I missed this year’s Blog World Expo, but found a great story by Digital Podcast which highlights the Army’s progress in social media. With blogging in particular, the Army has been making strides. It always makes me a little teary eyed when I read about the Military getting more connected. Digital Podcast reports:
The star of the Army’s social media efforts on display at BlogWorld was ArmyStrongStories.com, a blogging system that lets anyone in the Army post to the blog. It can be used to help recruits see what it’s like from firsthand accounts by people like themselves and to bring the soldiers’ voice to life for all of us.
You can check out the Army Strong Stories site and see if it’s for you. The site already features dozens of bloggers with fresh posts on a daily basis ranging from enlisted to Officers and all sorts of different jobs in the Military. So head over to the site and give it a go, especially if you’re thinking of giving blogging a shot. According to the About page:
ArmyStrongStories.com (www.ArmyStrongStories.com) is an innovative U.S. Army Accessions Command program that provides the opportunity for Soldiers – every rank, every MOS, every background – to share their unfiltered perspective on daily life in the military through blog entries, photos and video. Everyone is invited to join the conversation by leaving a comment and sharing compelling posts with others. If you are a Soldier and interested in blogging on Army Strong Stories, Sign up.
Of course, I have to wonder if you can really post “unfiltered” stories on the site. After all, it is an official Army site. And it has to stay in line with OPSEC regulations. Which leads me to the question are stories about Oral Pathology and Car Shows really unfiltered stories? Now I’m not saying pictures and stories about “root canals” aren’t the most exciting and riveting thing, but when I think of unfiltered stories I imagine something a little different. That said, the newest story titled Clinic Update and Oral Pathology has some pretty graphic pictures of what MAJOR Kendall Mower sees on a regular basis.
I’ll be sleeping with the night light on tonight.
Read the entire Digital Podcast story here, and check out the Army’s latest innovation over at ArmyStrongStories.com.
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(Camarillo Acorn) The Web log features photographs, videos and posts from a country many Americans still know very little about.
The blog has attracted loyal followers—many of them soldiers who are headed to the base and grateful for a glimpse into their future—and has garnered the attention of Chicago Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper, who calls Nomi’s blog “fascinating.”
“His blog helped a lot,” said Ray Calef, a sergeant first class from Iowa who will deploy next year to Balad. “I think it gives an informative view of what life on (the base) is like, and I have filled my wife in about it. It helps her to understand what life will be like for me when we deploy.”
Nomi, a graduate of Rio Mesa High School and a Camarillo attorney, returned last month from Iraq, where he provided legal services to soldiers dealing with personal issues back home.
Since U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq two years later, tech-savvy soldiers like Nomi have taken advantage of digital photos, video and the ubiquity of the Internet to offer a personal look inside the trenches and command centers of a 21stcentury battlefield.
For Nomi, like many who post their daily activities online, the blog was also an easy way to correspond with friends and family interested in what’s happening overseas.
Read the entire story here. And to visit Brian Nomi’s blog, go here.
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(The Morning Sun) Stories for young, old and all ages in-between will come alive Friday and Saturday via the spoken word, music, dance and visual arts at the annual event on the campus of Central Michigan University.
There's no admission charge for the majority of activities and presentations planned for Saturday. Many of them feature "child-friendly" performances and hands-on workshops.
"One of the stories I most likely will include in the final, closing performance on Saturday is a piece called Silver Spurs that's part of a trilogy about wartime experiences called Three Soldiers. Silver Spurs is based on excepts from my great-great-grandfather's diary during the Civil War, and recollections from my great-grandmother."
The trilogy also includes recollections from a World War I veteran, and present-day letters and e-mails between a soldier in Iraq and his wife.
Read the entire story here.
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The Military is getting social and in today’s biggest development, The National Guard is now on Twitter. Honestly, being a Guardsman and deploying twice with the National Guard since 2004, I can’t say how happy I am to see them on Twitter finally. I’ve blogged since 2004 and it’s been great to see the Guard get connected over the years. The National Guard even has me beat on the number of social media sites they’re connected to – Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube to name a few.
Wow, the next thing you know the National Guard will have their own Match.com Dating profile. Or maybe a Webkinz.
Twitter is here folks. It’s awesome for a million reasons especially if you’re building a presence online. But it’s awesome for other reasons too. Namely, Linguini: the “talking, tweeting” pasta. My newest follower.
