Around half a square mile (1 square kilometer) long, the covered walkway surrounds a dirt pitch hosting the occasional rock concert. Troops from NATO nations gather nightly in shorts and tennis shoes to watch basketball, flag-football and volleyball games. There is even a Canadian-dominated field hockey rink. And one night last week, an acoustic guitar jam.
(The State)
Italian film documents trauma of Iraq war veterans
A new documentary being shown out of competition at the Venice Film Festival explores the trauma of three U.S. war veterans who served in Iraq and how the military handled their cases."Ward 54," so named for the psychiatric wing of the U.S. military's Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, also deals with the rise in military suicides following Iraq duty.
(The State)
N.J. May Let Military Vote Online
New Jersey lawmakers are working on an Internet program that would allow soldiers stationed overseas to vote in certain elections.
(My Fox Philly)
Abducted Japanese reporter returns home
A Japanese journalist returned home Monday after militants in Afghanistan released him from five months in captivity. In a series of messages from his Twitter account, freelance journalist Kosuke Tsuneoka said he had thought he would be killed, and that he was not being held by the Taliban, as reported in the Japanese media. His abductors were local militants posing as Taliban to deceive the Japanese government, he wrote.
(The Associated Press)
Hikers find holes in Russia's military security
Anyone curious to see what goes on behind the closed doors of Russia’s defence systems now needs to do no more than look online. Bloggers’ accounts show how easy it is to walk into army bases and publish sensitive images of military equipment for all to see.
(The Moscow News)
Facebook generation gears up to monitor Nigeria poll
Tech-savvy young Nigerians are gearing up to use BlackBerries, mobile phones and social networking services such as Twitter and Facebook to monitor polls in January, in an effort to stamp out electoral fraud.
(Reuters)
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More and more troops are deploying to Afghanistan, and more are blogging about their experiences. Ellie is a Staff Sergeant in the USAF, who is augmenting the Army and she’s planning to keep an online journal about her own experience.
Ellie started blogging in April 2009, mostly about non-military topics, but she has a knack for photography if you scour her archives, which should make her blog from Afghanistan, ...but I drifted, even more intriguing to read.
As anyone who has been to Afghanistan would know, the country is full of amazing scenery.
Ellie arrived in Manas Airfield, Kyrgyzstan, earlier this week, kicking off her deployment.
My deployment begins! I am jet-lagged, slightly delirious and a little nervous, but overall happy to be on my way. The countryside is pretty, steppes broken up with stands of tall trees. The base is begravelled and dusty. The civilian employees speak, and the beer is, Russian. It's Kyrgyzstan!
After two weeks of combat skills training at Ft. Dix, New Jersey, and a couple wonderful days off in Baltimore with my Whatever while waiting for a flight, I am now on my way to my final destination in Afghanistan. I left Baltimore Monday night and spent the next 21 hours fitfully sleeping on a cramped charter plane, stopping briefly in Germany and Turkey before arriving in my current location: Manas Airfield, Kyrgyzstan.
Visit Ellie’s blog at …but I drifted.
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The first thing Tatiana Simpson did after her boyfriend proposed to her in a phone call from Iraq was to log on to Facebook. "Right after it happened, I posted. I had to tell them," Simpson, 17, of Sewell, said of her social-networking friends.
(Philadelphia Inquirer)
Words For Warriors
To encourage and fortify relationships between military service members, veterans, their families, their friends, and their Country; to nurture the path of communication for everyone, ensuring that no one is alone or left behind; and proving that we have not, are not, and will never forget the nobility of their sacrifices.
(Words For Warriors)
Movie Review: The Tillman Story
There is no one in America who hasn’t at least heard of Pat Tillman – he was the football player who gave up his NFL career to enlist in the Army, and was subsequently killed while fighting in Afghanistan. Tillman’s unit was attacked in a roadside ambush – he and an allied Afghan militia member were shot dead, and two other American Army Rangers were injured. Tillman became an instant hero: a selfless man who gave up everything to fight for his country and what he believed in.
