Milblogging.com : The World's Largest Index of Military Blogs (Milblogs)

Facebook "slut" pages linked to ADF now offline

Milblogging.com — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 04:37:56 GMT

Image source: Facebook via SBC

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

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

The latest scandal involves two Facebook pages that demeaned women.

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

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

Via SBS:

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

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

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

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

Facebook helps reunite soldier with memento

Milblogging.com — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 22:11:43 GMT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Full story here including pictures and video.

News: Bridge named after fallen Army journalist

Milblogging.com — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 18:57:05 GMT

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

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

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

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

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

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

Australian Army Chief becomes internet star

Milblogging.com — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 05:11:36 GMT

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

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

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

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

The Australian writes:

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

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

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

More at The Australian.

You can watch the video here on YouTube.

Wikipedia: David Morrison

News: Online extremist content widespread

Milblogging.com — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 04:55:27 GMT

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

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

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

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

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

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

Vote for your favorite Military Mom Blogger

Milblogging.com — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 04:23:05 GMT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

More at Circle of Moms.

ADF involved in new electronic sex scandal

Milblogging.com — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 23:38:18 GMT

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

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

But the problem with the Australian Army is far worse.

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

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

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

Other imagery was digitally altered to be offensive.

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

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

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

More here at The Australian.

Wikipedia: Australian Defence Force

News: Q&A with Syrian war blogger

Milblogging.com — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 23:30:13 GMT

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

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

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

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

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

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

Video emerges of half-naked female IDF soldiers

Milblogging.com — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 04:35:12 GMT

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

One soldier is seen pole dancing with her rifle.

The Times of Israel reports:

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

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

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

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

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

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

The NY Daily News has the video posted online.

Heartbreaking photo of grieving son goes viral

Milblogging.com — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 18:40:53 GMT

Photo via Facebook

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

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

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

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

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

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

More at International Business Times.

News: Navy puts an end to ALL-CAPS requirement

Milblogging.com — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 15:39:14 GMT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Korean War veterans asked to share their story

Milblogging.com — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 18:10:59 GMT

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

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

The mission of the website is threefold:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wikipedia: Korean War

News: New installment of War Era Story project

Milblogging.com — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 04:32:19 GMT

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nigerian Army warns on use of social media

Milblogging.com — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 23:02:56 GMT

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

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

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

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

Premium Times Nigeria is reporting:

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

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

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

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

More here.

The U.S. Military's top Facebook pages by Likes

Milblogging.com — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 09:23:12 GMT

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

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

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

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

Here’s a look.

Marines – 2,634,173 likes

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

National Guard – 1,349,771 likes

United States Air Force - 1,236,449 likes

U.S. Coast Guard - 194,301 likes

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

The website is an independent Facebook Page tracking service.

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

News: Sentence in Help for Heroes behead tweet

Milblogging.com — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 09:10:21 GMT

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

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

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

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

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

Normandy D-Day veteran posts blog update

Milblogging.com — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 05:46:00 GMT

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

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

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

Here’s an excerpt from his blog:

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

Read the full post here.

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

News: Soldier in trouble for tweets & beliefs

Milblogging.com — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 03:13:59 GMT

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

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

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

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

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

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

Viral: Deployed soldier singing Rihanna cover

Milblogging.com — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 18:47:30 GMT

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

The video has gone viral.

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

Hours ago the story appeared on Yahoo! Music.

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

You can watch the video here.

Semi-nude pics prompt IDF social network code

Milblogging.com — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 09:25:10 GMT

Image via Facebook

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

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

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

But the directive goes beyond classified IDF units.

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

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

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

News: Demeaning Facebook posts puzzle Pentagon

Milblogging.com — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 08:42:27 GMT

Vile social media posts vex Pentagon, Congress. Social media posts that malign women Marines are deplorable but remain largely outside the military's ability to control, according to Marine Corps Commandant James Amos. Amos made his comments in a letter to Rep. Jackie Speier, the California Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. Last month, she raised concerns about posts on Facebook of women Marines with lewd captions. Facebook removed the page, although the posts migrated to other sites and some people posted threats about Speier on social media sites...
(lohud)

Technology helps deployed dad to attend son's graduation. A military dad in Afghanistan is able to see his son graduate via Sykpe...
(kitvtv)

Lindsey Graham Isn't Sure If Bloggers Deserve 'First Amendment Protection'. Whether bloggers count as journalists has mostly been a matter of esoterics for reporter types. But as Congress weighs a media shield law in response to the Associated Press/Justice Department subpoena scandal, the question is gaining an urgency that lawmakers are finding hard to ignore as they turn to writing the bill. Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., took on the issue—and stumbled...
(National Journal)

