To get a little more information on the DoD’s stance on Social Media from the DoD themselves (even though the Policy hasn’t been made public), the Social Media Hub is now online and less than a month old. I can actually access and surf the website even though I didn’t have much luck earlier in the week. The really cool thing about the site is that it’s full of information, whether you’re a family or a friend of someone in the DoD, deployed or not deployed, the site aims at sharing and explaining information. The site includes sections on Social Media including videos, games, FAQs, a blog, a directory of DoD social media sites and much more.
Here’s a snippet from the site:
As a family member or friend of a U.S. servicemember, you have a special role in helping to maintain morale, especially during times of war and deployment. Just like thorough training and proper equipment, the support you provide is a key enabler for the Department of Defense’s mission. Social networks and other online tools can help you maintain this critical contact and communicate in rich, new ways, but you need to stay vigilant with what you do and say online so that this opportunity doesn’t turn into a liability.
Protecting privacy and defending against viruses and unauthorized access are consideration for anyone who goes online. Your connection to the military means you have extra concerns when you operate on the Web. In this section, you will learn about:
personal communication with your family and friends;
controlling rumors and assisting your community;
appropriate behavior on social networks; and
educating children about online threats.
Although the DoD Policy on Social media still hasn’t been made Public, I think it’s going to be fairly supportive and explain pretty much every scenario you might find yourself in. Since rumors of a revised policy in the makings, they’ve launched literally hundreds of sites.
I’m guessing the Policy is going to be in favor of Social Media. But who knows, it’s hard to tell. The DoD is so subtle.
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The rumours of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.
Short and sweet, I had a serious heart attack on Wednesday night. I'm in the hospital, hooked up to a bunch of tubes. I have had a catheterization done and a stint put in, but there is still some blockage. So next Wednesday the doctors are going to do a little carving and install some new parts. No big deal.
Pray for the doctor and my family.
You can read his latest update here. Concrete Bob also tweets here.
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Some of the earliest memories of my father are from the words he sent through his letters home. My dad was a career airman, and much of his time was spent in far flung parts of this world.
Read the entire story here.
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(Afghanistan My Last Tour) From Liisa, SMSgt Rex Temple’s wife: Rex wanted me to post a quick “Thank You” to the USF Bulls and to his home base at Tampa’s MacDill AFB for adopting the “School Supplies for Afghan Children” project at this Saturday’s football game against Louisville. It’s an honor to have this project be part of the team’s military appreciation game. And I’m thrilled to have Rex’s friend SPC Christopher “Kit” Lowe join us at the game; he’ll be enjoying a few days of leave from Walter Reed Army Medical Center in D.C. and his rigorous physical therapy and recovery training after being wounded in Afghanistan in August.
Read the entire story here which also includes coverage by the press.
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The BBC and other news organizations as well as fellow bloggers like Daniel Bennett have more information on Rifleman Andrew Fentiman, a Territorial Army Soldier who was killed earlier this week in Afghanistan. A blog that Andrew wrote on November 4th is receiving a lot of attention because he writes about waiting on new body armor and helmets.
God bless Andrew, his family and friends, and his battle buddies.
In Andrew’s last post, Andrew also wrote about everyday life on the frontlines:
One of the best things out here is that cigarettes are $5 for 200! There is the odd brand I recognise but we will only have access to the local ones when we are in the FOB.
That’s about it for the moment; I will try and send a post every now and then when things are a little more interesting.
PS they made me shave my head and the run through loads of dust with full kit on in the middle of the day – hence the picture!
Regards, RFN Fentiman
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With the much-anticipated publishing of the DoD’s Social Media policy, the DoD has been launching its own social media sites online. Earlier today, I stumbled upon the DoD Social Media Hub (which right now appears to be down). But by the looks of the Social Media Hub and other online efforts by the DoD, something could be announced soon.
I found the DoD Social Media Hub link through DoD Live in a story titled “How to Stay Cyber Safe, and NetSmart” – which is an interview with Mr. Price Floyd, the principal deputy assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs.
Among other things, Floyd explained that what you do on these social networking sites can come back to haunt you in one way or another. Passwords can be easily figured out; personal information can be gathered by our adversaries; computer viruses and malware could be transferred, which could risk yours, your families’, and your countries security.
You can read the interview here which also has a link the video interview (but I can’t get that link to work, either). The DoD Social Media Hub looks like it will be the main site for official Department of Defense Websites and command-sponsored sites to share information online for social media.