(Flick Sided)
Iraqis’ Reactions to President Obama’s Speech
Ali Salam, 28: "“I do not want to listen to Obama’s lies. I am suffering because of the U.S. withdrawal. I need the U.S. troops to stay to help us, now we are in the middle of the road and we need more time before they withdraw their troops. I was working with the U.S. Army and now because of the withdrawal I have no job, thanks to Obama.”
(New York Times)
Film review: 'The Tillman Story' digs deep
When The Tillman Story screened at the Sundance Film Festival in January, it went by another, much less bland name: I'm Pat _______ Tillman. As in, "I'm Pat fucking Tillman!," which, according to the soldier who saw him die, were among the ex-NFL player's final words.
(TBD.com)
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Susan Katz Keating, a familiar face in the Milblogging community, has landed the amazing story of Military Blogger Chuck Ziegenfuss and Soldiers’ Angels’ Project Valour-IT in the latest issue of People Magazine.
"My story on Chuck Ziegenfuss and Soldiers' Angels' Project Valour-IT is currently gracing the pages of PEOPLE magazine...."
Visit Susan’s blog to learn more.
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Currently, there are only 34 United States Coast Guard blogs listed on Milblogging.com. But Coast Guard blogs, one of the smallest groups represented in the Milblogging index, are definitely growing. In the first few years of Milblogging.com dating back to 2005, I scoured the internet to try and find a variety of blogs to add to the Milblogging.com database. One of the biggest challenges early on was finding blogs written by the Coast Guard.
But as I mentioned, that’s changing.
I came across the blogroll of the Coast Guard Compass, the official blog of the U.S. Coast Guard – and the blogroll includes dozens of Official Coast Guard blogs as well as unofficial blogs. And there are some interesting blogs in the bunch.
Want to learn about Search and Rescue, one of the Coast Guard’s oldest missions? Visit On Scene – The Journal of U.S. Coast Guard Search and Rescue.
There’s even a blog written from the Training Center in Cape May, New Jersey, that was created to provide family and friends with a peek into the lives of their recruits.
I plan to keep adding more Coast Guard blogs over the next couple weeks, but if you’d like to learn more about the lives of the United States Coast Guard, pay a visit to the Milblogging.com Coast Guard Blogroll.
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Myanmar's cyber generation boots up for first-time vote
One of Myanmar's self-described "pioneer bloggers" proudly opens his popular website -- officially banned by the military rulers -- and scrolls to his updates on the approaching election...
(AFP)
Most Intriguing Person, August 31
Three-star General. United States Army. West Point graduate. A former brigade commander in Afghanistan with two combat tours in Iraq under his belt. Now he's starting a third, this time as the man in charge. Army Lieutenant General Lloyd Austin. Wednesday he'll get a fourth star and take the reins of command on the ground in Baghdad...
(CNN)
Iraq at the end of the combat phase: Soldiers weigh in
First off, “combat troops” are now called “advisers,” as the news puts it; then why is it, when we perform missions, we still wear full combat gear and go out armed? We still take incoming fire and the threat is still VERY REAL. Soldiers are still risking their lives on a daily basis...
(Baltimore Sun)
Sweden reopens rape probe of Wikileaks founder
Sweden has reopened its rape investigation of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange less than two weeks after the case was initially dropped...
(CNET News)
Army couple find comfort in being deployed together but miss their children
Her job is to make sure soldiers get the training they need. She's also responsible for keeping the battalion's Facebook pages — a source of information for families back home — up to date...
(St. Petersburg Times)
Cutting edge digital technology on the frontlines
You're in the field -- maybe even close to the front lines -- can you use tools such as Facebook, Google Docs, the iPhone -- even the iPhone's Apps store, or Adroid's Google Marketplace... And do they help warfighters accomplish their missions more effectively? Increasingly the answer is YES. Defense officials call them "edge" enabled systems, and it is part of the Pentagon's efforts to use commercial hardware, software, and graphical user interface technologies for handheld, military-specific use...
