One Nation... ...Under God.,
Some inner thoughts,
Go Army Airborne!, Big Daddy, United States, Gratuated from Texas A&M. Working in the greatest ..., 14 Jan 2006
HaddeNewall's Xanga Site, Pv2. Derek Hadfield, United States, Im a Tanker (19K) in the United States Army! Hooah..., 14 Jan 2006
Thoughts of a Soldier, Shawn Paul Cozzolino, United States, im in the 190 mp unit, ARMY /shot machine guns, r..., 14 Jan 2006
Kosovo: Blur of Chaos, Bmw82, United States, Peacekeeping in Kosovo 1999, 13 Jan 2006
Writing in the Sand, Themadhatter00, Iraq, In Iraq, 13 Jan 2006
Why did you think a giant balloon would stop them?,
Enthralled: Not all who wander are lost,
Because a lion shagged a whippet!,
My first deployment as a Marine Mom., Usmctankermom, United States, This is to discuss my feelings, thoughts, fears & ..., 13 Jan 2006
The Replacements, Lt Adam, Iraq, In Iraq..., 12 Jan 2006
What's on my mind today?,
Life's Speedbumps, TONYH, United States, Former Marine, full time student, part time Dad, E..., 12 Jan 2006
Proud to be a Soldiers Girl, S, United States, I'm a simple Girl,not yet a spouse,waiting for her..., 11 Jan 2006
Marine Corps News Room, CB for MarineParents.com, United States, a Place to Connect and Share, 11 Jan 2006
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...“Lt. Micah Bell, 29, took full advantage and set up his own Web log. It is a way for me to tell the story of our war to this unit’s families, so they can see what we are doing to make a difference here,” he said...
That’s a sentiment echoed by J.P., who asked that he not be named. J.P. was deployed in
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Anyway, I'll save you the trouble of reading the WashPo article. Here's an excerpt (because I'm pretty sure you'd rather have you're skin ripped off from head to toe, layer by layer, than read the WashPo):
"So, our tax dollars are going to get used so the Army can just add to its propaganda machine, shoveling "content" to like-minded bloggers? It all smacks of just another losing PR effort by a desperate team who seems to think that the only way it is going to get good press is to buy it or plant it."
As Blackfive says in a recent entry: “I suspect (and have verified in some cases) that we retired and veteran bloggers have no intentions of dancing to anyone's tune (let alone the DoA), but we are interested in getting out the content that the MSM fails to provide about our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines (and you Coasties, too).”
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Deployment to iraq ,
My Son, My Soldier , Thomas'
Grandma in Iraq , Suzanne Fournier, Iraq, Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15,... , 10 Jan 2006
Code Red* Women for the Troops , Groovyvic, Laura, Thirdee, United States, This blog was created for one reason: To rouse wom... , 10 Jan 2006
Milblogging.com , JP, United States, The World's Largest Index of Military Blogs (Milbo... , 09 Jan 2006
Chaplain Kiel , Chaplain Renee Kiel, Afghanistan, Chaplain Renee Kiel Kandahar, Afghanistan , 09 Jan 2006
Gung Ho! , Carl Brickman, United States, In the Marines Reserves from August 1975 to 1981. ... , 09 Jan 2006
Mexicans and Camels don't Mix! , Mariuz, Iraq, The tales, misadventures, wrong doings and all aro... , 08 Jan 2006
Vacation: Iraq , Ryan, Iraq, I am now hangin out just outside muqdadiyah, Iraq.... , 08 Jan 2006
Cliff's Home Page , Cliff, Iraq, Name: Cliff Occupation: US Marine for life , 08 Jan 2006
The misguided adventures of hajihunter8 , Hajihunter8, United States, This web log is the online journal of a soldier(ha... , 08 Jan 2006
Live in Okinawa , Arodig, Japan, I am 21 years old, and i am with th Marines in Oki... , 08 Jan 2006
Letters to Gabe , Dornbrau, United States, Gabe, well you've made it through Basic and Air As... , 08 Jan 2006
Sic Semper Tyrannis 2006 , Colonel W. Patrick Lang, United States, A daily journal of thoughts and messages from the ... , 08 Jan 2006
Johns Iraq Blog , John Baker, Iraq, This Blog will be my attempt to give my friends an... , 08 Jan 2006
Blue Force , Alex Urevick-Ackelsberg, United States, This blog facilitates a progressive national secur... , 06 Jan 2006
MedicMinutes , David, Iraq, For those of you who don't know me, I am David, a ... , 06 Jan 2006
A Stygian Abyss , Tora, Iraq, Tikrit, Salah Ad Din Province, Iraq Just one of ... , 06 Jan 2006
