Mother shares journal entry of fallen New England Soldier's blog explaining why he served
Saturday, October 18, 2008, 11:53 AM
Army Specialist and blogger Stephen Fortunato was killed earlier this week in Here’s an excerpt from the blog entry that was shared with the Boston Globe:
If I may...
I'd like to say something....Just to get it out there so it is clear.
To all the pampered and protected Americans who feel it is their duty to inform me that I am not fighting for their freedom, and that i am a pawn in Bush's agenda of greed and oil acquisition: Noted, and [expletive deleted] You.
I am not a robot. i am not blind or ignorant to the state of the world or the implications of the "war on terrorism." i know that our leaders have made mistakes in the handling of a very sensitive situation, but do not for one second think that you can make me lose faith in what we, meaning America's sons, daughters, fathers, and mothers in uniform are doing.
I am doing my part in fighting a very real enemy of the United States, i.e. Taliban, Al Qaida, and various other radical sects of Islam that have declared war on our way of life. Unless you believe the events of 9/11 were the result of a government conspiracy, which by the way would make you a MORON, there is no reasonable argument you can make against there being a true and dangerous threat that needs to be dealt with. i don't care if there are corporations leaching off the war effort to make money, and i don't care if you don't think our freedom within America's borders is actually at stake. i just want to kill those who would harm my family and friends. it is that simple. Even if this is just a war for profit or to assert America's power, so what? Someone has to be on top and I want it to be us. There's nothing wrong with wishing prosperity for your side.
I am a proud American. i believe that my country allows me to live my life more or less however i want to, and believe me, i have seen what the alternative of that looks like. i also believe that our big scary government does way more than it has to to help complete [expletive deleted]-ups get back on their feet, a stark comparison to places where leaders just line their own pockets with gold while allowing the people who gave them their power and privilage to starve. I have chosen my corner. I back my country, and am proud to defend it against aggressors. Also, if you dare accuse us of being inhumane, or overly aggressive because we have rolled into someone else's country and blown some [expletive deleted] up and shot some people, let me remind you of just how inhumane we COULD be in defending ourselves. Let me remind you that we have a warhead that drops multiple bomblets from the stratosphere which upon impact, would turn all the sand in Iraq to glass, and reduce every living thing there to dust. Do we use it? No. Instead we use the most humane weapon ever devised: the American soldier. We send our bravest (and perhaps admitably craziest) men and women into enemy territory, into harms way, to root out those whom we are after and do our best to leave innocent lives unscathed..."
You can read the entire blog entry here.
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Military Blogger Michael Yon's Writings Still to Be Made into Film by Bruce Willis?
Saturday, October 18, 2008, 11:20 AM
Well it’s been a little while since anyone talked about the rumors of Bruce Willis making a film based on the blog writings of Michael Yon. I got several tips saying the film wasn’t gonna happen any longer, but was wondering if anyone had heard different?The National Defense Examiner recently printed a story called Rounding out the top 10 celebrity military supporters. Bruce Willis was listed as # 8 and it had an excerpt referring to the possibility:
According to Rotten Tomatoes, Willis is the son of a soldier and was born on a base and:
“Willis has said that he wants to "make a pro-war film in which American soldiers will be depicted as brave fighters for freedom and democracy." [3] The film will follow members of Deuce Four, the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry, who spent considerable time in
Read the entire story here.
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Maj. Craig Hawes writing blog for The Republic and therepublic.com about his Iraq tour
Friday, October 17, 2008, 01:12 PM
(The Republic) Most people do not know where Kuwait City, Kuwait is on a map. It took about 14 hours to get there from Seattle, Wash. We loaded a duffle bag and rucksack on our own chartered plane. It took 15 soldiers about a half hour to manually load everything from the ground. We were allowed one small carry on and our weapons. We were not allowed to carry on a knife but I could take my M9 pistol and M16 rifle. Our flight attendants said they never felt safer. Our plane left on time and we settled in for a long ride to Maine.