Even better, the DoD is cataloging all the DoD Social media sites in one place ranging from Blog sites and Delicious sites to Facebook, iReport, MySpace, Twitter and dozens more. Wanna read tweets by the USAF Band? You can find their web address on the DoD’s index. And if you want, you can even submit your own link. That is, if you run an Official Department of Defense website or other DoD social media site. There’s even a DoD Social Media Agreement.
I’m just spitballing ideas here, but I’m guessing the DoD Policy on Social Media is gonna be pretty encouraging. It was unsure at first what the DoD was going to do, but with all the Social Media efforts, it seems pretty obvious. I’d imagine that when the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff isn’t busy being the principal military advisor to the President, he’s busy tweeting. Or maybe updating his Facebook status. Or who knows? Seeing how many friends he can get on MySpace. To which I say: AWESOME.
I’m gonna be in the front leaning rest here pretty soon, aren’t I?
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Click here to watch the video of Woody Harrelson and Oren Moverman thanking Military bloggers for their support of the upcoming film The Messenger.
You can clearly hear Woody in the video thank the Milblog Community, but it’s hard to make out what Oren is saying. I’ll be the first to admit though, I never expected Woody Harrelson to star in such a Dramatic role like this. But you have to remember, I grew up with him playing the simple-minded Woody Boyd on Cheers. And one of my favorite movies of all-time: White Men Can’t Jump. Classic.
I’m just impressed he didn’t start “oohing and aahing” when he saw the camera. Or start poking at it with his fingers in bewilderment.
Note: My wife has no clue what I'm talking about when I say "Woody Boyd", cause she’s a few years younger than me and never saw Cheers. So I explained to her: it would be like watching Joey from Friends, play Russell Crowe in the movie A Beautiful Mind.
Thanks to Maja for the tip. Seriously, I can’t wait to see the film and from what I’ve read and seen already, Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster give great performances.
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Many news stories have been written in the past week arguing over citizen journalism – with the tragic day at Fort Hood as the center of the debate. TechCrunch’s Paul Carr wrote about Tearah Moore, a soldier based in Fort Hood who tweeted the day’s events as they unfolded and also took photos. Some bloggers, tweeters, and even the MSM re-published the information as they were learning it from Tearah’s account. In his story, Paul Carr writes:
And so it was at Fort Hood. For all the sound and fury, citizen journalism once again did nothing but spread misinformation at a time when thousands people with family at the base would have been freaking out already, and breach the privacy of those who had been killed or wounded. We learned not a single new fact, nor was a single life saved.
What’s most alarming about Moore’s behaviour is that she probably thought she was doing the right thing. Certainly, looking at her MySpace page and her Twitter account (before the army finally forced her to lock it down) we see the portrait of a patriot. Someone who clearly cares a great deal about others, and who – despite the rhetorical question “remind me why I joined the army again” on her profile – is proud to serve her country. In tweeting from the scene, and calling out the media for not reporting the rumours from inside the base, I’m sure she genuinely believed she was helping get the real truth out, and making an actual difference.
On Friday, Paul Carr and Jeff Jarvis debated over citizen journalism which was covered by the Editors Weblog:
Jarvis, a longtime advocate of citizen journalism, argued that the ability for the media to gain information from eyewitnesses through Twitter and other social media, and then use said information in a journalistic story following vetting and fact checking, was a large advantage that the Internet has provided.
Carr, calling in form his home in California, argued that social media was instant, and thus did not allow for the kind of vetting that would constitute traditional reportage. To Carr, there is a difference between tweeting and tweeting the truth.
Citizen journalism takes advantage of the idea of the general population that because "someone is tweeting from the ground that that is the unfiltered truth that the media is somehow going to mess up... its just rumor that happens to be able to be shared with the whole world. The word citizen journalism suggests truth and facts that often times are not there," said Carr in the debate.
Social media and citizen journalism in my opinion are very important, but there are rules. The debate surrounding the use of Social Media at Fort Hood will likely (if not already) change the soon-to-be-published DoD Policy.
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Being an avid Twitter user has opened me to a whole Military community online. This past week, Maja Stevanovich who is a huge military supporter and tweets as @MajaStevanovich, sent me a link about the upcoming release of The Messenger. The film stars Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster who are assigned to the Army’s Casualty Notification Service and must give the terrible news to families that have lost loved ones. Maja had a chance to see an early screening of the movie and even got a chance to meet the director. On her site, she writes:
In a reference to a previous movie Oren did that focuses on Bob Dylan, he made a comment that the American public seems to know a lot more about celebrities than the men and women serving our country. The Messenger is one great example of the media showcasing our soldiers and helping bridge that gap between the civilian and military communities. Although the military community may not be that large, they sacrifice a great amount for our freedoms and it is necessary to bring that to the American public. A tribute to the brave men and women in the service, this movie is sure to make you walk away with appreciation of our troops and a new perspective on grief, friendships and survival. The movie opens nationwide on November 20th.