Magical Mystery Tour , Brian, Afghanistan, To chronicle my adventures during my deployment fr... , 06 Jan 2006
Christopher Hernandez , Christopher Hernandez, Afghanistan, Hello everyone, well I have finally made it into A... , 05 Jan 2006
Globetrotting: A Military Photographer's Blog , Rob Curtis, Iraq, A Military Photographer's Blog , 05 Jan 2006
Nom de Guerre , Christian Lowe, Iraq, The travels, life and times of a military reporter... , 05 Jan 2006
The Lucky Chronicle , Taylor, Iraq, One Soldier's study of luck. Northern AO, Iraq , 05 Jan 2006
2400/7 A day in the life of an Army of one , Dave Yi, United States, Occupation: Military , 05 Jan 2006
James , James hallaway, United States, hi....I'm james hallaway...I'm 18 my life has chan... ,
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(JP, Host): With the media providing only part of the story from the frontlines of Iraq and Afghanistan, the truly personal journals of milbloggers who share what they experience on the ground is reshaping reporting as we know it. From his operating base in Iraq, Danjel Bout aka Thunder6, author of “365 and a Wakeup” a Company Commander in the Army National Guard, has helped to establish military blogs as a powerful source of information for people all over the world. Telling the story of himself and his troops during his deployment he reveals the successes that are being made everyday in
This is a transcript of what he said. It has NOT been edited.
JP: Danjel, thanks for taking the time. History is going on in
Thunder6: It is difficult to describe just how much we’ve seen change over the last year because you have to have a frame of reference to gauge progress. I think that is the perceptual trap the MSM is falling into – if you spend 10 minutes visiting a stretch of
JP: Your milblog is honest and personal, and a lot of supporters appreciate that instead of relying on the MSM *ahem, and I'll try to go through this interview without bashing the MSM*, but the truth of it is --- and it's becoming true of many milblogs being written from the frontlines and in the States --- there are a lot of people out there who do see your milblog as their source for news from the frontlines.
Thunder6: When I started the blog I was surprised by just how many people were turning to milblogs to get a feel for what is going on here in
JP: You're helping inform people. Have you actually been able to change opinions of some people about the war? Take my Mom for example, is there any worse feeling for a parent than to see their kid go off to war. But as soon as I landed in
Thunder6: My intent was never to change people’s opinion on the war, I just tried to give people a window into our time here in
JP: Have you ever experienced support like this other than blogging? For me, I still regularly hear from readers who supported me in
Thunder6: The support I have received from readers eclipses anything I’ve experienced in my “normal” life - I am still in awe at the generosity of the American people. My company has literally stuffed several LMTV’s (which have the same basic cargo area as a U-Haul moving van) with packages readers have sent for the Iraqi people. The soldiers in the unit mail room use my name as a curse word – after the first few months they set aside part of the mail room just for my packages.
JP: Talk about that first entry on your blog back in March, right? Getting that under your belt how'd it feel?
Thunder6: When I started the blog I didn’t expect it to get much farther then my friends and family, so I didn’t really make a mental note of what it felt like to send out that first post. I just started typing, and when my fingers stopped punching keys I hit the post button. There really wasn’t anything unique, or even exciting about it.
JP: Could you for your supporters take us through what you do in your down time? You workout? Watch movies? Hit the PX? Or do you spend it doing other things?
Thunder6: Downtime? Seriously? In the early days of the deployment I used to hit the gym in the late afternoon – nothing relieves stress like lifting pig iron. But when I assumed command of Killer Company any chance at establishing a schedule evaporated. There is always something to do – if I’m not in sector then I’m hammering out patrol schedules or company operations orders. In those rare moments where I have a chance for down time I usually try to send an email, type a post, or get some sleep… usually in that order.