Turkey police detain protesters over 'libellous' tweets. Turkey police detained at least 25 people early on Wednesday in the western city of Izmir for tweeting 'misinformation,' state-run Anatolia news agency reported, as anti-government protests raged for a sixth day across the country...
(Channel NewsAsia)

An Oklahoman Tells Soldiers’ Stories at OKC Film Festival. Oklahoma City’s DeadCenter Film Festival kicks off its 13th annual event tonight with a screening of a Rolling Stones documentary at the Myriad Gardens. Movie lovers will enjoy nearly 120 films in and around downtown Oklahoma City over the next five days. One film from an Oklahoman takes viewers into an actual war zone. What you’re hearing isn’t the next action-adventure blockbuster. This is real life. The documentary film, The Hornet’s Nest, features 33-year war correspondent Mike Boettcher of ABC News and his son, Carlos, in Afghanistan following the 2010 Surge...
(KOSU Radio)

How to Prevent a Twitter Hack. Recent Twitter hacks done this spring by a group called the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) on the Associated Press and The Onion have brought attention to the vulnerability of a media organization’s social media account. In the case of the AP, which has more than two million Twitter followers, or any mass media brand for that matter, a damaging tweet can have a profound impact. When the SEA took control of the AP’s Twitter account and tweeted that President Barack Obama had been injured in an explosion at the White House, it caused the U.S. stock market to temporarily lose $200 million in value, The Wall Street Journal reported...
(FolioMag)

Humor: MUST-FOLLOW Al-Qaeda on Twitter

Milblogging.com — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 08:28:51 GMT

The Onion (yes, America’s Finest News Source) has posted a slideshow it calls the 9 MUST-FOLLOW Al-Qaeda Leaders on Twitter.

Each slide features a different individual and a tweet, along with some commentary below the slide by the writer.

Full slideshow here.

News: Tiananmen Square searches censored online

Milblogging.com — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 04:05:50 GMT

Tiananmen Square online searches censored by Chinese authorities. It takes a very significant date for the word "today" to be deemed too sensitive to mention. But 24 years after the Chinese government's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square, "today" is part of a long list of search terms that have been censored on Sina Weibo, the country's most popular microblog...
(The Guardian)

The Latest Navy SEAL Book Could Impact the Military's Transgender Rules. In every Navy SEAL is a memoir, it seems lately. Retired SEAL Kristin Beck's new memoir, published on Tuesday and titled Warrior Princess, is a bit different, though. In it, Beck describes how, over the course of her 20 year military career, including thirteen deployments over the globe, she slowly became more and more aware that was she meant to live life as a woman — a vexing and often tormenting realization for a long-time member of an elite all-male unit that went on to capture and kill Osama bin Laden...
(The Atlantic Wire)

Hacker Adrian Lamo testifies at WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning’s court-martial. The hacker who alerted federal authorities to the alleged leak of classified documents by Pfc. Bradley E. Manning testified Tuesday that the young Army analyst never indicated any desire to help U.S. adversaries by releasing the material. “Not in those words, no,” the hacker, Adrian Lamo, responded when asked by Manning’s attorney whether the soldier had said he “wanted to help the enemy.”
(The Washington Post)

Facebook Rapper Arrested on Terrorism Charges Jailed Another Month. Cameron D'Ambrosio, an 18-year-old high school student charged with making terrorist threats on Facebook, will sit in jail without bail for another month. The judge in the case agreed to delay D'Ambrosio's probable cause hearing until June 27 after the prosecution said Monday it wasn't prepared to make the proper arguments...
(Mashable)

Turkey protests: how activists stay one step ahead with social media. Turkey's prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan described Twitter as "the worst menace to society" in reaction to its use in protests that began with environmentalists fighting against the development of a park in Istanbul and then spread across the country. It isn't hard to see why...
(Telegraph)

Relocation and social media for the U.S. Military, Oh my! Hopefully you read my article in the Chronicle this past Sunday on the presentation that I gave a few weeks ago at Worldwide ERC’s National Relocation Conference in San Diego. It was about how the U.S. Military leverages social media for their relocation programs. If not, here is a link: Social media gains importance in military’s relocation programs...
(Chron.com)

In Libya, new media freedom is uncertain. The post-revolutionary euphoria that followed Libya’s 2011 uprising against dictator Muammar el-Qaddafi spawned dozens of new media outlets—at least 69, by some counts. Most of these organizations took the form of independent print publications, followed by television and radio stations, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists...
(Columbia Journalism Review)

20 journalists killed so far in 2013

Milblogging.com — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 04:00:32 GMT

According to the website Committee to Protect Journalists, 20 journalists have been killed so far in 2013 where the motive has been confirmed.

"Motive confirmed" means, "that a journalist was killed in direct reprisal for his or her work; in crossfire; or while carrying out a dangerous assignment."

