Afghanistan from 2004-2005, I had some short video clips, photos, and my blog to help illustrate my job as an Infantryman.  But man, having this film is way neater.  

As a military blogger, I don't share alot of what I experience as an Infantryman. I never have.  Not because of the so-called new restrictions on blogging or because of lack of support from my chain of command, on the contrary, the DoD guidelines on blogging have never prevented me from writing online, and I've always had great support from my leadership.  No, I choose not to write about things I do, because my family and friends read my blog, and I'm sensitive to their feelings.  Therefore I choose write about simple things, like Care Packages and other day-to-day experiences.

Now, with this film, my family and friends will know alot more about me.  More than I've ever shared. 

Personal Note:  I used to dress up my Mom's cats when I tried explaining to my kids what I did in Afghanistan and we would re-enact events in the kitchen.  Sweet, I know.   But I swear, cats are a pain in the ass to work with.  Take my Mom's oldest cat, 'Mr. Punky' for instance.  He didn't like being forced to wear DCUs.  Nor did he like having a rucksack strapped to his back or standing fire watch for 14-hours straight on the refrigerator.

Anyway, I think I only confused my kids more about what I did in Afghanistan.  Especially when 'Mr. Punky' in the middle of an Air Assault scene, would storm off set (the kitchen table) to go poopy in the kitty litter box.

[ 6 comments ]   |  [ 1 trackbacks ]   |  permalink  |  Discussion  |  Digg this  |  Add to del.icio.us

---

(Frontline) SGT J.P. Borda, SFC Toby Nunn and director Deborah Scranton tell the story of how a virtual friendship led to the making of Bad Voodoo's War, coming April 1 to PBS and http://www.pbs.org/frontline/badvoodoo/




Watch more videos here.

[ 2 comments ]   |  [ 0 trackbacks ]   |  permalink  |  Discussion  |  Digg this  |  Add to del.icio.us

---

(Danger Room) Deborah Scranton didn't have to go to war to shoot her latest documentary about Iraq. Instead, she gave hand-held, high-def cameras to soldiers in the Bad Voodoo platoon, and let them handle this "virtual embed" themselves. The result, Bad Voodoo's War, airs Tuesday night on PBS' Frontline.

Scranton first used the technique in 2006 in The War Tapes, which followed three soldiers from Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion of the 172nd Infantry Regiment during the rise of Anbar province's Sunni insurgency. Troops and critics almost universally agree it was the clearest, most honest window into the Iraq conflict ever recorded.

Read the entire story here.

[ Add comment ]   |  [ 0 trackbacks ]   |  permalink  |  Discussion  |  Digg this  |  Add to del.icio.us

---

(Sound Politics) For publishing Captain Aaron Bert's blog, The Other War, describing his experiences in Afghanistan.  As I write, there are just two entries, but both are interesting.  

Read the entire story here.

[ Add comment ]   |  [ 0 trackbacks ]   |  permalink  |  Discussion  |  Digg this  |  Add to del.icio.us

---

The blog I wrote announcing Bad Voodoo's War was re-posted over at The Sandbox by the very awesome David Stanford.  Deborah Scranton (who produced The War Tapes) even left a comment about my participation in the film over at The Sandbox.  And I quote:

"Staggeringly handsome, and geeky smart JP did an AMAZING job filming and of course without him -- the film never would have happened to begin with! His cameo appearances I'm sure will be savored by many...

Deborah Scranton
Director
BAD VOODOO'S WAR"

'Staggeringly handsome' is a bit much, but what the hell. Unfortunately, about all I can do to rid myself of this 'Handsome' curse is to wear a paper bag over my head.  I tried making something similar to cover up my biceps, but it turns out no one makes 80-inch paper bags to hold these fearsome guns.

Watch a video of the trailer below:

[ 3 comments ]   |  [ 0 trackbacks ]   |  permalink  |  Discussion  |  Digg this  |  Add to del.icio.us

---

(Danger Room) A couple weeks back I reported on the Coast Guard's new policy for official messages posted to the internet. The service was prohibiting its personnel from posting messages from senior officers unless they had been vetted by Coastie HQ. In light of all the bad press the Coast Guard was getting for its disastrous Deepwater modernization scheme, I read the new internet policy as a possible sign of a impending crack-down on Coastie bloggers.

Some of these bloggers disagreed. But then, last week, a Coast Guard civilian contractor was fired for his blogging.

Read the entire story here.