JP: After everything you've endured in
Thunder6: It’s become increasingly difficult to convey the emotional experience of being here because combat is a corrosive environment – it grinds you down emotionally. After months of constant exposure I’ve found my emotional range stunted, like a tree that has been pruned back a little too much. It’s a little disturbing to have your ability to truly experience a situation wither away, but it is a necessary evil if you are going to lead soldiers in combat.
JP: Knowing that you have a large following of readers, do you make a point of writing more often? And, do you ever get exhausted from blogging? I know when I was in
Thunder6: I try to post as often as I can, but in the end our mission dictates when I can and can’t write. It is a bit of a paradox – the situations people would really want to read about are the very ones that keep me from writing. Very few of those situations make it into the blog because they are mentally and physically exhausting to recount… plus they raise serious opsec concerns. That being said I don’t ever feel exhausted by blogging, I truly enjoy writing and it serves as an outlet I wouldn’t otherwise have.
Thunder6: Its pretty apparent to the troops on the ground that the MSM has dropped the ball. There are a few exceptions, but for the most part the MSM seems to have a difficult time grasping the ground truth. I’m not sure if this is indicative of a downward spiral in modern journalism or whether it is grounded in some gut level revulsion of anything that can’t be collapsed into a sound bite. I’ve met several superb journalists that wrote moving stories about our missions, but in the end the stories went unpublished. Unless it is short, sexy, or violent the MSM doesn’t appear interested.
JP: Out of curiosity, where do you see milblogging fitting in American history? You've had a chance to do this for some time now and you've read other milblogs. What do you think people looking back on milblogs in the war on
Thunder6: I think milblogs will eventually replace the journals that soldiers in other wars used to record their experience. Just like those journals they will become a treasure trove of information for future historians. I can’t imagine how they will be perceived years from now, to be honest I am a little to close to the subject to avoid injecting my own dreams into the appraisal.
JP: Again, thanks for answering my questions. Always a good time chatting with you.
***Read past interviews with milbloggers Blackfive and American Soldier.
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When SMASH asked: “Are you committed to the success of our military in
Allow me to answer that question: “Yes, you’re a --- you’re a jerk [Mr. Filner]”. Read the entire story here.
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The Courier-Journal
…There is no meaningful count of military-themed blogs, but observers say they could run from several hundred to the low thousands out of the estimated 20 million to 25 million blogs.
Military blogs are growing rapidly, as overall blogging explodes, blog search engines indicate.
Search engines add 30,000 to 70,000 blogs a day. More than 100,000 people post to them every hour, said Peter Hirshberg, executive vice president of the blog search engine Technorati, which lists 22.8 million blogs.
John Dillon, a Murray State University professor of journalism and mass communications who teaches a course on the Internet's impact on society, said blogs are a product of a culture that grew up with text messaging, camera phones and the Internet. The emotions laid bare there, he said, are typical of the Internet's mix of intimacy and detachment.
"It's sort of like another form of a reality show," Dillon said. "People are writing their deepest thoughts and personal feelings and putting it out there for a faceless audience to read."
Read the entire story here.
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I’ve been very very busy since the New Year so I haven’t had a chance to do much with this site or respond to a lot of email. I’ve also been trying to make my New Year’s resolutions come true. Resolution # 1 – I’m not going to drink any more. Resolution # 2 – I’m not going to drink any less (Yes, I know it’s an old joke, but it never gets old - like the Macarena).
