(OUPBlog)  The Greek philosopher Heraclitus is supposed to have said that “war is the father of all things.” It is absolutely true that where we live, the language we speak, the flags we fly, the beliefs we hold, the land we live on, and even our genetic heritage have been affected by who won and lost wars. Likewise, much of our technology was created for or improved toward making war. 9780195305579.jpgThe commercial and public Internet is a case in point: It began in the 1960s as ARPANET, a project of the American military to create a decentralized “command and control network” that would survive nuclear war. Now the Internet is a crucial “front” in the war on terrorism. And, of great interest to people concerned about the future of war, from historians to generals, the warriors themselves are embracing the social interactive media, like blogs, that the Internet has spawned.

I do take a historical view about the “military blog” (any weblog by military personnel, on duty or retired) or the “warblogs” (weblogs specifically by soldiers, sailors, air force personnel, and Marines deployed in war zones).

Read the entire story here.

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The Eighth Annual Weblog Awards have started over at The Bloggies 2008.  After all these other awards are over, we’ll be starting the Third Annual Military Blog Awards (aka The Milbloggies).  Just so you know, the Milbloggies were inspired by the Bloggies back in 2005 when I launched this website.

While checking out the Bloggies, I did notice there isn’t a category for Military Blogs.   There is however one for Food, and Topical, even a Group category, but no military.  It’s good to see there’s even a category for Best-Kept secret weblog, but still no Best Military weblog.   If you ask me, to really make the Bloggies 2008 a legitimate Blog Awards site, they really should have a category for Best Blog written by a Unicorn.   Or Best Microwave Blog.  And then to generate some serious buzz, they could even have a  Best Foot Blog...

I really think I have something here.

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(Ward Carroll Blog) The rise of milblogging has as much to do with the national dialectic as it does the technology that made it possible to be conducted via the Internet.  Why have warfighters, veterans, military spouses, and others with military affinity been increasingly compelled to “enter the fray” via blogging as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have worn on?  Well, because they could, for one thing.  But beyond that they blogged because they had to.

They had to because traditional media was getting it wrong more often than not.  They had to because partisan bickering had nothing to do with the well-being of those in harm’s way (or mission success).  They had to because the American public was by-in-large detached from the small segment of the population that was doing their bidding in hostile lands.

And milbloggers were successful.  Through their dogged, almost obdurate, presentation of first-person narratives they first got the attention of their own — which was no small feat in itself.  Then they got the attention of the American public.  Then they got the attention of traditional media, whose members treated milblogging as a curiosity or a lark until bloggers like Micheal Yon, Matt Burden, and Bill Roggio showed them they didn’t have a monopoly on capturing the stories of war.  And once they got the attention of traditional media they got the attention of the Department of Defense and the Bush administration.

Read the entire story here.

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(Poynter Online) A watershed moment for milblogs happened in 2005 when CNN's then-news chief Eason Jordan was reported as saying at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland that he knew of 12 journalists who were killed by coalition forces in Iraq. (Jordan later backpedaled from those remarked.)

Said Schippert, "Milbloggers banded together over that. The gauntlet was laid down, and we told Jordan to put up or shut up. We asked him to release the tape from this conference and own up to what he said. That got milbloggers a lot of attention, and Jordan left CNN not long afterward."

So what exactly is a milblog? The panelists consider this field to include blogs by active-duty soldiers, as well as their families and friends, and former soldiers -- as long as the cover current military issues.

In contrast to the highly competitive mindset of many mainstream journalists, the panelists indicated that milbloggers operate in a very collaborative fashion, with considerable backchannel communication. Uncle Jimbo explained, "We check each other's facts and information, both before we post and after. That's a big part of our credibility. Because we're all kind of riding in the back of the same truck. We keep each other honest."

Read the entire story here about the BlogWorld expo.

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(NewsBusters) Del Signore profiled a theater class on military techniques taught by Iraq vet and milblogger (Just Another Soldier) Jason C. Hartley. Del Signore's initial remarks seemed like typical lefty snideness, but in the comment section, they quickly descended into rabid anti-military rhetoric (bold mine throughout)…

Read the entire story here.



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(Ask Meta Filter) Are there deployed soldiers blogging about the US elections?