From Maine we flew over the Atlantic to Germany. We flew from Germany directly to Kuwait City. On our decent to Kuwait you could see for miles along the coast. Kuwait looks like Texas with all the well fires and petroleum storage facilities.
Everything is light brown. There is no green grass. There is no color at all. All you can see is a light grey haze of sand and swirling dirt. Once we landed we headed directly to Camp Buehring.
Camp Buehring is a forward operating base in Kuwait. I spent some time in this Camp on my last tour in 2006...
Read the entire story here.
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V-Mail and Milblogging: More from the Classroom
Friday, October 17, 2008, 01:01 PM
(LIS201, Sec. 306's blog) As for the milblog, I found "365 and a Wakeup" on milblogging.com. It's the online journal of a man who served in Baghdad for eighteen months. I thought that the idea of milblogging was interesting, especially compared to V-Mail, because there is no immediate censorship -- soldiers can give away any information they choose and it will be submitted to the website without a second thought.Read the entire story here.
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Milblogger in the News: Ayers To Deliver U. of Nebraska Keynote
Friday, October 17, 2008, 01:00 PM
(Wizbang) From stunned MilBlogger and University of Nebraska Alum Army Wife Toddler Mom: Unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers, who stands upon the flag that Obama wouldn't wear until it proved an electoral convenience, has been invited to deliver the keynote address at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's College of Education and Human Sciences. If this is old news, I sure missed it...Read the entire story here.
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Radio show host Jon Smith joining troops in Iraq, plans to report on military life and more through Blogging and Radio
Thursday, October 16, 2008, 08:40 AM
(The Spectrum) Smith’s first broadcast is scheduled for Friday, and he said the idea is to show members of the armed forces “that people back home support them.” He’ll report daily on “The Smith and Bushman Morning Show,” which airs weekdays from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., and additional audio, video and a blog are scheduled for the show’s Web site, at www.sunny106online.com.Read the entire story here.
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Military.com Launches new, improved MilitaryBlog.com Website
Thursday, October 16, 2008, 08:30 AM
In an effort to support soldier-journalists, Military.com launched a new and improved MilitaryBlog.com website yesterday. A few changes are still in the works, but you can check out the website here.
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St. Petersburg Times Military Blog 'The Observation Post' Closes Shop
Tuesday, October 14, 2008, 10:21 PM
(St. Petersburg Times) We wanted to let our readers know that we're no longer going to be publishing The Observation Post blog. You may already have figured this out by the lack of posts in recent weeks. We're still interested in telling military stories and reporting about the Department of Veterans Affairs -- both online and in our print edition. We just won't have a separate military blog.Read the entire story here.
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Researching Milblogs in the Classroom Grows Online
Tuesday, October 14, 2008, 02:25 AM
This isn't the first time I've written about this topic. Recently though, I've been finding more and more posts by students researching military blogs.Here's an excerpt from one of the latest entries by a student who compares today's military blogs with World War II's victory mail (v-mail) - a system for delivering mail from The United States troops to home addresses.
(LIS 201 – The Information Society – Section 311) "...I could go on and on about this activity. However, I would like to conclude with this idea: as opposed to V-mail being targeted at a specific individual or group of people, a milblog can be read by anyone. I had never met Jake, and by looking through his posts and pictures he posted, I feel like I know him and now I care about him and hope that he makes it home safely. Anyone who reads these blogs and becomes invested in reading them becomes like an additional family member who can follow their progress in the war. It's amazing how technology has grown to allow us to do this. Advancing from v-mail to milblogging makes me wonder what will be next to take us that much closer to the actual war itself..."
It’s pretty awesome to see military blogs being studied in the classroom. I don’t actually know if students research other types of blogs like pet blogs or food blogs.
Based on my own research though, it turns out studying food or pet blogs is about as interesting as a history lesson on cream cheese.
Thanks to all these students for taking the time to learn more about military blogs. And more importantly, for taking the time to share their findings with the rest of the world.
Read the entire story here.
