Air Force disciplines airmen over coffin photo. The U.S. Air Force will discipline but not criminally charge an unspecified number of airmen over a photograph that went viral showing them clowning around with a coffin used to transport American war dead. "No criminal conduct occurred. However, members who were involved in the photo received administrative actions documenting that their conduct brought discredit to both the military and themselves," Colonel Gregory Reese, commander of the 37th Training Group at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, told reporters on Monday...
(Reuters)

Fort Hood hosts Army's first multimedia town hall. The town hall's multimedia format, utilizing social media via Facebook, a live television broadcast and simultaneously broadcasting the audio portion on the installation's Web-based radio station was a first, not only for Fort Hood, but also for the Army. Other installations have hosted town hall meetings on Facebook, and Fort Hood has previously hosted numerous TV town halls. The two-hour event, the second hour of which was to be televised and available at www.FortHoodRadio.com, elicited more than 400 questions on Facebook and dozens of phone calls...
(Army)

Defense ministry issues guidelines on soldiers' use of social media. SEOUL, Jan. 31 (Yonhap) -- The defense ministry on Tuesday issued guidelines on the use of social media by soldiers, with an emphasis on protecting the military's confidential information. The ministry said in a statement the increase in smartphone ownership and the subsequent rise in use of social networking services (SNS) prompted the publication of the guidelines...
(YONHAP NEWS)

VA connects to vets on FB. Hundreds of New Mexico’s military veterans are taking advantage of a social media tool to keep abreast of VA programs.  After its launch in late 2010, the fan base for the New Mexico VA Health Care System’s Facebook page continues to grow. This social media page currently has more than 400 “Likes” from fans across the country.   Its main purpose is to quickly communicate information about VA programs to veterans and others...
(Cibola Beacon News)

Former News reporter embedded in Afghanistan. A former Taranaki Daily News journalist is on the most exciting – and dangerous – job of her career with British troops in Afghanistan. Sharon Marris, 31, says the job as a war-zone reporter is everything she dreamed of since she was a teenager, she wrote in an email to the paper yesterday from Helmand where she is embedded with the British Army. "I'd wanted to cover war and conflict since I was about 15 but as I grew up and realised just how few and far between those opportunities were, I'd almost given up on the idea...
(Stuff.co.nz)

Original Tuskegee Airman Shares his Story and Thoughts on 'Red Tails'. Cornelius Davis hails from Blountstown and was apart of the original chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen.  Cornelius Davis’ home is filled with tons of memorabilia from his days as a Tuskegee Airman. The group was the U.S. War Department’s experiment to prove African Americans were capable of serving as military pilots. Davis says seeing war planes in newsreels are what sparked his interest in aviation at a young age. “All of a sudden, an airplane appeared and dropped a bomb on it and it went to pieces and I'm going to be the one dropping the bomb" said Cornelius Davis, Tuskegee Airman...
(WJHG)

Military to troops: Cameras OK, just be careful. Soldiers who fought overseas during World War II sometimes made souvenirs of Nazi helmets, swords or daggers. Today's troops have war relics, too: digital photos and videos with the potential to reach a vast audience. “Oh yeah, I've got hundreds of ‘em,” said Army Spc. Bryan Bishop, a Florida native stationed at Fort Bragg. He was clicking on his laptop to open files of photos and footage he took during a year-long deployment to Iraq that started in 2009. “I put them up on Facebook and show them to family. People like to look at them.”
(Burlington Times News)

Eqyptian blogger released from prison. "I tell the revolutionaries, if the revolution does not continue and you stop, then you will all end up in prison, and maybe even worse," Maikel Sanad Nabil said in his first news conference in Cairo since he was freed. The 26-year-old Coptic Christian spent months in prison after he was charged with insulting military rulers by documenting their violations on his blog following the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in February 2011. The head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Marshall Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, pardoned hundreds of prisoners, including Nabil, days before the first anniversary of the January 25 uprising that toppled Mubarak...
(SBS)

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Just a few days ago, I wrote about Army Veteran and military blogger Sarge Charlie in hospice care for lung cancer.

Well, I have sad news to report.  I received news from my friend Kathi that Sarge Charlie has died, just days after the hospice announcement was posted on his site.

One of Sarge’s daughters posted a message yesterday to his blog saying, “Thank you to everyone for the blessing that you have been to Dad and Mom and to our whole family. Prior to Dad's passing, I read him every comment you left. It meant so much to him and he felt your love. I felt your love as I read them.”

Sarge’s wife, who goes by the name Empress Bee online, posted a message on her blog this morning saying, “Nothing can prepare someone for this experience.  I have lost parents and friends and relatives but never my "other half" and I don't know yet what to expect but will soon find out I know.  I am strong and will (eventually) be fine.  Keep on keepin' on y'all... I will too. “

He will be buried in South Florida National Cemetery with Military Funeral Honors on Friday, February 3.

In lieu of flowers, if you wish you may make a donation to the Fern House.