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(Blogs Over Baghdad) For better or worse, people don’t sit down and watch the evening news with Walter Cronkite anymore. Instead they get their news (and share it with others) over the Internet. Personally, I don’t understand Twitter, but it apparently has played a role in social movements and international relief efforts in places like Iran and Indonesia.
Even the Army has realized the importance of this evolving media. Military leaders and organizations have their own FaceBook pages to share information, recruit Soldeirs, and maintain a positive and forward-thinking public image.
Will these new communication tools become a permanent part of the information landscape, or will they go the way of the fax machine? Only time will tell….but for now, I have tried my best to engage when it makes sense (and when this old dog can learn the new technological trick easily). As long-time readers of this blog know, I have a love-hate relationship with technology that fails me.
You can read the entire story here. And to read the issue of Warrior Citizen magazine that includes a feature of Blogs Over Baghdad, you can download the PDF.
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It looks like any day now we can expect to hear the much anticipated DoD’s Official Policy on Social Media. More and more news stories about cybersecurity and social media are popping up all over the DoD sites. In a recent story on DefenseLink.mil, Pentagon Officials stressed cybersecurity:
“The threats change, the software changes, the sophistication of the threat changes,” she said. “We also change the way we defend. It’s a persistent threat, and [hackers] will look for other ways to attack. If you had computer defenses that worked two years ago, they won’t work today.”
The Internet is a lot like a large city, Jamshidi said. Overall, it is a safe area, but it’s safest on Main Street – where all the lights work and there are police and people around, the captain said.
“But any city has dark streets and back alleys,” she said. “Some are so dangerous that the military declares them off-limits, and the same holds true for the Internet. It becomes very difficult to separate out legal and illegal activities on the back streets of the Internet.”
Oh yeah, the old analogy trick. You know? Internet = BIG SCARY city. Dark streets and back alleys = off limit sites. I used the same BIG CITY analogy on my 8-year old once and it didn’t work too well. He’s still able to stumble on off limit sites.
Though it’s been better recently. I like to make up Urban Legends like telling him he’ll grow an ear out of his forehead if he goes to MySpace. Or the computer will catch fire if he ever clicks a button that says “I am 18”.
And when he spends way too much time online, it helps if you tell him Webkinz can die from lack of sleep.
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A first step, Jenny Lumet suggested, might be to choose a format. Writing a novel might be different than, say, a cookbook, said Ms. Lumet, a screenwriter whose credits include “Rachel Getting Married” and who was there to offer help
“A book is pretty thick,” said Mr. Rodriguez, who, at 30, has served in both the Marine Corps and the Army. “I don’t know if I can come up with that much material.” He had started writing down thoughts as therapy, after a brain injury caused by a roadside bomb in Iraq left him temporarily paralyzed. “In the hospital I had lost my vision and my speech,” he said.
Read the entire story here.
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The DoD’s policy on social media is expected to be announced any day now. According to Price Floyd’s own tweets back in late September “the review and policy should be done and out sometime in the next few weeks.” There are more hints that the final policy is very, very close. From DoD Live:
Coming soon on Defense.gov, you will find links to stories, videos and other information to learn how to safely use social media to stay connected with your family while deployed; learn how to use social media sites like Facebook and Twitter appropriately and legally as a DoD employee and servicemember; and how to use the latest DoD social media tools to stay informed.
The Defense Department also released a quick video with the slogan, “Be Social, But Be Smart”. You can click the picture above to watch the video. I thought it was pretty funny, especially the opening part of the video with the service members dancing to Black Eyed Peas – Boom Boom Pow.
The video goes on to say you can use social media to share what you do best with your Mother, your Future Boss and “300 MILLION of your closest friends”. Can you even imagine having 300 MILLION, close, online friends?? I mean, I certainly can’t.
If you ask me, it would've been just as believable if the DoD had said “300 JILLION” of your closest friends. Even a KERJILLION would’ve been better. Or Infinity plus infinity.
Thanks to Price Floyd for the tip.
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Nice, almost 5 years later after writing a blog and a book, the "Military Blogfather" Colby Buzzell is still making the news.
Buzzell will speak at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27, at the Performing Arts Center on campus. Copies of his book will be available for sale before and after the lecture. His appearance is co-sponsored by the South Dakota Humanities Council.