So, on to the latest batch of milblogs. This batch includes milblogs from The United States,
MOAB -- Mother of All Blogs , Kimberly, United States, A reporter hungry to see the realities of war sets... , 04 Jan 2006
The C-Square , Delta mike, Iraq, "Cry Havoc! Unleash the WAR PIGS! LAV-C2 Light Arm... ,
Green... again ,
Fly low. slow and wild , Marcus Piffer, Brazil, It's about military helicopters and my daily life ... , 04 Jan 2006
Peakah's Provocations... , Joshua McPeak, United States, Friend of Milblogs... -Ex Air Force Crew Chief on... , 04 Jan 2006
NOTHING MORE, NOTHING LESS , BAYCB, United States, Motivated Army chick on her way to being a soldier... , 04 Jan 2006
Might makes Fight , Rachelle, United States, I'm starting this blog as the sister to a US Army ... , 04 Jan 2006
PFC Brian Collins , Marian Collins, United States, Brian is settling in to life at Ft. Hood and is re... , 04 Jan 2006
The Daily Grind , Craig Covert, Iraq, I am a LtCol in the Marine Corps Reserve, having c... , 04 Jan 2006
My Freedom Fighter , Karen, United States, Thank you for visiting My Freedom Fighter! This si... , 04 Jan 2006
War & Political Honesty , Mark Glesne, Iraq, In the civilian world I am a Corporate Marketing S... , 04 Jan 2006
The World From My Perspective v2.0 , SUICIDEVAN, Afghanistan, Name:SuicideVan Location:Khowst, Khowst Province, ... , 03 Jan 2006
FraNk Speaks Out!!! , FraNkenoodles, Iraq, For this next year, I look forward to taking care ... , 03 Jan 2006
U.S.S. MIDWAY DOCENT PAGE , Diego, United States, Photographs of Midway Docents and Safety Personnel... , 03 Jan 2006
We Support You , FVK, United States, For those who serve, it is an honor. For their fam... ,
Reporting from Iraq , Margaret Friedenauer,
She says "Hooah!" ,
Not Your Average GI Joe , Justin, United States, All I know is that on July 23rd, 2005, my father's... , 02 Jan 2006
PFC Nick Ashby 82nd Airborne Bravo Co. 1/504 PIR , This is for PFC Nick Ashby, United States, I dedicate this page to my son who is in Iraq righ... , 02 Jan 2006
Patriot Pen Pals , Supporting our US Troops, United States, Welcome to Patriot Pen Pals and thank you for your... , 02 Jan 2006
Aaron's Haven , Aaron Genevie, United States, I'm 21. Stationed at
Hell is surely empty, for all the Devils are here... , Goose, Afghanistan, Just a hard-working guy trying to get college down... , 02 Jan 2006
Wu_Tang_Korea's Xanga Site , K Money, South Korea, I am a Specialist in the U.S. Army. My Job Is 13 M... , 02 Jan 2006
Mission to Iraq , Hart Seely, Li-Hua Lan, Iraq, The Post-Standard this month is sending reporter H... , 01 Jan 2006
While My Love Is In Iraq , Holly, United States, Not only journal entries and pictures that documen... , 01 Jan 2006
The 48th Goes to War: Latests dispatches from Iraq , AJC staff writer Moni Basu and photographer Curtis Compton, Iraq, AJC staff writer Moni Basu and photographer Curtis... , 01 Jan 2006
Shelly's Blurbs , Shelly, United States, Currently training at Ft. Leonard-Wood, Missouri i... , 01 Jan 2006
Armygurrl , Armygurrl, United States, ...but I have decided to go down another path and ... , 01 Jan 2006
Secretarmygirl , Jennifer, United States, The journal of a 34-year old woman in the Reserve ... , 01 Jan 2006
Bravo Battery Friends and Family , Chuck Armstrong, United States, This site has been created for the guys of the 1/1... ,
A Soldier's Diary , Phil P.,
Not as Easy as It Looks ,
The Start Of My Army Life , Tim Fitzgerald, United States, This blog is dedicated to the beggining of my Army... , 31 Dec 2005
Air Force Airmen , Af_airmen, United States, I was talking to a few livejournal members, and th... , 31 Dec 2005
In Defense , Patrick 91W, United States, My trials and tribulations from deciding to enlist... , 31 Dec 2005
Afghanistan Journal , David Karnosky, Afghanistan, I'm 22 years old, and I will be getting deployed t... , 31 Dec 2005
My Iraq Journal , Desertrat68, Iraq, I am in the military deployed to Iraq. I am recent... ,
Iraq Soldier ,
Alan's navy blog , Alan, United States, The way it will work is I will be writing letters ... , 31 Dec 2005
The Daily Blogster , Mr Bob, United States, Open-Source News Hub - Political,Religious,Militar... , 30 Dec 2005
Dave's Not Here , David Earney, United States, Travel/Photo/Milblog. Dave is a civilian contracto... , 29 Dec 2005