(Federal News Radio)
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Readers of Defense.gov, the official DoD web site, may have noticed an article that appeared on the News page earlier titled "Social Media Shapes Markets, the Military and Life". The article touts the use of social media by the DoD, which now maintains thousands of Facebook pages, Twitter and YouTube accounts, blogs and much more in the way of social media and networking.
Still skeptical about the DOD jumping on the social media bandwagon?
Though the DoD was certainly slow to adopt social media just a couple years ago, that has rapidly changed in the past year.
As the author of the story writes: "So to think that the Department of Defense is timid about the use of social media -- think again."
The story delves into the power of social media, particularly Facebook, and discusses milestones within the DoD, including the DoD's new policy on Social Media which was introduced in 2010, as well as the Social Media Hub which requires official DoD organizations running social media websites to register their web site with the DoD’s social media registry.
Even though the new DoD social media policy does not require organizations to use social media, it has an entire hub dedicated to social media. The U.S. Army alone has hundreds of official Facebook pages registered. Thousands more comprise the collection of Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines pages, mostly Facebook, Twitter and Flickr pages that are listed on the online registry.
Social media is so pervasive now that the DoD are marching to this new drum to make sure its voice is heard. USAG Schinnen's Facebook and Twitter page are open for business and is posted on the DoD registry. Just google "USAG Schinnen, Facebook" or "USAG Schinnen, Twitter" to find them and become a 'fan' or to 'follow' them. JFC Brunssum's Community Activity Section is also on Facebook.
Move over Fortune 500 companies.
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When David Beckham made a surprise visit to British troops in Afghanistan in May, the press wasted no time in splashing photos of him signing autographs, handling weapons and scoring during a kickabout at Camp Bastion in Helmand. It was far less widely reported when troops at a patrol base in Sangin commemorated the D-day anniversary by reading a poem by a second world war marine, John Henry Beale, at sunset – just hours after being shot at by insurgents who had destroyed part of the wall of the base with an improvised bomb...
(The Guardian)
NKorea lashes out at SKorea for blocking access to its Twitter and YouTube accounts
North Korea lashed out at South Korea for blocking its Twitter and YouTube accounts, saying the move proves Seoul opposes improving inter-Korean relations. The North's government said this month it had joined Twitter and YouTube in what was seen as an effort to bolster its propaganda warfare against South Korea and the U.S. Seoul officials quickly responded by blocking both accounts from being accessed in the South, saying they contain illegal information banned under the South's security law...
(The Canadian Press)
Israeli soldiers charged in picture-taking flap
Four Israeli soldiers were indicted after taking pictures of themselves pointing their guns at a Palestinian prisoner. In the indictment filed Monday by the Military Advocate, the soldiers were charged with abuse and illegal use of weapons. The soldiers, from the Nahal Haredi brigade, also were accused of improper behavior for the incident last January near the West Bank city of Jenin...
(JTA)
Battlefield Blackouts Increase With Deaths
In the age of the Internet, packages of food, candy and clothes still arrive daily, but the letter has rapidly been replaced by email, Facebook and Twitter as the main method of contact between troops and loved ones. Even the smallest U.S. bases in Afghanistan typically have an Internet connection for U.S. troops to use to during their free time...
(Liveshots)
Social media blitz to thank troops for Iraq service
Iraq will be the main news story again all this week, as the U.S. military officially ends its combat mission there and President Obama delivers remarks to troops at Fort Bliss and the nation as a whole in separate speeches on Tuesday. But, before that, the White House is asking all Americans to show their support for the efforts of U.S. troops returning from the controversial war...