Fern House, Inc. 501(c)(3)
1958 Church Street
West Palm Beach, Florida 33409
Ph (561) 471-0430

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Military adapts to cameras in war zones. Soldiers who fought overseas during World War II sometimes made souvenirs of Nazi helmets, swords or daggers. Today's troops have war relics, too: digital photos and video with the potential to reach a vast audience. "Oh yeah, I've got hundreds of 'em," said Army Spc. Bryan Bishop, a Florida native stationed at Fort Bragg. He was clicking on his laptop to open files of photos and footage he took during a yearlong deployment to Iraq that started in 2009. "I put them up on Facebook and show them to family. People like to look at them."
(The Charlotte Observer)

'Nigerian Scam' Emails Now Arriving with a Military Twist. The well-known "Nigerian Prince" email scam -- also known as the 419 scam -- seems to be getting a military twist. I got an email yesterday from a person identifying himself as "Capt. Joe Patton Jr." of the 395th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion in Afghanistan. Seems Capt. Patton needs my help getting a couple of "military trunk boxes" out of Afghanistan and back to the states. He assures me that the project will be "of mutual interest for the both of us and will never expose you to any form of risk."
(Fort Stewart Patch)

Pat Tillman's cleats hawked on eBay. Here's the latest from the sometimes sleazy sports memorabilia market. A man is trying to sell dead war hero Pat Tillman's autographed game cleats on eBay for $3.2 million, according to Fox Sports. The eBay listing claims the former Arizona Cardinals safety wore them during a regular season game against the Baltimore Ravens in 2000...
(USA Today)

The great Twitter protest … that wasn't.  If you Googled the words "Twitter blackout" yesterday, the search engine returned more than 85 million hits. Evidence, surely, of global outrage and a backlash against the microblogging website by its army of users, or "tweeps". Well, no. Or not, at least, in the UAE, where reaction to Twitter's new policy of country-specific censorship of content seemed to be bemusement that there hadn't been more of a reaction...
(The National)

Michiana photographer offers military families special gift. Professional photographers are giving military families in Michiana a gift only they could provide to troops serving our country overseas. Photos for Soldiers is a program started by Clare DeHann, a professional photographer out of Niles, Michigan. The program is designed for military families with loved ones overseas. DeHann and nine other photographers all over the Michiana region are offering to shoot free photo sessions for military families, and then send the pictures to the brave man or woman fighting to protect the freedoms we enjoy...
(ABC57)

Dissident blogger attacks Egypt military after release. Egypt’s revolutionist blogger, who was incarcerated for his staunchly critical writings against the military, has stepped out unsoftened from prison, lashing out at the Army in his very first appearance and recounting his 10 months behind the bars. In his first address after being "pardoned" from his two-year prison sentence, Maikel Nabil said he was drugged before his interrogation and forced to watch other prisoners being tortured during his 302 days in jail...
(Hindustan Times)

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Here's an article by well-known military blogger Alex Horton who now blogs for the VA.

The title of the story is "Perpetuating the Erroneous “Ticking Bomb” View of Veterans".

The story was written in response to USA TODAY's most believable headline ever where they so professionally lump together "vets" and "ticking bombs" --- Police get help with vets who are ticking bombs.

Alex writes:

"A few weeks ago, we warned against an increasingly prevalent narrative in news: That war Veterans are violent, unstable, and dangerous. I explained why that simply isn’t the case, and how those aspersions can hurt Vets and deepen the divide between us and civilians.

Thursday, the national media moved a step closer to establishing this unfortunate characterization as conventional wisdom in the newsroom. USA Today, a national newspaper second to only the Wall Street Journal in distribution, published a story with a headline brimming with violent imagery"

A lot of people aren't too thrilled about the USA Today story. 

As Alex points out, Ron Capps, a contributor to TIME’s Battleland, called the headline “absurd.”

On a random note, what's with all reporters bribing and hacking to get new stories?  Who knew?

Via: Bouhammer

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1st Fort Hood multimedia town hall deemed success. Nearly 100 leaders and experts from Fort Hood sat ready in front of a computer Thursday night. As part of Fort Hood's first multimedia town hall meeting, they waited until 5 p.m. to answer questions from the public. The use of multimedia platforms, including Facebook, television and radio for this type of event marked a first for the Army. "We are truly breaking some new ground in terms of TV and Facebook," Fort Hood Commander Lt. Gen. Donald Campbell said as he addressed the group. Soldiers, families and community members could either post their questions on Fort Hood's Facebook page or call their questions in...
(Your News Now)

Wisconsin soldier's debut novel about Iraq earns good reviews. The bottle of water thrown from a passing semitrailer truck attracted a little girl who desperately wanted it. It spun into the road. The tiny girl ran toward the prize, a treat for the kids who lined the road waiting for American convoys to rumble through day and night in the Iraqi border town of Safwan. But the girl didn't reach the water bottle in time. She was crushed under a truck wheel. By the time Ben Buchholz arrived, the scene was chaotic. It was Buchholz's second day as a civil affairs officer and liaison between the U.S. Army and the Iraqi leaders in Safwan...
(JSOnline)

VA Gulf Coast now active on Facebook. The VA Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care system, along with more than 150 other veterans medical centers throughout the country, is now active on Facebook. VA Gulf Coast, which serves 60,000 veterans from Biloxi to Panama City, can be accessed at www.facebook.com/VABiloxi...
(Pensacola News Journal)

