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Commanding Military Control Freaks Shut Down Mil-Bloggers :: MAXINE

by Edmund Jenks | May 2, 2007 at 04:23 pm

653 views | 10 Recommendations | 4 comments

In a move that can only be described as BONEHEADED, the Army, today, has just outlawed blogging by members of the military. Thank-You General Casey (Maj. Ray Ceralde, the Army OPSEC program manager and author of the revision, announced the decision but the General signed the order)!!!

The MSM does not give us the straight scoop as to what is happening in the field.

Congress does not give us (the citizens who are paying for our protection) unvarnished, un-politicized and clear updates from their committee update meetings.

The Executive Branch of our Government is under political fire so anything they have to say is twisted and distorted and condemned before anyone gets the information.

Mil-Blogs allow each and every citizen of our country an open access window to gage the attitude and understandings of our best and brightest in the theater of the war on terror. Morale is enhanced, family updated communications are real-time, and the MSM subterfuge is given a counterpoint.

In a free society, this decision is a disaster and will trash the last best chance to have our citizens in the military to remain connected to the society they serve.

It is not like the Military is shutting down something that didn't work.

At MAXINE, we hope this is not the death of the Mil-Blogger.

Excerpts from ARMY News Service -

Army Releases New OPSEC Regulation

PRESS RELEASE AT SOURCE>>

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Jordan Yerman

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 06:41 on May 3rd, 2007

Very well-put. With all the gum-flapping about "supporting our troops", the higher-ups sure have a problem with actually listening to them... I realize tha tthe military functions as a bureaucracy (info up, orders down), but still... sending them off to die without body armor AND gagging them? Uncool.

Edmund Jenks

at 06:07 on May 3rd, 2007

Like it or not, web communication has become a fabric that brings a commonality to our society that transcends all differences as well as highlights them ... for the betterment of societal understanding.

For the "Brass" to slam the door of access on this communications outlet to the personnel in the military, it is not a good thing. It cuts them out of the current culture process here in North America.

Not Good - It's BONEHEADED!

egoigwe

at 11:47 on May 3rd, 2007

Most importantly, it speaks volumes of the military hierarchy's thought thread. It is the vicious reaction to an increasingly unpopular war that seeks to conceal real-time events as they actually occur on the field. Cold, insensitive and without the slightest consideration for anxious parents and relations who painfully endure the trauma of war by feeding off tit-bits and chats posted by their loved ones for their reassurance and peace of mind. It is an ominous black-out that is probably indicative of the really bad times that lay ahead.

Ego

Edmund Jenks

at 12:01 on May 3rd, 2007

The troops are fully aware what is at stake and they really do know that their mission is critical ... and do able.

By being able to write what they are experiencing, they remain focused on the task at hand through sharing the truth they understand ... and we citizens gain with a rich source of individual insights. No MSM, no politico spin, no ass-on-the-line Brass manilipulation.

I think the Mil-Bloggers understand the point-of-order comments in the regulation that speak to the proper sharing and non-sharing of information. Thes MEN and WOMEN are adults. If there are offenses, take the keyboards away from the offenders.