(Stripes)
Army’s “Edgy” Concept: Customizable, Mobile Solutions for the Warfighter
There has been a recent push for the Army to leverage commercial hardware, software, and graphical user interface technologies for handheld military specific use. As part of our goal to advance the Army’s agenda, the Battle Command division of the Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC) is leveraging an “Edge-Enabled Systems” paradigm. I know; that’s a mouth full. But over the next two days, we’ll explain what we mean by Edge-Enabled Systems, we’ll provide some real-world examples, and we’ll end with a brief discussion on the potential return-on-taxpayer-investment...
(Armed with Science)
Coming Up Aces
Today I choose to review an irreverent, "smart military" blog - Ace of Spades HQ. AoSHQ is not really a smart military blog. That handle was hung on the place by some radical Islamist guy with a computer and an ISP...
(Technorati)
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So now the trip has started. A trip that I think really started 11 months ago when I left my career in Information Technology for this new one where I support the warfighter. The warfighter that I can no longer support directly since I have retired from the Army, but one I can support now in what I do. I may no longer be a First Sergeant for soldiers anymore, but I can make sure that I am doing all I can to help save their lives and take lives of the enemy.
Some have asked me “why” I am going back. They have said things like “your war is over” or “what do you need to prove” or “why can’t you just stay in the US”. I am not sure of the answers I have given each time I was asked something like that, but I can tell you the short answer to all of that is because “it is my job”. If not me then whom? Just because I may no longer be a leader of troops doesn’t mean that I have to walk away from them. The military is my DNA, plain and simple. Those who know me, know that. Some may not like it, but hey…it is what it is.
Visit Troy's blog, Facebook, or Twitter to stay up to date on his journey. You can also subscribe to Bouhammer.com to keep updated.
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Ever hope to serve next to someone who threatens to kill a bunch of college kids? Me neither.
So basically Zachary Lambert posts a harassing Facebook message that essentially says he’ll kill more people than the Virginia Tech shooter (which leads to a campus lockdown in Alabama) and the judge orders him to join the Army as punishment.
While some people would argue that the military isn’t for everyone, I actually know hundreds of people who I have personally served with in Afghanistan and Iraq that absolutely love the military; men and women who have voluntarily joined because they want to serve their country, not because they were ordered too.
Listen, I’m all for having this guy join the military to better himself, if it means he’ll be the one cleaning toilets for his job specialty.
But if you ask me, the whole situation is a bit insulting.
You can read more here.
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FORT DRUM — The post's Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation is using Facebook to get soldiers and their families away from their computer screens.
(Watertown Daily Times)
Attorney: IDF harsh with troops for sake of PR
The father of one of four soldiers who posted photos of themselves posing with bound and blindfolded Palestinians called them "the best men we have" Thursday at a court hearing, while their attorney said the army was treating them harshly for the sake of global opinion.
(Ynetnews)
Colombia's Facebook Hit List: Drug Gangs 2.0
The messages, spread via e-mail and Facebook, warned dozens of youths in the southern Colombian town of Puerto Asis to clear out within three days — or die. At first, residents thought it was a joke. But on Aug. 15, two of the blacklisted teenagers were gunned down while riding a motorcycle; a third was shot dead on Friday. Meanwhile, the number of people on the death list, believed to have been compiled by one of a new crop of drug trafficking gangs, expanded to 69.
(Time)
CIA assassin or great story teller?
Roland Haas, the Newnan man who accidentally shot and killed himself Saturday, described himself as a former CIA assassin. He wrote a book about it. He detailed his execution of an Afghanistan heroin dealer and the man's two bodyguards, and cited his own torture in an Iranian jail. People hailed it as a gritty, realistic account of Cold War spying.
(AJC)
Infected USB drive blamed for '08 military cyber breach
That's how U.S. defense networks were compromised in 2008, according to U.S Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn, who today offered the first official confirmation of a data breach that led to restrictions on the use of removable USB drives in the military.
(ComputerWorld)
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I received an email this week from Brian of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. The Constitution Center is presenting an upcoming exhibition called Art of the American Soldier, being held September 24, 2010 - January 10, 2011.
