(Wired.com)  Less than two weeks ago, "LT [Lieutenant] G," an outspoken Army blogger in Iraq, was ordered to stop posting to his site, after he openly criticized his bosses on-line. Now, the guy has been promoted -- and decorated for his actions in combat.

Read the entire story here.

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(Government Computer News)  The vision of adapting next-generation Internet technologies in the Defense Department is gaining new urgency as businesses, and employees, increasingly embrace Web-based social networking applications. But the horizon for what some call the Defense 2.0 era appears a long way off as culture, inertia, and IT security concerns that grow only more complicated in a Web 2.0 world, continue to challenge military IT leaders.

The gap between vision and reality was plainly evident as senior DOD officials and industry experts debated the implications of Web 2.0 technologies yesterday at a conference held by the Information Technology Association of America.

Robert Carey, chief information officer of the Department of the Navy, was among those who have seen Web 2.0 applications making positive contributions to the work of DOD. Carey, who has gained notoriety for being among the highest-ranking CIOs in DOD to author his own blog, also is an active wiki user.

Read the entire story here.

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(Daily Press)  As roughly 200 local National Guardsmen are preparing to deploy to Iraq, the Daily Press is encouraging readers to write or e-mail in with their thoughts, comments or personal messages to the soldiers for support.

They are part of 900 National Guardsmen from throughout the Inland Empire that are expected to be deployed this month and based near Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit, where their mission will be convoy protection, a knowledgeable source told the Daily Press.

Read the entire story here.

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If you’d like to display a Milblog Conference 2008 banner on your website, I’ve included it below.  Thanks to The Mudville Gazette.  The banner is a design by Mrs. Greyhawk.

Andi has also posted an important update on the Milblog Conference site.  When you register on the BWE website using your registration code, make sure to select “Exhibits Only” and registration is free.  BWE also mentioned - those who register using their registration code will also receive a ribbon that will get them into the MilBlog Track.

That’s right, a ribbon.  I might be wrong, but I’m guessing if you don’t plan on paying to attend the other blog tracks (like myself), you’ll have to wear the ribbon. 

I was going to suggest we all wear battery-powered ankle bracelets that blare like a car alarm if you wander into the other blog tracks, but I realized that might be a bit extreme.

I plan to accessorize my ribbon with a pageant sash.

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My longtime blogging pal CJ who runs the milblog A Soldier’s Perspective was recognized by the Army Public Affairs Office (PAO), and this time, it wasn’t for habitually wearing women's clothing in public or performing some Jackass-type stunts while serving in uniform. 

The recognition is the result of hard work for CJ’s extremely positive project: They Have Names – A Tribute To The Lives Of Our Fallen 

(A Soldier’s Perspective)  To date well over 4,000 service members have been killed in Iraq, and they are not just statistics. They have families, friends and they had lives; and one Soldier is doing his darnedest to ensure they are each remembered – not just as a number, but as a person.

1st Sgt. Christopher J. Grisham, Bravo Company, has been maintaining a website called They Have Names, to honor Soldiers and memorialize friends lost in Iraq. In his website he does not focus on his fallen comrades’ deaths, but rather their lives and dreams. He turns each number into a name with photos and stories from families, friends, coworkers and anyone else who knew that specific Soldier.

Grisham began his quest two years ago when May 30, 2006, he opened the newspaper and read about the tragic deaths of two CBS journalists killed in Iraq and one reporter that was seriously injured. Practically every media outlet carried the same story, in the same manner: the names of the journalists and reporter were published or broadcast and extensive biographies were given, and each story ended with, “and one American Soldier was also killed.”

From CNN, to MSNBC, to the Washington Post and New York Times, even across the globe to the China Daily newspaper, stories of bravery and heroism of the journalists were told…and each ended with a similar, simple mention of “another U.S. Soldier.”

Read the entire story here.