You can read Maja’s entire review here. Having read her review and now watching the trailer, I look forward to seeing the movie. The official movie site is here.
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It’s always fun to get some Press, even when it’s CNN. In this week’s Tech Weekly Feature, CNN recommends Twitter feeds about hot topics in the news.
With Veterans Day, the continuing investigation into the shootings at Fort Hood and talks continuing on future U.S. troop numbers in Afghanistan, the military has been all over the news this week.
Those featured in the “Follow Friday” story include several Twitter users who tweet about Military topics – and includes a Sample Tweet, the number of followers, and a brief Bio about each. The list of featured users includes:
@thejointstaff (Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. John Mullen)
@WWIIToday (The National World War II Museum)
@milblogging (my Twitter feed)
@USForA (U.S. Forces-Afghanistan)
@taps4america (Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors)
@ArmedwScience (U.S. Defense Department science team)
You can read the entire story here and learn more about the Twitter users they featured.
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The Leavenworth Lamp is reporting a story about Australian Chief of Army Lt. Gen. Ken Gillespie speaking to the "Command and General Staff College" students at Fort Leavenworth. The topic: Building an Adaptive Army. Among the topics discussed, he also mentioned social media according to the story.
Gillespie said the army needs to improve its knowledge management and provide soldiers access to social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and army Wikis.
"Given the social networking tools that are available to us, it would be almost negligent of senior leaders like me not to enable their use," he said.
Right now a lot of people are waiting on the U.S. DoD to publish a policy on Social Media. Back in September NextGov got their hands on the draft memo, but nothing has been made official to the Public. It was rumored the policy would be out by the beginning of November, but we’re fast approaching December and still nothing. I'm patient, because I know these things take time.
I sometimes laugh to myself though, and wonder if other companies or organizations will write AND publish a social media policy before the DoD does. Like Actors. Or the NFL. And then: Presto!...they have.
Read the entire story here.
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Last week, though, it was a comfort to those at the base who were trying to sort out what happened and deal with the overwhelming emotions it unleashed. For example, a Facebook user created a page called "Prayers for Fort Hood" on Nov. 5; so far, nearly 19,000 users have signed up as members.
Thousands used Twitter to share information--such as safety status--and their feelings about the event, as well. "I was off Post here at Fort Hood when it happened. I am OK and uninvolved," one tweet said.
Read the entire story here.
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Some messages were simple observations, others expletive-laced commentary.
But in the shooting's aftermath, the soldier, Tearah Moore, 30, has found herself at the center of a sharp debate about the real-time sharing and whether the military should police the use of new media.
Read the entire story here.
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We came across this post over the weekend, and in the wake of last week's tragedy at Ft. Hood, it offers some poignant thoughts on the men and women of our armed forces. Here, a member of the SB Nation community that's currently stationed at Fort Hood in Texas offers his perspective on a national tragedy:
“We are still waiting for the real story behind why a commissioned officer (a Major if you understand the Army's rank structure), a doctor with an oath to do no harm, and a soldier sworn to defend the U.S. Constitution and to live the Army Values would do such a thing.
More importantly, though, are some of the stories just starting to emerge. Soldiers running into the chaos multiple times, trying to help the wounded and lead others to safety. Two soldiers, in the middle of their college graduation ceremony at the theater next door, ran - wearing their graduation gowns - into the shooting site and brought out more wounded. Meanwhile, other soldiers outside the building were loading up the wounded into their personal vehicles, fully loading them, which includes pickup truck beds, and speeding their way to the hospital.”
Read the full story here.
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Blogging is no longer worth the trouble. Everything is fine as long as the stories are happy and positive. The military wants happy stories, not honest stories. Everything must be 100% in concert with the Army spin. If it's not, you're considered an "embarrassment" to the Army, the installation, and/or the NCO Corps. Integrity is no longer an accepted method of leadership. If I can't be honest and open, I won't write at all. I refuse to allow my private blog's message to be dictated with threats and intimidation. It's been a fun six years!