The exhibition features artwork created by American Soldiers who served on the front lines and there’s even a gallery available online right now that allows you a sneak peek at frontline artwork over the past 100 years, spanning multiple wars.
If you served in a time of war and painted or sketched any part of your experience, you can even submit your own work online.
This exhibition looks to be amazing, and if you’re on the East coast, this is definitely an event worth attending.
Here's some more information from the web site:
More than 15,000 paintings and sketches created by over 1,300 American soldiers in the line of duty have been in curatorial storage in Washington, D.C. for decades, seldom made available for public viewing. Art of the American Soldier will bring these powerful works of art into the spotlight at the National Constitution Center from September 24, 2010 through January 10, 2011. The exhibition, featuring a never-before-seen collection, was created by the Center in partnership with the U.S. Army Center of Military History and the National Museum of the United States Army.
H/T: Brian.
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In a bid to increase collaboration and information sharing among non-governmental organizations, military and local citizens in Afghanistan, the military and intelligence community have recently begun piloting a project to provide Internet access and information sharing tools to Afghan communities…
(InformationWeek)
'New Soldiers' visit Matsu
The television program "New Soldiers' Diary" has enjoyed this year's highest ratings. From August 25th three tall, blonde, beautiful Russian girls, average age of 20, are on Matsu to join Taiwan's soldiers in their camps and write their "Foreign Female Soldier Diaries."…
(Taiwan Times)
Anchors Aweigh: A CIO's Farewell
The outgoing Navy CIO, one of the first government CIOs to write a blog as a way to open a dialogue with Navy and Marine IT personnel and users, focused his latest blog on cybersecurity...
(Gov Info Security)
Balancing protection and access at the Pentagon
We have press operations, the Pentagon channel, the Armed Forces radio network, training for military public affairs officers and community, media analysis, planning and social media divisions. The key to dealing with such a broad range of communication tools is to remember there is room for all of them to engage…
(WashPo)
Facebook Killers Target Teens
A hit list on Facebook of 69 names. Add to that a second hit list naming 31 local young women, all targeting the town of Puerto Asis in Colombia. A total of three teens have been killed out of the 100 targeted. The Facebook lists were issued with a warning: Get out of town within three days or suffer the same fate as the victims…
(Forbes)
WikiLeaks releases CIA document on 'exporting terrorism'
A whistle-blowing website that drew the ire of U.S. officials for the release of classified Afghan war documents on Wednesday released what it says is a CIA memo that looks at the perception of the U.S. is an exporter of terrorism…
(MSNBC)
Overturning the Stolen Valor Act
A lie about receiving a Medal of Honor — an assertion easily checked through the Internet — deserves public scorn. But the government decided that wasn't enough. It prosecuted Alvarez under the Stolen Valor Act, which makes it a crime punishable by a fine and up to six months in prison to falsely claim to have received a medal or military decoration…
(LA Times)
Military Lifestyle Allows Blogger to Reconnect
Vivian, a Navy veteran and spouse, regularly guest blogs for Family Matters and shares her experiences as a spouse of a sailor and a mother of two. Her husband, a Navy lieutenant, recently returned from Iraq and she has two boys who, she says, “enjoy peanut butter, trucks and air shows.” In this blog, Vivian writes about reconnecting with another Navy spouse through her boys’ soccer league…
(Family Matters Blog)
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The military blogger community continues to grow with the addition of a new, up and coming blogger: Flying O.
Flying O is a USAF Flight Nurse based in Kadena AB, Okinawa, who is deploying to Afghanistan soon. Flying O, who goes by an online name that describes her role in the military, is also a wife and mother of five kids according to the bio on her blogspot blog.
She's also seen 11% of the world, and has traveled to 33 countries, including support of OIF, OEF, and Northern and Southern Watch. One of her proudest responsibilities in the military she writes: "I love to fly and take care of Wounder Warriors, the bravest of the brave."
And now, she's inviting readers to follow her on her journey to Afghanistan.