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(Fewl.net) Allison Batdorff and Travis Tritten, both Stars & Stripes reporters, did a story on MilBloggers and the thin-line they walk when it comes to free speech. I met with Allison a couple weeks ago where she asked me some questions regarding FEWL and the positive and negative aspects about being a MilBlogger. While technically I’m considered a MilBlogger, my content tends to be much different than my peers and our MilBlogging fore-fathers. A lot of the popular MilBlogs discuss issues about Iraq, politics, and tales of war. Me? I bitch. I’m fine with that. This blog is a way for me to talk about issues that bother me and others, all while trying to mature and become something better than what I currently am.

Read the entire story here.

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(Stripes.com)  While all the military services are concerned about operational security and compromising the mission, each branch has its own rules for servicemembers who want to sound off in the blogosphere.

Read the entire story here.

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(Stripes.com)  YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — Jim’s blog began as a way to post his Navy adventures. Ports visited. Exotic food consumed.

Then he wrote about hot-button issues within the forward-deployed U.S. Navy — sailor crimes in Japan, liberty policy and a lunch-duty grievance at a base school — and visitors to his Fewl.net site swelled to about 15,000 per month.

The 25-year-old sailor, who asked to remain anonymous, said the blog has influenced some positive changes in liberty policy, but he fears reprisals from the military for speaking publicly.

Read the entire story here.

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(Stripes.com)  Petty Officer 2nd Class Tyrone Wigfall isn’t a fanatic about military blogs, but he periodically checks them out.

"Every now and then, I’ll read some just to see what some of the opinions are about the military," said Wigfall, an information systems technician with Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station, Naples, Italy. "There are opinions about a lot of different issues, but I find it’s mostly all just ranting and raving.

"Once in a while, you’ll have a good, enlightened opinion by someone who has done some research and is well informed, and then, you do get a new perspective."

Blogs neither help nor hurt the military, the 34-year-old sailor said.

Read the entire story here.

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(Oshkosh Northwestern) Lt. John Hancock, of Oshkosh, left the battlefield with barely anything.  A bullet had cut the left shoulder of his coat open. Hancock had also lost his store clothes, trunks and baggage. The only things he had left were two shirts and a gray suit.

The date was July 29, 1861. Several days before, the Union had lost the Battle of Bull Run in Virginia, one of the pivotal early battles in the Civil War, a war that divided the nation.

“Such is war,” Hancock wrote to his wife. “That defeat is a terrible disaster to us and God only knows now where and when this thing will end."

Hancock was one of hundreds from Wisconsin fighting for the Union. Many more men from all over Winnebago County served in the war, said Scott Cross, archivist for the Oshkosh Public Museum. The Oshkosh Public Library has two volumes of books with listings of all the Civil War Veterans of Winnebago County.

Read the entire story here.

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(Daniel Bennett) The news of this milblogger’s demise has now reached the virtual pages of Wired.com, and seems to have sparked further debate about the role of military bloggers in the US. (If you want the back story read my post on it or follow the Wired link above.)

Before this blog was shut down a number of commenters voiced their opinions on the closure of the blog. Some felt LT G was asking for trouble when he wrote a post about a conversation he had with a superior officer

Read the entire story here.

Thanks to Kathi for another great tip.

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(Checks with Chart)  So, everyone who anyone knows all about LT G’s blog being shutdown (as an aside, his fiancee has taken up the cause).

It’s caused quite the controversy in the blogosphere as to what members of the military should and should be allowed to say.

Opinions on the LT G issue range from “He violated the rules of posting, so down he goes” to “He was just voicing his opinion, which he should be allowed to do as an American” and everything in between.

It brings up a good issue though. There’s a lot of people blogging out there, and a distinct lack of an Ernie Pyle to tell the story of the American soldier to the public. But how much should the soldiers be allowed to tell the public themselves?

Read the entire story here.

Thanks to Kathi for the tip.

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I realize Fourth of July isn’t all about beer and hot dogs, but I never got a chance to celebrate last year because I was running missions in Iraq.  So this year I’ll be celebrating while watching the fireworks in Washington, D.C.

Have a safe Fourth of July and make sure not to drink and drive.  I usually leave the driving to my wife.  She’s the designated driver and I’m the designated drinker. 