Iraq War veterans share stories from overseas during welcome-home parade in St. Louis. Veterans who attended the nation’s first major Iraq War parade Saturday in St. Louis said they appreciated the welcome home, even though some expected to be redeployed to Afghanistan or elsewhere in the coming months. Here are a few of their stories...
(The Washington Post)

Indian Army asks soldiers not to show affiliation to force on social networking sites. The Indian Army has asked its officers and personnel to remove all the pictures and information showing their affiliation to the service from their personal profiles on social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter and Orkut. As per the circular issued in October last year, all officers and personnel have been asked to remove such pictures and information from their respective profiles in three months and that deadline expires in the next few days, Army sources said here...
(OdishaToday)

Twitter users stop tweeting to protest ‘censorship’. Twitter users are being urged to go on strike today in response to the company’s decision to block or remove tweets in specific countries. Previously posts could only be removed globally.  However, this new move has angered freedom of speech and information advocates such as Reporters Without Borders. Twitter Account holders are being asked to not tweet on Saturday in protest...
(euronews)

Maikel Nabil recounts his prison experience. Nabil's charges were based mainly on a blog post that he wrote on 7 March titled “The army and the people were never one hand,” in which he accused military forces of being implicated in killing protesters during the 18-day uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak. On 22 January, only three days ahead of the anniversary of the 25 January revolution, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, pardoned 1959 prisoners who had been sentenced by military courts...
(Al-Masry Al-Youm)

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Old Blue has launched a new military blog to help tell the story of his third deployment to Afghanistan.

For his first hand perspective, visit afghanblue.com.

About the blog:

In 2007, I started writing a blog called, “Bill and Bob’s Excellent Afghan Adventure.”   That blog, in the days before Facebook, was started as a way to journal for my family and friends.  It was a way for me to share my experiences.  If Facebook had been as popular then, I may never have written a blog that could be found by anyone who stumbled across it.   It turned out that many more would read my writings than just family and friends.  Thousands more.   As time went by, I started to write also about counterinsurgency (COIN) and stability operations.  By the time I rolled the original blog, hosted on blogspot, into a new blog, AfghanQuest, I was blogging mostly about COIN, and those who had enjoyed reading about the experience of serving in Afghanistan no longer found what they were looking for.  Some very good people pointed that out to me, and this blog is the place where I will tell those stories.  I will still write on AfghanQuest, but that writing will be what people have come to expect to find there.  For those of you who read my posts before, thank you and welcome back.  I sincerely hope that you enjoy this just as much.

About Old Blue:

I’m Old Blue, a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom who has 27 months experience in Afghanistan in two tours. On my first tour, I was an embedded advisor with the Afghan National Police in Kapisa and Nuristan Provinces, Afghanistan.  My second tour found me teaching counterinsurgency, or COIN, in Afghanistan. I had the opportunity to train military members and civilians from over 30 countries. I got to spend some time in the East, including revisiting Kapisa and Tag Ab. I also spent a lot of time in Helmand Province, mostly working with British forces. The thing I am proudest of from my second tour is being part of the team that wrote the COIN Qualification Standards that were signed by the Secretary of Defense as the tasks that units will train to perform prior to deploying to Afghanistan.

A Senior NCO with 29 years of service in the Army National Guard, I fit the “old dog” name I have adopted.  I was raised in the Army of the Cold War, trained in the tactics of AirLand Doctrine developed to fight against the former Soviet Union and used to great effect in Operation Desert Storm in 1991.  After all that I found myself in a counterinsurgency fight; so I had to learn a new way of warfare.

My quest in Afghanistan parallels my nation’s quest; finding a new role in an increasingly globalized world.  The United States finds itself the  world’s only true superpower, but with great power comes great responsibility, such as assisting developing nations to develop rationally.  Greater security can be found in furthering good governance, development and the provenance of justice rather than in enforcing our will by force of arms.   Unfortunately, until the insurgency in Afghanistan and Pakistan is quelled, these things cannot be achieved there.  However, if the United States can assume the role of mentor, advisor and enabler of development, perhaps future conflicts can be avoided altogether.  Insurgencies can be avoided and terrorism prevented from developing.

In the meantime, I will do what I can to help speed success in Afghanistan. I believe that success can best be accomplished through the adaptive and intelligent practice of population-centric counterinsurgency.

I am the father of four children; two girls and two boys.  I live in Cincinnati, Ohio.  My intent is that someday my children will visit Afghanistan as tourists, not as Soldiers.

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No more Facebook for Indian Army. The Indian Army is reported to have issued orders asking all its men, officers and other ranks, who had joined social networking sites like Facebook or Orkut earlier to immediately quit them. Those who have not joined such social networking sites have also been directed not to be available in such sites in future...
(Times of Assam)

4 naval officers leak confidential info on social media, face action. NEW DELHI: Four naval officers are in the dock after they were reportedly found divulging information about the location of warships and other confidential data on social networking websites, which was even being accessed by foreign nationals... 
(The Times of India)
 
Agencies Create Database to Protect Troops, Quell Swindlers. Their presence outside military bases has become all too familiar: businesses peddling cars, electronics and other items with undisclosed conditions or sky-high interest rates that quickly become a financial nightmare for service members. Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced as one of its first orders of business that it is partnering with the Federal Trade Commission to put a stop to such scams...
(Department of Defense)