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In the Classroom: Victory Mail versus Military Blogs
Sunday, October 12, 2008, 01:15 PM
(LIS 201 – Section 307) When comparing Vmail to Milblog, you can really see a difference in the content. While VMail were specifically used for personal purposes, a Soldier's Milblog can be viewed by anyone in the world who has access to the Internet. Without the same limitations that were placed on VMail writing, milblogs allow for more creative expression and allow soldiers into the world of writing and publishing their own memoirs on a digital basis. What would have used to require writing and publishing a book of one's experiences is done by simply creating a locked user name, where people don't even need to know your real identity. The soldiers have transformed themselves into authors, for all of Read the entire story here.
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Banner Posted for Third Annual Milbloggies Finalists
Sunday, October 12, 2008, 01:08 PM
Knee Deep in the Hooah!
Keep My Soldier Safe
What...?
Parents Zone
Kaboom: A Soldier's War Journal
A Soldier's Perspective
From My Position... On the way!
Bouhammer's Afghan & Military Blog
U.S. Military Spouse
The Life and Times of a Butterfly Wife
SpouseBUZZ
Non-Essential Equipment
My Crazy Amazing Military Life
U.S. Military Veteran
A Battlefield Tourist
PTSD, A Soldier's Perspective
13 Stoploss
Michael Yon: Online Magazine
U.S. Marine Corps
SandGram
Akinoluna
Jarhead Online
From the Halls to the Shores
U.S. Navy
LT Nixon Rants
Neptunus Lex
CDR Salamander
C.H.U.D. Busters
U.S. Air Force
Dude, Where's the Beach?
The Talon
Exile in Portales
Charlie Foxtrot
USO Girls
Soldiers' Angels Germany
Soldiers' Angels Ladies of Liberty
Gazing at the Flag
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Bouhammer.com Hosts Embedded Blogger from Afghanistan
Sunday, October 12, 2008, 12:19 PM
(Bouhammer.com) My good friend, embedded journalist and Emmy-award winner, Scott Kesterson is back in Read the entire story here.
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Museum of Americans in Wartime Involving Military Bloggers, Personal War Stories
Sunday, October 12, 2008, 12:00 PM
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Tune In: Military Spouse Blogger Hosts Radio Show on AM 690 WIST
Saturday, October 11, 2008, 09:48 AM
(Hooah Wife and friends) This week my radio show moves to a new time - Saturdays from 9:00-10:00 AM Central. Wist AM 690. 1-800-888-WIST or (504)260-0690 My first half hour I will have Toby Nunn (see below) and the second half hour, will get a call from Little Miss Atilla regarding the American Carol SNAFU. The show is live and we will be taking your calls.Toby Nunn’s website, blog and link to the documentary Bad Voodoo (you can watch some on-line). Fair warning, the first edition, which is currently available, has some typos in it. Hey - you can read this blog and all my typos - you can certainly hang with a good book that has a few:)
Read more here.
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Banner Posted for Third Annual Milbloggies Winners
Friday, October 10, 2008, 12:39 AM
The great folks at Military.com developed the Banner below for the winners of the Third Annual Milbloggies. I’ll be posting the Banner for the Finalists later this week. Congratulations again to all the Winners and Finalists!
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Urban Dictionary adds Blackfive Milblogger Matt Burden
Thursday, October 9, 2008, 10:57 PM
If you’re wondering what all the Matt Burden (Blackfive) buzz is about, your prayers have been answered. I had a chance to finally meet (and roast) Matt during my Opening Speech at this year’s Milblog Conference. He’s a good sport.Well, apparently Matt has been listed in the Urban Dictionary (a dictionary written by people like you and me). And yes, it’s the same dictionary that defines a milblog as: “We don't need more sissy reporters at the front. Just tell those pansies in the mainstream media to copy/paste from the milblogs.”
Now, if you wanna read Matt’s description, click this link. However, you have been warned --- the description is not-safe-for-work. That is, unless of course you work in an office environment where every other word that comes out of your co-workers’ mouths is “f-this” and “f-that” followed by a high-five.
I’ll wait here while you go and read it…
There you have it. I know, after reading that description, I’m pretty sure it’s time for The President of The United States to go ahead and just declare Matt Burden a National Treasure. Then issue an Executive Order declaring “Matt Burden Day” every day.