-CJ
I've been pretty absent from writing here at ASP for quite some time. I really appreciate CJ for being a great "boss" for the last few years, and have found an extended family in CJ, Emily, and their wonderful children that I couldn't imagine not knowing. While I wish the last year was easier for us here at ASP, I'm grateful for the opportunity to meet some amazing people and form friendships that will last for a very long time. Thanks to everyone for the great ride!
-Marcus
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(Photo of my youngest son)
Since I started blogging in 2004 from Afghanistan, a lot of time has passed. I figured I’d recall some of my favorite memories since I started blogging. Given all the buzz surrounding the DoD’s policy on social media, I thought I’d contribute my two cents. Blogging has certainly opened doors for me. And one of the great things about blogging, especially military blogging is the people who I’ve connected with over the years. It’s been an eye opening experience and I don’t think any other blogging community is like the Milblogging community. I feel like social media is really starting to gain more momentum with tools like Twitter, and I feel lucky that I’ve been able to be part of it.
10: Bad Voodoo’s War – After I launched Milblogging.com in 2005, I was contacted by Deborah Scranton who produced the War Tapes, a documentary film that won a number of awards for its innovative filmmaking. She had reached out to a number of Military Bloggers to help spread the word of the film, me being one of them. Shortly before deploying to Iraq, I contacted Deborah and asked if she wanted to tell the story of my Platoon and with my Platoon Sergeant Toby Nunn behind the wheel we got the film made. Telling our story on film was bitter sweet. My family finally got a chance to understand what I did on deployment, but having the film air while we still had six weeks of missions left in country made it difficult for my family to watch. But they still appreciated every moment, and were grateful for Deborah telling our story.
9: Milblogging.com and Military.com – I launched Milblogging.com after returning home from Afghanistan. The purpose of the site was to create an aggregator site of military-related blogs from around the world. In an effort to accelerate the spread of soldier-journalism, the Milblogging website was acquired by Military.com in January 2006. This was a big surprise and a no-brainer for me. Having the largest veteran and military organization take notice was a big deal. And since that time, the staff at Military.com have been awesome – going above and beyond in the military blog community with conferences, support and so much more.
8: Care Packages – I’ll get to my supporters in a few bullets, but writing candidly about my previous deployments has gained me friends, haters, but best of all – I’ve gotten some of the best care packages in the world that I was able to use both in Afghanistan and Iraq. And I was able to share them with soldiers in my Unit who weren’t so fortunate to receive stuff from home. Writing candidly gained me some notoriety, but trying a crack at humor helped me better cope with each deployment. And writing about care packages was one of my favorite outlets. In fact, the care package rules even made Newsweek and other news sources. Rules including things like, “1. 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.
7: Lack of writing skills – You don’t have to be a writer to blog. Never in a million years did I think I’d be writing a regular blog. If somebody had to told me back in College I should pay attention in English class because I’d be writing a regular column online, I probably would’ve paid attention better, so my Mom wouldn’t nagging me with each and every post. But early on, everyone was very encouraging and the folks at GX Magazine really encouraged me to keep going when they published stories about how my son coped with deployment. It made his day and mine. Even through my Iraq deployment they continued to publish stories, particularly about my son and I - like Flat Stanley Visits Iraq.
6: Sharing my experience - whether or not my experience in Afghanistan or Iraq encouraged or discouraged others to be part of the military, being able to share my experience through the past five years has been something more personal for me that allows me to reflect on my military career as I wind down my 8 years of service next July.
5: The White House, Wall Street Journal and more - I’ve had the chance of lifetime to do some pretty cool things, ranging from going to the White House as a Military blogger to being on the cover of the Marketplace section of The Wall Street Journal. The overall experience has been a treat and never in a million years did I expect any of that to happen. But without Milblogging, it would’ve never happened.
4: The Official Milblog Conference – If you’ve attended the Official Milblog Conferences, you know how awesome they are. After missing out several years in a row, I finally got a chance to attend after returning home from Iraq – and had the chance to not only attend, but to also MC the 2008 conference, which gave me the opportunity to “roast” other bloggers in person, rather than online. My first conference was especially amazing, because I finally had a chance to meet the people who had supported me and my family through two deployments – people like Wendy, Sherri, and dozens more. And my entire family joined me at the conference and they had the opportunity to meet the very same people that I had been connected with over the years. Andi, who works tirelessly to organize these conferences each and every year - is absolutely amazing.
3: Making new friends – my top 3 are all pretty close. I thought college and high school was about making lifelong friends, but with blogging I have made more lifelong friends than any other time in my life, with people from all over the world.
