Sketch by Rob Bates. Image via rb-portraits.com
War artist and military blogger Rob Bates (the self-proclaimed “pencil artist extraordinaire”) has returned home from his December embed with the Marines in Afghanistan.
And as promised, Bates has been sharing his sketches online on his website: rb-portraits.com
It's not just the artwork that is amazing, it's the stories behind the sketches that help paint a full picture of what Bates is trying to illustrate in a series he calls "Sketching the Drawdown".
Bates has been publishing entries that showcase his sketches and tell the story of his journey to Afghanistan.
In his first post (December 24) since being stateside, Bates wrote:
“On 5 December, I embarked out east on a self-fulfilling journey to record the drawdown of U.S. forces in war-torn Afghanistan. This wasn't your typical embed. Most media who visit the region are seasoned photo journalists, staff writers, and news reporters. I went as a free-lance combat artist. A valid argument can be made that what I do is journalistic; after all, pictures also tell a story. My goal was to document the passing-of-the-torch between U.S. and Afghan troops in such a way rarely done in contemporary reporting. Whenever I was asked about my media badge and purpose in country, I'd respond with "I'm a combat artist". The looks that I garnered were quite interesting, as if a giant throbbing member was protruding from my forehead.”
Since December 24, Bates has shared quite a bit more with readers.
Here’s a look at the entries so far in the series:
Sketching the Drawdown (Part Six) – January 1, 2013
Sketching the Drawdown (Part Five) – January 1, 2013
Sketching the Drawdown (Part Four) – December 29, 2012
Sketching the Drawdown (Part Three) – December 26, 2012
Sketching the Drawdown (Part Two) – December 25, 2012
Sketching the Drawdown (Part One) – December 24, 2012
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The military vertical is arguably unmatched in terms of audience affinity, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to reach.
For the first time since 2008, Military.com has joined forces with the New Media Expo team in presenting a track that will benefit any blogger looking to improve his or her impact. The three panels have all been designed to showcase best practices behind growing metrics using innovative content and social media strategies.
The first session is titled “The New Military Blogger” and will look at the emerging voices in the vertical. After a decade-plus of war, the voices and constituencies have changed since the first warfighter started blogging about life on the front lines, giving rise to the term “milblogging.”
Who are these new digital influencers and who are they reaching? How are their tactics different from the previous generation of milbloggers?
This panel will be moderated by Military.com’s editor and long time blogger Ward Carroll and features Randy Brown of Red Bull Rising, Mark Seavey of The American Legion’s Burn Pit and This Ain’t Hell, and Paul Szoldra of The Duffel Blog (commonly referred to as “The Onion in Uniform”). These three military veterans have grown their audiences through a mix of punditry, advocacy, and humor, not to mention effective SEO and social media execution.
“The New Military Blogger” will take place on Jan. 7 at 10:30 in Miranda #5.
The second Military track session is titled “Militaryville – the Audience You Didn’t Know You Could Have.” This session features a panel of military spouses who started blogging as a form of therapy when their spouses were deployed. In time they discovered they had significant followings. The trick at that point was how to develop executions that would allow them to reach their entire potential audiences. The lessons they’ve learned will benefit any blogger who wants to do more with a property.
This panel will be moderated by Jacey Eckhart, Navy wife, syndicated columnist, and editor of SpouseBuzz.com. Panelists include Amy Bushatz, managing editor of Spouse Buzz and reporter for Military.com, male military spouse blogger Wayne Perry, and Spouse Buzz contributor Cheryl Ganser.
“Mililtaryville – the Audience You Didn’t Know You Could Have” will take place on Jan. 7 at 11:45 in Miranda #5.
The third and final Military track session is titled “New Media’s Effect on Military Benefits Policy and Legislation.” More than a decade of war has created many new benefits for those who served along with a larger population eligible to take advantage of them. This entropy has created a challenge for the agencies charged with getting the word out and the non-profit organizations that advocate for and provide advice to members. This panel will explore how blogs, social media, and online email campaigns impact military compensation and benefits, transition assistance, VA programs, and military health care legislation and policy.
The panel will be moderated by Military.com’s benefits managing editor and author of “The Military Advantage” Terry Howell. Panelists include syndicated benefits columnist Tom Philpott, USAA’s Chaz Pratt, and MOAA’s Bob Norton.
“New Media’s Effect on Military Benefits Policy and Legislation” will take place on Jan. 7 at 2:45 pm in Miranda #5.
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Visit NMX for more information.
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The first panel in the Milblogging track is devoted to "The New Military Blogger".
The New Military Blogger will look at the emerging voices in military blogging and new media. "After a decade-plus of war the first person voices and commentary have changed. Who are these new bloggers and what are they saying about our military mission? How are different from the previous generation of milbloggers and who have they been inspired by?"
Randy Brown (aka Charlie Sherpa) of Red Bull Rising, one of the speakers at NMX, has prepared some talking points ahead of the 1-hour session.