On August 22, she wrote:
In the beginning.....there was a Flight Nurse. She decided to document her journey. A small section of her life but a big part of others. Maybe others will want to know as well. Whatever comes, it will all be here in cyberspace. On virtual paper and in my virtual and tangible mind as well. This journey will be novel in some ways and repetitive in others. The wounds may be the same but the patients, my troops, and the experiences will not be.
You can keep updated with Flying-O's story on blogspot.
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Roland W. Haas, a senior intelligence officer in the U.S. Army Reserve who claimed in a 2007 memoir that he was a CIA assassin, died over the weekend when he accidentally shot himself, police in Georgia said.
(WashPo)
The US Military's Epic Cyber-Fail
Charlie Reed, a fantastic Japan-based reporter for Stars & Stripes, thoroughly confounded me last weekend with a long story extolling the US military's efforts to court young, cyber-savvy "hackers" to aid the Pentagon's nascent Cyber Command.
(Current Intelligence)
True Romance: Patriotic photo leads to engagement
Last fall, Megan Badger was touched by a picture of her friend's son, holding an American flag on the Fourth of July.
(Dallas Morning News)
Service members shouldn't be expected to control their wives
Keep your house in order. Control your wife. Lay down the law. Put her in her place. These are just a few of the responses generated on Military.com after the June story about the Fort Bragg colonel's wife who was barred from all interaction with the unit and family members after her actions were deemed harmful.
(Hampton Roads)
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Military blogger Paul Holton (aka Chief Wiggles within in the online community) who became the first interrogator to publish a book based on his experience and his original blog from Iraq – is back in Iraq, and he’s blogging once again.
If you recall, The Military Writer’s Society of America recognized Paul Holton with their “Humanitarian Award for 2005” for his blog turned book: “Saving Babylon: The Heart of an Army Interrogator in Iraq.”
In addition to blogging, Chief Wiggles also runs Operative Give.
The mission of Operation Give is to bring hope and solutions to the deprived and disconnected people of the world, in many cases where the U.S. military operates. We will provide assistance to the U.S. Military men and women in winning the hearts and minds of the people in these regions where the military is serving, in order to ease their suffering, and prepare them for a brighter future.
Hat Tip to Elaine over at Operation Give. Earlier this week, she alerted me that Chief Wiggles was headed back to Iraq. He currently posts on the Operation Give blog, but Elaine has been busy setting up a separate WordPress blog so you’ll be able to follow his journey on ChiefWigglesBlog.com.
If you know of anyone that is currently blogging from Iraq, please contact me at milblogging@gmail.com
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The National Guard Bureau is giving guard members specific guidance on how to control their privacy settings on Facebook and what to avoid publishing on social media sites.
(Federal Computer Week)
Militants find friends on Facebook
Hardline groups in Pakistan are plugging into Western online favourites Facebook and Twitter in a bid to win friends and influence people. Tweeting their view of a civilisation clash between the West and Islam, and posting comments that advocate violence against non-Muslims, groups that are officially banned in Pakistan have found a welter of freedom online.
(News24)
North Korea reportedly joins Facebook
North Korea appears to have added Facebook to other social networking sites it recently joined to ramp up its propaganda war against South Korea and the U.S. The account opened late Thursday under the Korean username "uriminzokkiri," meaning "on our own as a nation," an official at South Koreas Communications Standards Commission said Friday.
(One News Page)
There’s Already A Parody North Korean Twitter Account
When news broke earlier this week that North Korea had started a Twitter account (under the name uriminzok or “Our People” in Korean), it seemed inevitable a parody version would emerge. One already has. Established on Aug. 17, the joke account is, appropriately enough, named Fake Uriminzok. It has sent out six satirical tweets since its creation, including: “Please believe our propaganda–it’s all we have left. That, and ginseng.”
