Featured Milblogger of the Week: Made a Difference for That One
Sunday, December 9, 2007, 02:21 PM
First Name: Christopher
Member since: 17 Nov 2007
Last Login: 23 Nov 2007
Bio: An American Military Pediatric Surgeon deployed to Iraq.
From a recent blog entry:
“Today started calmly enough. Eggs and salsa, morning rounds, and then onto the scheduled operations. We had a pretty full load of eight cases. They were all patients who had been injured on prior days, but needed to return to the operating room again. They needed bones aligned with metal pins and rods. Their numerous wounds needed to be washed out and closed over drains. They needed surgical tubes placed for feeding and breathing without a machine.
Now it is 2200, and we still have about five of those cases to do. We got a little disrupted over the course of the day. Early this morning, there were two suicide bombings in Iraq. One was a truck bomb, and the other was a female suicide bomber at a security checkpoint. The crew at the FOB radioed our ER to tell us that there were as many as 20 inbound. We activated the MASCAL response. We called in all shifts of the hospital and congregated in the ED. Shortly thereafter the first helocopter landed. The helipad crew rolled in with a skinny nine-year-old boy with a hole in his armpit and a drainage tube already placed between the ribs of his left chest…”
Find out more at http://www.madeadifference.blogspot.com
Have a favorite Milblogger? Want to see them featured here? Submit your nomination to milblogging@gmail.com
[ Add comment ] | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink | Discussion | Digg this | Add to del.icio.us
In the Blogs: Announcing "Dragon Soup" - GraniteGrok welcomes milblogger to the fold!
Sunday, December 9, 2007, 12:06 PM
(GraniteGrok) Skip and I are honored to be able to offer 'Grok readers a very special addition to our team of contributors: Major Kirk Luedeke. Regular readers might recall that we posted a letter he had written to his mother in which he reported on some of the good news happening on the ground in and around Baghdad. That is because he is, in fact, there right now, helping the US win the new world war against radical Islam. After we published the piece, and an exchange of emails, "Major Kirk", a Public Affairs Officer in the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division-- The Dragon Brigade, currently on active duty in Baghdad, Iraq, has agreed to do some Blogging for us, or, as it is called, "MilBlogging."
Read the entire story here.
Thanks to Kathi for the tip.
[ Add comment ] | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink | Discussion | Digg this | Add to del.icio.us
Milblogs in the News: NRO Joins TNR in Walk of Shame
Sunday, December 9, 2007, 07:37 AM
(Columbia Journalism Review) It looks like war-time fabrication isn’t just the domain of The New Republic anymore. The National Review’s W. Thomas Smith, a regular contributor and author of the magazine’s milblog The Tank, has been caught reporting fabrications fed to him by sources during a trip to Lebanon this fall. According to several critics—and Smith and the NRO themselves—Smith fell for the falsehoods his sources fed him completely, without ever bothering to try to corroborate or confirm them independently, while making it sound like he had witnessed more than he really had.Read the entire story here.
[ Add comment ] | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink | Discussion | Digg this | Add to del.icio.us
In the Milblogs: Sketchy Milblogging
Thursday, December 6, 2007, 08:08 PM
(LT Nixon Rants) Apparently, there are some integrity issues with regards to falsified milblogging. This is coming from both the left and right side of the punditsphere. The right-wingers point out the "Baghdad Diarist", Scott Beauchamp, as trying to overhype war atrocities, while the left-wingers point out Thomas Smith's bogus accounts of an encounter with Hezbollah in Lebanon as an example of lousy journalism. Read the entire story here.
[ Add comment ] | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink | Discussion | Digg this | Add to del.icio.us
Check Out The Milblogging.com Store!
Thursday, December 6, 2007, 03:25 PM
[ 6 comments ] | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink | Discussion | Digg this | Add to del.icio.us
Milblogger Northern Disclosure Publishes Book
Thursday, December 6, 2007, 10:48 AM
About the BookThis book is a personal account of an Infantry Squad leader in training and in combat. The human interest story that faces many young men in a military and combat scenario. The author recounts the creation and placement of soldiers underneath him and the development of the relationships that will follow him into Iraq as a member of a new army unit and strategy. The army started the Stryker Brigade Combat Teams with this unit and they were the first to train and fight with this vehicle and unit of action strategy The author SSG Toby Nunn is the direct leader of most of the soldiers mentioned in the book and recounts their exploits. This is also a coming of age story as the soldiers mature in the wiles of combat and learn about their inner humanity versus the aggressive nature programmed by years of training.