Syria, which saw 28 journalists killed in 2012, remains the world's deadliest country for journos in 2013, with 8 reported killed since January 1.

Yara Abbas, a pro-Syrian government TV reporter, was killed May 27, 2013.

According to the CPJ:

“Abbas, a correspondent for the pro-government TV channel Al-Ikhbariya, was killed when her crew's vehicle came under rebel sniper fire, according to official Syrian news sources.

The official SANA news agency reported that Abbas was driving in a car with Al-Ikhbariya cameraman Osama Dayoub and driver Badr Awad near the Al-Daba'a military airbase in the city of Al-Qusayr when a rebel sniper opened fire on the vehicle. Awad told SANA the gunfire damaged the car and caused it to crash. He said the crew was taken to the hospital by forces loyal to the Syrian regime, but that Abbas died before she could be treated. It was not immediately clear from news reports whether the vehicle was marked with a "Press" sign.”

You can learn more about those killed in 2013 here.

Six Day War reenacted on Twitter by IDF

Milblogging.com — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 23:43:21 GMT

The Six Day War which was fought between June 5th and June 10th, 1967, will be reenacted by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) on Twitter.

Earlier today, the official IDF Twitter account @IDFSpokersperson tweeted, "Throughout the next 6 days, we will go back in time to live-tweet the Six-Day War in Hebrew. Follow us and relive history @IDF1967".

The Haaretz Daily Newspaper first reported the story.

"Israel Air Force fighters will land a preemptive blow on air forces of Egypt, Syria and Iraq at 7:45 on Wednesday, exactly 46 years after the start of the Six Day War that changed the face of Israel. However, this time, thankfully, the planes will take off and return safely to their bases on a special Twitter account opened by the Israel Defense Forces' Spokesperson's Unit for this purpose."

More here.

News: Deadly job for young Somali journalists

Milblogging.com — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 05:03:41 GMT

For Young Somali Journalists, Work Often Turns Deadly. Shabelle Media is Somalia's largest news outlet — and a very dangerous place to work. Of the 12 journalists gunned down in the country last year, four were reporting for Shabelle. A number of the reporters are teenagers, some as young as 15. The reporters almost never venture out of the office, which is outfitted with sleeping quarters and a kitchen. Why are Shabelle's young journalists being targeted more than others?
(NPR)

Army organization chooses milBook to reach broader audience. Linking people around the globe, milBook, an internal military social media tool similar to Facebook and LinkedIn, recently became the choice site for 41 Army Professional Forums. "On any particular day, there are about 40,000 people in the Army that log on to all of the forums collectively to find out information," said Ron Pruyt, knowledge management officer for the Center for Army Lessons Learned, or CALL...
(Army)

Study uses 'martyr' posts to break down 'foreign fighters' aiding Syrian rebels. Foreign fighters who have flocked to Syria to join the fight to topple the regime of Bashar al-Assad are a “motley crew” whose motivations range from “pro-democratic revolutionary fervor to the most extreme sectarian and hardline Islamist viewpoints imaginable,” according to a report released Monday...
(NBC News)

Media Organizations Urge Judge To Grant Bradley Manning Stenographers Press Credentials. A coalition of news organizations signed onto a letter urging the military to overturn its decision to deny press credentials to two crowdfunded stenographers throughout the trial of Bradley Manning, which is projected to last 12 weeks. The Guardian, Fox News, The Huffington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Politico, the New Yorker and NPR were among the outlets signing onto the letter, which was organized by the Freedom of the Press Foundation and sent both to the military and the judge overseeing the case on Monday...
(Huffington Post)

Al-Qaeda sets up complaints department. The organisation is the leading militia in the north-eastern part of rebel-held Syria, and has taken control of parts of the civilian administration in the city of Raqqa. It posted a new notice there this week saying it was open to receiving complaints from members of the public."Any one who might have a complaint against any element of the Islamic state, whether the Emir or an ordinary soldier, can come and submit their complaint in any headquarters building of the Islamic state," the notice said. "The complaint should be in writing, provide details and give evidence...
(Telegraph)

Veterans take part in Facebook hack-a-thon. Memorial Day may be over, but honoring those who've served our country never goes out of style. At Facebook's headquarters, a group of recent military veterans got a true taste of Silicon Valley Wednesday, and it could help them in the next chapter of their lives. At this company founded on hacking, there's one group working straight through lunch, and actually none of them work here. Albert An is leading a team of veterans in this hack-a-thon on Facebook's campus...
(WDAM)

War museum’s new exhibit tells hundreds of different stories about peace. When Canadian military Sgt. Viviane Jean-Baptise left Montreal for Haiti three years ago, she had no idea her trip would lead her to the Canadian War Museum. But on Thursday, standing beside a small handcrafted, three-masted wooden model ship, she explained how she came to own it, and why it’s a part of Peace — The Exhibition, which begins Friday and runs until January...
(Ottawa Citizen)

IDF female soldiers post racy Facebook photos

Milblogging.com — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 08:07:01 GMT

Image via Facebook

According to the Associated Press, the Israeli military has disciplined several female soldiers who posted images of themselves in underwear and combat gear to the social networking site Facebook.