(Forbes)
North Korea's propaganda playground
Who is the latest star user of social networking tools like YouTube and Twitter? Let me nominate an unlikely candidate: the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, as North Korea likes to style itself. Perhaps the world's most repressive and closed country, it's set forth on a surprising journey into new media, with a YouTube account and a Twitter feed at @uriminzok.
(BBC)
Keeping social networks free-speech friendly
So, you think Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are just for fun and games? Think again. Since Department of Defense officials authorized military personnel to use these sites, social networking has become serious business. With every new freedom comes new boundaries and more opportunities to get into trouble, and the law is increasingly being called on to deal with interactions in these new arenas.
(U.S. Air Force)
Social media opens up possibilities
Do you Tweet? Do you have a Facebook account? What about YouTube? Unless you’ve been living and working under a rock, everyone should know by now that you are allowed to access these sites from a government computer. Now, obviously that doesn’t give you license to spend all day at work reading Facebook postings from your friends and family members. Right after I heard that the access was being given, I wondered why. I wondered why the Air Force would open up this can of worms. Were they giving folks enough rope to hang themselves? Well, after some personal research, I’ve come to see just how smart this move really was.
(Maxwell/Gunter Dispatch)
Michael Moore calls soldier accused of leaks 'patriotic'
Michael Moore called Pfc. Bradley Manning, suspected in the leak of tens of thousands of classified Afghanistan war documents to the WikiLeaks website, "courageous" and said he'll donate $5,000 toward his defense. The controversial filmmaker told the Associated Press that Manning did the right thing in exposing "war crimes."
(The Hill's Blog Briefing Room)
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Army Pfc. Paul O. Cuzzupe II was killed August 8, 2010 while serving in Afghanistan. Cuzzupe, who was assigned to the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, died after suffering injuries in Akhtar-Mohammad-Khan when his unit came under attack with an improvised explosive device.
Cuzzupe occasionally posted blog entries on his MySpace page. In his final entry titled "First Thanksgiving away from home" dated November 25, 2009, Paul wrote:
I have never spent and Thanksgiving away from home. It is weird how I am actually not going to be doing anything tomorrow on my favorite holiday. Life when you are training in the Army is boring to say the least. I had this grand vision that I would always be doing soething, but that is not the case, not yet anyway. It will pick up greatly when I leave AIT to go to my duty station. From there I have no idea what is in store for me, but I am sure that I will get to see the shit that has had our country bogged down for the last 8 years. I find myslef not scared, just trying to be mentally prepared. I have faith in my skills and my ability to do my job. I ve always thought that I would carry on the tradition in my family being in the Army. It is my turn. I only hope that my father and grandfather are looking down me and watching me. I feel their presence quite frequently and I know that the will be with me always, especially when times get tough.
God bless Paul for his courage and sacrifice. My thoughts and condolences go out to all his family and friends.
The St. Petersburg Times based in Tampa, has more information about Paul, his family and the military style procession he received after his body arrived in Tampa.
Military personnel, law enforcement officers, strangers and friends saluted the white hearse as it passed. Car dealerships and restaurants on S.R. 60 hung their flags at half-staff.
You can read the full story here.
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War stories: old diary bonds aging WW II veteran and young friend
Another day, Pete told Terri he wanted to show her a diary from the war. He led her to his bedroom closet and pulled out a cardboard box yellow around the edges. It wasn't much bigger than a stack of postcards. Japanese writing decorated the cover…
(OregonLive)
New Ruling Makes It Illegal to Punish Someone For Lying About Military Service
Lt. Col. Peter Lynch, who won a Bronze Medal for his service in Iraq and Afghanistan says the decision is not only offensive for him as a Marine but also as an attorney. "Certain lies are criminal lies and this is one that should be, I don't make it any different than obscenity laws or fraud," said Lynch. "The Medal of Honor is the highest award our country gives. Period. For him to claim he was entitled to it is outrageous."…
(San Diego 6)
Con artists pose as military, use dating sites to lure victims
The Denver Boulder Better Business Bureau is telling women to beware of scammers who pretend to be members of the military to lure them into false relationships. These con artists use any number of dating websites to create fake profiles using use real military photos lifted from Facebook and other websites…
(KWGN)
Tweets With North Korea May Breach Law, South Warns Citizens
South Koreans who post comments on a purported North Korean Twitter Inc. account may fall foul of national security laws that bar the country’s citizens from communicating with their Cold War foes...