Think twice before posting info on Facebook. Facebook. It seems like everyone, and everything, has a Facebook page. From middle school students to U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, millions of people, businesses and military organizations log on to Facebook every day to share information, interests and news. For members of the U.S. military and other government agencies, Facebook makes keeping in touch with friends and family easier than ever...
(The Fort Leavenworth Lamp)

Cairo Contagion: Military Tracks Uprising’s ‘Infectious’ Ideas. The revolt that started a year ago today in Egypt was spread by Twitter and YouTube, or so the popular conception goes. But a group of Navy-backed researchers has a more controversial thesis: Egyptians were infected by the idea of overthrowing their dictator...
(Danger Room)

Facebook Report 320% Increase in Subscribers for Journalists. Yesterday Facebook + Journalists staff posted an update on how journalists are using the ‘Subscribe’ button, which was introduced in September 2011. The subscribe feature is useful for journalists as it means they don’t have have accept friend requests, but instead allow people to subscribe to their public updates, which will appear in their newsfeeds...
(Simply Zesty)

In Africa, Kenyans are second in using Twitter. Kenyans are the second most avid users of Twitter on the continent, new research has revealed. “Young people tweeting from mobile devices are driving the growth of Twitter in Africa,” reads the survey that was launched in Nairobi on Thursday...
(Daily Nation)

Very young Egyptian blogger and writer Ali Hisham shares his views with Sarah Eissa on Egypt and the future. Playing on and searching for the latest video games, reading teen magazines and hanging out with friends are what teenagers usually do. But 14-year-old Ali Hisham would rather write short stories and blog... 
(Al-Ahram Weekly)

FBI would like to follow you on Facebook and Twitter. The FBI has got tired of monitoring social media sites manually and wants to reinvent the process. So, soon your posts may instantly light up on a map as a big red dot if considered suspicious, marking the location of the ‘bad actor.’
(RT)

Pressure mounts on Havana as Brazil grants visa to dissident Cuban blogger. The Brazilian government has granted a tourist visa to the dissident Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez, adding pressure on Havana to allow her to leave the island. The move comes days before Brazil's president, Dilma Rousseff, visits Cuba, where she is expected to meet the country's former leader Fidel Castro, and its current president, Raúl Castro...
(The Guardian)

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Retired Army Veteran and military blogger Sarge Charlie is in hospice care for lung cancer.

Sarge and his wife have been together 44 years.  She also maintains a blog called muffin53 where she goes by the blogger handle Empress Bee.

On Tuesday, January 24, 2012, Sarge wrote a post titled “Que Sera, Sera Whatever will be will be”.

Here’s an excerpt:

“I opened Miss Bee’s blog this morning and this photo jumped out, it shows us where we have been and the fact is we are going where we are going and we have very little control over that. Miss Bee did not explain herself but I immediately knew what she wanted to say.

You folks know that I have been on a 44 year journey with Miss Bee and yesterday we learned that that combined journey could end soon. During my visit with my favorite doctor, Dr. Green we learned that my chemo treatments have stopped working and that the lung cancer has reappeared in my right lung with free cells found outside the lung. That prompted discussions about serious stuff, like how much time do I have, what can we do now. Dr. Green suggested that we be certified for HOSPICE which we have done. Care and comfort treatment will be provided by them for the balance of my time. Dr. Green and Dr. Wacks will still be my doctors but any medication/equipment needed will be provided by Hospice of Palm Beach County, which just happens to be among the best in the country. Since Daughter #1 is working with Hospice for many years now we know a lot about it and realize what an excellent service Hospice provides.

Sarge ends the post by saying,  “I am not wanting to make a lot of people sad, but if you got a little extra love to spare, take it over to Miss Bee’s place and give her a big hug.”

You can visit Sarge’s blog here to read the entire post and visit Miss Bee’s place here.

Thank you to Kathi for sharing this sad news and powerful story.

Image via Sarge Charlie.

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Facebook: Please use responsibly. Facebook. It seems like everyone, and everything, has a Facebook page. From middle school students to U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond T. Odierno to Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center, millions of people, businesses and military organizations log on to Facebook every day to share information, interests and news.For members of the U.S. military and other government agencies, Facebook makes keeping in touch with friends and family easier than ever...
(The United States Army)

FBI releases plans to monitor social networks. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has quietly released details of plans to continuously monitor the global output of Facebook, Twitter and other social networks, offering a rare glimpse into an activity that the FBI and other government agencies are reluctant to discuss publicly. The plans show that the bureau believes it can use information pulled from social media sites to better respond to crises, and maybe even to foresee them...
(New Scientist)

Thomas Wootton graduate founds veterans group at Google. Google, where Laureno works in the marketing department, donated 600 Chromebooks — fast-acting laptop computers — to the American Red Cross in October. The Red Cross then distrubuted the computers to Walter Reed, Fort Belvoir Community Hospital in Virginia, Womack Army Medical Center in North Carolina, Navy Medical Center San Diego in California and Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. The initiative came from the Google Veterans Network, which consists of nearly 500 Google employees who are either veterans or want to support the veterans community...
(Gazette.Net)