The AP story that appeared in the Seattle Times doesn’t show the photos in question, but a quick Google News search turns up numerous news sites that do have the blurred out photos from Facebook (like the one above).

The Times of Israel reports that, “Israeli news site Walla said the women were new recruits stationed on a base in southern Israel. The picture showed the soldiers removing their fatigue uniforms to expose their underwear and back sides. The story has been shared widely in Arab media, albeit often with a heavily censored version of the photograph.”

Soldiers in the IDF have caused a lot of controversy over the past year because of content posted to social media sites.

In November 2012, the IDF's social media chief Lt. Sacha Dratwa was accused of being a racist after he posted a picture with his face covered in mud to Facebook. A caption next to the image read, "Obama Style".

A disturbing image that sparked outrage was posted to the Instagram account of 20-year old Israeli soldier Mor Ostrovski, who belonged to a sniper unit. The photo showed a Palestinian boy's head in the crosshairs of a sniper rifle.

Earlier this year, Israeli military commanders were told to stop recruits from uploading videos and pictures "not appropriate to the spirit of the IDF" after two soldiers were sent to military prison for 14 and 21 days for posting a clip of the Harlem Shake to YouTube.

Mars Rat photo taken by Curiosity goes viral

Milblogging.com — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 07:46:38 GMT

Image via NASA

Just a few weeks after an image of a giant peen on Mars grabbed headlines, sure enough, an image of a Mars rat has gone viral across the web.

According to a story on Space.com, "UFO buffs spotted the purported "Mars rat" in a panoramic photo snapped in September 2012 by NASA's Curiosity rover. Zooming in on a portion of the image reveals what appears to be a rodent crouching between two rocks, its nose to the ground."

Don’t break out your tin foil hats or anything just yet.

There’s no cause for alarm.

Turns out it’s nothing more than a rock that resembles a rat. Shocking.

News: Live tweets from Bradley Manning trial

Milblogging.com — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 06:34:35 GMT

Bradley Manning trial begins: live tweets from Fort Meade. After 1,100 days in military captivity, American soldier Bradley Manning finally headed to trial Monday for leaking a trove of state secrets to WikiLeaks. The US soldier faces 21 counts flowing from the leaking of hundreds of thousands of classified digital files to WikiLeaks. Our reporter Ed Pilkington is at Fort Meade and will be tweeting throughout the trial. The court has placed increasing restrictions on journalists using multimedia, but Ed will be updating as often as possible...
(Guardian)

Ricky Schroder On His New U.S. Army Series 'Starting Strong'. BFTV told you earlier this week about Ricky Schroder's new TV series, Starting Strong, which offers viewers an inside look at the United States Army. Ricky joined BFTV on Friday to explain his passion for the armed services and what makes Starting Strong unique. It's a personal project for the actor-producer, who produced, directed and narrated the ten-week limited series. "I had two grandpas who served in World War II," he explained...
(Starpulse)

Foreign correspondents. AFTER the brutal murder of Lee Rigby, a British soldier, in London on May 22nd, many viewers watched a video of one of his suspected killers, with bloodstained hands and a meat cleaver, addressing onlookers. The video was broadcast first on ITV News, a British network, which dozens of media firms then credited. But that video was not a piece of professional journalism. It was shot on a BlackBerry by a man on his way to a job interview. Shortly after the killing, ITV sent journalists and producers to the scene. The man shared his video but asked to remain anonymous...
(The Economist)

Bradley Manning Court-Martial Starts Today. The court-martial for Army Pfc. Bradley Manning begins today in Fort Meade, Md. Manning is accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of military and State Department documents that ended up being published by online organization WikiLeaks, in what has been described as the most extensive leak of classified information in U.S. history. Manning, 25, faces life in prison if convicted of the most serious charge of aiding the enemy. The trial is expected to last three months...
(ABC News)

For Young Somali Journalists, Work Often Turns Deadly. Shabelle Media is Somalia's largest news outlet — and a very dangerous place to work. Of the r, four were reporting for Shabelle. A number of the reporters are teenagers, some as young as 15. The reporters almost never venture out of the office, which is outfitted with sleeping quarters and a kitchen. Why are Shabelle's young journalists being targeted more than others?
(NPR)

Column: WWII veterans have stories worth hearing. Over the long Memorial Day weekend, we got a fax and voice message from family and friends of Frank “Sully” Sullivan who was in a Spokane hospital recovering from heart surgery. He’s 90, and his surgery went well. His loved ones wondered if the newspaper would be interested in highlighting Sullivan’s World War II story. The voicemail and fax didn’t reach us until Tuesday when the holiday had passed, and because Sullivan isn’t from the Spokane area, we might not have done the story anyway...
(Spokesman.com)

Military blogs added to Milblogging (May 13)

Milblogging.com — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 10:54:03 GMT

Here’s the latest list of military blogs that were added to the Milblogging database. There are several military spouse blogs in this bunch.