Tanker Brothers , Mike Gulf, Cav Tanker, United States, Random thoughts from two Soldiers in the War On Te... , 29 Dec 2005
Gone For a Soldier , Paul, United States, Husband, Father, Engineer, Soldier. A glimpse of ... , 29 Dec 2005
Fair Treatment for our Soldiers , Rob, United States, A Chronicle Of The Injustice Our Soldiers Face In ... , 29 Dec 2005
Canadian Airborne Regiment , Rob, Canada, Canadian Airborne Regiment , 29 Dec 2005
A Liberal Marines Progressive Perspective , MarineLiberal1775, United States, Marines are defenders of the republic and the Cons... , 29 Dec 2005
Life as a Army Recruiters Wife and Mom , 79R_wife, United States, Life as a Army Recruiters Wife and Mom , 29 Dec 2005
Samantha Speaks , Samantha West, United States, Strong supporter of the United States Marine Corps... , 28 Dec 2005
Keystone Soldiers , Lordzmom, United States, Supporting those on the frontlines of freedom. It ... ,
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In what appears to be investigative reporting at it's finest: "All Headline News" is announcing "Milblogs' Being Shut Down Rapidly."
First off, let's read the entire article (and by entire, I mean all four lines).
'Milblogs' Being Shut Down Rapidly
Danielle George - All Headline News Staff Reporter
Milbloggers are being "shut down almost as fast as they're set up," says
Hartley last January was among the first active-duty combat troops demoted and fined for security violations on his blog, justanothersoldier.com
Throughout last year, the Army, Marines, Air Force and Navy tightened control on bloggers by requiring them to register through the chain of command and by creating special security squads to monitor milblogs.
The military, at first unaware of the milblogging trend, last year began targeting bloggers with warnings, punctuated by high-profile disciplinary action.
Yes, that was the entire article. I’ve read longer fortunes in fortune cookies. What makes this article laughable is that the Milblogging.com database is over 1,000 milblogs strong, with only a handful shutting down (for whatever reasons), and I can't even keep up with the number of new milblogs being written everyday. That's not even counting the ones I haven't listed yet. I'm not sure where "All Headline News" got this scoop -- a cereal box? a magic lamp? crack?
So, I unleashed "JP: Milblogging.com Staff Reporter" to do some research of his own on "All Headline News". I'll be damned if their article is going to deter anyone from writing a milblog (unless of course they're violating Op Sec). And if you violate Op Sec, well, being shutdown will be the least of your problems. Everyone is briefed on Operational Security. It's not just blogging, but emails, casual conversations, phone calls, letters, sleeptalking, water cooler chat --- you get the idea --- watch what you say.
Here’s what I found after countless hours of research on "All New Headlines"…Uh, I’m done. According to their “About” page:
We scour and crawl the internet to index and archive the latest breaking news and business information. We then filter and deliver that news and headline content in real-time to individuals and businesses worldwide.
This sounds to me like quality reporting, right people? And by quality, I mean throw in a few buzz words with more than six letters, no facts, and the word "Staff Reporter" and it's quality.
This is "JP: Milblogging.com Staff Reporter" reporting live, from my couch. And remember, DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT VIOLATE OP SEC. It's that simple. I mean, without milblogs I'm not sure what I'd do. Sleep finally??? Maybe. Nah, I enjoy reading milblogs waaay too much. If I wanted to fall asleep, I'd turn on CNN.
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Anyway, I've conveniently placed the banners here so all the winners can pick them up. I mean, I would've sent them directly, but after receiving their MILBLOGGIE, most winners are busy responding to hundreds of interview requests or going to Disney World. I can't get past most of their agents. I drove to Soldier Mom's house to personally hand her a MILBLOGGIE (Yes. I'm joking) and the gate guard looked at me like I was speaking in tongue. Sheesh. You win one MILBLOGGIE, and boy, do things change.