Egyptian Revolution's Biggest Name Shuns Politics, Spotlight. On February 8th, 2011, the Egyptian revolution was at full throttle, just three days from deposing President Hosni Mubarak. Despite the momentum of the masses, there was no leader, no individual who rose up from the anger and bloodshed. But when a Dubai-based Google executive got on stage on Tahrir Square on February eighth and grabbed a microphone, the crowd erupted...
(ABC News)

After four years in jail, Burmese blogger finds country on cusp of change. Burma’s Nay Phone Latt is many things – a poet, a blogger, a political dissident. On January 13, he also became a free man. After four years behind bars, Latt was among 651 prisoners released by the Burmese government as part of a mass amnesty. The move has been interpreted as the latest indication that Burma is slowly easing towards a more democratic model. The newly liberated Latt is cautiously optimistic about his country’s future...
(The Observers)

Officials: Scam database will protect troops. Federal officials have begun tracking companies and individuals who repeatedly target service members with scams, officials announced Wednesday. The nationwide Repeat Offenders Against Military (ROAM) database will allow state, local and federal officials to act more quickly to stop fraud against service members, veterans and their families, said New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman...
(ArmyTimes)

Anti-Extremism Cops Call Blogger In for Questioning. A federal anti-extremism police division asked popular blogger and photographer Ilya Varlamov for information regarding photographers suspected of infiltrating military facilities, Varlamov wrote on his LiveJournal page Tuesday. Varlamov spoke with police after receiving a phone call requesting that he come to talk with officers at the Central Division for Anti-Extremism, the article said...
(The Moscow Times)

Kansas attorney general targets scams that prey on military families. Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt is asking other states to cooperate in a new federal database that will track scam artists who target military families and try to elude authorities. “Crooks and scam artists who prey on military families require a particular focus from law enforcement authorities,” Schmidt said...
(LJWorld.com)

Sundance Documentary Examines Rape In US Military. The Department of Defense estimates that more than 19,000 military men and women were sexually assaulted by fellow troops in 2010 while serving in the United States armed forces. At least 20 percent of servicewomen and 1 percent of men — an estimated 500,000 troops — have experienced sexual trauma while serving...
(NPR)

Duke Faculty 'Live Tweet' Obama's State of the Union Speech. Duke faculty experts got the jump on network television commentators Tuesday evening as they "live tweeted" President Obama's State of the Union speech. Duke's Office of News and Communications organized the conversation at #DukeChat, linking to broader international discussion about the speech at #SOTU...
(Duke University)

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For those of you reading the headline above, yelling at your computer screen: "I don't believe a word of this!  It’s IMPOSSIBLE!"

No, seriously, it's true... 

There are other reporters who embed with military units other than blogger Michael Yon (who is no longer in Afghanistan).

From CBS / Dallas Fort Worth:

“CBS 11 anchor Keith Garvin and photojournalist Edgar Solis are traveling to Afghanistan to see the U.S. war effort firsthand. In February they will bring back a series of stories about our troops there.  While they are traveling, Keith is writing this blog for CBSDFW.COM.”

You can read all the stories from Afghanistan here.

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Family Matters Blog: Blogger Joins Bidens’ West Coast Trip.  Last week, I traveled to California to join Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, as she embarked on a West Coast Joining Forces tour. Dr. Biden had arrived with her husband a day earlier than me, so I caught up with her at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where she was participating in a roundtable discussion on military kids and how schools across the nation can better support them...
(Department of Defense)

Army Asks Soldiers to be Cautious on Facebook. Facebook. It seems like everyone, and everything, has a Facebook page. From middle school students to U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond T. Odierno to Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center, millions of people, businesses and military organizations log on to Facebook every day to share information, interests and news...
(Military.com)

Edmunds.com Advises Military Personnel to Watch out for Deceptive Car Sales Practices. Edmunds.com, the premier online resource for automotive information, reports that members of the U.S. military are particularly vulnerable to deceptive practices by unscrupulous car salespeople. Trained to respect authoritative figures and say "yes, sir!" or "yes, ma'am" in response to direction, service members are at unique risk in a high-pressure sales environment.  Edmunds.com Senior Consumer Advice Editor Philip Reed warns that crafty salespeople may even demonstrate patriotism just to lower resistance to a sales pitch...
(MarketWatch)

Story of Civil War traveling on wheels. Civil War history, for a change, seems to be going over well with the diverse sample of humanity who pour through the former Confederate capital each day. That’s the impression one gets from talking with people—state workers, lawmakers, teachers and out-of-town visitors—who saw Virginia’s museum-on-wheels on Day 1 of its visit to Richmond’s Capitol Square...
(The News Desk)

Gamers are enlisted to battle bugs in military weapons. Software bugs can prove deadly on the battlefield — a lesson learned when a buggy Patriot missile defense system failed to intercept a Scud missile that killed 28 American soldiers during the first Gulf War in 1991. To prevent such weapons disasters, the U.S. military wants to transform dull bug-hunting tasks into fun problem-solving games that attract swarms of online players...
(MSNBC)

Military Vet Who Needs New Kidney Scoops $14m Lottery Jackpot. A military veteran in dire need of a kidney transplant has won a cool $14.3 million in Wisconsin’s Megabucks lottery. Napolean Elvord scooped the jackpot on January 14, yet didn’t realize he was a millionaire until several days after the draw had taken place. Indeed, the winning $1 ticket was still on Elvord’s dining table when it was announced the winning ticket had been sold at a Wisconsin Mobil station...
(The Inquisitr)

Protesters feel time ripe to launch second uprising. In sharp contrast to their unison during a revolt that swept long-standing president from power, Egypt's protesters and the military are at odds what shape the first anniversary of the uprising should take. Increasingly sceptical about the military junta's agenda, several protest groups see the anniversary a fresh occasion to "launch a second revolution"...
(gulfnews)

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Talk about some smart marketing, the Fort Hood Townhall for the first time will integrate Facebook, according to an Army press release. 