Adventures of the Triple B's, Carmen, United States, Air Force Wife

Tiny Texan, Bri, United States, Hey y'all! I'm Bri, but also known as Tiny Texan, ...

The Spirituality of War, Mike Liguori, United States, After two tours in Iraq and a hard transition home...

Trials and Triumphs of Loving my Sailor, AMY MICHELE, United States, Navy Wife Texas Gal

Enchanted Air force Wife, Katie Nicole Hayman, United States, Hi I'm Katie! I am an Air force wife stationed in ...

Hiccups and Sunshine, Kelly Marie, United States, I'm a 24 year old Navy wife and SAHM to an adorabl...

Blazing beautiful, Jenna Reinke, United States, I am currently majoring in Mass Communication and ...

The Patriotic Pam, Pam McFarland, United States, I sell Nomades Military Jewelry to help those that...

Fractured Fairy Tales, AlanaMarie, United States, I am crazy, silly, sweet, energetic, adventurous, ...

Diary of She Who Waits, Victoria, United States, One of the best things in life are events that mak...

Rosario Family Blog, KRosario31, Germany, We are living the dream in Germany while trying to...

She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, Honeybeeusmgf, Spain, This is about my journey as a US Marine's girlfrie...

Heart Shaped Sweat, Kristine, United States, Me and my 3 L's. Lucas (hubby) and my 2 boys, Lan...

Being (more than) a Marine Wife, Nicole, United States, Welcome! My name is Nicole. I am a 20 something, F...

Anchored by Faith, Victoria, United States, My name is Victoria and I am the newly wedded wife...

Anchors Aweigh, Chelsea, United States, I'm Chelsea, and I'm the main writer on this littl...

The Newsom's Nest, Katherine Newsom, United States, I'm just a Texas gal who is enjoying a beautiful l...

Hurry Up and Wait, Miranda, United States, Over time my blog has become more of a way to cope...

It Happens in a Blink, It Happens in a Blink, United States, The journey of a Navy Wife, motherhood, and deploy...

Life, Love, Art, Mercedes Snow, United States, An Airman, an artist, their giant horsedog, and th...

Munchkins and the Military, Alex, United States, Hi, I'm Alex! Welcome to my page! I'm a stay at ho...

A Military Story, Layla Mayville, United States, A Military Story is a fully focused military blog ...

Army Wife, Heather, United States, Me? Oh..well..here's my short story. I was born in...

Domesticated Combat Boots, Hana Romer, United States, I'm a former U.S. Marine (of 10 faithful years) tu...

Keep Calm and Love a Sailor, Cassie, United States, I'm Cassie, 28, a social worker/therapist/educatio...

Chronicles of a Army Wife, Cortney, United States, Married to and in love with a US Soldier

Military Wife Humor and Life!, Crystal Barnes, United States, well, I am perfectly imperfect. I am the wife of a...

The Guard Life, @TheGuardWife, United States, Hi! I’m new to this whole blogging thing, but I...

My Home Is With You, Meara, United States, Hi there! I'm Meara, I have two awesome kiddo's an...

ADF personnel investigated over hate comments

Milblogging.com — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 09:06:43 GMT

Members of the Australian Defence Force are being investigated over racist hate comments posted on Facebook, reports The Sydney Morning Herald.

“The postings from soldiers and sailors are the latest in a string of racist scandals to have hit the Australian Defence Force over the past decade, including inflammatory remarks by serving personnel in Afghanistan, soldiers dressing like the Ku Klux Klan and racist and sexist Facebook groups.

One message on a hate page, understood to be from a serving soldier, said: ''My mates wife ripped the scarf of a muzzos head, after she run up the arse of their Porsche, it was so she could see where she was going next time.''

The story discusses several of the incidents that have taken place over the years.

The ADF has been in the news even more recently as well.

In mid April, the ADF got into “hot water” for not taking action over anti-gay hate comments that were posted to another Facebook site.

Full story here.

