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The diary of a WWI teenage soldier
Years before he was a respected Houston dentist, Jack Liss was a teenage soldier in the British Army’s Jewish Legion in Palestine during World War I. Liss kept a diary in Yiddish of his experiences in Jerusalem, Cairo and other parts of the Middle East during 1918-19. The diary was largely forgotten in an Israeli archive until Liss’s children in Houston tracked it down and had it translated into English several years ago.
(Know)
NPR Talk of the Nation Piece on DoD’s New Media Policy
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, Mr. Price Floyd, did an interview on NPR Talk of the Nation earlier this week. The main topic of discussion was the DoD’s recently-released official policy on new media. He discussed that the default policy is “open,” but that operations security, or OPSEC, has not changed and is important now more than ever. Mr. Floyd also answered questions and listened to comments from NPR listeners. Some callers were thankful for the new policy, saying that social media is an invaluable way to stay in touch with family and vital to morale. Others had questions and concerns about security and social media sites providing new access points for hackers.
(DoD Social Media Hub)
Eyewitness: a war artist in Afghanistan
The simple objective for a war artist is to record a particular war. You could ask why film and photography is not enough. I think that due to the very nature of painting or drawing, one can exaggerate or highlight poignant themes, atmospheres, moods, and it gives a completely different slant. With mass media, you see so much, so many evocative photographs. We're inundated with news footage and camera work. So you see these remarkable photographs, and then we've forgotten them.
(The Guardian)
National Guard reaches more than 400,000 fans on Facebook
Sign up for Facebook to connect with National Guard.
(Facebook)
Egypt Waging War on Bloggers
Egypt's war on bloggers suffered a major hit last week. Caving to pressure from the United Nations and international human rights groups, a military court released a 20-year-old civilian university student accused of blogging false information about the army and insulting officers involved in recruitment at a military academy.
(truthout)
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For every one mainstream news site that reports on military news, there are thousands of more blogs and independent web sites giving their own opinions and accounts on the same news. For years, military blogs have drawn the interest of people from all over the world. Young adults who study blogs in the classroom. Mainstream news sites that quote military bloggers and have special sections of their site where bloggers are featured. Individuals in the military community, who turn to military blogs for news on their loved ones or to offer support to those serving. The list of people curious about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan goes on and on.
Traditional news organizations that have shutdown since the internet came online, are one too many to count. But those organizations who have survived, particularly smaller news organizations, have got online and incorporated a more personal touch – with blogs and other forms of social media that many were reluctant to adopt.
While CNN has a political slant, its iReport website which allows people off the street to share their stories and discuss issues, is just one example of how powerful firsthand reporting can be. The website gets over 1 million visitors per month.
Military blogs may never reach the mass audience that mainstream news sites have, but people love to hear and read firsthand accounts. Michael Yon, an ex-Special Forces soldier, runs a military blog that reaches nearly 100,000 readers per month. That’s one individual. One person’s account. Not a mass news site or aggregator.
Michael Yon’s site is just one of many examples of blogs that demonstrate the power of first hand reporting.
People use search engines to learn about the war. They just don’t go to a specific web site or blog. Each month, people search on the keywords “Afghanistan war” almost 100,000 times. Unfortunately, it’s mostly news sites that show up on the first few pages of search results. But with military blogs continuing to grow in ranks and with the DOD’s new policy on social media, expect more people to turn to military blogs for their military news.
On that note, I’m convinced whoever wrote this definition of a Milblog on Urban Dictionary almost 5 years ago was a very wise person. Probably a Governor by now or winner of a Pulitzer or something...
Military Blog. Weblogs written by military bloggers.
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In spite of the recent arrival of a much-awaited Department of Defense social media policy allowing troops to access Web sites such as Facebook and Twitter on non-classified government networks, Marine Corps officials say a ban on these sites will remain in place for the present.
(jdnews.com)
New Media: A Formidable Foe for Modern Armies
Modern armies grapple with leaks of classified intelligence on the plethora of new social media like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The Israeli army was planning a night raid into a hostile Palestinian village in the West Bank to arrest suspected terrorists. Troops were in place and back-up units were deployed. But unexpectedly, they came upon a formidable foe – Facebook.
(The Media Line)
Social Media And The U.S. Military
Until recently, access to social media sites varied widely across the military. But after a lengthy review, the Pentagon has authorized the use of sites like Facebook for nearly all members of the military. The Pentagon's Price Floyd oversaw development of the new policy.