“The Fort Hood Facebook and TV Town Hall, which will run from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. (CT) on Jan. 26, will combine social media, over-the-air television broadcasts and Internet radio for the first time in an attempt to engage as many community members as possible during the event,” writes Dave Larsen, III Corps and Fort Hood Public Affairs.

The press release goes on to say:

The first hour of the town hall will be hosted on Facebook alone. This is the first time social media will be used to conduct a town hall event at the installation.

"The Fort Hood Facebook site has more than 13,000 followers," explained Christie Vanover, chief of command information for Fort Hood and III Corps. "It's a powerful tool for the command to get out its messages, and during the town hall, a powerful medium to engage our military community."

I don’t think the Army needs to explain why it’s planning to use Facebook to get out it's message. 

It's like me trying to explain to you that you should drink water to stay hydrated.  Or drive with your eyes open.

More here.

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Is Google selectively censoring content on its blogging platform, Blogger?  Today, Egyptian blogger and activist Ramy Raoof shared a post on his blog in which he called Google out for censoring one of his Blogger posts, based on what they called copyright violations. In his post, Raoof shared the details of the situation, including his correspondence with Google. On December 19, he posted an entry entitled “Military Forces Attack on Female Protesters”...
(The Next Web)

'Red Tails' doesn't do its story justice. Even a volleyball-playing Tom Cruise can't disprove the fact there's nothing cooler than an American fighter pilot. Firefighters can talk all they want about how cool saving lives is, but they're not saving lives at hundreds of miles an hour. Unless some station finally invested in those catapults I've been talking about for years. If that's the case, then they might have a legitimate claim to being as cool as fighter pilots, so long as they've also added racing stripes to their uniforms...
(Tri-City Herald)

Rwanda: Why Locals Love Twitter, Facebook. Gone are the days when internet was for exchanging important emails and accessing websites one deemed important for their work - and that was all. In comes the era of Twitter and Facebook, the two social networking platforms that have since changed the world, with suggestions that this form of new media had helped spread the Arab Spring like wild fire, sweeping three long-serving North African leaders off their feet within just a matter of months...
(AllAfrica)

"Invisible War" exposes widespread rape in U.S. military. Rape in the American armed forces is an issue that has quietly been gathering attention over the past decade. But it exploded with the power of suppressed fury at the Sundance festival's Friday afternoon screening of the documentary "The Invisible War," a devastating indictment of the government's inaction on the issue...
(Chicago Tribune)

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Ahhh, looks like military blogger Michael Yon is trying to work his way back into the good graces of the military.

In the last day he's posted several messages on his Facebook Fan page.

Take a look below at some of the snippets:

"Remove our Main Battleforce from Afghanistan"

"The Army continues to send out bogus information. I just saw another response, this one from the office of a Senator, who was deceived by an Army statement on Dustoff MEDEVAC issues. If I were a Senator and discovered that generals deceived me during wartime, there would be hell to pay."

"Senior leadership is both the roach and the boot, stomping itself flat in front of a world audience."

It's public statements like these that have me wondering why he's not invited to embed.

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Here's a story about an “apparent misunderstanding” that ended up online, and I'm starting to see why people shouldn't rely on Facebook to get their news.

A person posted a message to the Joint Base Lewis-McChord Facebook page saying that a JBLM based C-17 had crashed into military housing. 

Before the rumor got squashed, it had caught the attention of two TV stations and spread to the Facebook pages used by other Army units at Lewis-McChord, according to the Seattle Post Intelligencer.

You know what I consider a misunderstanding?

When I order curly fries and they bring me regular fries.

Jesus, the person may as well have posted a message that said a meteor the size of Texas was headed for Earth.  And the only way to stop it was to send the world's best deep core drilling team and have them land a space-shuttle on it and nuke it.

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Egyptian blogger Nabil slated for release.  A high-profile political blogger was among the detainees ordered released from custody in Egypt during the weekend, his family said. Maikel Nabil's father, Nabil Sanad, told reporters he and his legal team were coordinating his son's release with government officials and that it could come as early as Monday. Nabil has been locked up for nearly a year after being charged with insulting the Egyptian military during last year's "Arab Spring" uprising. Nabil wrote a blog posting questioning the armed forces' motives in the uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak and put the military virtually in charge of the country, the Egypt Independent said...
(UPI.com)

Coming to the web: Twitter in Arabic. Hundreds of volunteer translators from the UAE have been working on an international project to create an Arabic interface for Twitter. They are part of an army of more than 2,500 translators from 28 countries involved in the #Taghreedat (or, #LetsTweetInArabic) initiative, and organisers say close to 400 of the volunteer force live in the UAE. Support for the project has snowballed, with the number of followers of the Taghreedat Twitter account doubling from 15,000 to more than 30,000 since November. And 10 per cent of these followers are from the Emirates...
(The National)