(Bloomberg)
White House, Army, NSA, Energy department tap into Twitter, other social media
Although DOE and the Army have active new media teams, some departments, such as the Department of Homeland Security, are still establishing them. "Our social media operations are not very mature. We have yet to reach an area of operation that is at optimum level," a DHS press person said in an unsigned e-mail. "We do not use Facebook as of yet, Twitter is used lightly and YouTube is used moderately."…
(ScrippsNews)
Undisturbed artifacts will detail lives of Civil War prisoners
Nearly 150 years after it was left behind at a Civil War prison camp, the 3-inch clay pipestem still shows a Union soldier's teeth marks. The pipe, whose stem features the name of its manufacturer, proves the resourcefulness of a prisoner who really wanted his tobacco. He fashioned the bowl from lead, possibly by melting rifle bullets. No one knows what became of the unknown soldier at Camp Lawton, which during its short existence in south Georgia was the Confederacy's largest prison camp…
(CNN)
Israeli military confronts new foe: the Internet
The security obsessed Israeli military is confronting a new adversary — trying to control what its own soldiers post to the Internet. Facebook, along with YouTube and other popular sites, is turning into a formidable nuisance for the army, as young recruits in this tech-crazy country post embarrassing and potentially sensitive information online, circumventing tight military controls. The issue exploded onto the national agenda this week when a young ex-soldier posted pictures of herself in uniform, posing in front of handcuffed, blindfolded Palestinian prisoners on her Facebook page under the heading "Army — The Best Time of My Life."…
(AP)
Job scam targets military members returning from service
The United Nations (UN) has posted an alert about a job scam targeting returning military service members. The alert states the scam promises a job with the UN, and sometimes asks for up front cash for the recruitment process…
(WTOL)
Israeli Ex-Soldier Defends Her Facebook Snapshots
In an interview with Israeli Army radio on Tuesday, a former Israeli soldier said, “I still don’t understand what’s wrong” with photographs she posted on Facebook of herself posing next to blindfolded Palestinian detainees….
(NYTimes)
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Congratulations to SSG Jack who writes the Military Blog Texas Music. He's returning home. On August 11, he posted a story from Camp Virginia, a transient camp where he spent his last few days before flying home.
Jack arrived in Iraq in December 2009 after being mobilized with the Texas National Guard in September.
Here's an excerpt from his most recent post:
I just spent the last three hours, literally three freaking hours, uploading a mess of pictures from our time in Iraq. I painstakingly went through and edited out all name tapes, access badges and the like, then went through and arranged them in chronological and subject matter order, then loaded them. It took three hours because the connection here is slow. And after all that, inexplicably, they didn't load. So no pictures for you. Sorry.
So that's what's up with me. Standing by to stand by.
For the last year, the number of military bloggers in Iraq has been diminishing and with the September 1 deadline for withdrawing combat troops from Iraq, that means finding military bloggers in Iraq is going to be even harder.
Keep in mind, there will still be 50,000 troops even after September -- so there will be more blogs written, more messages tweeted, and more in the way of soldier-journalism and social media, just not as much as in the past.
At one point, the number of military blogs written from Iraq greatly outnumbered the number of the military blogs written from Afghanistan. When I first blogged in 2004/2005, a USA Today reporter who contacted me for a story called Milbloggers Typing their place into History, told me he had a very hard time tracking down any bloggers from Afghanistan where I was deployed at the time. Iraq, was a different story.
That has certainly been changing over the years....
If you have a tip on troops blogging from Iraq, please drop me a line: Milblogging@gmail.com
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