2: Communication with my friends and family – with limited resources in the middle of Afghanistan, blogging was the only way I could reach everyone at once. And when I went to Iraq that was the only way I knew how to do it. I’ve never been big on writing about missions or other things, but writing about everyday life and writing about my family back home, was the best way to stay in touch with all my friends and family so they knew I was ok – and more importantly so they knew my family was ok.
1: Supporters. What more can I say? I have had the pleasure of meeting some great people, but the people who deserve the most recognition are those who supported me and my family back home. You all know who you are and you all know how important you are. If nothing else, the supporters who have been there for me and family have made military blogging all worth it.
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The Toronto Star has an interesting story about how the Canadian Military documents their official war history. In Afghanistan, Canada sends Military Historians to the frontlines in Kandahar to gather the war stories that ultimately goes into their history books.
"I've been shot at, rocketed, mortared, all of it. My view always was that I needed to understand these things so I could do the job properly," he says.
Maloney is not a soldier, but he is on a mission. When he ventures outside the relative safety of Kandahar Airfield, there is a Canadian flag on one arm of his military-issued shirt and a patch on the other arm identifying him as a military historian.
He's one of a small group employed by the Canadian Forces who are gathering the facts and details of today that will make up the official record of the country's involvement in Afghanistan for generations to come.
It is their year-round work that defines the Nov. 11 experience for countless Canadians. But for the corps of military historians, every day is Remembrance Day.
War histories have been around as long as there has been conflict between factions, cultures, nations or ideologies, but the job of an official military historian demands an urgency and sometimes reckless devotion to the profession that is far removed from the academic's reflective perch.
At its safest, Canada's military historians are in constant contact with the bomb-strewn front lines in Kandahar, demanding precise, detailed, written accounts of soldiers' experiences which are recorded in war diaries. From the weather to operational plans and results, to casualties and nuances of the fight, the war diary is the traditional treasure trove for historians.
Speaking of November 11, I’m headed to Applebee’s for Veteran’s Day. If you’re wondering why I’m going to Applebee’s, they’re giving away free meals to Veterans and Active Duty. And if you don’t have proof that you were in the Military, no worries - you can bring a picture of yourself in uniform. It’s also my son’s birthday on Wednesday so I should be able to score a free cake.
It’s like Applebee’s is making this the best Veteran’s Day yet – but with Fire Pit Bacon Burgers. Mmmmmm.
Read the entire story here.
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(StandardNET) It may be that Bill Allen, 81, was the youngest World War II vet in Saturday's Veterans Day parade, because he was almost certainly the youngest of every-one there when he enlisted in 1942 at the ripe old age of 14.
How did he do it? "I lied," he said.
"And he signed his mother's name," said his wife, Geri.
That's how Allen ended up wading ashore at Normandy and fighting in the Battle of the Bulge as a 16-year-old.
Read the entire story here.
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I stumbled across this story that was published on The Huntsville Times about the difference Maj. Ken Arnold and the people of Hunstville, Alabama made in Afghanistan, simply by donating shoes. Maj. Arnold wrote a blog called “A Soldier’s Diary” from Afghanistan that was published weekly by the Times. He recently returned home and made a visit to the offices of The Times.
Arnold wrote about the boys who needed shoes. Soon, shoes began pouring into The Huntsville Times.
"After that, both of us wondered what their lives will be like in the future," Arnold said. "Will they think about the two Americans who threw them shoes over the fence? Will they remember? Did we make a difference?"
Did they make a difference? The answer was waiting for Arnold on Monday when he walked into lobby of The Times, boxes of shoes everywhere.
"I guarantee you, these shoes are better than any shoes I saw there," said Arnold, plucking a pair of inexpensive tennis shoes from a donation box. "They'll touch a lot of people, and they're coming from the people of Huntsville, Alabama."
Note: That photo above isn’t Maj. Arnold, it’s actually a photo I found on AfghanistanChildren.org. A web blog run by Bagram AFB hospital who accept shoe donations, then deliver the shoes to the children who need them. And they blog, upload photos and share the great stories about what they’re doing.
You can read the entire Huntsville Times story here.
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The discussion is unabashedly frank. Many bloggers vehemently reject media speculation that post-traumatic stress may have played a role. Hasan's religion and race are by far the most-discussed topic. A Muslim of Palestinian heritage and American nationality, Hasan's identity--and any role it might have played in yesterday's events--is of great interest and controversy.
Read the entire story here.
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