The Book takes place with the unit train up in the U.S. , at Fort Lewis in Washington state follows them to training places around the country, the desert sands of Kuwait and ends in Mosul, Iraq. Due to the setting of the book it will appeal to a broad spectrum of demographics looking to learn more about the face behind the military uniform and to get a ground level perspective of the middle stages of the war as the reestablishment of the Iraqi nation and the standing up of the first internal security forces. SSG Nunn was one of the first leaders to take on the tough task of training and establishing local security forces in Iraq while dealing with the cultural differences between the soldiers and those they trained and fought with.
About the Author
SFC Toby J. Nunn is a Canadian Citizen earning his citizenship for the United States of America. Born and raised in the mountains of northern British Columbia by a single father he moved to the United States to gain an education and obtain opportunities not available to him in Canada. Faced with several adversities in life he turn to the United States military to validate himself as a man and citizen of the nation he is proud to be a part of without taking away from the pride he holds dear about where he is from and family still resides.
As a soldier in the US Army he has excelled, gaining rank as fast as legally possible but attaining responsibilities far beyond his pay grade from the start of his career. He has also been blessed with great leadership and wonderful duties. He is a charismatic leader known for his ethically based decisions.
SFC Toby Nunn is a well-decorated veteran of the War on Terror being deployed several times and places. He is also one of the fastest inducted members of the very elite Sergeant Audie Murphy Club being recognized as being in the top percentile of all Non Commissioned Officers in the Army. He has received a spectrum of awards ranging from an Army Commendation for Valor to the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal.
SFC Toby Nunn is married to the lovely Reagan Hutter Nunn together having two boys, Tristan and Jeffrey and one girl Scarlet Taylor.
[ 1 comment ] | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink | Discussion | Digg this | Add to del.icio.us
New Milblogs Added: November 18th - Decemeber 2nd, 2007
Monday, December 3, 2007, 09:37 AM
Théâtre des Opérations, François Duran, France, French military blog about tactics, strategy and e..., 02 Dec 2007Vocati Ad Servitium, Jay Weatherwax, United States, The Blog of a one called to serve as a military ch..., 30 Nov 2007
What a Violent Femme, Sarah T, United States, Down the Green brick road, adventures of a paradox..., 29 Nov 2007
Fabulous Valency, Valency, United States, Military Wife, Amazing Badass., 28 Nov 2007
Desert Dude: Diary of an Airman in Afghanistan, Desert Dude,
All Expenses Paid Afghan Vacation, Shawn, Afghanistan, about my year long tour of duty in Afghanistan as ..., 21 Nov 2007
Tragically Famous, Tragically Famous, Iraq, The most famous person you've never heard of..., 21 Nov 2007
Writing Military Mom, Rosemary O'Brien, United States, I am a freelance writer, author, military spouse, ..., 20 Nov 2007
Citizen Soldier Sojack in OIF, Leslie Taylor, United States, Sojack is from Arkansas & is a transportation offi..., 18 Nov 2007
View the full list of milblogs in the database here.
[ Add comment ] | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink | Discussion | Digg this | Add to del.icio.us
In Case You Missed It: Blogword Expo at Random
Friday, November 30, 2007, 11:05 AM
In case you missed the various reports of BlogWorld Expo from early November, Ward Carroll has a story. He even coins a term in the post – milblogelebrities. Try saying that five times in a row. Then if you want to have fun at work, tell someone to say the word ‘silk’ three times in a row. After they finish, ask them what cows drink. Believe it or not, I have no formal comedy training.
(Ward Carroll Blog) So MKH was left to hug the milblogelebrities, but let’s be honest: Milblogelebrities have an asterisk next to their blogelebrity status. Just like in Hollywood, when hanging with the beautiful people one must keep his or her uniformed self muted unless it’s the premiere for some Michael Bay blockbuster (which this wasn’t) or Veteran’s Day (which was still a few days down the road at this point).
But the milbloggers had fun all the same. It was good to see folks like Matt and Uncle Jimbo from Blackfive, Bill Roggio from The Long War Journal, the always awesome Chuck from From My Position, and John Donovan from Castle Argghhh. It was also nice to meet some quality dudes like Eric Egland, who’s running for Congress, and Tim Boggs. Expo organizer Rick Calvert was generous with the milblogging track, allowing four panels on military blog topics ranging from blogging from the front to the military spouse experience. The panels were lightly attended, for the most part, which was a shame because the right folks were sitting on each one.