I'm interested in seeing what currently deployed soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan have to say on blogs about the United States elections. While I'm specifically interested in reading about the current state primaries and the upcoming national election, I'd also like to read about previous elections as well, if possible. Are there any military blogs that mention the elections in a post or two? I did a cursory exploration of some popular milblogs and didn't come up with anything.

I'd also like to see if anyone talks about the experience of voting absentee when deployed.
I'm not looking for specific endorsements of candidates -- I know that's probably not out there -- just general thoughts on the electoral process in the United States.

Read the entire story here.

Thanks to Kathi for the interesting tip.

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The Canadian Blog Awards for 2007 have been taking place over at Canadian Blog Awards.  As the website states: “The Canadian Blog Awards is an annual event on the Canadian Blogosphere in which Canadian Bloggers and Blog Readers vote to decide which blog is the best - either overall or within a category.  The first Canadian Blog Awards were held in 2004, by Robert McClelland of MyBlahg.”

In the next few weeks, I will be launching the Milbloggies nomination phase for 2007.  I’m still working out some updates to make sure this year’s Nomination/Voting goes smoothly.  Normally every year I receive dozens of complaints telling me how difficult it is to press a button so I’m trying to make it easier to nominate and vote.   However, it never seems to be enough. 

I could spend the next 10 years of my life making it so the website could just read your mind when you signed in, but I’d probably still get hate mail. 

Plus, if I did add that mind-reading feature, and "I" myself tried signing in, I’m pretty sure the server would start erupting lava, then all of a sudden explode due to overload of genius. 

Just thought you'd like to know...

Anyway, checkout the list of the Canadian Blog Award finalists in the Military Blog category:

Best Military Blog
What The F*&#!?!?
Military Mom at Home
The Cannon’s Mouth
The Torch
From a Canadian Cadet to an American Soldier

Keep updated on the finalists and winners here.

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(The New York Times)  Michael Yon was not a journalist, and he wasn’t sure what a blogger was. He had been in uniform but not in combat, and he wanted to keep it that way. He went to Iraq thinking he would stay for a month, and maybe find a way to write about the war after he got home.

Instead, he has spent most of the last three years in Iraq, writing prolifically and graphically, and racking up more time embedded with combat units than any other journalist, according to the United States military. He has been shot at, buffeted by explosions and seen more people maimed — fighters and civilians, adults and children — than he can count.

“The easiest thing in the world to write about is combat, because all the drama is there,” said Mr. Yon, a fit, ruddy-faced 43-year-old who was a Special Forces soldier more than two decades ago. He insists that he still does not really know the rules of journalism, but says he has recently, grudgingly, accepted that he has become a journalist.

His detailed, mostly admiring accounts of front-line soldiers’ daily work have won him a loyal following, especially among service members and journalists and bloggers who follow the war. One of his photographs showing an American soldier cradling an Iraqi girl injured in a car bombing (the girl later died) appeared on Time magazine’s Web site and was later voted one of top images of the year by visitors.

Mr. Yon, however, does not work for any organization; no news outlet pays him for the hundreds of dispatches and photos he has produced. He publishes his work on his own Web site, michaelyon-online.com (some will appear again in a book set for release in April), and he also posts submissions from military people serving in Iraq. He says contributions from his readers have paid most of his costs, though he declines to say how much they have given.

Read the entire story here.

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This week I’d like to introduce you to Tony Perry, a reporter with the L.A. Times, who is also blogging from Iraq.   I know when a lot of people think of military bloggers they think of troops, but it’s always important to remember there are all types of military bloggers – spouses, parents, veterans, and many more.  This is Tony’s sixth trip to Iraq with the Marines from Camp Pendleton.  And from talking to him by email, it’s obvious, he’s a blogger at heart. 

I asked Tony about his thoughts on blogging and here’s what he had to say which I thought captured one of the many benefits of milblogging:

“Blogging is a great opportunity to provide a look "at conditions on the ground" that can sometimes be overlooked in larger-scale stories. A good blogging item is like gold, it's where you find it. When you least expect it, something interesting pops up, like the troops' devotion to Chuck Norris or the unofficial rules for gunfighting that I saw posted on a wall. I can't imagine how we covered the troops without blogging as one of our approaches.”