[ Add comment ]   |  [ 0 trackbacks ]   |  permalink  |  Discussion  |  Digg this  |  Add to del.icio.us

---

It's been about a week since I've posted something of my own. I was expecting to blog sooner, but when I'm on mission, it's not easy to find time or access.  I got back safe yesterday only to find more Care Packages waiting for me.  I'm not returning home just yet, but soon, so therefore, I'm gonna have to ask everyone to stop sending me Care Packages.

I'm real depressed about this. I mean, leftover Valentine's Day candy?  Magazines published in the early nineties?  I'm not sure how I'm going to survive without.  Luckily I have twelve cases of mini Shampoo and Conditioner I received last week to get me by.   God, I feel loved.  And not because of the melted chocolate surprise I found at the bottom of my last care package. 

Although, it was easy to clean up the chocolately mess because there was a case of hand sanitizer left open in another Care Package.  All I had to do was jump up and down on top of the Care package (repeatedly) that had the hand sanitizer, and presto, the mess was all cleaned up.

You'd be surprised how useful alot of the Care Packages I receive truly are. Like the time I used a Humvee to run over a pile of Care Packages that contained flushable wipes and Crossword puzzles.  You know? To check the tire pressure. Duh.

I'll keep you updated on the final care packages I receive. It should be interesting.

Care Package Update # 1:  I just picked up another Care Package. Neato, this one seems to be ticking

Care Package Update # 2: I opened another package this morning and I must say, it's true ingenuity at its best.  Why not use bubble wrap or other packing material when you can just pour in a bunch of loose candy or garbage?  I must say, I admire your packing efforts.  I don't even have to read the enclosed card (that is glued shut by candy wrappers).   I know what it already says:

"This box was packed with love."

Care Package Update # 3:  Jesus, I just got a Care Package with "Word Finds", candy canes, and trinkets bought from a dollar store. And as a added bonus: there are even feminine hygeine products in the box. This pretty much tops my list of worst care packages, even beating out the letter I received from a third grader who wrote and asked, "How are you still alive?". And I'm not much of one for getting upset by what a third-grader writes, but I've been looking for a way to get back at the kid. Maybe I could write him back and tell him Santa Claus doesn't exist. And then, end the letter by calling him a "meanie".  Or a "poopy head".

[ 9 comments ]   |  [ 0 trackbacks ]   |  permalink  |  Discussion  |  Digg this  |  Add to del.icio.us

---

(NewsBlaze) Blake Powers (Laughing Wolf of Blackfive milblog) is a longtime donor to Soldiers' Angels, who then went to Iraq - twice - as an independent embedded reporter.

Blake talks about the changes he has seen in Iraq. He tells of meeting Iraqis who are grasping their future, helping themselves. He shares stories of walking in places where before nobody dare walk.

Read the entire story here.

[ Add comment ]   |  [ 0 trackbacks ]   |  permalink  |  Discussion  |  Digg this  |  Add to del.icio.us

---

(MAIL CALL! Supporting the Troops) I came across a great round-up of what's out in the blogosphere about the 5th anniversary of the Iraq war from Lt. Nixon Rants:

Tuesdaze Bloggin' Roundup of Iraq (18 Mar)

and then (because my entire week has been a jumble, and so I'm behind on my milblog reading)  came across this post from Monday over at Milblogging.com

Milblogs in the News: Five years later: Iraq war goes online

which just cracked me up, because I've been reading milblogs for at least Four years now, and USA Today is just now apparently catching on that they're out there? Snort.

Read the entire story here.

[ 1 comment ]   |  [ 0 trackbacks ]   |  permalink  |  Discussion  |  Digg this  |  Add to del.icio.us

---

(VA Mortgage Center) In an ongoing series spotlighting military blogs maintained by female bloggers, the You Served staff recently sat down with Deb from YankeeMom.com to learn more about the woman behind the popular milblog. She generously took time out of her day to participate. Enjoy!

You Served: What led you to be a Military Blogger?

Yankee Mom: My daughter decided to enlist in the Army in her senior year of High School. I had been reading everything online I could about the military and the wars and through this online searching, discovered the milblogs.

Finding a military community online was a godsend because I was then living in a town that wasn’t very pro-military. I was prodded to start my own blog by some folks at the troop support organization I was involved in. I wasn’t so sure I was the blogger type, but then my daughter left for Basic and I was mostly alone in dealing with it.

I found little understanding with the people I knew in town. Blogging was a great outlet for my rollercoaster emotions and I also received so much support from other military family members and soldiers online.

Read the entire story here.

[ Add comment ]   |  [ 0 trackbacks ]   |  permalink  |  Discussion  |  Digg this  |  Add to del.icio.us

---

(USA Today) BAGHDAD — The black-shrouded website opens with a soldier's silhouette and the pounding rhythm of Nine Inch Nails: "Into the fire you can send us," the words go. "From the fire we return."