Started in June of 2004, Buzzell's blog one of the first kept by a boots-on-the-ground soldier gained recognition for its realistic portrayal of war and its often less-than-flattering depiction of military leaders, President Bush, the anti-war movement , Army cooks and the media. By September of 2004, the Army told Buzzell he could no longer post original writing about the war.
I’m starting to think Colby just shows up at places and says something cool like, “I’m gonna make you an offer you can’t refuse.”
You can do those kinds of things when you’re the Blogfather. Just saying.
Read the entire story here.
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This is a picture of my Twitter account when I sign in. The Twitter Lists Beta feature displays at the top of my account. A little over a week ago I posted a brief story on the soon-to-launch Lists feature that Twitter had announced on their blog. With Twitter lists, I can now organize my friends and followers into groups. My plan is to begin organizing lists in a similar way that military bloggers are organized into Branches on Milblogging.com such as Frontlines, U.S. Army, U.S. Military Veteran, and U.S. Military Spouse.
The Twitter Lists feature is in Beta, so I can't Tweet about it according to the little splash page up top (my bad, Twitter). Thankfully a fellow twitter tweeted me after I had been tweeting about "Twitter Lists" since last night. I can't say I really knew you weren't supposed to tweet about it...I mean, I can barely read a billboard, let alone text that's written in 3-point. Because there's nothing more obvious than text this small.
Anyway, the lists are easy to setup and maintain. Once you’ve created your lists, you can only organize people that follow you by clicking on the List icon then checking one or more List boxes. Here’s an example:
Each list gets it’s own unique URL, so you can view tweets from members of the list. For example, http://twitter.com/milblogging/usarmy will include all Twitter users who are members of the U.S. Army.
I hope to get started this weekend organizing the military community who follow me into lists.
It's a pretty slick feature, I guess. I'm just a bit shocked this is the biggest feature Twitter is releasing considering the company is rumored to be worth a billion bucks. I mean, with that kind of MONEY shouldn't Twitter be releasing something a little more more cool, like maybe a Twitter picture feature? Or maybe a speedier site? Or, I dunno, a Time Machine decorated like a Faberge egg?
NOTE: Because "Twitter Lists" is in Beta it's hit or miss right now. If you send me an email with your affiliation to the Military community such as Branch, Veteran, Spouse, Supporter, Parent, Foreign Military, etc...I'll make sure to get you added. Drop me a line along with your Twitter ID: milblogging@gmail.com.
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Lindy Kyzer posted a story today on the Army’s Official Blog that discusses the importance of military bloggers. Here's an excerpt:
As little as 2 years ago the relationship between the military and bloggers was not an overly positive one. Unclear policies and the growing disconnect between traditional and social media outlets left us in a strained relationship, at best. For me, from the beginning of my Army career the milblog community was one I knew I needed to reach out to in order to be able to successfully tell our Soldiers stories. Since then they have grown even more critical, and more connected to traditional media outlets.
There has been a serious culture shift among our Army leadership which has helped for forge positive relationships between the Army and milbloggers. Former Secretary of the Army Pete Geren had a particular interest in military bloggers – so much so that he participated in three blogger’s roundtables during his tenure and encouraged his staff to do even more. Chief of Public Affairs Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner had participated in Department of Defense blogger’s roundtables as MNF-I spokesperson and wanted to increase the Army’s engagement in that medium upon his arrival. This kind of senior leader “buy-in” has boded well for the Army’s relationship with the milblogging community.
It’s in our best interest to support the efforts of milbloggers – many of whom are active duty Soldiers, veterans or others with a close personal connection or awareness of military issues. If we really believe that our Soldiers are our best spokespersons – and most of us do – than who better to tell the stories from the front lines than our own people. And it’s not just on the front lines of battle, it’s on the homefront where milbloggers make an impact. the number of spouse and family member bloggers continues to increase, and the online support network created is an important one.
I’ve got to admit it’s a nice story. It’s like a major public demonstration of affection towards military bloggers by the U.S. Army. I mean, it’s kinda hard to do a take-back at this point. I copy/pasted the text into Word and saved it to my computer. Then burned another copy to CD and printed about twenty copies.
And just for the heck of it, I took a picture (it’ll last longer).
Read the entire story here.
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(Ledger-Enquirer) Last winter, the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team embraced the world of social media by jumping on the YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and blog bandwagons.