News: Q&A with The Duffel Blog

Milblogging.com — Sat, 01 Jun 2013 23:56:28 GMT

The Duffle Blog: The funniest website you don’t know about. The Duffle Blog! Do you know about it? There’s actually a good chance you do, the website’s grown exponentially since its inception in March of 2012, it now has over 51,000 Facebook friends. But hey, if you don’t know about it, you need to check it out, especially if you’re a veteran or if you have a loved one serving in the Armed Forces...
(Guns.com)

Syrian Electronic Army kicked off the Web. The Syrian Electronic Army, which claimed credit for the April hijacking of The Associated Press Twitter account with a tweet that led to the Dow Jones plummeting, is off the Web — at least for now. The group, believed to be anonymous supporters of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, said in a statement that its website is "no longer functional" because the Syrian Computer Society decided to "stop hosting our official website and furthermore, to refuse to host it ever again."
(NBC News)

Jailed for Facebook comments, Marine sues. It happens in China routinely. It frequently happened in the old Soviet Union. Undoubtedly in North Korea, although generally there’s no one around to witness it. But in the United States? It happens here, too, apparently. A lawsuit has been filed by officials with the Rutherford Institute on behalf of a Marine who was jailed and held for the comments he made on Facebook – comments that expressed a dissatisfaction with the present direction of the U.S. government...
(WND)

McMahon blasts social media ‘idiots’ in wake of soldier’s murder. OLDHAM Council leader Jim McMahon has hit out at the “spineless idiots” who tried to incite “viral violence” on social networking sites in the aftermath of Middleton soldier Lee Rigby’s murder. Councillor McMahon has condemned those who spread “total lies” that Oldham Muslims were celebrating in the streets following the 25-year-old’s death in Woolwich last Wednesday...
(Chronicle Online)

Social media gains importance in military's relocation programs. One doesn't typically think of social media when thinking about how the U.S. military communicates. That is what I thought when I was asked to present at the recent Worldwide ERC (Employee Relocation Council) National Relocation Conference in San Diego, Calif., to a group of military recruiters who manage the relocation programs for U.S. military bases...
(Houston Chronicle)

Facebook’s Plan to Stop the Hate: Holding Us Accountable. Yesterday, I asked Facebook to take down a fraudulent page. Within a few hours it was gone, just a shadowy image of a bandaged thumb where it used to be. Very effective. It’s highly likely I get better treatment from Facebook than your average Joe (because, um, they know me.) When it comes to pages of questionable taste, Facebook moves a little more gingerly...
(TIME)

Military Sniper and Author, Leaving His Legacy. On the night of Feb. 2, William Doyle was working on “American Gun,” a book he was writing with Chris Kyle, the retired Navy SEAL who had vaulted to celebrity status with his first book, “American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History,” one year earlier...
(The New York Times)

A letter written by World War II soldier that couldn’t reach its destination in 69 years! Manhattan: A young aspiring actor, writer and artist Abbi Jacobson discovers an old letter penned from a World War II soldier to his wife 69 years ago, in her mailbox. Jacobson, 27, made a website, a YouTube video, a Facebook group and Twitter hash tag, aimed at finding the right people and delivering the letter to its rightful owners. Jacobson said that she was shocked to find the letter and has spent months to find the owner, after which she decided to approach people online...
(Daily Bhaskar)

Follow D-Day on Twitter as it happens @dday7

Milblogging.com — Fri, 31 May 2013 23:01:43 GMT

While most of the recent news involving Twitter that I’ve covered has involved the Syrian Electronic Army hacking the accounts of popular news organizations, here’s a bit of new news.

There’s a Twitter account online called @dday7 that follows seven real people who took part in the 1944 D-Day invasion.

Next week, marks the 69^th anniversary and people will be taking to social media to commemorate D-Day.

According to The Guardian:

“The story of the "soldier in the surf", the subject of the famous photo that inspired Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan, will feature in a Channel 4 history initiative marking the 69th anniversary of the D-Day landings next week, with 24 hours of TV and Twitter coverage recreating the events of the pivotal second world war battle in real time.

D-Day: As It Happens will follow the stories of seven individuals involved in the 6 June 1944 operation to land more than 150,000 Allied troops on the Normandy beaches, through regular updates on TV, social media and the internet over 24 hours from 9pm on Wednesday 5 June.”

On a related note, the world’s oldest known military blogger, Normandy D-Day vet Solomon Fein, has been sharing his experience online for years.

While it’s been several months since Fein has published a new post, I expect we’ll hear from him soon.

More here.

U.S. Army reaches 1.8 million Facebook fans

Milblogging.com — Fri, 31 May 2013 20:40:28 GMT

Of all the people and entities on Facebook, not many official government organizations have reached 1 million likes or more.

Earlier this week, the US Marine Corps reached the 3 million mark and became the first military organization to surpass that milestone.

Now, the U.S. Army has reached 1.8 million fans on Facebook.