Someday I might give reporting a shot, to see how the other half lives (so to speak). Yeah, that’s right. Reporting. Sure, I might not have any formal training in the field and I’m not even vaguely familiar with what it takes to become a reporter.  I can’t write.  I freeze on camera.  I even have a lazy eye.  But I am strong.  I could just hold a microphone with one arm, and flex my biceps on camera with the other.  And at the end of each segment, I could wink to my adoring audience. Maybe even blow them a kiss.  It’s a pretty novel idea I have to say.  You just don’t see reporters connecting with their audience like this.  I’m pretty sure, I’d be one of the greats. 

People would write books about me.

Name:  Tony Perry
Website URL: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/marines_in_iraq/index.html
Milblogging Listing:  Babylon and Beyond
Email: Tony.Perry@latimes.com
Blogging from: Iraq
Branch: U.S. Reporter

From one of Tony’s recent entries:

One of the tribal sheiks in Anbar province whom Marines are depending on to fight the insurgency is Hatim Gaoud of the Albu Nimr tribe.

     Although younger than many sheiks, he has assumed a place of prominence. At a gathering with Marine brass, other sheiks let him sit next to the top Marine, Maj. Gen. Walter Gaskin. The sheik is not reluctant to speak his mind.

     On the impact of the insurgency: "There is not one house in Anbar that has not had a tragedy."

     On the Baghdad government, particularly the Ministry of the Interior, which controls the police: "The problem is that they are not with us."

     On a promise to screen police applicants to eliminate insurgents: "We will not send you anybody with the stain of life on his hands."

    Gaskin promised help. "You must understand we are all in this together," he told Hatim and the others.

  --Tony Perry at Camp Fallouja, Iraq

Read more at Babylon and Beyond.

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For those of you who remember my first deployment to Afghanistan, this image might bring back some memories.    This time, a Blue Boohbah has arrived complements of my sister.   While blogging from Afghanistan, Ragdoll the company that invented this doll even contacted me.  I hate to dismiss items sent to me in Care Packages, really, I do. I’d try and pretend to like this item (the same way I pretend to enjoy Beef Jerky or a kick to the groin), but this is Boohbah we’re talking about people.  Seriously, my sister should just be glad we’re still talking after this stunt.  But since it is from my sister, I figured I’d start taking Blue Boohbah out on mission with me in Iraq.  It’s amazing what a morale booster this doll is.  Really.

It’s like I’ve forgotten I’m deployed.

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(Mediating Conflict) Whenever I read milblogs and hear people talking about them, I become more convinced that blogging must transform the whole discipline of military history.

In the first instance, understanding morale, combat cohesion, and the battlefield experience of Afghanistan and Iraq should be much easier than previous wars. No need to go searching through the archives or getting hold of family letters that have been locked away in an attic for 50 odd years. Instead, you can log on to the Internet and track down some blogs. You'll also have access to photos and video.

Read the entire story here.

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(The-Daily-Record.com) The Daily Record is actively seeking military personnel to join our growing community of bloggers. If you are active duty military deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan and are interested in blogging about your military experiences on our website, then please fill out the following form…

Read the entire story here.

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(Kansas City InfoZine News) As a follow-up to a successful program in early 2007 on political Weblogs, the Dole Institute of Politics will host a panel discussion about another dynamic and growing community on the Internet: military blogs (also known as "milblogs").

Lawrence, KS - infoZine- Blogs from the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan have allowed readers at home to connect with soldiers, contractors and civilians who are serving their countries, and they have forced the Pentagon to rush headlong into this 21st century medium.

Milblogs began to appear shortly after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. They saw a dramatic increase in usage following the 2003 invasion of Iraq. According to Joshua Patterson, a KU graduate student studying journalism, Milblogging.com had indexed more than 1,800 military blogs in more than 30 countries as of Dec. 1, 2007.

"Milblogs and soldier blogs are often gripping and graphic firsthand accounts of the author's life and experiences," said Jonathan Earle, interim director of the Dole Institute. "This program will give our audience a window onto a new and fast-changing part of the so-called 'new media.' I can't recall a similar program anywhere else in the country."