I’m a fair guy though.  We usually play Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who does what.  Scissors is for rookies, so I usually go with paper.  And I subconsciously suggest to her to throw rock by telling her how tough rocks are. 

I explain to her its science. 
 
Bless her heart, I win every time.

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Another military blogger has shut down his website.  Dreadcow, the author of Fun With Hand Grenades has posted his final entry.

Here’s an excerpt:

"After three and a half years of updating this blog I simply don’t know how to put my thoughts into words anymore. While on leave I learned that over the course of two deployments my ability for self expression has been shattered; apparently it applies to my writing as well.

Years ago I said I’d write a book or two about my experiences… consider it on the back burner for the foreseeable future. Simply put, I’m tired of writing (correction: trying to write and failing) with the knowledge that people won’t understand. Writing is no longer cathartic for me; the emotional rollercoaster of two deployments as a grunt has done nothing but put me in a position where I can barely control my anger and blind rage anymore. Attempting to write does nothing but further those problems.

Unless you’ve been in my shoes you won’t get it and you never will. And as much as I hate the feeling of knowing that the vast majority of people will never understand or empathize with me, to understand that for the most part I’m alone with this mentality, in the end that’s fine; in my idealistic youth I joined the Army so people in the US wouldn’t have to do and see the things I have. I’m still glad I did it being that I wouldn’t be the man I am today without the experience. And with that I realize that as frustrating as it is to see my generation’s concept of America, to witness their vanity and plain ignorance, that was part of the package that came with seeing the elephant. At this point in my life I can say I truly know the meaning behind sacrifice and burden."

Man, at the rate of military blogs shutting down this week, I’ll be lucky if I’m going to be blogging anymore.  I mean, because I like to follow the cool crowd.  When I was in grade school my Mom got extremely upset with me one time for growing a disturbingly long rat tail on the back of my head.  Hey, all my other friends were doing it.

I think my Mom was just jealous because her own hair wouldn’t grow long and luxurious like mine.

Thanks to my good pal Melissa for the tip on this story.

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(Wired.com) An outspoken soldier who wrote one of the most brutally honest blogs ever to come out of Iraq has been forced to shut down his site, after criticizing his superior officers one time too often. 

In Iraq since December, 2007, the pseudonymous "LT [Lieutenant] G," described firefights and combat patrols and tribal meetings and the banality of life on base with equal measures of sarcasm, aggression, introspection, and attention to detail. Within months, his site, Kaboom: A Soldier's War Journal, became one of the military's blogosphere's best-loved voices from the war.

Some of that popularity came from LT G's taste for the absurd. He described his platoon's predilections for Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Aladdin soundtrack;  a local shiekh's love of Suzanne Sommers workout videos; and his moment of absent-mindedness, when he had to be reminded to put on pants before he headed out to the warzone.

But Kaboom's mile-a-second monologues could be as searing as they were funny.

Read the entire story here.

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As I posted earlier in the week, LT G of Kaboom: A Soldier’s War Journal had stopped blogging because his blog entry titled “The Only Difference Between Martyerdom and Suicide is Press Coverage” hadn’t been vetted by the proper channels before it was published online.  Now his blog is completely offline.   

The entry that sparked trouble with his chain of command had received over 48 reader comments.  It can be found on Google’s Cache.

LT G explained the circumstances for going offline in his final entry:

Due to a rash posting on my part, and decisions made above my pay-grade, I have been ordered to stop posting on Kaboom, effective immediately. Though I committed no OPSEC violations, due to a series of extenuating circumstances – the least of which was me being on leave – my “The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage” post on May 28 did not go through the normal vetting channels. It’s totally on me, as it was too much unfiltered truth. I’m a soldier first, and orders are orders. So it is.

If you think, please think of us. If you pray, please pray for us. The second half of our deployment will be just as challenging and dangerous as the first half.