Here’s a look at some of the U.S. military organizations that have already passed the 1 million mark and their current standings:

United States Marine Corps - 3,003,845
Marines - 2,632,623 likes
National Guard - 1,344,608 likes
U.S. Air Force - 1,233,533 likes

Tweeting astronaut @AstroKarenN back in space

Milblogging.com — Thu, 30 May 2013 04:40:39 GMT

Image of Karen Nyberg via NASA.gov

NASA Astronaut Karen L. Nyberg is back in space.

14 hours ago, Nyberg tweeted, “Thrilled to be back on the International Space Station!”

Nyberg made the six-hour flight on the Russian Soyuz space rocket, along with two other astronauts.

“Time for me to "unplug"! Thanks everyone for well wishes & great interest in what our nations do in space. Will be talking to you from LEO!”, tweeted Nyberg shortly before departing.

According to ComputerWorld:

“The new crew members will join Flight Engineer Chris Cassidy of NASA and Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Alexander Misurkin of the Russian space agency.

NASA's Nyberg, who has a doctorate in mechanical engineering, will be making her second mission to space today.”

You can follow Nyberg on Twitter @AstroKarenN

As of today, Nyberg has over 25,000 followers and has tweeted nearly 300 times.

She follows nearly 40 people like Danica Patrick, the National Geographic, several astronauts, and a handful of other people on Twitter.

More on Nyberg's latest mission here.

News: Facebook failed to stop hate speech

Milblogging.com — Wed, 29 May 2013 18:32:04 GMT

Facebook Says It Failed to Bar Posts With Hate Speech. Facebook on Tuesday acknowledged that its systems to identify and remove hate speech had not worked effectively, as it faced pressure from feminist groups that want the site to ban pages that glorify violence against women...
(The New York Times)

Sniper kills Syrian journalist from pro-government TV. Sniper fire killed a well-known Syrian journalist working for a pro-government television channel near the Lebanese-Syrian border on Monday, the state news agency said...
(Reuters)

Tunisia: blogger faces military trial for criticising hospital staff. Amnesty International is calling for charges to be dropped against a blogger due to stand trial for criticising staff at a military hospital in Tunisia. The blogger, Hakim Ghanmi, is set to stand trial tomorrow at the Sfax Military Court, in south-eastern Tunisia, on charges of “undermining the reputation of the army”, “defamation of a public official” and “disturbing others through public communication networks”.
(Amnesty)

Should We Be Upset About Hernandez’s “Dead Soldier” Comment? Twitter Responds. Mets commentator and former Major League Baseball player Keith Hernandez drew a lot of criticism when he used the term "dead soldier" to refer to a broken bat during the Mets-Yankees Memorial Day game, CBS Sports reports. After the barrel of Mets' Daniel Murphy's bat went flying, Hernandez said "Well, that is a dead soldier right there, folks." A SNY spokesperson told the NY Daily News, "We'll address the matter with Keith."
(KpopStarz)

How the British Media Became the Tool of the Brutal London Killers. IT WAS not the British media’s finest hour. As news of the horrific killing of British soldier Drummer Lee Rigby, 25, filtered onto social media, it was accompanied by dire warnings: “Don’t trust Twitter ... Only believe in reputable news sources.” But professional news organizations were both slow and wrong...
(The Daily Beast)

Why a Media Shield Law Isn't Enough to Save Journalists. I’m all for a shield law to protect journalists and their sources from government prosecutors. I hope Congress passes one. But I don’t have lots of faith that the ideas under consideration in Congress or any law can protect journalists adequately...
(National Journal)

Vets war stories archived in Library of Congress. Excellent soldier. Those two words written by a U.S. Army major on discharge papers more than 70 years ago still mean the world to Robert Peterson Sr. of Kearney, a World War II veteran. "I'm proud of that," said Peterson, 93. And now, thanks to the Library of Congress's Veterans History Project of the American Folklife Center, those words will be forever in the archives in Washington, D.C. Earlier this month, Peterson's family digitally recorded his war story...
(Lexington Clipper-Herald)

Marine Corps tops 3 million Facebook likes

Milblogging.com — Wed, 29 May 2013 18:05:48 GMT

In late February I wrote about how the United States Marine Corps had reached 2.9 million likes on Facebook, an amazing feat for any organization on the social networking site.

The Marines crossed the 2.9 million milestone on Monday, February 25.

About three months later, the Marines have now topped 3 million likes. As of the time of this posting, the page is at 3,002,640 likes.

Several messages were posted to Marines’ Facebook page yesterday, including the image with a note that reads, “Thank you for being one of three million fans supporting the United States Marine Corps on Facebook.”

What’s even more interesting is when the Marines hit the magical number. According to PageData, a Facebook page metrics website, the Marines reached 3 million likes on Memorial Day, Monday, May 27.

Congratulations to the Marines.

That reminds me, Milblogging.com just topped 100 likes on Facebook. Apparently, it's going to take a little longer to reach 3 million likes. Hopefully, by the end of the month though. Who knows, I might be off by a few days...