The program will begin at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 29, at the Dole Institute. It is free and open to the public.

Like last year's "Blog to the Chief" program at the Dole Institute, this discussion will be moderated by David Perlmutter, associate dean of KU's William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications and author of the books "Visions of War" and "Blogwars." The panel will feature Charles J. "Jack" Holt, chief of New Media Operations for the Department of Defense, and leading military bloggers Ward Carroll, editor of Military.com and Milblog.com; and John Donovan, lead blogger of Argghhh! The Home of Two of Jonah's Military Guys.

Read the entire story here.

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(NTV) A panel of experts will gather later this month discuss the growing community of military bloggers.

The event is hosted by the Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas and is set for the evening of January 29th.

Experts will discuss the Internet postings from soldiers, contractors and civilians who have been deployed to combat in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2003. The proliferation of blogs has forced the Pentagon to address these forums.

According to one researcher at Kansas, there are more than 1,800 blogs from 30 countries indexed on milblogging.com as of December 1st, 2007.

The forum is free and open to the public and is the second discussion the institute has hosted on blogging.

Read the entire story here.

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(Doc in the Box) It’s hard to imagine that I’ve placed 4 years of my life on the internet, I wonder how many words that is (the old blogger tracked how many words you wrote, the only problem I have with the new one). Not many bloggers, let alone milbloggers have continued on so long, my secret? I wrote when I felt like it. I have more sites up then most but a majority of the info cross pollinates, they’re just reaching different audiences. I’m like the cable company that offers cable, phone and internet, I have a monopoly on the Doc in the Box corner of cyberspace.

It all started out with my fotopage way back in the dark ages of 2003, I was taking pictures of my Marines going through training and hit a lazy spurt and got tired of making hundreds of copies of the pictures I took every week so I began posting them online for them to get when they wanted to. Lately, I haven’t posted there as much considering I’ve killed 5 cameras over since 2003, one of the cameras was a 1000 dollar model (I could get a laptop that’s 3 times as fast as my current one for that!) I’ll get back in the photo groove once I get a new (good) camera and maybe clear the 9000 picture mark.

Read the entire story here.

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(The D-Ring) Ok… so I’m a week late on this one (he announced it last Tuesday on his blog), but for some reason I just got the post in my feeds this morning. Damn you, Bloglines!

Here’s the (not-so) scoop:

“Teflon Don,” the milblogger who regaled us with his impressive prose and chronicles of his deployment to Iraq on his blog Acute Politics, is going back to Iraq — this time out of uniform.

From his blog:

“I am not going back with the Army, this time, though that may still occur at some point in the future. I am going back of my own free will- I am becoming a participant in this great experiment of independent, citizen journalism. I am going back to Iraq as a photojournalist, accredited by the recently developed Public Multimedia, Inc.

If you would like to donate towards the purchase of equipment for my trip and receive some return on your investment (besides quality journalism, of course!), there is a new photo album up. Viewing is free- the photos are also available for purchase as high-quality prints. All proceeds will go directly to benefit citizen journalism.”

This is great news, in my humble opinion. TD is an incredible writer. The community of milbloggers thinks so too — he handily won the Milbloggies last year for best U.S. Army Milblog.

Read the entire story here.

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USMC81.BLOGSPOT.COM, Usmc81, United States, A collection of Marine Corps, Leadership, and Tech..., 12 Jan 2008

Save the Royal Navy, NavyLookout, United Kingdom, Save the Royal Navy is a website dedicated to figh..., 11 Jan 2008

The Satarist at War, AH Bonenberger, United States, A true first hand account of my life & experiences..., 10 Jan 2008

WW1: Experiences of an English Soldier, Pte Harry Lamin, Great Britain, This blog is made up of transcripts of Harry Lamin..., 09 Jan 2008

Third Time's A Charm..., MSgt. Ken Mahoy, Afghanistan , MSgt. Mahoy's daily journal of life in Kabul Afgha..., 07 Jan 2008

China cool military, Jonathan Weng, China, A military enthusiast's blog to share Latest China..., 06 Jan 2008