The usual milblogging suspects took to the town, ably supplemented by franchise players (who shall remain semi-anonymous here) from the communications shops at DoD and the White House. Claude was a class act and always knew just the right thing to do next, including a low pass through a cigar bar where we were joined by Jack (father to us all), my Navy shipmate Roxie, and one of DoD’s young guns, Jamie. (Fear not. The future is bright and it comes from UCSB.) And the sister I never had Andi from SpouseBUZZ was there too. (She later earned the callsign “D-N-D.” Her story’s safe with me, of course.)
Read the entire story here.
[ Add comment ] | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink | Discussion | Digg this | Add to del.icio.us
New Milblogger: I'm Going "Over There"...No, the OTHER "Over There."
Friday, November 30, 2007, 12:38 AM
(Less Than Half a Nickel) The Story: Apparently my name is on the roster to be deployed to Kosovo for the KFOR-10 mission. I don't know much yet as far as details, but they will be forthcoming. It looks like we'll be leaving in the late Winter, maybe early Spring.My 2 Cents: Well, I know this isn't exactly national news or anything, but it's pretty big in my world. Much time has been spent thinking over the last few days. I can't seem to stop thinking. It makes it hard to sleep...which is irritating because I really like sleep…
Hey....it looks like Less Than Half a Nickel will end up being a milblog after all....
Read the entire story here.
[ Add comment ] | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink | Discussion | Digg this | Add to del.icio.us
Milblogger Ranger Sid has hot video on YouTube
Wednesday, November 28, 2007, 10:13 PM
When I was back at Camp Shelby, Milblogger Ranger Sid a Team Leader in my Platoon was the star of one of our in house videos. I had completely forgotten I had posted the video on YouTube until I kept receiving emails notifying me that people were leaving comments daily. The video has over 6,000 views. I’m going to let the video speak for itself. The best YouTube comment was, “and they want to protect their country..”
By the way, I do apologize for the lack of photos posted from my current deployment. GX Magazine recently sent me an awesome camera that I plan to use so I can start sharing photos with everyone. They’re also re-designing the existing Bad Voodoo Platoon website so you can stay better informed. It should be ready any day now (ahem). The only way GX could be more helpful to me is if they showed up to my house back home and shoveled the driveway when it snows or took out the trash to the curb.
And to be fair about my lack of blogging and stuff, running Convoy Security missions keeps us very busy. And as you know, most of the free time I have left is spent nursing sick orphaned animals back to health in Iraq and Kuwait.
That I haven’t been nominated for President or won a Nobel Peace Prize or something, I find really odd.
[ 5 comments ] | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink | Discussion | Digg this | Add to del.icio.us
Georgia Students Show Off Their Appreciation for the Troops
Wednesday, November 28, 2007, 08:20 PM
I received a huge box of heartfelt letters from 8-year old Georgia students and I hand selected a few to share with my readers. The letters were written after the Georgia Superintendent of Education asked all Georgia students to write letters of appreciation to the servicemen and servicewomen who are performing their jobs off of American soil this holiday season. Kids will always be kids, and these letters certainly cheered me up. Each letter was as every bit heartfelt and honest, as it was funny because it was an 8-year old writing the letter. I once listened to a comedian who made me laugh so hard beer started pouring out of my nose and then I fell out of my chair and kept laughing. But compared to the letters I received, that comedian might as well have played spoons on his legs or burped into the microphone for his entire act.And so, without further ado, the letters (paraphrased, of course):
Adam writes:
Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you can catch Bin Laden and kill him.
Jennifer writes:
Dear Soldier,
How can you still be alive?
Jesus writes:
And I got a question, is it fun to use guns. Please send it back, please. And say
Yes or No
Circle One
Tam writes:
Do you ride a horse so you can run away? I hope you stay alive.
Stasha writes:
You’re the best person I’ve ever met (if I did meet you)
Laura writes:
I love that you are trying to give us a free country Thank you so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so much for trying to give us a free country.
Bailey writes:
I am thankful that we in the U.S. have a strong and brave soldier like you. I also hope that this letter has encouraged you to do your best now and always.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, to all the Georgia students. I sincerely appreciated all the letters, and will make sure they are all distributed to the men of my Platoon.