Marines punished for threatening Facebook posts

Milblogging.com — Tue, 28 May 2013 06:09:59 GMT

There's an update to the story about the Facebook page that demeaned female Marines.

If you recall, Congresswoman Jackie Speier released portions of the Facebook page, “F’N Wook,” in a letter that was sent to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Marine Corps Commandant James Amos and deputy inspector general Lynne Halbrooks.

The story got a lot of attention and there was evidence that active-duty and reserve Marines were involved in posting on the page.

Facebook quickly took down the page, but another page went online called "F*** You Jackie Speier" that caught the attention of the U.S. Capital Police.

Now, according to USA Today, several Marines are being investigated and punished.

"Federal law enforcement officials are investigating a former Marine and several active-duty Marines after they allegedly posted threatening and lewd messages on social media sites that targeted President Obama and a California congresswoman, according to a government official informed of the investigations.

The former Marine was interviewed last week by the Secret Service for the threatening post against President Obama, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigations are ongoing.

The Secret Service does not discuss its protective actions, said spokesman George Ogilvie.

Investigators from the U.S. Capitol Police have been investigating several threatening posts against Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., the Capitol Hill source said. Capitol Police do not comment on their investigations.

Several Marines also have been referred to their commanders for non-judicial punishment in recent months, said Marine Capt. Eric Flanagan, a spokesman. That punishment can range from raking leaves to loss of rank to dismissal from the service, he said.”

Full story here.

News: Rupert Murdoch goes on Twitter rant

Milblogging.com — Tue, 28 May 2013 05:53:09 GMT

Rupert Murdoch criticizes Koran in Twitter rant. Rupert Murdoch left some people outraged and others scratching their heads on Sunday when he took to Twitter to quote verses from the Koran. “Get real. Koran says(1) ‘whoever killed a human being…it shall be regarded as having killed all mankind…’” the Fox News mogul tweeted...
(Washington Times)

Peterson’s war stories on archive. Excellent soldier. Those two words written by a U.S. Army major on discharge papers more than 70 years ago still mean the world to Robert Peterson Sr. of Kearney, a World War II veteran. “I’m proud of that,” said Peterson, 93. And now, thanks to the Library of Congress’s Veterans History Project of the American Folklife Center, those words will be forever in the archives in Washington, D.C. Earlier this month, Peterson’s family digitally recorded his war story...
(Kearney Hub)

A "living artifact" of WWII shares his story. While taking a tour of the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, you're advised to look up -- to a B-17 bomber, so deadly and effective it served in every theater of the war. There's lots to see and hear in this museum of more than 10,000 artifacts and installations, all reflecting the simple fact that WWII was BIG -- the largest armed conflict in human history...
(CBS News)

WWII Vets Share War Stories With Students. Just days before America honors its war dead on Memorial Day, high school students in York Springs got a chance to hear first-hand accounts from some of the men who served during World War II and lived to tell about it. Everett Weiser, 88, served with the 553rd Military Police and Escort Company, which fought with the First Army on the Western Front...
(NBC 10 Philadelphia)

Ohio Veterans Home preserves history. Pat Hansen, a Vietnam War veteran, intently examined a black-and-white portrait preserved on a museum wall. It didn’t take long to find what she was looking for. “That’s me,” Hansen said with a smile, pointing to the center of the 1964 photograph depicting 21 orderly flight nurses. The veteran turned to the pair accompanying her on her museum tour and offered a slightly atypical war story...
(Sandusky Register)

Syrian Electronic Army: pro-government propaganda, or just trolling for lulz? On May 4th, a series of odd tweets went out to the 5 million or so followers of the E! News Twitter account. "Exclusive! Justin Bieber to E! online: I’m a gay," read the first one. Then came a tweet about Angelina Jolie commenting on the Syrian revolution, another tweet about Bieber’s homosexuality, then a triumphant admission: "The Syrian Electronic Army was here! Fans of @justinbieber, you have been trolled."
(The Verge)

Dead Marine's WW2 diary gets to girl he loved

Milblogging.com — Mon, 27 May 2013 05:39:33 GMT

This is a heartwarming story, just in time for Memorial Day.

Fox News is running an AP story about how a diary belonging to a Marine killed in WW2, found its way to the girl he loved nearly 70 years later.

“Before Cpl. Thomas "Cotton" Jones was killed by a Japanese sniper in the South Pacific in 1944, he wrote what he called his "last life request" to anyone who might find his diary: Please give it to Laura Mae Davis, the girl he loved.”

The diary was displayed in a showcase in the National WWII Museum.

Davis, the high school sweetheart of Jones, noticed the diary while visiting the museum on April 24.

The Fox News article has pictures and more details.