Here's what he had to say – this information is being re-published from Brown’s website which can be found at wwww.redbullrising.com.
Mil-blogging, like homecoming, is a journey. Not a destination.
--
I started writing the Red Bull Rising blog in December 2009, when it looked like I was going to deploy to Afghanistan. My military job involved, among other duties, advising the commander on social media technology and techniques. I started writing under a pseudonym because, at the time, Army policy on social media was so fuzzy. There's nothing like learning by doing, even if you're doing it in secret.
I've met a lot a great people, seen some impressive things, learned some quirky skills. In addition to my freelance writing and editing, for example, I've recently taken on a day-job writing online military stuff for the military. Every day, I'm glad I know how to spell "HTML."
--
Regular Red Bull Rising readers know that I've occasionally attempted to articulate some sort of Grand Unified Theory of Mil-blogging. Here are a few notable installments:
"Mil-blogging Tips, Tools, and Tactics, Part I"
"Mil-blogging Tips, Tools, and Tactics, Part II"
"Lessons-Learned After a Year of Mil-blogging"
"Re: Classification of Mil-blogs"
--
Some Red Bull Rising sponsors have helped expand that discussion to "writing about military writing." A blog, after all, is an engine that can generate news, views, and fictions. You can use a blog to capture the spirit of your times. You can hone a thesis or body of work through a thousand daily mistakes. You can present a truth as you have come to know it.
In short, it's journalism. Both the poetry and the prattle. "A first draft of history."
--
My newspaper and magazine buddies still make jokes about how all bloggers must write while wearing pajamas. I'm just glad they think I'm wearing pants.
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I knew I was training to be a dinosaur when I majored in newspaper journalism back in the late 1980s. I just didn't think I'd live long enough to see the asteroid hit.
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Being able write anything you want doesn't mean you should.
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From the Merriam-Webster's definition of "journalist:"
"A person engaged in journalism; especially a writer or editor for a news medium"
"A writer who aims at a mass audience"
"A person who keeps a journal"
--
Bloggers: First, do no harm.
Then, be humble. Be grateful. Make sure it's not all about you. Make it about your words. And your work. And what your words and work can do in the world.
--
Pay it forward, but give thanks along the way.
Remember Sherpatude No. 24.
Red Bull Rising wouldn't be where it is today without a thousand kindnesses from these and many others: Milblogging.com; Military Writers & Reporters Association; Garry Trudeau's/Doonesbury's "The Sandbox"; Tom Ricks' "The Best Defense"; Carl Prine's (now off-line) "Line of Departure"; Kanani Fong; Kentucky Woman; Jeff Courter; Ben Tupper; Travis Martin; Deb Marshall and Susan Swartout; Victor Ian LLC; The Red Earth MFA program at Oklahoma City University.
--
Read more at Red Bull Rising.
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(CNN)
New Social Media Network Connects Military Professionals. There is a new social network out there, but not everyone can join. Rallypoint.com is a brand new social networking site for military professionals. The startup, launched just two months ago, helps connect those on active duty. Rallypoint.com is hoping to make its mark in the social networking world, specifically with military professionals. "So it is kind of a blend of the social networking sites with a distinctly military slant to it," said Rallypoint.com Advisor John Harvey...
(NBC29)
Time Warner Cable Says It Will Keep ‘Open Mind’ on Reinstating Al Jazeera. Time Warner Cable minced no words when it announced on Wednesday night that it was dropping Current TV, just hours after Al Jazeera acquired the channel. “Our agreement with Current has been terminated and we will no longer be carrying the service,” the distributor said. “We are removing the service as quickly as possible.”
(Media Decoder)
Al Jazeera Seeks a U.S. Voice Where Gore Failed. Al Jazeera, the pan-Arab news giant, has long tried to convince Americans that it is a legitimate news organization, not a parrot of Middle Eastern propaganda or something more sinister. It just bought itself 40 million more chances to make its case...
(The New York Times)
Syria video shows Assad militia stabbing and stoning victims.
(AlArabiya)
Bridgewater veteran offers smartphone app for fellow veterans. Now even veterans can say — there's an app for that. A Bridgewater veteran is offering a new smartphone app for fellow veterans faced with the challenges of returning from duty and transitioning back into civilian life. Lloyd Deans, a six-year veteran of the New Jersey National Guard, has designed "Deans List," a free smartphone and tablet app which, for the first time, aggregates military and veteran resources, news feeds and social media for easy access to veterans...
(NJ.com)
Maxim Recruits a Readership in Uniform. Scaling elevator shafts and sliding through sewers in mud-caked fields at a military training camp here would not be what most people would call a vacation. But for 10 Special Operations soldiers from the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force, participating in an event called the Maximum Warrior contest, these challenges had a singular aim: to be in Maxim magazine...