[ 4 comments ] | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink | Discussion | Digg this | Add to del.icio.us
Milblogger Northern Disclosure Contributes Ideas to Doonesbury Strip
Tuesday, November 27, 2007, 04:58 PM
Fellow milblogger Toby Nunn of Northern Disclosure (who is also a member of Bad Voodoo), helped contribute some "boots on ground" experience to a Doonsebury Comic Strip about music. The strip is definitely something I can relate to. Except instead of listening to soft rock or heavy metal, I prefer to rock to Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. I consider myself a person with sophisticated taste. Britney Spears is a musical genius is what I always say.(Northern Disclosure) Several times in my life I have been priviledged enough to be able to speak and have people listen. Some times what I have said influenced those that listened, ussually not in the way I had intented though. Recently I was contacted by my friend David over at Doonesbury who was working a research project for G Trudeau the creator and cartoonist of Doonesbury about what we do for music over here. I, along with a handful of others responed and spoke of what we listen to and why.
Read the entire story here.
[ 1 comment ] | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink | Discussion | Digg this | Add to del.icio.us
In the blogs: Blogging Heroes
Tuesday, November 27, 2007, 09:12 AM
(Marketing Roadmaps) Earlier this week, I ran across a new book called Blogging Heroes. And no disrespect to any of the bloggers profiled or the author, I am appalled at the title of the book.
In fact, disgusted.
What appalls me? The use of the term hero.
The book profiles 30 high-profile bloggers. Whether we need yet another book profiling a few top-ranked bloggers, I'll leave to the market to decide.
But the bloggers profiled aren't heroes. Blogging PEOPLE, in the sense of the gossip magazine, or Blogging Superstars? Sure. Those are already trivial terms and seem eminently suitable for this "literary" work.
But to call them heroes trivializes the term.
And that really offends me.
The folks profiled in the book have done a great job building and promoting their blogs. That makes them interesting, and perhaps good, examples. But they aren't heroes.
Blogging heroes are people like Susan Niebur of Toddler Planet who has used her own diagnosis of inflammatory breast cancer, a very rare form of breast cancer that is not diagnosed from a lump in the breast, to spread the word about IBC. To the point of giving up her anonymity in the process. That's a hero.
And not just Susan. Many, many people use their blogs to chronicle their battles against life-threatening and fatal diseases. To help others. Stricken with the disease or simply trying to support someone who is. They are heroes.
Milbloggers. Young men and women thrust into a war not of their making, but determined to serve their country. I don't necessarily share their politics, but I have no doubt that bloggers like Chuck, who blogs at From my position on the way and who was seriously injured in Iraq last year protecting a fellow soldier, or Jean-Paul, now in his second tour as a Guardsman, are a lot closer to a hero than some business blogger.
Read the entire story here.
[ 4 comments ] | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink | Discussion | Digg this | Add to del.icio.us
Confessions of a Military Parent Blogger: I'm Addicted!
Saturday, November 24, 2007, 11:46 PM
(Mementos of a Military Mom) I'm a complete MilBlogger! I discovered the MilBlog web ring and now I sit here for hours (seriously) and read Military blogs. I tried to join the ring, but as savvy as I THOUGHT I was on the computer, I got frustrated and gave up. I especially enjoy reading the Military Mom blogs. It's so refreshing to read that someone else is having the exact feelings I'm having or have had.Read the entire story here.
[ Add comment ] | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink | Discussion | Digg this | Add to del.icio.us
Milblogs in the News: We are the thought police
Friday, November 23, 2007, 03:38 PM
(Reclaim the Media) Yet in many key respects, the In short, no war has been more fully chronicled or minutely analyzed than this one. And, as a result, the Bush administration has been unable to spin it as it would like. The spreading insurgency, the surging violence, the descent into chaos -- all have been thoroughly documented by journalists and others, and public support for the war has steadily ebbed as a result
Read the entire story here.
[ Add comment ] | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink | Discussion | Digg this | Add to del.icio.us
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thursday, November 22, 2007, 04:19 PM
Thanksgiving came up pretty quickly, and I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone for all their support these last few years, especially this past year while deployed. I’ve been on R&R the last 2 weeks, and I’m getting ready to head back to the desert. So, if you hvae a hrad tmie raeidng my writnig it’s besuace I can’t contain my excitement. While I’m traveling, I might not be able to update the website because of limited internet access. But if something incredible in the milblog world happens like Chuck Norris starts his own Delta Force milblog, you can bet I’ll use all available resources like a set of airplane headphones and roasted peanuts to get connected and post it.
[ 8 comments ] | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink | Discussion | Digg this | Add to del.icio.us
Milblogger in the News: Remembering, and Giving Thanks for, Those Overseas
Thursday, November 22, 2007, 01:55 PM
(WTOC) Once the troops leave home, they spend a couple of weeks in Kuwait, preparing and training in the latest techniques designed to keep them as safe as humanly possible.A couple of weeks ago, our veteran military reporter and anchor, Mike Manhatton, went to Kuwait as well to get a firsthand look at the training.