Pleasant Hill man's film experience shines spotlight on veterans and their sacrifice.  Shining a spotlight on veterans and their sacrifice turned into a rewarding creative outlet for Joe Springer.  The Pleasant Hill man wrote the script for "Honor Restored," a World War II documentary just-released on DVD, and worked on the production of "The Wereth Eleven," a docudrama which aired on National Geographic and was reworked and released on DVD last fall.  "It's some of the best fun I ever had," said Springer, who retired after 25 years in the Air Force and moved back home to Pleasant Hill...
(Whig)

‘Military friendly’ camera-free iPhone goes on sale in Singapore. Singapore mobile carrier M1 has begun offering camera-free iPhones on its website, sister site CNET Asia reports. The phones are designed and marketed for subscribers who cannot use a smartphone with a camera — such as military and government personnel. Singapore’s Defense Ministry has released guidelines for personnel about the use of smartphones for security reasons, and smartphone carriers were required to present certifications to ensure their devices had been approved...
(ZDNet)

George Lucas's battle to bring the story of black WW2 pilots the Red Tails to the big screen. They were among the most heroic fighter pilots in World War Two. The courageous and daring US Red Tail squadrons destroyed 112 German planes in the air, another 150 on the ground, hundreds of trains and trucks, even a ship. Their bravery was the stuff of legend. Their devotion to their ­country unquestionable. Scores of pilots were ­awarded medals. Yet there was no heroes’ return for them after the war. Because the pilots, more than 400 of them, were all black...
(Mirror)

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Patty Gutierrez posted a blog to the GilroyPatch about her story of love and loss.

Her husband, SSG David H. Gutierrez, was killed on Christmas Day 2009, by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in Afghanistan.

Patty writes:

We had a wonderful life and a great marriage. We went from Georgia to Tennessee to Hawaii to Washington state. David was in Korea for a year before he was deployed to Iraq with his fellow Wolfhounds, and then to Afghanistan with the 2-1 Infantry out of Ft. Lewis.

The first five months of his deployment were hard because we had to rely on letter and phone calls for communication. But once his unit arrived at their permanent Forward Operating Base (FOB) they got Internet!  For almost one month, David and I Skyped everyday, although we downgraded to Yahoo Instant Messenger on the days that I was at work. It was a wonderful blessing to have that option. We talked, laughed, cried and even argued—but we we were able to actually see each other. 

David got to see our boys and they were able to share moments with their father. One of his last statements was, “Just a couple more weeks till R&R.”

The last time we talked was Christmas Eve his time and Christmas Eve Eve our time.  He watched me wrap presents and heard me yell at the tree in the background as it was starting to tip over.  After some laughter, he told me he had to go to a leadership meeting, and then patrol. He said that he’d be right back on the computer to wish us a "Merry Christmas.”

You can read the entire story here.

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Special Forces Get Social in New Psychological Operation Plan. The elite forces of the U.S. military think they’ve found a new way to sway opinion in the Pentagon’s preferred directions: a voice-based social networking app that’s a cross between talk radio and Twitter...
(Wired News)

Show turns war stories into works of art. An art show put together by PIENSA: Art Company, 701 Whaley and Hidden Wounds will feature works of art showing off stories told by returning American soldiers. Robert LeHeup, a sergeant in the United States Marine Corps and one of the organizers of the event, says the show gives audience members an introspective view on the impacts of war told through visual interpretations of the stories of those who have lived them...
(WIS TV)

Mobile Civil War exhibit headed to Va state Capitol.The Virginia Civil War 150 HistoryMobile is scheduled to roll into the state Capitol next week. The interactive museum on wheels is housed in a 53-foot expandable tractor-trailer. It will be at the state Capitol Jan. 23 to Jan. 27. The HistoryMobile was developed in partnership with the Virginia Historical Society and the National Park Service. It draws together stories from all over Virginia and uses state-of-the-art technology and immersive exhibit spaces to present individual stories of the Civil War from the perspectives of those who experienced it...
(The Republic)

Editorial: Don't defend Marines in Taliban desecration video. In the week since video surfaced depicting Marines urinating on the corpses of what appear to be Taliban fighters, a big backlash of support has emerged for the four men. Their defenders ask: How dare anyone criticize brave American troops who lost comrades in battle? What about atrocities committed by the Taliban? Don't people understand that war is hell? And how could urinating on a corpse be worse than killing someone in the first place?
(USATODAY)

Nurse tells inspirational war story. Terri Arthur, of East Falmouth, had always wanted to write a book. But being a nurse kept her too busy to write — for 40 years. When Arthur retired from Jordan Hospital in Plymouth, she wasn't content to sit back and eat the proverbial bonbons. She was determined to write a book. Arthur found her inspiration when she stumbled upon a set of vintage postcards depicting a young British nurse named Edith Cavell...
(SouthCoastToday.com)

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I know you're probably sick of Michael Yon posts, but he’s still making the news this week for trying to screw the military. 