(wbur.org)
The DoD Directive-type Memo 09-026: Why and What’s Next
There is a reason the DTM 09-026 is titled Responsible and Effective Use of Internet-based Capabilities rather than the Responsible and Effective Use of New Media; today’s new media may be tomorrow’s old media. We have no idea what the Internet will be in two, five, or ten years. The exponential rate of change brought about by computing power and information technology is fueling an evolutionary shift in communication.
(DoD SOcial Media Hub)
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Price Floyd, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs will be sitting on The View From the Top Panel, moderated by Jamie McIntyre, at the 2010 MilBlog Conference. You can follow Price on twitter here.
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Here’s a wrap up of news and blog articles from all over the web dealing with the military and social media: two of my favorite subjects as an avid blogger and tweeter. I receive emails and news alerts all the time, and often fall behind on the latest breaking news, so instead of writing about it weeks later, I figure I’d start publishing a wrap-up. If you’ve got a story that deals with military/social media, shoot me an email (milblogging@gmail.com) so I can include it in upcoming posts. And please, only send me stories that deal with social media and the military. While I give folks points for trying to submit blogs/stories to Milblogging.com that deal with weight-loss, gambling, cheeseburgers or whatever unrelated topics, I won’t approve them.
My favorite memory is when someone submitted a blog to Milblogging.com about cat food, then was stunned when I rejected them. I almost felt bad.
#MilitaryMon is on Facebook
Honoring our military one tweet at a time each and every Monday on Twitter starting at 0001 Kabul. This is a non-partisan place to honor the military with no official affiliation to an organization or non-profit. Sign up for Facebook to connect with #MilitaryMon.
(Facebook)
Soldier's Afghan diary: getting to know locals
Trooper Pete Sheppard, from the Brigade Reconnaissance Force, writes from Afghanistan on teaching some English phrases to the locals. Trooper Pete Sheppard is a radio operator with the Brigade Reconnaissance Force (BRF), which is part of Operation Moshtarak against insurgents in Helmand province.
(Channel 4 News)
Did Uncle Sam try to kill Wikileaks?
A leaked document reveals a strategy by the U.S. Army to hack the Web site and take it down. Read on for the chilling details. I just received an email from Wikileaks editor Julian Assange that's pretty wild. It accuses the U.S. government of deliberately trying to take down the whistle-blower site PDF two years ago.
(CIO)
Insight of the Moment
My blogs won't be what I want while I'm here, in Iraq, living a relatively simple life with very little to keep my mind engaged on things outside the palace walls. I've accepted this and I hope you do too. Every night I come home late. Tonight was even later - I got out around 2200. I have failed to get many nights of good sleep here and it's all my fault. How do you go from having at least 16 hours in the day to yourself to less than 2? It's a violent adjustment.
(Insight of the Moment)
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How Social Media Posts Can Affect Your Job Search
Even for those that may never aspire to be POTUS, what you do now without thinking can and will make a difference in your life and may even haunt you for years. This is a more severe reality for all people seeking employment than in any other time in history as we are all now in the era of the Internet and social media.
(AXcess News)
To ‘Hurt’ critics, the truth hurts
On one of her recent Facebook status updates a friend made reference to the Academy Award winning movie, “The Hurt Locker,” calling it “the most intense thing she’s ever watched.” From Facebook to Twitter to the blogs and the mainstream media, “The Hurt Locker” has gained more attention recently than when it first hit the screen last summer. The movie chronicles an Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team during the Iraq War.
(Daily Caller)
Deputy Secretary Lynn Talks About New Media
Deputy Secretary of Defense Lynn addressed the United States Senate Youth Program last Friday. During his remarks he discussed the relationship between the Department of Defense and new media, including Social Media sites.
(DoD Social Media Hub)
We're looking for a few good news hounds. ...
We value the military beat here at the Daily Press, but let's face it, we can't get to everything. Political developments, deployments, homecomings, feature stories, issues that affect military families -- many, many things deserve a story. Here's how you might help. Are you a "defense news" junkie? Do you get the Early Bird Brief? Do you scour the military blogs on a daily basis? Are you a military blogger in Hampton Roads?
(Daily Press)
A Civil War journal
In early 1861, W.W. Heartsill of Marshall, Texas, marched off to war with W.P. Lane’s Rangers of the Confederate Army. During the four years, one month and one day that he spent at war, Heartsill managed to keep a diary of each day.
