Army may have just killed soldier blogs
Cory Bergman May 2nd, 2007
Wired is reporting that the U.S. Army has just ordered soldiers to stop posting to blogs or even send personal email messages without clearing everything with a superior officer first. “This is the final nail in the coffin for combat blogging,” said retired paratrooper Matthew Burden, editor of The Blog of War anthology. “No more military bloggers writing about their experiences in the combat zone. This is the best PR the military has — it’s most honest voice out of the war zone. And it’s being silenced.” Extremely unfortunate.
Adds Jason in comments: “I’ve always found it interesting (and fairly horrifying) that those who refer regularly to soldiers as defending our freedom do not give them the same freedom to speak out that the rest of the population has.”
7 Comments Add your own
1. Jason P | May 2nd, 2007 at 8:57 am
I’ve always found it interesting (and fairly horrifying) that those who refer regularly to soldiers as defending our freedom do not give them the same freedom to speak out that the rest of the population has.
2. Rob | May 2nd, 2007 at 10:02 am
Extremely unfortunate? Naah. Not really. Just the Army trying to put the cork back on the bottle after the genie got out three years ago.
Jason - Here’s how the Army would respond: “We’re here to protect Democracy, not practice it.” Seriously.
Leave it to the Army to issue another unenforceable regulation that will draw the ire of the soldiers and their families.
There shouldn’t be any surprise they’re going after Milbloggers now. This is the same Army that issued ridiculous orders like, for example, the restriction against wearing of ‘doo rags’ or cuffing sleeves because it did not keep within the standards of appearance for soldiers in the field. This is the same Army that issued a 50+ page order on how to properly manage the distribution and consumption of two 12-ounce cans of beer per soldier on Super Bowl Sunday to all units in Iraq.
Now it’s the same Army that has endured three years of allowing soldiers to keep in touch with loved ones back home through snail mail, e-mail and blogs but is going to start censoring them in efforts to take back the black eye they got three years ago when the first allowed soldiers to blog without fully understanding the repercussions.
Yep. That’s the Army for you. They trust you enough to carry a gun and go into combat, but heaven forbid they’d trust you enough to be able to e-mail your loved ones without having an officer looking over your shoulder to make sure you weren’t criticizing the Army.
The Army just added to the black eye by issuing this policy. Soldiers won’t stand for it and will do whatever it takes to get around the policy in order to keep in touch with their loved ones back home.
Milbloggers are the best unfiltered source of information coming from the battlefield and the Army’s issuing of another update to the OPSEC order isn’t going to change that … all the Army did was further empowered disenfranchised soldiers to make more of an attempt to get the word out.
3. Steve Bryant | May 2nd, 2007 at 10:06 am
Totally fine with me that the Army is restricting solder blogging.
The broader cultural shifts that are putting more focus on the individual as media darling are not healthy for soldiers. The lesson of modern media, from daytime talk shows to reality shows to blogs to YouTube, is that you — the bright, shining individual — are the most important actor.
But in this case, that lesson is at odds with the psychology of a soldier, whose duty is to subject himself to a higher order. Writing in Crowds and Power, Elias Canetti said that soldiers are defined stereometrically. Their existence is predicated by the instructions of others. Once those instructions are disregarded, there is no more soldier.
4. Hairy | May 2nd, 2007 at 10:19 am
just another way bush’s government doesn’t want the REAL truth of war coming out. really pathetic. bush wants all not to know the truth.
5. !nvitedmedia | May 2nd, 2007 at 10:27 am
as one smart fella notes - ‘the deer have guns’. in this case they also wear the uniform.
6. Rob | May 2nd, 2007 at 12:00 pm
Steve - Soldiers are not mindless automatons. They have thoughts and feelings like every other person, and blogging is one of their forms of expression. Their ability to blog does not impact their ability to do what they need to do to survive on the battlefield.
And if a soldier disobeys an unenforceable order like this one obviously is, it doesn’t mean they have suddenly abandoned all principles that make them a soldier. All it means is they see the order for the ridiculous attempt that is to squelch the perceived negativity being generated by e-mail and by milblogs and it will only serve to energize them to find ways to continue doing it.
7. warren reid | May 2nd, 2007 at 8:51 pm
Soldiers are there to fight.
They have no RIGHT to blog.
They can write letters home, they can call people and they can sit down and chit chat…
But, c’mon already with the idea that a soldier has every bit of right (after they voluntarily signed up for this whole gig) to blog as they do for their freedom of religion or whatever amendment is ludicris.
The truth (or whatever) they want to get out will still get out.
Do we need all this bellyaching about something that no one is guaranteed the right to do while on Uncle Sam’s dime trying to kill people for a living? (and protect my ass at the same time.)
I’m not for silencing people, but let’s just keep the objective in mind and keep it all in perspective.
No US soliders blogged for 200 years and we seemed to do fine. Do we really need them doing it now? We will survive this perceived crisis… geez people…
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