I think at this point we all know there is zero chance of Michael ever being in the news for anything other than slamming our Armed Forces.  I’m pretty sure he gets up every morning, guzzles down some Tiger Blood, then concocts his next scheme.   

From msnbc:

The  tradition of using unarmed helicopters dates back to the Vietnam war, apparently in support of the Geneva Convention. Instead of bearing weapons, the choppers display the Red Cross symbol, which the Army contends has been successful at keeping the enemy from targeting them.

Specifically, the Army contends that even an armed medical evacuation helicopter would have had to wait for another armed helicopter escort to provide top cover while on the ground. Even the most heavily armed attack helicopters always travel in pairs, no matter what the mission, the Army says.

The Peoria Journal Star writes:

Yon, a former soldier, has embedded dozens of times and has a certain level of celeb status in the milblog world. People either love him or hate him. He takes great pictures, understands the troops but is very candid at times and drives people bonkers with his statements.

It's nice to see even the press knows he drives people bonkers.

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Terrorists Now Friending on Facebook. A new generation of Americans is being taught to guard their online identities with care and discretion.  Children are taught that stranger danger extends to the World Wide Web. Young professionals set privacy settings to keep their Internet-savvy bosses away from incriminating photographs or less-than-tasteful status updates.  They all post, delete, comment and re-post incessantly, carefully crafting their online presence for friends and followers to consume one tweet at a time...
(OhMyGov)

Military releases first photo of officer accused of espionage. The Canadian Forces on Thursday released their first picture of accused Sub-Lieutenant Jeffrey Paul Delisle. It's a photo from the 2008-09 yearbook at Royal Military College, where he obtained a bachelor's degree in 2010. The naval intelligence officer doesn't have an official deployment headshot picture, they say, because he was never deployed overseas...
(The Globe and Mail)

Guidelines encourage caution when using social media. The phenomenon known as social media is utilized by many different businesses, organizations and individuals. Facebook, Twitter and Youtube are used as marketing tools since all have the ability to reach a wide ranging audience. But, there are dangers that come with utilizing social media outlets, most notably for those associated with the military are security breaches. The Army created the Online and Social Media Division within the Office of the Chief of Public Affairs to inform Soldiers of the dangers of social media and how they can protect themselves...
(Belvoir Eagle)

Russia Doesn't Want You To See These Pictures From Inside A Top Secret Military Factory.  The Russians are outraged with blogger Lana Sator, and her friends, for sneaking into this active NPO Energomash rocket factory. The Telegraph reports that Russian deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin is saying the top secret facility, and others like it, will all have new security by the end of the month. Calling the bloggers "cheeky mice," he said anyone allowing the same security breach in the future would be harshly punished...
(Business Insider)

Department of Defense: Phones can’t outsmart troops. The video of four Marines appearing to urinate on dead Taliban fighters in Afghanistan raises troubling questions not only about military discipline and the laws of war but also about technology on the battlefield. Simply put: With camera-ready smartphones within reach of nearly every service member, is technology outpacing efforts by military commanders to harness it?
(Politico)

State Senator Jessica King denies knowing blogger Ian Murphy. State Sen. Jessica King said the first time she met Ian Murphy — originator of the "fake David Koch" phone call and blogger who delivered disparaging remarks about military personnel — was at a Fond du Lac event Jan. 7 hosted by Democrats supporting a recall of Gov. Scott Walker. Murphy gained a measure of notoriety when he pretended to be billionaire David Koch and contacted Walker, who then made remarks he later said he regretted...
(Appleton Post Crescent)

2nd officer favors court-martial in WikiLeaks case. A low-ranking intelligence analyst charged in the biggest leak of classified information in U.S. history is a step closer to a general court-martial, the Army says, after a second officer signed off on the procedure. Col. Carl Coffman sent his recommendation Wednesday to Maj. Gen. Michael Linnington, commander of the Military District of Washington, according to a statement e-mailed to the Associated Press. Linnington now must decide whether to order a trial for Pfc. Bradley Manning...
(USATODAY)

Bogus army offers jobs in the military. A bogus “army” leader who targets poor people, charging them R150 for a job in the military, has been taken hostage by angry residents who uncovered the scam.  The drama unfolded right in front of the Daily Voice in Tafelsig this week as the self-styled “Khoison Kingdom and All People Party” (KKAAP) tried to lure locals into their scheme...
(IOL News)

Chairman Explains Joint Operational Access Concept in Blog. The nation’s top military officer wrote in a blog post yesterday about a new Defense Department concept to assure U.S. forces entry and sustained access to any contested domain: land, air, space, sea or cyber. Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the Joint Operational Access Concept is based on the defense strategic guidance President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta released this month...
(Department of Defense)

U.S. Soldiers’ Cruel Beating of Sheep Is Part of Military’s History of Animal Abuse. Last week, as the major networks and newspapers burned hot with the story of four young U.S. Marines urinating on the bodies of several dead Taliban fighters somewhere in the unforgiving wilds of war-torn Afghanistan, a video crossed my desk showing U.S. service members engaged in behavior so barbarous that it makes piss-gate look like a Boy Scout cookout. And yet, despite the fact that it depicts similarly clad troops operating in the same theater of war, chances are you haven’t even heard about it...
(The Philly Post)

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