For the record: can someone please tell me how Love from the Latrine didn't win this year? I'm at a complete loss for words. Complete. I mean, the content is so underrated. And the writing --- top-notch. And the photography? Seriously. I haven't read the rules on the Pulitzers. But come on, Love from the Latrine could easily compete.
So, here they are. The coveted MILBLOGGIES (say Thanks to GX Magazine)....
And yes, the "Finalist" banner is in the works. I spoke with CJ earlier. He's working on the banner that says: “Thunder6 Kicked My Ass At The Milbloggies and All I Got Was This Banner”.
Happy New Year
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Here’s an excerpt from the Newsday.com story:
Giving the ultimage view from the inside
BY JOSEPH MALLIA
STAFF WRITER
It is sometimes said that journalism is the first draft of history. Milblogs, now, are the first draft of war.
Among thousands of pages on blackfive.net, mudvillegazette.com and milblogging.com are glimpses of the intensity of war and the desire to write about it, in real time.
”War makes us want to share our stories, and that's true whether it's letters sent during the Civil War, or the e-mails or blogs of today," said Jon Peede, director of Operation Homecoming, a National Endowment for the Arts program that gathers blogs, memoirs and letters written by troops overseas.”
Read the entire story here.
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If you’re curious as to what milbloggers have to say from the frontlines of war about blogging, drop what you’re doing, and listen to this BBC audiostream (courtesy of Trevor of the will to exist). If you’re a fan of military blogs, then you must listen to this audiostream. If you have no idea what a milblog is (well, you should probably keep watching your precious CNN so you can learn about Britney Spears, flowers that talk, and other breaking news reported by CNN), or, you can listen to this audiostream and learn about what’s really going on on the frontlines. (Yes, I said “on” twice. Sue me).
Other milblogs mentioned in the audiostream:
the will to exist
My Iraqi Saga
and...
Milblogging.com.
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It�s been three months since Milblogging.com was officially launched. 1,067 military blogs, 22 countries, 1,072 registered members, a plug on Rush Limbaugh, and four hundred cases of Red Bull Engery Drink later, today, I�m proud to announce the winners of the 2005 MILBLOGGIES --- winners of the best military blogs on the internet. [More on the Winning banners, finalists (scroll to the bottom of this entry to view), and upcoming buzz to follow this week].
Thanks to Iraq the Model (Winner of the 2005 Weblog Awards for Best Middle East of Africa Blog), GX Magazine (huge supporters of the National Guard), Joe Katzman of Winds of Change.net, and many many others, for helping to spread the word of the Military Blogs.
So, here are the winners of the 2005 MILBLOGGIES (Sadly, my personal favorite, Love from the Latrine only garnered 3 votes. I�d be lying if I told you I wasn�t upset that Love from the Latrine! didn�t win)�
Anyway, make sure to visit each winner and congratulate them. Especially, Thunder6 of �365 and a Wakeup�. Speaking of kickass, Thunder6 won three categories, including the Ultimate Military Blog category in the Top 100. Hands-down, he writes one of the most riveting milblogs from the frontlines of
WINNERS: 2005 MILBLOGGIES
Winner - Top 100
365 and a Wakeup (Votes: 119)
Winner - Iraq Frontlines
365 and a Wakeup (Votes: 119)
Winner - U.S. Army
365 and a Wakeup (Votes: 119)
Winner - U.S. Military Veteran
Blackfive (Votes: 70)
Winner - U.S. Marine Corps
One Marine's View (Votes: 51)
Winner - U.S. Air Force
The Mudville Gazette (Votes: 46)
Winner - U.S. Military Parent
Soldier's Mom (Votes: 34)
Winner - U.S. Civilian
Soldier's Angel - Holly Aho (Votes: 33)
Winner - U.S. Navy
The Indepundit (Votes: 26)
Winner - U.S. Military Spouse
Air Force Family (Votes: 25)
Winner - Afghanistan Frontlines
Firepower Forward (Votes: 16)
Winner - Foreign National (Military)
Universal Soldier (Votes: 8)
Sidenote: I have the Winning banners already, complements of GX Magazine who will also be running a story in the future. The Winning banners will be posted here later this week for the Winners to pick 'em up.