(The New York Times)
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Here is a look at the schedule of events for the milblogging track.
Monday, January 7 (10:30am) – The New Military Blogger
This session will look at the emerging voices in military blogging and new media. After a decade-plus of war the first person voices and commentary have changed. Who are these new bloggers and what are they saying about our military mission? How are different from the previous generation of milbloggers and who have they been inspired by?
Speakers: Randy Brown, Ward Carroll, Mark Seavy, Paul Szoldra
Full details
Monday, January 7 (11:45am) – Militaryville – The Audience You Didn’t Know You Could Have
Thanks to their mobile lifestyle, military members – and their families – turn in overwhelming numbers to blogs and social media for information and moral support. How do you capture (and keep!) this hugely diverse population with very specific interests? Learn how to attract or grow a military audience as you expand your readership while making blogging pay.
- Learn why blogging military means always writing for a reason.
- Use military audiences to get read more and, in turn, get paid more by taking your blog to the next level.
- The military is always a hot topic – develop creative partnerships that will help you take the national stage.
- Discover four surprising topics for military audiences on which you can write a post today.
Speakers: Amy Bushatz, Jacey Eckhart, Cheryl Ganser, Wayne Perry
Full Details
Monday, January 7 (1:45pm) – New Media’s Effect on Military Benefit Policy And Legislation
This section will feature a robust discussion on how blogs, social media, and online email campaigns impact military compensation and benefits, transition assistance, VA programs, and military health care legislation and policy.
Speakers: Terry Howell, Tom Philpott
Full Details
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If there’s one strong trend that has been getting stronger year after year, it’s that military spouse blogs continue to grow and outpace all other categories of military blogs. I expect much of the same in 2013.
HAPPY NEW YEAR’S!
Jameslgibson | Afghanistan Deployment 2012 - 2013, 1SG James L Gibson, Afghanistan, jameslgibson | Afghanistan Deployment 2012 – 201...
RallyPoint, Not specified, United States, RallyPoint uses patent-pending technology to revol...
3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, Not specified, Afghanistan, Photos and stories from the Marines of 3D Marine A...
The Fight Continues, Angela Wenke, United States, Our mission at The Fight Continues is to assist in...
Constantly Evolving, Roy Nickerson, United States, I'm passionate about veterans and military issues....
Love on the Homefront, Charleigh, United States, A young military wife trying to figure it all out.
Tee's Blog, Tee Major, United States, U.S. Military Fitness trainer Tee Major covers all...
The Everchanging Life of the Navy Wife, Robin, United States, I'm Robin, I'm married to my best friend and soulm...
Pearls for Tags - Women of Army Men, Multiple authors, United States, This is place where Army wives, girlfriends, fianc...
Deployment Problems (and the military life), @deploymentprbs, United States, I support my husband until the end...
A Boy, A Girl, and The Marine Corps, A Girl, United States, I live with my husband, our Min Pin Belleau Wood, ...
Charting New Territory, Sarah, United States, Hi, I'm Sarah. I'm a 30 something year old Regist...
The Life and Times of a Marine Wifey, Victoria, United States, I was raised in the Seattle area and moved to Cali...
Deanna Wharwood-The Veterans Coach, Deanna Wharwood, United States, Deanna Wharwood’s passion is to help veterans, s...
Time Now, Peter Molin, United States, The Wars in Afghanistan in Art, Literature and Fil...
Coast Guard Alaska, Not specified, United States, Official blog of the 17th Coast Guard District
Coast Guard Pacific Southwest, Not specified, United States, Official blog of the 11th Coast Guard District
Coast Guard Great Lakes, Not specified, United States, Official blog of the 9th Coast Guard District
Coast Guard Heartland, Not specified, United States, Official blog of the 8th Coast Guard District
Coast Guard Northeast, Not specified, United States, Official blog of the 1st Coast Guard District
CIO/G6 Blog, CIO/G-6, United States, Army Chief Information Officer/G-6
Chief of Naval Operations, JONATHAN W. GREENERT, United States, The Official Blog of Chief of Naval Operations Adm...
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Sadly, the milblogging world lost two military bloggers in 2012.
There is always a possibility that there could be more fallen military bloggers, but at this point, I’m only aware of the deaths of Captain Carroll “Lex” Lefon, USN (ret) and Army Sgt. Eric E. Williams.
I’d like to take time to remember those who have passed, so if you know of others, please send an email to milblogging@gmail.com
Retired TOPGUN pilot US Navy Capt. Carroll LeFon, better known as Lex of the military blog Neptunus Lex, was killed in March 2012 when a jet he was flying crashed at Naval Air Station Fallon in Nevada.