It seems like the Military isn’t getting the hint.  Military Blogs can be a blessing for Public Affairs.  You have to admire bloggers on the frontlines who are willing to take the time to blog and share their personal war experience - as well as their thoughts.  While I never had any issues blogging with my chain of command during my tours to Afghanistan and Iraq, I’m not going to pretend like I understand why Kaboom ultimately shut down.    

I did try pushing the envelope a few times with the military when I wrote about unicorns in Iraq.  You can’t tell me the military doesn’t have satellite photos of those magical creatures flying around.  Puh-lease.  It’s a cover-up.  Iran testing missiles in the desert? Nonsense. 

That's just something the Army tells us so they don't have to admit to the existence of unicorns.

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(Ballymena Today) The traumatic effect of the opening day of the Battle of the Somme on July1, 1916 is a well documented tale.

Movements of the so-called 'big battalions' have been exhaustively written about in a plethora of publications but every now and again, a little snippet of information surfaces which brings the awful tragedy of that bloodiest day into local perspective.

Over the past few years, Great War researcher, Sue Light, who concentrates on the role played by nurses during the conflict, has been examining the wartime diary of Edith Appleton, a QAIMNS Nursing Sister, which has recently been put online.

Read the entire story here.

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There were several active military blogs recently added to the Milblogging.com database from troops and contractors currently in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Make sure to check them out below.

And yes, I realize many of the blogs listed in the database that are from Iraq and Afghanistan are now back in the States or somewhere else.  We’re still working on upgrading the website to improve the accuracy of the listings.  Bloggers do have the ability to claim their blog and update their listings but not everyone has time.

In the meantime, you’re more than welcome to comb through the 2,000+ listings in the database and email me the individual changes.  Basically you need to view each listing, open up the website, research where the blogger is currently blogging from, then contact me.  It should only take a few months to complete.

I was gonna use my 7-year old to do it, but I'll hold off until he’s done painting the apartment.

Brad's Excellent Adventure, Brad, Iraq, I am an Army Reserve Officer from Michigan. I was ..., 23 Jun 2008

The Marching Camp, Just A Decurion, A Soldier's Girl, Iraq, A lonely castrum in the midst of the Barbarians., 23 Jun 2008

A Year in Afghanistan, Eric, Afghanistan, Eric is spending a year and a half working on deve..., 18 Jun 2008

Sarah Hoss, Sarah Hos, Iraq, chosen to take a job in the Middle East, 18 Jun 2008

Notes In The Eye of The Storm, Brian Paul Carlson, Iraq, As a filmmaker I've worked several positions in th..., 18 Jun 2008

Cajun Tiger's Rants and Raves, Cajun Tiger, Iraq, Everything that intrigues me from Christianity to ..., 18 Jun 2008

Dale and Mugs Manry and Family, Dale, Iraq, Currently, Dale is the OIC of the Mosul Area Offic..., 18 Jun 2008

James Aalan Bernsen, James Aalan Bernsen, Iraq, Political, historical and cultural commentary from..., 18 Jun 2008

Zen Traveler, Eric, Iraq, A Zen Buddhist and Security Professional using mul..., 18 Jun 2008

BobKrumm.com, MAJ Bob Krumm, Iraq, deployed to the Middle East, 18 Jun 2008

Staying in Touch, Multiple authors, Afghanistan, Members of the New York National Guard's 27th Brig..., 08 Jun 2008

Fearless 1st Marines’ blog, Fearless1stmarines, Iraq, Regimental Combat Team 1 in the Anbar province, 09 May 2008

48th Combat Support Hospital, SSG James Jeffries, Afghanistan, * * 48th Combat Support Hospital * * FOB Salerno /..., 09 May 2008

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(NewsBlaze) Today is Canada's 141st birthday. Don't we look good? Today, on this Canada Day, I am thinking even more than usual about our military. As everybody must know, we have troops in Afghanistan and in other hot spots. As we here in Canada celebrate our freedoms, be it with BBQ's and fireworks, our men and women are serving our country, and facing dangers so that we don't have to.