Mike has already written some online material about his experiences in Kuwait with the 4th Brigade, and you can read about that here: Manhatton's Military Blog.
Read the entire story here.
[ Add comment ] | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink | Discussion | Digg this | Add to del.icio.us
Afghanistan Documentary: AT WAR
Wednesday, November 21, 2007, 02:37 PM
(Bouhammer via The Sandbox) In March of 2006 I met a guy who I was at first very skeptical about and was not sure I could trust. He was an embedded reporter, and we in the military typically have to be wary of such people. However, it did not take long for me to come to consider him a true and damn good friend, a Great American and a hell of a Patriot. His name is Scott Kesterson (that's him on the right) and he accompanied the Task Force I was with, spending three months in pre-deployment training and one year plus on the ground in Afghanistan. During the train-up time at Camp Shelby, Mississippi our paths crossed a few times and he seemed like a nice guy, but it was not until after the 20+ hour flight around the world that we really got to know each other. At some point during my tour I was in Kabul at Camp Phoenix and Scott and I spent two or three hours just talking. Talking about our past, what we were currently going through, and a little about what we hoped the future would hold for us. It was here that I learned that Scott had been a Lieutenant in the Oregon National Guard (the same Brigade that was in charge of our Task Force), and had worn the uniform and walked the talk.
Read the entire story here.
[ 1 comment ] | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink | Discussion | Digg this | Add to del.icio.us
Interesting News: State Dept. Tries Blog Diplomacy
Tuesday, November 20, 2007, 02:03 PM
(The Washington Post) The State Department, departing from traditional public diplomacy techniques, has what it calls a three-person, "digital outreach team" posting entries in Arabic on "influential" Arabic blogs to challenge misrepresentations of the United States and promote moderate views among Islamic youths in the hopes of steering them from terrorism. The department's bloggers "speak the language and idiom of the region, know the culture reference points and are often able to converse informally and frankly, rather than adopt the usually more formal persona of a U.S. government spokesperson," Duncan MacInnes, of State's Bureau of International Information Programs, told the House Armed Services subcommittee on terrorism and unconventional threats on Thursday.
"Because blogging tends to be a very informal, chatty way of working," MacInnes said, "it is actually very dangerous to blog." So State has a senior experienced officer, who served in Iraq, acting as supervisor and discussing each posting before it goes up. "We do not make policy," MacInnes added.
Read the entire story here.
[ Add comment ] | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink | Discussion | Digg this | Add to del.icio.us
New Milblogs Added: November 3rd - 18th, 2007
Sunday, November 18, 2007, 05:25 PM
A ton of milblogs were added recently to the Milblogging.com database. The milblogs in this latest batch are written from all over the world including: Approving blogs that get submitted to Milblogging.com based solely on pictures isn’t as scientifically sound as you might guess.
Made a Difference for That One, Chris Coppola, Iraq, Read about the experiences of a military peidatric..., 18 Nov 2007
LT Nixon Rants, LT Nixon, Iraq, Strange insight on Iraq, US Military, politics, mo..., 17 Nov 2007
Army Wife, Priscilla Marie, United States, Personal blog of Priscilla Marie. Wife of Shannon ..., 13 Nov 2007
Fort Bliss Voice, Dustin Perry, United States, Serving the Fort Bliss Community, 12 Nov 2007
Combat News (CN), Jyrki T. Mäkelä, Finland, Combat News (CN) is a brand new independent news a..., 11 Nov 2007
CHINA military, Unclaim, China, you can find angthing about military there,also th..., 11 Nov 2007
A Battlefield Tourist, David Tate, Iraq, David Tate bio: Accomplishments: 1985 – Became..., 10 Nov 2007
Humbled Infidel, Twana Blevins, United States, Mostly I put out the good news of what our troops ..., 09 Nov 2007
Military Spouses for Change, Carissa Picard, United States, The thoughts, efforts, and journey of an active du..., 09 Nov 2007
This Veterans Life, @WR, United States, From Iraq, to Walter Reed, and Beyond., 08 Nov 2007
Hurry Up and Wait, Kasey, United States, My adventures (and misadventures) of my life as an..., 04 Nov 2007
Ish's Cyber Wolf Den, Jason (Isnala) Baker, United States, Opinions and comments about various subjects from ..., 03 Nov 2007
My War Stories, Paul Mehlos, Afghanistan, Our chance to tell our tales of war. Mine was in t...,
[ 3 comments ] | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink | Discussion | Digg this | Add to del.icio.us