Lex was one of the very first milbloggers at a time when blogging hadn't become mainstream. His blog
Lex was also one of the first bloggers to appear here on Milblogging.com. I did a short feature on him back in 2006. When I asked him why he started blogging he told me, “I guess you could say I started blogging as a way of sharpening my writing skills. Anyone who`s been to see, or flown fighter aircraft has stories to tell, and I was interested in getting some of mine out there as well, and seeing what interest there might be. It`s also a sort of on-line diary of thoughts, and reactions to the days events - some of those, looking back, get pretty stale in time - but in doing so you form a kind of community of interest. A fun hobby that lets you interact with other people.”
In November, Lex’ kids wrote a post on the website called “Happy Birthday Dad”, with each one saying a few words about their father.
You can learn more about Lex on his About page. His facebook page is here http://www.facebook.com/nep.lex
Other bloggers within the community also published memorial posts in 2012 which can be found below:
USNI Blog, Susan Katz Keating, Argghhh!!!, The SandGram, AW1Tim, This Ain’t Hell, Blackfive, Steeljaw Scribe, CDR Salamander, Grim’s Hall, Soldier’s Angels, NavyTimes, instapinch.com, The Wood Shed, Homefront Six, Carmichael's Position, The Tailhook Association, Bouhammer's Military Blog, Soldier's Angels Germany, Little Drops.....
In May, Lex’ youngest daughter Kat, posted a thank you note on behalf of their family to Lex' readers.
“I’m not quite sure if anyone still looks at this site, but even so it didn’t feel right to not post a final word. A thank you note, I guess.
I am “Kat,” Lex’s youngest daughter. In the bustle of the last few months my family and I have been neglecting the blog, unsure what the next step for his site would be. At some point, the domain expired; and while my father was many things, organized on the computer he was not. So after a series of jumping through hoops and searching through his computer I finally figured out how to get it back up. My family and I would like to keep it, as so many of you have also requested. On behalf on my whole family, I would like to thank you all for the support, care, and loving words about my father. It is nothing short of breathtaking to read the beautiful things you have all said and it means more than I can possibly express through a blog post.
Thank you all so very much.
Sincerely- Kat”
Captain Carroll “Lex” Lefon, USN (ret) was laid to rest in Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery March 27.
He was assigned to Company C, 3-82 General Support Aviation Battalion of the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade.
According to North County Times, Sgt. Williams was just starting his long journey home when he came under enemy fire and died.
Williams was also a military blogger who had kept an online journal called: Eric Williams since 2008. The website can be found at http://myfriendthemedic.
The blog has over 50 posts dating back to 2008 and several photos.
In his last post published only days before he was killed he wrote of coming home.
“This deployment is coming to an end, in a few days we will be on a plane back to the United States to rejoin our family and friends and to try to readjust to a certain semblance of what we think life should be. The truth is everything has changed, we collectively have changed. We have changed as people, as an army, as citizens of the United States. We face uncertainty in nearly every aspect of our lives. Our families have been without us for a year and we have only two weeks to try to enjoy the extremely limited time we have with them before its back to the daily grind. Two weeks to try to reconnect, although this process can take weeks, months or even years. There is no promise that any of us will return unchanged. But we collectively have been granted access to something few ever see, or choose to see for that matter. We have bared witness to the atrocities of war. We have thrust ourselves into the midst of chaos in order to do something so important, so visceral, that few will ever understand what it means. We collectively have risked it all and put everything on the line to save our fellow man, regardless of nationality, race, religion or sex. I for one will reflect on these experiences for decades to come. And I know my comrades will as well. I cannot begin to describe the things we’ve seen, felt, or heard. We have lost brothers and colleagues. We have felt the sting of losing someone we tried our hardest to save. We have cleaned up the blood and reset our equipment in order to go back out and do it again. These people I work with are some of the most dedicated men and women I have ever met. They come from all walks of life and although different in so many aspects, all come together collectively to accomplish this mission. I’m proud to say that I work with some of the most professional people there are. But now we are going home. Were out of this god forsaken country, but we take with us the weight of a thousand missions. To try to dissect them as best we know how.”
North County Times has two good articles (here and here) on Sgt. Williams.
Williams’ military blog has now become an online memorial, giving people a chance to remember and learn about his life in a personal way.
On Veterans Day, the Los Angeles Times wrote that his wife and mother hope his blog can be published to help the public understand the war from the perspective of a soldier on the front lines.
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The article over at The New York Times explains that the ban was imposed on Sept. 17 following violent protests in response to the anti-Islamic video "Innocence of Muslims" produced by Nakoula Basseley Nakoula.
"On Saturday, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority directed local Internet service providers to make YouTube accessible. But by the afternoon, Geo, a private television news network that wields immense influence, reported that anti-Islam and blasphemous material was still available on YouTube. The criticism was led by Ansar Abbasi, a right-leaning journalist who often speaks out on morality and religion.
Yielding to the criticism, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf then ordered providers to again block access to the video-sharing site."
Nobody can seem to agree as to how long the ban was lifted, but the NYT says it only lasted THREE MINUTES.
Three minutes? Impressive.