(The Lufkin Daily News)
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In the mid-2000s when Milblogging.com first launched, the majority of military blogs that were indexed were primarily U.S. Army and frontline bloggers (those servicemen and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan). Today, the majority of military blogs being submitted to the Milblogging index are those written by those people serving on the homefront: military spouses.
The numbers tell the story. Of the 2,584 blogs listed on Milblogging.com, bloggers who categorize themselves as U.S. Army have reached nearly 1,000, totaling 827 as of March 2010. U.S. Military Spouse bloggers come in second with 365 blogs listed, while U.S. Military Veteran bloggers have hit 263.
Besides the high number of military spouse bloggers that have signed up on Milblogging.com, military spouse blogs have already been getting noticed for years. SpouseBuzz.com, a group blog authored by military spouses was launched by Military.com in 2006 and serves as a virtual spouse support group.
SpouseBuzz.com was created by Military.com and its constituents in response to the increasing deployment of reservists and National Guard units who sought an online resource and support system within the military spouse community. Presently, the military uses Family Readiness Groups (FRG) to support military families; SpouseBuzz will now complement those efforts, acting as a virtual FRG. Military.com recognized the need for greater support across all deployed families but especially for families that do not have a direct geographical support system.
Having a virtual support network is a big help to many, especially when spouses aren’t physically located near a Family Readiness Group. The Department of Defense even showcases their Family Matters blog on their home page – a blog that provides resources and support to military families, as well as to encourage a dialogue on topics ranging from deployments and separations to the challenges of everyday life.
In case you’re wondering, there are husbands who blog, too. Not a large number though, but they’re out there. Even a handful are listed here on Milblogging.com.
Although my wife didn’t blog during my deployments, she did MySpace. Which, true story, she would upload hundreds of videos and photos and 3,240 different font styles and colors and have them all swirl around on her home page - at one time.
Bless her heart. She said it was therapeutic.
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Platinum Sponsorship $3,000
You companyʼs promotional items distributed in attendee gift bags (all attendees will receive a gift bag)
Company logo and link featured in the official conference program
Cocktail Reception Sponsor (April 9), Breakfast and Gala Sponsor (April 10) – Your company logo featured on signage at the cocktail reception, the breakfast and at the Party
Presenter of the Milbloggie Awards (April 10) - Someone from your company will announce the winner of a milbloggie award and present the award to the winner
Booth in the reception area the day of the conference (April 10)**
Full page ad in official conference program
Gold Sponsorship $2,000
Your companyʼs promotional items distributed in attendee gift bags (all attendees will receive a gift bag)
Company logo and link featured in the official conference program
Breakfast Sponsor (April 10) - Your company logo featured on signage at the breakfast*
Booth in the reception area the day of the conference (April 10)**
Half-Page ad in official conference program
Table Only $300
Booth in the reception area the day of the conference (April 10)
Full-Page Advertisement $500
Full-Page advertisement in the official conference program. Companies may add a Full-Page ad to the Table Only Sponsorship, or purchase an ad separately for only $500
Half-Page Advertisement $250
Half-Page advertisement in the official conference program. Companies may add a ½ page ad to the Table Only Sponsorship, or purchase an ad separately for only $250
* Sponsors will jointly sponsor the Cocktail Reception, Breakfast and Party. Each sponsor will have their logo featured on signage and/or banner at these events
** Booths are first-come, first-served.
For more information, email Andi.
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We're hoping to announce the full list of speakers by next Friday. We've been dealing with so many scheduling issues that's it's taken a bit more time than in previous years to get everything firmly nailed down, but rest assured, we're hard at work on providing you with a stellar line-up. Thank you for your patience. For now, confirmed speakers are below, in no particular order:
Abe Sofaer
Jamie McIntyre
Admiral Harvey
Michael Yon (From Afghanistan)
Vivian Greentree
Greyhawk
Matt Burden
Baldilocks
Keith Hensley
Greta Perry
Taylor Kiland
SGT Mom
Shelle Michaels
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Now that the Department of Defense has created and distributed a social media policy, which, in effect allows servicemembers to create and use social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter on military installations, Camp Atterbury today will follow suit with the launching of its Facebook page.
(News Blaze)
Vicksburg Tourism: Tweet the Twitter, ogle the GPS
Believe it or not, the Internet is old school. While Vicksburg attractions are likely to continue to use Web sites for “passive” advertising and event listings, for booking hotel and bed and breakfast rooms and selling tickets, there are more interactive media. The Vicksburg National Military Park, for example, has an “iPhone app.”