I’m actually typing this right now high up in a tree in Matt’s backyard. His wireless signal works great.
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Milblogger Troy Steward Reveals Top 10 Things He Learned in Vegas During the Milblog Conference
Thursday, October 9, 2008, 09:28 PM
(Bouhammer.com) Here is my play on the Dave Letterman Top 10 list about the things I learned while attending the milblog conference in Vegas a few weeks ago.10. You can sleep when you are dead.
9. Do all nightclubs keep wheelchairs handy to wheel out passed-out patrons?
8. Putting hundreds of milbloggers in a room with only 6 power outlets is not a real good idea if you want them back next year.
7. Having a party at the Penthouse Club is a great ice breaker the night before the conference starts.
6. What happens in Vegas does not stay in Vegas when bloggers are around.
Read the entire Top 10 list here.
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In the News: Log on to marine's war blog on life in Afghanistan
Wednesday, October 8, 2008, 11:09 PM
(mirror.co.uk) A brave young Commando today gives Sunday Mirror readers a stark insight into life on Afghanistan's frontline in the first instalment of an exclusive internet blog.Royal Marine Steven Townsley, 21, who arrived in the war zone last week, will give the inside story during airborne operations against the Taliban.
Steven, from Berkshire, tells how he and his colleagues from 42 Commando go through their final drills before battle.
Before flying out to Kandahar with the 8,000- strong 3 Commando Brigade Marine Townsley said: "We're trained for all-out war - but I'd rather be out there building a school or providing medical help for people.
"I'm looking forward to writing for the Sunday Mirror. It's important people know how committed we are to succeeding."
Read the entire story here.
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Blogger Sells His Website for $15 Million, Mentions Military Blogs During Interview
Tuesday, October 7, 2008, 11:24 PM
The one person blog Bankaholic was recently sold to Bankrate for $15 million. During an interview with WebProNews, the author of Bankaholic Johns Wu was asked, "There's been a lot of criticism of blogs as credible news sources. What is your position on this?".His response was:
"I trust blogs WAY more than mainstream media. Some people will say that corporate media is more accurate b/c stories are screened by editors and lawyers, but this is also one of the flaws. I like to read articles that are raw and unedited by people who are qualified to write about the topic. The perfect example is the Iraq war. Who would you trust more? an article from Fox News or a blog post from a Marine on the front lines?”
It's nice to see notable bloggers like Johns Wu take notice of military bloggers and their importance. $15 million is a massive deal for any blogger and shows just how valued blogs can be. As most of you know, back in early 2006 I sold Milblogging.com to Military.com, and like Johns Wu arrangement with Bankrate, Military.com has kept me onboard to continue blogging. And before you ask, I can’t share the details of the price I was paid for Milblogging.com, because I signed a non-disclosure agreement. But I can say this: it wasn’t nearly as much as $15 million.
Honestly. It wasn't even half that. And I certainly haven't allowed it to change my life.
I mean, just like you, I still put my pants on one leg at a time. And believe it or not, I even kept my day job. In fact, I somehow find time to run this site and blog after hours. Albeit on my diamond-studded laptop...
Because, let’s face it people, how can anyone be expected to blog on a dull computer? That's why I go with a 24-carat gold plated laptop with diamond-studded keyboard. Computer accessories include a sparkling emerald mouse, a 3D holographic screen...
Oh, and don't forget the 2 Faberge eggs with built in surround sound speakers.
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Doonesbury's Garry Trudeau Interviewed about Military Blogs
Monday, October 6, 2008, 10:15 PM
(Mother Jones) ...MJ: How did "The Sandbox" come about?GT: I'm a reader of milblogs, but as with all blogs, the wheat/chaff ratio makes it a poor investment of time. So I decided to set up my own page, open it to everyone serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, and post the best of what we receive. Our authors seem to be thrilled to be part of "The Sandbox," because they had been laboring in near obscurity—writing milblogs that only family and friends saw...
Read the entire transcript of the interview here.
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