----------------------------------------------------
FINALISTS: 2005 MILBLOGGIES
I finally sat down and formulated the eligibility rules for finalists. Here are the finalists for the 2005 Milbloggies. That, or you can have a custom-made banner by CJ of �A Soldier�s Perspective� that says: �Thunder6 Kicked My Ass At The Milbloggies and All I Got Was This Banner�. Finalists for 2005 were selected from the Top 100. The list of Finalists is based on military blogs that received at least 15 overall votes. Something needs to be said of the finalists in the 2005 Milbloggies. If nothing, they, and all the rest of the 1,067 military bloggers listed in the Milblogging.com database, deserve huge amounts of publicity and praise, maybe even a book deal?
Michael Yon: Online Magazine (Votes: 65)
Ma Deuce Gunner (Votes: 37)
From My Position... On the way! (Votes: 36)
Wordsmith At War (Votes: 32)
Dr. Phat Tony`s (Votes: 31)
Major K. (Votes: 27)
Sgt Hook - This We'll Defend (Votes: 25)
Froggy Ruminations (Votes: 21)
Dude, Where's the Beach? (Votes: 21)
Andi's World (Votes: 17)
Blog Them Out of the Stone Age (Votes: 16)
A Storm in Afghanistan (Votes: 16)
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Anyway, I’ll be announcing the winners of the 2005 MILBLOGGIES this afternoon. You can wait for it, or you can see the results for yourselves by clicking the charts on the left sidebar. Once I announce the winners, I’ll make the “Add to Favorites” button available again.
Also, people, if there’s one thing we need more of in 2006 it’s – ad banners, blog contests, Lindsay Lohan, and reality shows. But CJ over at A Soldier’s Perspective asked yesterday [referring to banners]: “Can I get one that says "
Or how about, "Thunder6 Kicked My Ass At The Milbloggies and All I Got Was This Banner?"
In fact people, CJ finished second place in the Top 100 and U.S. Army. And despite garnering more votes than 1,065 other milblogs, he still didn't receive an award. Can you say Susan Lucci?
Great suggestions, CJ. Anyone else have suggestions for other banners? I doubt anyone can top CJ.
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Nothing like New Year's Eve. If you're spending tonight alone, no worries. You know what today really means, right? It's the last day for voting in the 2005 MILBLOGGIES. I realize you could spend your New Year's Eve drunk, doing headstands at some neighbor's party while singing to Britney Spears (ah, reminds me of college, good times). Or, you could be watching the ball drop at
And thanks to Lieutenant K for this suggestion --- All MILBLOGGIES finalists will receive a banner, too. As far as the MILBLOGGIES finalists, we'll narrow it down. But, we'll need to figure out the best way to identify the finalists. The winners will be announced first, and once I figure out the best way to identify finalists, I will announce the list.
Happy New Year to all the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan!
Kathi in Virginia says: "Our heartfelt thanks to those serving, and the families supporting them, from a humbly grateful and appreciative fellow American. We're keeping you in our thoughts and prayers as we head into a New Year. Kathi in Virginia"
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Milblogging.com and military blogs got mentioned on Rush Limbaugh today. Hat tip to PCS to LinkedInUSAF for letting me know. And a big thanks MacStansbury of My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy. MacStansbury sent an email to Rush Limbaugh stating: "If you ever wanted to know about the stories of the military folks overseas, you wanna start at Milblogging.com.."
There’s nothing more for me to do. I can never top this. And yes, I’m a big fan of Rush (okay, that’s a lie, I’m a HUGE fan of Rush). I’m at work, so I’ll update with a link to the broadcast later today. I haven't had a chance to hear it yet. Or if someone can leave some info in the comments about the show, it would be appreciated.
As thrilling as burger flipping is, I must get back to work. Oh yeah, my site will probably crash today because of the traffic. Gawd, a total site meltdown, that’s the biggest complement. Truly, it is. Happy New Year!
Updates:
You can hear the archived show by going to http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/
Track Backs:
My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy track backed with If you’re wondering how come is it you’re getting pounded, hard
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Hat tip to Matt of Blackfive. Sorry, I’d comment but I’m at work. Maybe later. I do have a day job people. (Oh shit, gotta run. Damn french fries. I always over cook them.)