This is the Unlikely Soldier's blog, where a young infantryman known as The Usual Suspect rants and shares his experiences in what soldiers call The Sandbox.

"One year ago," when his unit first arrived in Iraq, "we were nervous and excited and apprehensive. Ready to do this. Green as snot. I was all sorts of optimistic, thinking we were going to do great things and kick lots of ass, GI Joe hero type (expletive). That we could be cool with the people, and bring the hammer down on the baddies."

Then, every soldier's nightmare: "A low rumble shakes my Stryker (armored vehicle), and two of our guys are killed by an IED while they were dismounted.

"People emerged from their houses and cheered.”

This is the war in 2008 — coming to a computer near you.

Read the entire story here.

[ 1 comment ]   |  [ 0 trackbacks ]   |  permalink  |  Discussion  |  Digg this  |  Add to del.icio.us

---

I'm pretty sure these WashPo journalists are breaking one or two rules of journalism. I was on the same mission that Milblogger Toby Nunn writes about when the military convoy in front of us was attacked and also on base nearby when the "rocket attack" occurred, so I can understand his frustration after reading the Media stories online here and here. 

Apparently, part of being a Professional journalist is to fact-check.

Shoot, the journalists should’ve just taken their story to the next level, and put some ninjas in the story or quoted a mythical creature like the Gingerbread man.  It might actually have been closer to the truth.

Read Toby’s entire rebuttal to the WashPo stories.

[ 1 comment ]   |  [ 0 trackbacks ]   |  permalink  |  Discussion  |  Digg this  |  Add to del.icio.us

---

As many of you know, I’m a member of Bad Voodoo Platoon and I’m currently deployed in support of OIF.  Over the last year, several of us including fellow blogger Toby Nunn, have been videotaping our experience.  Deborah Scranton (The War Tapes) has made a film for FRONTLINE called Bad Voodoo’s War that will be airing on April 1st. 

I did take quite a bit of film myself and I do show up in a few scenes, but it turns out I’m pretty shy behind the camera.  Well, when God gives you dashing good looks and a 170 I.Q, it’s only normal that one would have a couple flaws... say like, the "inability to fly” and “shyness”.   

I mean, I'm only human.  Although, these 80-inch biceps of mine, might disagree.

Here's the official trailer:



And here’s the Press Release from PBS FRONTLINE:

PRESS RELEASE

In June 2007, as the American military surge reached its peak, a band of National Guard infantrymen who call themselves the "Bad Voodoo Platoon" was deployed to Iraq. To capture a vivid, first-person account of the new realities of war in Iraq for FRONTLINE and ITVS, director Deborah Scranton (The War Tapes) created a "virtual embed" with the platoon, supplying cameras to the soldiers so they could record and tell the story of their war. The film intimately tracks the veteran soldiers of "Bad Voodoo" through the daily grind of their perilous mission, dodging deadly IEDs, grappling with the political complexities of dealing with Iraqi security forces, and battling their fatigue and their fears.

Read the entire press release here on the official FRONTLINE website.

More updates to follow.

[ 5 comments ]   |  [ 0 trackbacks ]   |  permalink  |  Discussion  |  Digg this  |  Add to del.icio.us

---

(Elkit in Wonderland) Regardless of what you think of the Iraq war, and wars in general, how about helping out the soldiers? Don't know any? No matter, there's a whole crop of excellent web sites to match your gifts and donations:

Send books through Books for Soldiers
Help a soldier call home with Cell Phones For Soldiers
Buy a Cup o'Joe for a Soldier from Bad Ass Coffee
Send a care package through Treats for Troops, Hugs for Soldiers, or Any Soldier
Sponsor magazine subscriptions with Subscriptions for Soldiers

I just added to my feed reader The Sandbox, Doonesbury's "command-wide milblog, featuring comments, anecdotes, and observations from service members currently deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan".

Read the entire story here.

[ Add comment ]   |  [ 0 trackbacks ]   |  permalink  |  Discussion  |  Digg this  |  Add to del.icio.us

---

(Twin Cities Daily Planet) "World Views publishes stories, reflection and analysis with an international perspective and a Minnesota connection. This story comes to us from Virginia Wright-Peterson, a Minnesotan currently working for the Red Cross in Iraq. Her blog, On Deployment Now “describes my experience being deployed to Iraq with the Red Cross Services to Armed Forces (SAF). The inspiration for the name of this blog is the old WWII song “We’re In the Army Now.” I remember my Dad, who served in the Army in the 1950s, singing the first lines of this song when I was a child. He’d sing it when one of us got into something we were having second thoughts about but couldn’t back out of.”