(The Vicksburg Post)
Military notebook: Thankfully, mules no longer handle military's media relations
Let's face it, things can get testy between reporters and the military, especially in a war zone. The press sees a compelling story. The military is fearful that important details will leak out. But things have gotten a bit better over the years.
(Daily Press)
The Yon "apology," in full
Barely grammatical, I know, but I promised I'd print it when it came. Yon's argument now is that because the ANP guarding the bridge were mentored by American MPs, who are in turn, currently reporting to the Canadian task force commander, that makes the Canadians responsible for any attacks on that bridge. Pretty tenuous, but let's go with it. Someone has to take responsibility for the ANP at some point, after all. But then, Yon also says earlier in the same piece, pretty much completely contradicting his own apology.
(flit)
Band of brothers launches Operation Purple Heart
One Saturday in January, volunteers at the Salvation Army in upstate New York were sifting through donations of unwanted items when Shelia Gladding opened a box of what looked to be forlorn bric-a-brac. She scooped out a piece of paper. ''Purple Heart,'' it read. ''For military merit and for wounds received in action resulting in his death June 6, 1944.'' D-Day.
(Fairfax Digital)
Global: World Day Against Cyber Censorship
Internet censorship is still a major issue in many countries worldwide. With that in mind, the Paris-based international organization Reporters without Borders (RSF) is promoting its yearly World Day Against Cyber Censorship on March 12th.
(Global Voices Online)
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Friday evening, we'll have a cocktail reception following the kick-off panel. At the reception, there will be a cash bar and lite fare (passed hors d'oeuvers). A full dinner will be served at Saturday evening's big bash. The agenda for Friday (April 9), is below:
6:30 - 7:45p
Kick-off panel: A Marathon, Not a Sprint: This kick-off panel brings together a variety of speakers, including some of the earliest milbloggers. Panelists will reflect on five conferences and several years of milblogging. Speakers will discuss the evolution of milblogging and share their thoughts on what they think the future of milblogging may look like. Panelists include Greyhawk, Matt, Baldilocks and SGT Mom
8:00p
Cocktail Reception Begins
9:00 - 10:00p
Charity Jail N'Bail, details here
10:00 - 10:30p
Saving Abel Performs, details here
11:00p
Cocktail Reception Ends
Friday evening will be a blast, but save your energy for Saturday evening's monster party!
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In the past two months, the milblogosphere has been abuzz over the sackings of several military commanders, such as Captain William Reavey, the former commander of Naval Air Station Pensacola; Lt. Col. Frank Jenio, the former commander of the 2nd Battalion-508th Parachute Infantry Regiment; and Captain Holly Graf, the former commander of the guided missile cruiser USS Cowpens. These incidents are particularly interesting, as they offer a case study of military leadership in the world of Web 2.0.
(Wings Over Iraq)
Kaboom Book Release Party - Join Us!
If anyone out there happens to live in the NYC area - or will be visiting soon - come join us on Thursday, April 15, for the officially official "Kaboom" release party. We'll start at the Barnes & Noble in TriBeCa (97 Warren Street) at 7 p.m., where I'll talk about how the book came to be, do a Q+A, and then a signing. From there, we'll move to Dublin 6, an Irish pub in the West Village.
(Kaboom: A Soldier's War Journal)
"Diary of a Disgraced Soldier": Can Art Save the Life of a Veteran Battling PTSD?
The night before, he had killed an insurgent during a firefight. With the sun up, thousands of Iraqis were rioting in the streets and taking out their anger on Webster and the other 100 some British soldiers in his unit, the 1st Battalion, Light Infantry, which was charged with maintaining order in Al Amara, Iraq. They were mere days from the end of their deployment.
(AlterNet)
Trust and Safety
As Director of Twitter's Trust and Safety team, a big part of my job is focused on the detection and prevention of spam and abuse. A couple weeks ago, Biz explained how Twitter users were being victimized by phishing scams spread primarily through links in Direct Messages. Basically, people click the link and bad things happen. My team can only detect these scams after malicious links have already been sent out.
(Twitter)
USTRANSCOM Launches Facebook and Twitter Sites
The U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) launched the Command’s official Facebook and Twitter pages today. Following DOD Deputy Secretary Lynn’s memorandum on the responsible and effective use of Internet-based capabilities on Friday, February 25, USTRANSCOM moved forward quickly with plans to establish a presence on social networking sites.
(DoD Live)
Do You Know Who Your Friends Are?