By Kevin Anderson
BBC News
The war in
However, some of these pioneering frontline bloggers fear that the golden age of milblogging has already passed as military officials begin to clamp down on the unfettered online writing.
Read the full story here.
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So....
How about the color of their blog?
Now, I’m assuming the “Left Behinds” are color blind. Please, tell me you’re color-blind. Unless you’re a Hillary Duff fan blogging about your newest Hillary Duff makeup kit or poster, or you like to blog about pretty flowers, nobody, and I mean nobody, is going to believe you purposely chose that color for your blog. According to my research, the favorite color of serial killers is Pink. Really. It is.
Who comments on their blog?
Is it possible to have a group blog where the only commenters are the contributors? Yes. Apparently, it is - I present you with Left Behinds. Plus, it appears if you comment - and you’re not a contributor - your comment gets deleted. See how that works? I can only assume you have to have an I.Q. less than a head-of-lettuce to comment. Left Behinds will deny it, but it’s true.
Here’s what Solomon had to say about me:
“btw, if you go to MILblogging, just ignore the guy who runs it and his partisan ranting about "the liberal lunatic MSM" and go directly to the blogs-- what he doesn't realize is that he's as annoying and unnecessary as any of the dumb intermediaries on Fox or CNN).”
Oh, Solomon. In case you didn’t know, I’m a milblogger. And I milblogged from Afghanistan long before you started wearing makeup. I don’t bash the MSM because I like to poke fun at the brain dead vegetables who sit behind a desk criticizing a war they know nothing about, I bash them because people aren’t getting the full story from the News. And, I really like annoying people like you.
By the way, before Solomon spewed all over his blog about me, he writes about another blogger:
”However, he's right that a lot of soldiers seem to resent the MSM portayal of the war. There's some political diversity among milbloggers, but they tend to be pro-war (which makes sense).”
2 + 2 = 4. Bravo Solomon, Bravo for your enlightening observation. My favorite line: “milbloggers...They tend to be pro-war (which makes sense)”... And Texas residents tend to be pro-Dallas Cowboys (which makes sense, too).
What really baffles me is: Solomon, like many who read my blog for the first time, doesn’t realize the blog section of milblogging.com is intended for fun. Yes, it's got a Conservative slant, but half of my loyal readers are liberals.
Anyway, if I were a member of the MSM, I could care less about your opinion. But I’m not. The Milblogging community, like other blogging communities, is a very tight-knit community.
Trackback Update:
LL of Chromed Curses tracked back with: Oooooo, Fight, Fight!
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Now, we’re over 1,000 milblogs in the Milblogging.com database. Can you believe it? Oxygen. I need oxygen. Some interesting milblogs in this latest bunch. In fact, some interesting blog titles in this latest bunch: "Drunken Sailor", "
Chris' Deployment Journal , Grimes/Chesak, United States, Chris' Deployment Journal to Iraq , 28 Dec 2005
Army Basic Training Journal , Albert Harris, United States,..if I go to
I Love My Soldier , Multiple Authors, United States, I made this community as a way to set up a "suppor... ,
Missin Home , Coop_diddy, Iraq, In
National Guard Tanker in Iraq , Jake D. Snake, United States, Chronicle of a National Guard Tanker who is servin... ,
Texasmp7860's Xanga Site , Matt Tran, South Korea, Hi everyone, my name is matt tran, im 21. Im curre... ,
I Love My Soldier , Caity Jones, United States, Caity. I'm a soldier in the MIARNG and my fiance C... ,
560TH MP CO , Jeff LeClair, Germany, 23 year old MP, currently stuck in
Truth on Iraq , Thomas McIntryre, United States, I'm a 58yo male married for 36yrs. Retired militar... , 20 Dec 2005
Ramblings of a medic gone mad... , MedicSimon, United States, Saving lives is my line of work, I'm a combat medi... ,
Ft. Lost in the Woods , Jung Lee, United States, Occupation: Military Industry: Government , 20 Dec 2005
Reporter in Iraq , Matthew D. LaPlante, United States, Matthew D. LaPlante is military and homeland secur... ,
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