I am blessed to know a number of Canadian soldiers and veterans, and have made it a point to write about them and their mission quite a few times over on Tanker Bros milblog. At the end of last year, I named General Rick Hillier one of my Heroes of the Year, alongside US General David Petraeus. In case you missed that one you can read it here: [link http://mikegulf.blogspot.com/2007/12/my-heroes-of-year.html ]

Read the entire story here.

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Military blogs from the frontlines of Iraq and Afghanistan provide a perspective of war not offered any where else.  Unfortunately, the trend for some military bloggers once they return home from deployment, is to stop writing.  The latest Milblog to come to an abrupt end after returning home is The Unlikely Short-Timer who recently posted a farewell entry to readers.  Here’s an excerpt:

”I've always appreciated all of the support more than words can say, but for the time being, a true hiatus is necessary. A drunk post here and there leads everyone to think that I/We are fucked for life and that's not my AIM.

Sure, everything is bizarre and weird and we're (some of us) trying to find the math in it all, but the truth is that too damn many people know who I am and what's going on, and I'm not comfortable sharing anything anymore”

I can only speculate why some milbloggers stop.  As I got back from my first deployment to Afghanistan, coming home and continuing to blog was more of a task.  I was back with my family and friends, and trying to adjust back to civilian life. I had the support back in my day to day life that blogging provided while I was in a combat zone, so I didn’t feel the need to keep blogging for that reason – and that was a big reason for me.  But I did enjoy the community of military bloggers and readers and wanted to still be part of it. That’s why I started Milblogging.com in 2005.

It’s an exciting time to know a blogger has returned home safely, both for the blogger and the reader.  Personally though, when you follow a blogger for so long, only to have their writing come to an abrupt end it’s always a disappointment.

So why do so many stop once they return home? One can only guess why.  Reasons are sometimes provided in a farewell entry.  Some do this, some don’t.     I’d imagine there are personal reasons for stopping a blog, just as there are personal reasons for starting it.

- Some bloggers are too busy spending time with family and friends, and finding the time to blog is too difficult.

- Some just need to adjust back to being home, and writing about the military makes the transition more difficult.
  
There are many reasons.  And while there are many reasons, including lack of time, a major cause is the blog was started to share their war experience, and now that the war experience is over, so is the blog.

The Milblogging.com database has hundreds of blogs listed that are no longer active.  So what happens to a blog once the author stops writing? Some are deleted from the internet, only available through sites like Google Cache.  Some stay online even though there are no new entries.   Others get cyber squatted on by people looking to take advantage of the popular URL. 

Many of you may remember 365 and a Wakeup.  He was one of the most amazing milbloggers who stopped blogging after he returned home from Iraq.   However, he kept his blog online for people to read.   And if you’ve gone back to his blog lately, he recently posted his farewell entry to readers almost 2 years later after returning home.  Here’s an excerpt from his final post:

” It has been a very, very long time since I have had the opportunity to write in this online journal.  Truth be told I have had the opportunity - I just lacked the ability. Although I wanted to bring some kind of closure to this journal it has always been - and will always remain - a war journal. And when you aren't immersed in the blowtorch reality of combat it can be a little difficult to write about the emotions those situations give birth to. Then early last month I was asked to put together a speech for the 82nd Annual Sacramento Host Breakfast, a gathering of California's Business and Community leaders.  My tasking was straightforward, put together a short speech that would provide a glimmer of insight into the military before their recognition of California's Servicemen and Servicewomen. I am including the text of my speech below because it serves as an appropriate last posting.”

Personally, I enjoy blogging even though I’m home from my second deployment.  Partly because I’m a geek and I like to tell people I’m a blogger, and partly because I made personal connections with bloggers and readers that really helped me through my deployments. 

It seems like only yesterday I was calling my readers hausfraus and crackheads from Afghanistan.  One of the best parts for me about writing on deployment was blogging about Care Packages.  And telling people things like:

Do not send party invitations for weddings or Independence Day or any other festivities while we are deployed. Probably, because we can't attend.  Anybody who sends a party invitation to a deployed soldier is clearly retarded.

Good times.

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