There’s a joke in there somewhere.
As you can imagine, people took to Twitter to comment. NYT also has the story on that.
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This year, the official Facebook page for the British Army had more than 900,000 Likes.
The Facebook page passed the 900K mark earlier this month, on December 16, 2012.
While the British Army didn’t reach 1 million likes, the 900K milestone makes it one of the most popular military organizations on Facebook, even more popular than the United States’ own U.S. Navy which has 789,719 likes.
However, the U.S. Army’s Facebook presence has a healthy lead over the British Army with the U.S. Army coming in at 1.6 million likes.
In case you’re wondering about other official pages of the British Armed Forces, here’s a quick look:
The Royal Navy has 177,853 likes at the time of this story, while the Royal Air Force has 287,890 likes.
You can learn more about Facebook Page metrics and trends at the PageData website.
To see the top 30 "Most Liked" government organizations on Facebook, go here.
Image via Facebook
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(NYTimes)
The 8 Craziest Job Openings in the Military-Industrial Complex. Top-secret janitor. Pollster to the spies. Classified comic book artist. Any organization sufficiently large is bound to have the odd job opening within it. But few organizations are as freakin' colossal as the U.S. military intelligence industrial complex, with an estimated 4.9 million Americans holding security clearances today. Which means there are thousands of unconventional positions to fill at any given moment...
(Wired.com)
On Assignment: Syria's Media War. This year, VOA's Rudi Bakhtiar crossed into Syria - at great risk - to report on the uprising there. She spoke with Philip Alexiou about what some rebels are calling a "media war" against the government...
(Voice of America)
In Retaliation for Map of Gun Permit Holders, Blogger Lists Names and Addresses of Newspaper Staff. In response to the controversy surrounding the interactive map of local gun permit holders published by a Lower Hudson Valley newspaper, one blogger decided to punish the paper's staff members by invoking a well-established principle of biblical law: A dox for a dox. Christopher Fountain has spent the last three days posting the names and addresses of nearly every Journal News employee from Publisher on down...
(Gawker)
Gun owner: Newspaper ‘put me on the same level as a sex offender’. Veronica Hash resides on an eight-acre spread in Dutchess County, N.Y. She is a registered to own a handgun — something that visitors to the Web site of the Journal News could ascertain with little trouble. Hash’s address is listed on an interactive map of gun-permit owners, based on public records requested by the Journal News, a Gannett property that serves suburban counties around New York City...
(Washington Post)
Where The Journal News went wrong in publishing names, addresses of gun owners. In the days since The (Westchester, N.Y.) Journal News published and mapped the names and addresses of local citizens who hold gun permits, outraged critics have published the names and addresses of journalists at the paper. New York State Senator Greg Ball has also responded by announcing plans to propose legislation that would make the permits private, no longer subject to open records laws. I suspected that legislative backlash might follow, and it would be a worse mistake than publishing the data...
(Poynter)
Suliman: 'Al Jazeera plays the piper, but Qatar calls the tune'. The long-time Berlin correspondent for Al Jazeera, Aktham Suliman, recently resigned from his post. The journalist tells DW that the Qatari government is exercising undue influence on Al Jazeera's reporting...
(DW.DE)
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Randy Brown, freelance editor and writer, who blogs at Red Bull Rising, will be speaking at NMX 2013 in Las Vegas, NV, that is taking place January 6 - 8, 2013.
Brown joins other speakers at The New Media Expo (aka BlogWorld), including Paul Szoldra, the creator and Managing Editor of The Duffel Blog.
Brown will be participating in The New Military Blogger track.
This session will look at the emerging voices in military blogging and new media. After a decade-plus of war the first person voices and commentary have changed. Who are these new bloggers and what are they saying about our military mission? How are different from the previous generation of milbloggers and who have they been inspired by?
About Brown:
In 2010, Randy Brown was preparing for deployment as a member of the Iowa Army National Guard’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry “Red Bull” Division (2-34th B.C.T.). After he unexpectedly dropped off the deployment list, he retired with 20 years of service. He then went to Eastern Afghanistan anyway, embedding with Iowa’s Red Bull units as a civilian journalist in May-June 2011. Under the pseudonym “Charlie Sherpa,” Brown blogs about ways to “remember, support, and celebrate” military service members, veterans, and families at: www.redbullrising.com. Milbloggies finalist, Veteran (2011); Reporter (2012) categories. 2012 winner, Military Reporters and Editors’ blog category
Connect with Brown:
RedBullRising
Facebook
Information provided by NMX 2013.
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Paul Szoldra, the creator and Managing Editor of The Duffel Blog, will be speaking at NMX 2013 in Las Vegas, NV, that is taking place January 6 - 8, 2013.
The New Media Expo (aka BlogWorld), is the world's largest Conference and Trade Show for bloggers, podcasters, web TV & video creators, and social business pros.