A recent find in our social media communities has been the use of military support Facebook groups as the construction site for houses of adversary propaganda through violent, anti-American posts, videos and photos. What makes it scarier is friends and families have welcomed the invitation without looking at the pictures hanging on the walls or the violent movies playing on the television.
(dvids)
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7:45 - 8:45
Breakfast
9:00 - 9:30
Opening Remarks
9:30 - 10:30
The Charitable Landscape: Representatives from various troop supporting organizations will examine how the use of social media has changed the way non-profits communicate with their membership, donors and the general public. This panel will discuss the challenges and benefits of social media, and how we can assist in their efforts to support the military community
10:30 - 10:45
Break
10:45 - 12:00
National Security Smorgasbord: A diverse panel of reporters, strategists and pundits discuss a wide range of topics including the state of our National Security, the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq and media coverage of military affairs
12:00 - 1:30
Lunch
1:30 - 2:30
Special Guest Appearance
2:30 - 3:45
The View from the Top: Senior military and DoD officials discuss the rewards and challenges of social media in a military environment
3:45 - 4:00
Break
4:00 - 5:15
Legislation, Military-Style: Lawmakers and policy-wonks discuss the legislative side of policy-making with respect to military affairs
5:15 - 5:30
Closing Remarks
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By Andi
Troop supporting rockers Saving Abel will be in town during the Milblog Conference and have volunteered to stop by the Friday evening Cocktail Reception for a brief, acoustic performance. Saving Abel is currently on a week-long USO tour in the Persian Gulf.
Click here to see the making of the music video for 18 Days, which took place on the deck of an aircraft carrier. I think you can count on the band performing this song Friday evening. Saving Abel are strong supporters of our troops and their families and we're thrilled to have them drop by for a little entertainment, and to meet and greet the milbloggers. Don't miss this!
We've had no less than three bands offer to perform at The MilBlog Conference, and we're grateful for the interest in our conference and the willingness of these bands to donate their time to entertain us.
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Last Friday at an event in Washington D.C., U.S. military personnel who were at the forefront of counterinsurgency efforts in Iraq joined Slate Magazine's Chris Wilson at the New America Foundation to discuss the role of social networking theories in modern combat. While Bin Laden doesn't tweet and there may not be an al-Qaida fanpage on Facebook that can be browsed for intel, the experts agreed that understanding the other side's social networks -- as painstaking as the process may be -- can be crucial to operational success.
(OhMyGov!)
Why Do All the Letters Sent by Military Wives Disappear? For comfort, we have blogs instead.
I've written letters to my much-deployed husband, Scott, on monogrammed stationery, hotel letterhead, notebook paper, and even, once, in the margins of a menu from a restaurant in Switzerland. In Japan, I invested heavily in cards that featured cute animals of different species talking to one another; when I worked in an office, I scribbled on the back of recycled meeting agendas. But only the memory of these letters exists. Like most deployed service members, who are always on the move and have to travel light, my husband couldn't hold on to my notes.
(Slate Magazine)
Army, Navy and Air Force continue to ban flash media
The U.S. Strategic Command approved limited use of flash media such as thumb drives on Feb. 18, but all three services have yet to lift their bans until they develop policies and procedures for the devices. STRATCOM said the services and combatant commands must develop policies and procedures for use of flash media on their computers and networks. The Air Force and Army are still developing their policies.
(NextGov)
Egypt military court releases blogger in army case
A blogger, who had faced a military trial for an article critical of Egypt's armed forces, has been released without bail after apologising and on condition he removes the posting, his lawyer said on Sunday.
(Moneycontrol.com)
French-kissing woman army officer punished
another subordinate had also posted on his blog photos of Lee French kissing the men and women. The captions on the photos named the subordinates as Lee's "concubines".
(AsiaOne)
Army Spouses Urged to Speak Their Minds
Army officials have just sent out the 2010 Survey of Army Families to 75,000 randomly-selected civilian spouses of active-duty soldiers.
(Family Matters Blog)
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With all the news and opinions, many have said it's not enough for military bloggers. Sure, it’s honorable for people to come to the defense of the “little guy” in the military community who blogs or tweets or uses any of the hundreds of social media/networking tools available, but people need to keep in mind, security is the most important thing here. And when it comes to accessing new/social media sites from the frontlines, unless you’ve been there and done that, you might not have all your facts.