Security first
Establishing an operationally secure yet information-rich social media network for the 3rd Brigade did require careful consideration of current Army and Department of Defense social media policy, Anderson said.
While the Defense Department has no current policy in place to govern the use of sites such as Twitter, Flickr and Facebook, the Army and Marines do, according to the Army’s Web site.
Read the entire story here which includes links to all their social networking sites.
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In a story about the launch of a website that focuses on veterans, The Spectrum mentioned the popular Twitter hashtag #MilitaryMon:
The Web site is sponsored by Ted and Vivian Spilsbury, of Spilsbury Mortuary, and features six local veterans each month with an article and photographs, and several videos help foster the emotional tug of the content.
The thought behind the site has garnered national attention as well — hundreds of participants on the online social networking site “Twitter” commended St. George and the area’s support for veterans as part of “Military Mondays.”
Television talk show host Carson Daly highlighted the “Military Mondays” idea during one of his shows, and the phenomenon has grown into a community of thousands who honor veterans each week. Each Monday, posters hit on military news, mention those in the news or who support the military, or even list names of those soldiers lost in foreign wars.
The “hashtag” #militarymon marks tweets on the web site that trend with the military – from the main Twitter site, users can choose to follow anything tagged with #militarymon by entering the term in the search field.
The future is now, people.
Read the entire story here.
[And yes, I’m joking. Carson Daly and The Spectrum are great for doing what they do. Hopefully, more in the Mainstream will follow their lead.]
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A writer for The Oregonian Editors will be writing about the Oregon Army National Guard’s 41st Brigade over a period of four to five weeks while he's in Iraq with the Unit. The paper reports:
Oregonian writer Mike Francis left Oregon on Sunday headed for Iraq, where he will write periodically on the Oregon Army National Guard's 41st Brigade.
In addition to providing stories, photos and multimedia for the newspaper and web site, Francis will post regular updates to his blog and short updates on Twitter.
In his most recent blog post, he writes, "I've learned that one of the best things I can do is to bear witness to the lives of soldiers far from home, even if it's only to record a snippet of conversation about a candy bar. So expect a lot of small talk, punctuated with some larger looks at how the 41st Brigade is spending its time."
Here’s a link to the Oregonatwar blog, Mike Francis’ twitter page, and to the news story. Sounds like Mike will be connected a lot during his time in Iraq. I’m assuming he has some heavy-duty laptop or other method for keeping his laptop dust-free. If there’s one thing I learned in Afghanistan it’s how to protect a laptop (panty hose, folks). I’m not even kidding. Believe it or not, panty hose aren’t in big supply in all-male Infantry unit. And it was even worse when the dreaded “panty hose run” happened on the laptop.
I don’t want to start a huge debate about the best panty hose with you ladies, but I spent a whole year with my laptop in the Stan and nearly a year in Iraq, and if you must wear’em, go with: L'eggs Sheer Elegance Silky Sheer Pantyhose Control Top. 80 percent nylon, 20 percent spandex...Smooth as a baby’s bottom.
I'm just saying.
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A Red Cross/USO servicemembers' club sign-in roster has been discovered dating back to 1943. The U.S. Air Force reports:
Dr. Nina Baker, a Glasgow city councillor for Ward 10, was indexing the old books in the city chambers' library when she happened upon a tattered ledger dating from 1943. The 6-inch thick tome revealed itself as a Red Cross/USO servicemembers' club sign-in roster.
"I kept wondering what was in the book cases and decided to have a look. When I found this book, I was so excited," said the councillor, also known as a Bailie. "I knew this was a significant find since we no longer have American military in the Glasgow area.
American servicemembers began pouring into Glasgow as a stop-over on their way to forward-deployed locations in the European theater. The club served as a morale booster for troops far from home. Signing in by state, Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors and Marines were given a chance to have some fun before heading off to the impending offenses inBelgium and various fronts across the (European) continent."
"This is an amazing find that highlights the historic relationship between Scotland and the United States," said Col. Timothy Cashdollar, the 501st Combat Support Wing commander.
Awesome, story. 1943, folks! Can you believe it? Although, I find it hard to explain how a book lays around a shelf for more than 60 years before being found. I mean, does anyone ever clean that place up? Sounds like they need to hire a summer intern to sweep the floors once a year, maybe wash the windows every bicentennial...
Next thing you’ll know they’ll report finding a 600-year old terracotta bust under a rug while vacuuming.