Szoldra will be participating in The New Military Blogger session.
This session will look at the emerging voices in military blogging and new media. After a decade-plus of war the first person voices and commentary have changed. Who are these new bloggers and what are they saying about our military mission? How are different from the previous generation of milbloggers and who have they been inspired by?
About Szoldra:
Paul Szoldra is a former Marine infantryman who left the service after 8 years. While attending college at the University of Tampa, he started The Duffel Blog, a military satire website similar to The Onion. In less than 6 months of existence, the website rocketed to over 30,000 fans, was featured in mainstream media outlets such as NBC & USA Today, and has even gained the attention of the Pentagon. Paul also serves as Media Relations Director for the non-profit Marine Infantry Veterans Foundation, and contributes serious journalism pieces for Business Insider.
Connect With Szoldra:
The Duffel Blog
Paul Szoldra
Facebook
LinkedIn
Google+
Twitter
Information provided by NMX 2013.
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Each month that passes, there seem to be fewer and fewer military blogs written from the frontlines. In fact, going back the past several months, there have only been a few submitted to Milblogging.
The fact is that less troops are blogging from places like Afghanistan, so anytime a military blog from a combat zone is discovered, I like to bring attention to it.
jameslgibson | Afghanistan Deployment 2012 – 2013 is a blog written by 1SG James L. Gibson who serves with Headquarters Troop, 2-1 Cav.
1SG Gibson has been consistently blogging since early December when he arrived in Afghanistan, writing several times per week.
His first post titled And it begins… was published on December 1 and explains why he blogs and describes the beginning of his journey (including saying goodbye to family):
“This blog, diary, storytelling, or whatever you want to call it is intended to keep all friends and family informed of what is going on during my deployment. I will attempt to write every day, but due to operations or the fact that days may become redundant and I have nothing new to write about, it may only be updated every few days. For my military buddies, this will probably be some boring reading as you have all “been there, done that”. I will attempt to keep it profanity free, but I cannot promise that a few will not slip through the cracks. Also, I am in no way a writer, so take it easy on the critiques! So here it goes….”
If you’d like to keep up with 1SG Gibson, you should bookmark his website.
Hat tip to Charlie Sherpa of Red Bull Rising.
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(AlJazeeraEnglish)
How the face of the Syrian regime betrayed Assad over Twitter. Christmas, it seems, came early for Western governments looking to strike a blow about Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime. Following reports that former Syrian spokesman Jihad Makdissi had fled to Washington, a well-known activist released private Twitter messages that show Makdissi had been in contact for months with the opposition...
(FP Passport)
2012 in Syria's civil war: One rebel's story. I first met Bassel Issa in February 2012. At the time, he was leading a group of rebel fighters who called themselves the Syrian Liberation Army. In reality, they were more local militia than army. Most were farmers or workers, ordinary hard-working men who had grown up together and decided to join the fight for a free Syria. Producer Ben Plesser and I had traveled illegally from Turkey to the city of Idlib, in Northern Syria, to live for a week with these men and their families...
(CBS News)
High school student entries sought for Korean War film fest. The GI Film Festival recently announced that high school students from throughout the United States are invited to submit short videos to the U.S. Department of Defense 60th Anniversary of Korean War Commemoration Committee and the GI Film Festival as part of a new educational outreach program, "Heroes Remembered: Voices of the Korean War."
(Broomfield Enterprise)
A story from the Civil War. After Pvt. William Whitlock was killed in a Civil War battle in Dinwiddie, Va., his fellow soldiers had just enough time to dig a grave, wrap him in wool and rubber blankets and bury him inside their picket lines. Details of how the Allegany native lived, fought and died in the Civil War are the foundation of a book titled “Allegany to Appomattox: The Life and Letters of Private William Whitlock of the 188th New York Volunteers."
(Olean Times Herald)
Music project aims to keep Civil War stories fresh. Blood once soaked the soil of battlefields that have since been covered up by skyscrapers and commuter train stations in Atlanta, strip malls in Nashville and farm fields and forests across the South. Now, 150 years after the American Civil War, two musicians are trying to keep that history from being lost in the new landscape...
(Miami Herald)
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It’s that time of year again, when kids from all around the world track Santa Claus as he delivers gifts.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) monitors his activities at NORADSanta.org.
According to the website, for more than 50 years, NORAD and its predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) have tracked Santa's flight and this year is no different.
“The tradition began in 1955 after a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. advertisement misprinted the telephone number for children to call Santa. Instead of reaching Santa, the phone number put kids through to the CONAD Commander-in-Chief's operations "hotline." The Director of Operations at the time, Colonel Harry Shoup, had his staff check the radar for indications of Santa making his way south from the North Pole. Children who called were given updates on his location, and a tradition was born.
In 1958, the governments of Canada and the United States created a bi-national air defense command for North America called the North American Aerospace Defense Command, also known as NORAD, which then took on the tradition of tracking Santa.