The Generals' Blog, General Lee, United States, hello to all my name is robb lee (in case you were..., 03 Jan 2008

Cheese's Milblog, Cheese, United States , I'm a student and infantry soldier from the Bingha..., 03 Jan 2008

Support My Troops, LTR, United States , As we get ready for my year-long deployment in Jan..., 03 Jan 2008

Two Lovers and a Cat, LH, United States , Welcome to Army Wife Life..., 03 Jan 2008

Sand Sailor, Aaron Webb, Iraq , The incessant ramblings of a US Navy Sailor stuck ..., 02 Jan 2008

Manatee's Military Moms, Tiffany Tompkins-Condie, United States, A blog written by the mother of an active-duty Mar..., 01 Jan 2008

The Official Website For USS Richard B. Russell (SSN687), Doc MacDonald, United States, A web history of one of the finest cold war submar..., 31 Dec 2007

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(Obsidian Wings)  A member of Andy Olmsted's family has just written me to say that if people want to do something in honor of him, they can send donations to a fund that has been set up for the four children of CPT Thomas Casey, who served under Andy and was killed while trying to help him. The address is here:

Capt. Thomas Casey Children’s fund
P.O. Box 1306
Chester, CA 96020

Thanks so much.

Also, below the fold I am going to try to compile a list of the blogs that linked to Andy's final post, so that his friends and family can see some of them without having to go to the trouble of tracking them all down. I'm going to do this gradually -- it will take a while. I've been bookmarking them since Friday, and I think there are nearly 500. However, if anyone notices a blog post that I haven't found by, say, noon tomorrow, just leave it in comments, or email the kitty or me.

Read the entire story here.

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A radio show took place earlier this week that discussed ‘milblogging’.  It included a great cast of milbloggers (see below), along with David Sanford – editor of The Sandbox which is run by Garry Trudeau’s Doonesbury.com.  The Sandbox features entries written by servicemembers from all over the world. 

My Platoon Sergeant Toby Nunn, is actually one of the regularly featured milbloggers on The Sandbox website.  So, if you want to learn more about the deployment of Bad Voodoo Platoon, make sure to go check out Toby’s milblog ‘Northern Disclosure’.  Because that’s the best way to learn about what I’m personally doing over here right now.  Unless of course, you go watch The Terminator.  Or any Chuck Norris flick.  Or, uh, Superman Returns. 

Those movies are pretty much based on my life.

(Mediating Conflict) Various mil(itary)bloggers discussed their writing on KUOW radio yesterday morning including Gordon Alanko, Doug Traversa, Benjamin Tupper and Army Girl. David Sandford was also on the show. He's the editor of Doonesbury.com and started the Sandbox website in October 2006 to provide a forum for milbloggers.

You can listen to the whole show here.

Read the entire story here.

As always, thanks to Kathi, for the tip.

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William Henry “Harry” Bonser Lamin’s letters from WWI are being posted online by his grandson – almost 100 years after they were written.  A lot of people are comparing his letters to present day online postings by military bloggers.

I think it’d be interesting if my postings from Afghanistan and Iraq were posted 100 years from now. Well, it’s highly possible.  I mean, seriously, my postings have been compared to Mark Twain and Edgar Allen Poe.   Take for example, my Golden Rules of Care Packages.  These rules might be the single most important piece of literature to come out of Iraq and Afghanistan.  Ever. 

Some might say, more important than the Ten Commandments.

“What’s my favorite Golden Rule?” you might ask:

“The meanest thing you can do to a soldier is to send generic, not name brand goods. Hey, I like to save money too, but you should at least have the decency "to not" send care packages. Sending generic brand goods is worse than taking a dump in a cardboard box and shipping it over.”

(The Associated Press)  In many ways he's a typical war blogger: William Henry "Harry" Bonser Lamin's descriptions of grueling battles compete with complaints about cramped quarters and apologies for his irregular updates.

But the postings from the twentysomething English laceworker are from the trenches of World War I — nine decades ago.

His letters are being posted now — 90 years to the day — to the Internet by Lamin's grandson, Bill. And like Harry's family at the time, readers don't know if his most recent update will be his last.

Read the entire story here.

Thanks to Milblogging fanatic Kathi for the tip.

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