Read the entire story here.
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Nathan Hodge over at the The Danger Room reports:
For several years, the military has been wrestling with the rules of Web 2.0. And while its efforts to regulate online behavior have at times been ham-fisted, the Pentagon has made at least a genuine effort to understand social media — and to think about how troops can use online tools to their own advantage.
Not so, apparently, with their counterparts at the State Department.
Read the entire story here.
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(Gather) When Alex Horton joined the Army, he was a shaggy-haired kid from Frisco, Texas, who read military histories and who had failed English twice. To avoid the endless e-mails to mom, dad, grandma and the cousins, he started a blog, called Army of Dude.
Spc. Horton of the 3rd Stryker Brigade blogged from Kuwait City, Mosul, Baghdad and Baqubah, through 15 months in Iraq. He blogged about seeing his first dead body, his quick realization that the Army was not for him, and his countdown of days until he made it home.
He returned to Texas almost a year ago and enrolled at Austin Community College. Now 23, he blogs about the bewildering transition to fresh air, and the strange disconnect between his Gen Y classmates and the life he left in the desert.
"There's not too much reporting from Iraq, just body counts and hard numbers," Horton said recently. "I can't look into the faces of the kids at school and see that there's a war going on. They have no idea what's going on."
A recent entry caught our attention.
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I received this email earlier from Lindsay Hopkins who works for Penn State Public Broadcasting in University Park, PA.
…Back From Iraq, about a Penn State course aimed specifically to Iraq War veterans, "Narrative, Oral History, New Media Technologies.". This course was designed to teach student veterans how to use video and web technologies in order to chronicle the stories and experiences of the Iraq War. Over the duration of this class students are asked to create a documentary about some aspect of the war. This website features their final movie, their experiences making it, and their feelings on the war. The website features 4 student veterans. Some of the students turn the camera on themselves, while some feature other veterans. All the students discuss the process of making their video and recount their experiences in Iraq. The website also features interviews with the creators of the course discussing the importance of veterans interviewing veterans. The instructors also discuss how the idea for the course came about…
This is one amazing course. Thanks to Lindsay for the tip on this project. The site is jampacked with videos, blogs, and more. Here’s the link: http://wpsu.org/backfromiraq
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Amateur Photographer has the story about Captain Alexander Allan, a former Grenadier Guards officer (now Retired), who took pictures in the Helmand, Afghanistan during a six-month tour in 2007. He has now published the photos in a book called Afghanistan: A Tour of Duty. Profits from sales will go to British Limbless Ex-Service Men's Association.
Writing in his forward to the book former Head of the Army Sir Richard Dannatt said Allan's photographs give an 'authentic insight into the realities of life from the British soldier on Afghanistan's front line.'
Dannatt added: 'Along with service, sadly, comes sacrifice, and this photographic record does not flinch from the issue.'
Allan has dedicated his book to Adam 'Goolie' Ball who lost a leg while trying to save two Afghan colleagues injured by landmines.
From the few photos I saw online, they’re stunning. And also, there’s been quite a bit of news lately with people stepping up and donating money to military charities and organizations. Today, it was reported that Bob Barker (ex-host of The Price is Right) donated $3M to the brain trauma center at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. This is awesome.
I’d probably make a joke about spaying or neutering cats and dogs right about now, but my cat Doritos has basically threatened to kill me if I take him to the vet for the procedure. Doritos full-on scares me and most of the dogs in the neighborhood...
I SEE YOU DORITOS HIDING BEHIND THE BOOKCASE!!! WHAT’S THAT NOISE?? ARE YOU SHARPENING YOUR CLAWS AGAIN?!
Read the entire story here.
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The Toronto Star has an interesting story about Capt. Ray Wiss, a Canadian Military doctor who served two tours in Afghanistan. Emails he sent home while deployed have been published into a book.
Capt. Wiss was posted to several Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) in the Panjwaii, the area of most intense fighting, because of his background. In the 1980s he had served as an infantry officer with the Canadian forces. As a civilian doctor, he is recognized internationally for his use of ultrasound in emergency medicine.
During his first tour in Afghanistan, November 2007 to March 2008, he kept a diary in the form of emails sent home describing his experiences. They have been turned into a book, FOB Doc, published Oct. 3. Book royalties will be donated to the Military Families Fund.
Read the entire story here. The article also includes an online interview with Capt. Wiss.
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