Read the entire story here.

[ Add comment ]   |  [ 0 trackbacks ]   |  permalink  |  Discussion  |  Digg this  |  Add to del.icio.us

---

(The New Zealand Herald) While the event received little coverage in mainstream US media, army specialist Buzzell's account of the brutal firefight on a dusty Iraqi street caused a buzz through the blogosphere. His narration of this largely ignored battle captured a loyal audience for the soldier-turned-writer.

For the 10 weeks of its existence, the blog, entitled "My War", received up to 10,000 hits a day before catching the attention of his irate superior officers.

Written under the pseudonym CBFTW (Colby Buzzell F*** The War), Buzzell began his blog after reading a Los Angeles Times article about soldiers with online journals.

Read the entire story here.

[ Add comment ]   |  [ 0 trackbacks ]   |  permalink  |  Discussion  |  Digg this  |  Add to del.icio.us

---

Andi of SpouseBUZZ has released some information to me about this year’s Milblog Conference.  While this isn’t a formal announcement, I’m sure it’ll answer some of the questions many of you have until all the details have been finalized. 

When and Where?

This year’s Milblog Conference will be joining with Blog World Expo and will take place in Las Vegas in September.

Official Conference Website?  

There won’t be an official Milblog Conference blog for 2008.  Milblogging.com will serve as the website for all related news and information.  

Conference Panels? 

There will be four panels.

Panel 1 - Are MilBlogs Still Relevant?

In the wake of a successful military surge in Iraq, waning media attention and an election year, are Milblogs as relevant to the national conversation on war as they once were?

Panel 2 - The Hidden Heroes.

Fighting and winning battles on the home front. How Milblogging gives a voice to those left behind, and how that voice is effectively used to support an entire military community.

Panel 3 -  The New Cadre of War Reporters.

Reporting from inside the Green Zone is not an option for this gritty band of milbloggers who are armed with technology that allows them to report directly from the battlefield. 

Panel 4 - TBA

I promised Andi I wouldn’t make the fourth panel public until I get the ok.  It could be about anything.  Personally, I’m hoping for ninjas.  I heard they can fight skillfully with any object.  I’d really like to see what a Ninja could do with a Milbloggie.  Balance it on their head. Split 10 Milbloggies stacked together like bricks with one single chop.  Shoot one across the room like a throwing star if someone in the audience starts nodding off.

The possibilities are endless.

[ 5 comments ]   |  [ 0 trackbacks ]   |  permalink  |  Discussion  |  Digg this  |  Add to del.icio.us

---

(Danger Room – Wired Blogs) The Army cracked down on soldier-bloggers and Youtube. The Air Force blocked blog-access on official networks. All this despite the military paying lip service to New Media, the open-source phenomenon and information warfare. Now the Coast Guard, America's smallest military branch, is finally checking out this whole internet thing -- and last week it totally panicked, maybe.

Read the entire story here.

[ Add comment ]   |  [ 1 trackbacks ]   |  permalink  |  Discussion  |  Digg this  |  Add to del.icio.us

---

(New Haven Advocate) Then there are the "milblogs" cranked out by American soldiers, often in defiance of regulations. An exhaustive list is maintained by Milblogging.com, and several anthologies of soldier blogs have made it into print, including The Blog of War (Simon and Schuster, 2006), and the recent The Sandbox: Dispatches from Troops in Afghanistan and Iraq (Andrews McMeel, 2007) solicited and edited by Doonesbury author and Yale alum Garry Trudeau...

Read the entire story here.

[ Add comment ]   |  [ 0 trackbacks ]   |  permalink  |  Discussion  |  Digg this  |  Add to del.icio.us

---

(Medill School)  Online military blogs -- or “milblogs” -- began to appear in force in 2001 after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan as a way for troops to share their experiences with those back home.

An important factor in the popularity of the blogs is that “milbloggers go where no other man is going,” said David D. Perlmutter, a journalism professor at the University of Kansas who has written about political blogs.

And the majority of those going to those places tend to be enlisted troops, leading to a perception that most of the milbloggers are younger. But the demographic profile of milbloggers and types of blogs gaining popularity now are the result not only of age: Rank, the progress of the war and the length of the conflict also play roles.

Read the entire story here.

[ Add comment ]   |  [ 0 trackbacks ]   |  permalink  |  Discussion  |  Digg this  |  Add to del.icio.us

---

<< <Back | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | Next> >>