Since that time, NORAD men, women, family and friends have selflessly volunteered their time to personally respond to phone calls and emails from children all around the world. In addition, we now track Santa using the internet. Millions of people who want to know Santa's whereabouts now visit the NORAD Tracks Santa website.”
However it’s not just a website – combined with social media, NORAD’s Santa Tracker has exploded in popularity.
Earlier this year, NORAD Tracks Santa Facebook page surpassed 1 million “Likes”.
Since December 1, 2012, the page has attracted 200,000 more “Likes”. At the time of this writing, while Santa was making his way through Canada, the Facebook page reached 1,236,150.
On Twitter, NORAD Santa has well over 100,000 followers.
On YouTube, NORAD Tracks Santa has over 18,000 subscribers and reached over 100 million views this year.
In addition to NORAD’s Santa Tracker, the other major organization tracking Santa on its own is Google.
While the NORAD Tracks Santa Facebook page may not be the most “Liked” military Facebook page, it’s certainly up there in the Top 10.
Currently, it’s right on the heels of the National Guard who have 1,288,699 likes, but don’t expect that to last for long.
Merry Christmas!
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While he may not be in the military, he is dealing with posttraumatic stress.
A story in The Atlantic takes a closer look at Gilbertson and war photographers.
“Photojournalists strap bulletproof vests to their chests, steady 60-pound packs on their backs, and hang camera equipment from their shoulders before trekking into the world's most dangerous environments. They follow marine units, rebel militias, and protesters -- stride-for-stride -- into the field, through crumbling neighborhoods and down crowded streets. There, unarmed and exposed, they take pictures of combatants and the afflicted: civilians suffering in battle, hospitals straining to cope with the wounded, and the communities within which conflict lives.
Their industry rewards intimacy, often driving photographers closer to the sharp edge of conflict. But after capturing those last breaths and cities laid waste by violence, these photographers are left to scroll through the day's shots before wiring the most gripping images to newsrooms around the world.”
The Atlantic tells of Gilbertson’s time in Iraq, including the operation in Fallujah, which he often recalls. Gilbertson went on to win number of awards and nominations for his photography, but with the highs there were lows.
Gilbertson’s wife Joanna told The Atlantic, “The worse off journalists are, the more rewarded they tend to be.”
If you scroll down to the comments section of the lengthy story, one of Gilbertson’s coworkers adds,
“As a colleague of Ash, I have seen some of his suffering. I have also seen his efforts to get attention to this subject and can only admire him deeply for his selfless effort to help those similarly situated. It's damn remarkable. And it's just plain ignorant to imply that nobody should care when there is a barrier - such as PTSD - to journalists reporting the horrors of war or the complications of the issues surrounding conflict, as suggested elsewhere in these comments.”
But not all the comments are as supportive.
A reader who goes by the name dogsoldier1960 comments,
“A long article which could use a good editor. It seems to say (mostly) that war sucks so why do young men love it? FYI. B 1/8 is a Rifle Co of a Marine Bn. The minaret was being used as a enemy OP. The Marines were ordered to clear it not to just provide a Kodak minute. No Marine would have allowed a civilian to go first in a room clearing operation. Lots of other BS details and woe is me crap. Moreover who should care if some reporter has PTSD?”
Source: The Atlantic
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(World News)
Acting C.I.A. Chief Critical of Film ‘Zero Dark Thirty’. The acting director of the C.I.A., Michael J. Morell, has criticized a new movie about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, saying it exaggerates the role of coercive interrogations in producing clues to the whereabouts of the leader of Al Qaeda...
(NYTimes)
Stories, artifacts assure that World War II generation not forgotten. The stories of many World War II veterans will continue to be told long after they're gone. Their experiences endure in the artifacts of history they've left behind -- the documents, diaries, photos, medals, mementos or just lingering family memories...
(Plain Dealer)
Lil Wayne touched by soldier's war story. Lil Wayne has publicly thanked an American solider who credited the rapper's music with saving his life during a near-death experience in Afghanistan. Lander Chappell, a Private First Class in the American Army, opened up about a horrifying incident in the war zone when he lost a leg in a roadside bomb attack and revealed singing Lil Wayne's track "Tie My Hands" helped him through the ordeal as he waited for rescue...
(MSN Music News)
Lincolnshire author re-tells brother’s Boer War story. Lincolnshire author Alan Stennett has released the sixth book of his writing career, re-telling the story of the Boer War in South Africa through his grandfather’s eyes. Lincolnshire Lads on the Veldt, Alan’s first self-published book, is taken from extracts of his grandfather Herbert Stennett’s diary which he painstakingly transcribed 12 years ago...