Jack Holt, a Sr. Strategist for Emerging Media has a great write up on the new policy:
We need to also understand what having a policy means to an organization such as DoD. Having a policy means resources can be planned and budgeted for in an effort to support that policy. Because a more open NIPRnet is the policy, we now have a responsibility to train our people in its responsible and effective use. We must examine what security should look like. It’s like moving from a walled city with guard towers to open communities with constables on patrol. Yes, there are significant threats in working on the Internet, but we train to meet the threats on every field of maneuver; this field is no different. It means as members of the DoD, we each have a greater responsibility to protect each other. We all should have a look at the Social Networking Sites safety checklist and the games that help us teach our families.
I don’t consider myself a social media expert by any stretch of the imagination, but there was a time when I blogged from Afghanistan and Iraq, and the guidelines we followed were called: Common Sense. Yeah, I know. Crazy stuff. I didn’t even really read “directives” or “memos” or “09-026’s”.
The guidelines should probably have been called “Halo Cheat Codes”. Or “Downloading new maps for Call of Duty”. You know, something to grab my attention.
Read the entire story here.
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STUTTGART, Germany — More than a week after the Defense Department lifted its three-year ban on social media Web sites, U.S. troops in Europe are still waiting to gain access to sites such as Twitter and Facebook. The new DOD policy, which went into effect on Feb. 25, states that DOD networks will be configured to allow access on government computers to such sites as Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, Twitter and Google Apps.
(Stars and Stripes)
Israeli Soldier Leaks Raid On Facebook, Booted from Army
AOL News said that a soldier from an elite Israeli military unit announced on his Facebook page that, "On Wednesday, we are cleaning out [a West Bank village] -- today an arrest operation, tomorrow an arrest operation and then, please God, home by Thursday." Other members of the unit who were also among his Facebook friends alerted officers. The operation was scrapped and the soldier was court-martialed, sentenced to 10 days in jail and kicked out of the battalion.
(MyFox Wausau)
Egypt: Blogger trial condemned
Amnesty International has condemned the trial of young blogger in Egypt, calling on the Egyptian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Ahmad Mostafa, 20, a blogger and prisoner of conscience facing up to nine and a half years in prison after he published a post alleging nepotism within the armed forces.
(Amnesty International UK)
Military rebuffs blogger's call for top Canadian general to be fired
The Canadian military in Afghanistan emphatically denied Wednesday a claim by an American blogger popular among soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan that Canada's commander, Brig.-Gen. Daniel Menard, should be fired for not having prevented an attack on a bridge near the Kandahar Airfield where an American soldier and four Afghan civilians died Monday.
(The Gazette)
The diary of a WWI Jersey soldier has been discovered
Clarence Percy Ahier was from Jersey, born in 1892 and served as an artilleryman at the Somme and Ypres in the Great War. Many of those serving during the war recorded their memories, some became famous accounts, and others were locked away in cupboards and lofts. The war diary of Clarence Ahier falls into the second category.
(BBC)
Attorney responds to military gag order by starting blog
The attorney for the Army psychiatrist implicated in a shooting at a Texas military base has responded to a military gag order by starting a blog on the case, CNN reported. Maj. Nidal Hasan, who has been accused of killing 13 people in a rampage at the base in Fort Hood, Texas in November, is being represented by civilian attorney John Galligan. Galligan began the blog after the Special Court-Martial Convening Authority issued a gag order preventing Galligan from releasing or publishing any information from the evidence received from the Army. There is no gag order imposed on the Army.
(RCFP)
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Military blogs, or “milblogs,” serve as a first draft of our wartime history, written by those who are living it. Online accounts from soldiers and their families can be dramatic, funny and introspective.
Read the entire story here.
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Milblogging.com has now reached over 2,500 military blogs, and I can tell you firsthand, we’re just scratching the surface. With the popularity of social media, especially with microblogging, the number of blogs written by people in the military community is enormous – and only a fraction of all the military related blogging sites are listed here.
If your blog is listed here on Milblogging.com (which is necessary in order to participate in the Milbloggies) please double check and make sure your Military Blog Profile information is correct, and most importantly, that you’re in the correct Branch Category (such as U.S. Military Spouse or U.S. Army).
If you haven’t registered for the Conference yet it’s right around the corner, so make sure you register in time. The Conference is going to be Huge. Trust me, this is the FIVE YEAR anniversary of the Official MILblog Conference, and Andi has been hard at work for months and months. There’s going to be a cocktail reception. A full dinner plus drink tickets. A party. A Saturday breakfast. Drink tickets. Oh, did I mention there will be Panel Discussions?
Yeah, uh, that too.
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