(Louth Leader)
Following the path of Richard Engel's abduction in Syria. As soon as tonight's show ended I rewound my DVR back to Rachel's interview with Richard Engel and tried to follow along with Google Maps to see if I could get a better sense of the area where the events took place. It turns out the satellite imagery of Syria is pretty detailed. So, for example, you can see the tractor trailer trucks lined up at the Bab Al Hawa border crossing where Richard entered Syria from Turkey. Also, most of the photos I've seen of the war in Syria were taken in urban settings, so it's interesting to see how abruptly the towns give way to farmland in that part of the country...
(The Maddow Blog)
Factcheck: NRA blames media for gun violence. At a Friday “press conference” (no questions were allowed), National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre provided the gun lobby’s explanation for the shooting deaths of 28 people a week ago today in Newtown, Conn. Among LaPierre’s culprits: the media. Here is a breakdown of ways the NRA says media causes gun violence, along with a factcheck...
(Poynter)
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Late last month, I wrote about British Army girlfriend Zoey Peace and her blog Until February…. that has attracted the attention of readers from around the world including celebrities and politicians.
Now, according to ITV News, British Prime Minister David Cameron has become Peace’s latest fan while visiting the troops in Helmand, Afghanistan, where her boyfriend, Cpl Sam Garwood, is deployed.
In the image above, the Prime Minister poses for a picture with Joint Movements Unit Officers Flt Lt Tom Cousins and Lt Pip Hollins, while holding up a sign that says #Smile Camp Bastion. #SmileCampBastion is the brainchild of Peace as a way of spreading smiles for the Armed Forces and their families.
When learning of the news of the PM’s support, Peace had this to say:
“This is fantastic news - when I launched the blog I never thought the Prime Minister himself would get involved.
It might not work for everyone, but for me this blog has been the right way to cope and show Sam I'm OK.
The fact so many other people have taken something from it has been a bonus. I'm still so overwhelmed at how far it's come.”
Here are some interesting facts from last month’s Daily Mail story:
- Zoey Peace's blog, Until February, is getting thousands of hits a day
- Her boyfriend, Cpl Sam Garwood, 24, is on fifth tour, in Camp Bastion
- She charts quest to become 'domestic goddess' before Sam gets home
- Zoey, 26, is from Cambridgeshire, and Sam is from Norfolk
- Has received Twitter support from Lorraine Kelly and Chesney Hawkes
Source: ITV News
Image: @tomcousins1983
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(+972 Magazine)
U.S. on alert for Islamist ire to ‘Zero Dark Thirty’. Could the release of “Zero Dark Thirty” provoke violent protests against the U.S. in response to the film’s searing depictions of “enhanced interrogation” — the coercive, super-secret and bitterly debated methods used by the CIA against al Qaeda terrorism suspects? Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow’s acclaimed docudrama about the pursuit of Osama bin Laden opened Wednesday at five theaters in New York and Los Angeles...
(The Washington Times)
Embed, Embed, Who Wants An Embed. Know I owe some posts, such a follow-up to the tease I posted the other day, but I've been fighting the lung crud and dealing with background issues. Among those background issues is the new revised embed. Last week, I met with a MG at Bragg, and he had a very good idea for an embed and a story that has not been done. I liked him, and liked the story. However, it will take up to another month for his staff to set it up I am told. Yep, yet more delay...
(Blackfive)
NBC’s Richard Engel: ‘We weren’t expecting a rescue’. During the five days Richard Engel and a crew of four others were held in Syria, the kidnappers “didn’t really know who we were,” Engel told Savannah Guthrie during an interview that aired Friday on the “Today” show. The NBC News chief foreign correspondent also described their escape...
(Poynter)
Engel and crew believed they wouldn't make it out of Syria alive. NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel and his crew believed they would not make it out of Syria alive during their five days of captivity, Engel said Thursday. "There was no doubt that these were violent people and that they could have executed us at any time," Engel told NBC News' Savannah Guthrie in an interview Thursday night on "Rock Center." Engel, 39, and his team disappeared shortly after crossing into northwest Syria from Turkey on Dec. 13. He and his team had already been captured as his last taped report from Aleppo was appearing on "NBC Nightly News" that evening...
(NBC News)
The End of You Served Radio. I just wrapped up the last episode of You Served Radio and it was sad to do but it was necessary. Tonight’s episode (which can be heard anytime along with any of the previous 219 episodes at www.youservedradio.com) was a night to reflect back at the last 4+ years of broadcasts. I used to write on upwards of 5 blogs and host the show all at the same time. But times have changed and I have to re-focus on what I spend my time on (what time I have). Regular readers of this blog know that my writings here have even been sporadic and sparse compared to that they have been like over the years...
(Bouhammer)
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A few hours ago, Bates announced on Facebook, “Flying home today. Back in the states tomorrow!”
Bates also posted a link to a radio interview he did for The Story with Dick Gordon. He’s on at the 24:40 mark.
Bates has been taking photos, drawing sketches and keeping a journal of his embed experience.
He plans to start blogging about the days spent in Afghanistan when he returns.
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