thedrifter
05-07-09, 10:14 AM
Operation Serve and Tell: Servicemembers encouraged to blog
By Mark Abramson, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, May 7, 2009
U.S. troops are invading the blogosphere in increasing numbers to speak their minds about everything from the most mundane topics to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Web site www.milblogging.com links to blogs originating in 43 countries. The majority are created by Americans and 1,550 links come from the U.S. Iraq is a distant second with more than 400 military blogs, most of which were started by U.S. military members serving in Iraq.
Some military blogs feature photos and YouTube videos, including
www.bouhammer.com , which has video of soldiers firing mortars and rockets in Afghanistan. Others have catchy titles like "Who’s Your Baghdaddy?"
There is even an unofficial blog site for the Ramstein Air Base community in Germany called Ramstein Underground, which has blogs about topics like things to do on three-day weekends, to rants or raves about the newest "American Idol" judge.
The Army recently entered the blogosphere by launching
http://armylive.dodlive.mil/ on April 13. An Army official estimated that the site gets 1,500 to 2,000 hits a week and that is growing by an average of 500 visitors weekly.
"I think it is becoming more standard and conventional," Lindy Kyzer, a spokeswoman for the Army’s Online and Social Media Division, said about blogging in the Army’s ranks. "We have a lot of folks who have been doing it for a long time."
And not just young, tech-savvy soldiers are blogging nowadays; every demographic does it, Kyzer said. She said she knows a World War II veteran who blogs.
Secretary of the Army Pete Geren met with military bloggers when they were invited to the Pentagon during a recent military blogger’s conference. The Department of Defense and other branches sent officials to the conference as well.
Army officials said they encourage troops to blog as long as it doesn’t break any operational security rules, and they see it as a good release for servicemembers. DOD officials said the topics troops can address on their blogs may be limited by commands or by rules such as the Code of Conduct and other regulations.
The Air Force’s link to DOD Live at http://airforcelive.dodlive.mil was set up in October, and it got 14,001 hits from March 1 to April 30. The DOD expects the Navy and Marines to hop aboard DOD Live, and there is a move to get the Coast Guard involved, said Jack Holt, who works for the Defense Media Activity Office of Emerging Media.
It appears that blogging is growing in the Air Force’s commands and among its ranks, said Paul Bove, a digital media strategist with the Air Force Public Affairs Agency.
"We are getting one or two phone calls a week from people whose leadership is interested in starting a blog," Bove said.
"I think it is definitely a good thing. Even when people express an interest in working with us on our blog, we tell them we want [to post] your experiences."
Blogging, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube appear to be the most effective new media to reach the public, Bove said. "I don’t think blogging is going to be overtaken by anything," Bove said.
The Navy may not be on DOD Live, but one way it has gotten involved with blogging is when the USS Russell became the first U.S. warship to have a blog while it was deployed last spring, said Roxie Merritt, a public affairs spokeswoman for the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
The Navy has even had bloggers embedded with sailors, and DOD has had blogger roundtables with captains from the bridges of their ships and other high-ranking military officials, Holt and Merritt said.
Navy officials could not be reached for comment for this story.
"[Blogging] is going on throughout the services and they are still trying to get their arms around it. It is becoming more and more prevalent and they are seeing the value in it," Holt said.
And once bloggers get started, they can get hooked, one Army grunt admitted.
Troy Seward, a first sergeant in the New York Army National Guard, who started bouhammer.com and several other blogs, said blogging has kept him up until 2 a.m. at times.
"It went from a hobby to a full-time non-paying job," Seward joked.
He said bouhammer.com gets about 10,000 hits a month.
Seward, a veteran of Afghanistan, said he sees blogging as a way for servicemembers in harm’s way to record history.
"I was in Desert Storm, and back then, we didn’t have all this technology and I didn’t keep a great journal," he said. "I wanted to keep a living history of my tour [in Afghanistan]."
Seward works in computers but said you don’t have to be a computer wiz to set up and run a blog. Software provided online makes it easy, he said.
He describes one blog he runs with other Afghanistan veterans as a way to give troops headed there a resource to learn about what the country and culture is like and other valuable tidbits to help them adjust.
Seward pointed out that several higher-ups, including generals, have started blogs, which junior officers and enlisted troops have noticed and view as a sign that it is OK for them to blog what’s on their minds.
"We are a society of freedom of speech, and soldiers have an opinion. I think [blogging] gives soldiers a chance to express their opinion," Seward said.
Ellie
By Mark Abramson, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, May 7, 2009
U.S. troops are invading the blogosphere in increasing numbers to speak their minds about everything from the most mundane topics to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Web site www.milblogging.com links to blogs originating in 43 countries. The majority are created by Americans and 1,550 links come from the U.S. Iraq is a distant second with more than 400 military blogs, most of which were started by U.S. military members serving in Iraq.
Some military blogs feature photos and YouTube videos, including
www.bouhammer.com , which has video of soldiers firing mortars and rockets in Afghanistan. Others have catchy titles like "Who’s Your Baghdaddy?"
There is even an unofficial blog site for the Ramstein Air Base community in Germany called Ramstein Underground, which has blogs about topics like things to do on three-day weekends, to rants or raves about the newest "American Idol" judge.
The Army recently entered the blogosphere by launching
http://armylive.dodlive.mil/ on April 13. An Army official estimated that the site gets 1,500 to 2,000 hits a week and that is growing by an average of 500 visitors weekly.
"I think it is becoming more standard and conventional," Lindy Kyzer, a spokeswoman for the Army’s Online and Social Media Division, said about blogging in the Army’s ranks. "We have a lot of folks who have been doing it for a long time."
And not just young, tech-savvy soldiers are blogging nowadays; every demographic does it, Kyzer said. She said she knows a World War II veteran who blogs.
Secretary of the Army Pete Geren met with military bloggers when they were invited to the Pentagon during a recent military blogger’s conference. The Department of Defense and other branches sent officials to the conference as well.
Army officials said they encourage troops to blog as long as it doesn’t break any operational security rules, and they see it as a good release for servicemembers. DOD officials said the topics troops can address on their blogs may be limited by commands or by rules such as the Code of Conduct and other regulations.
The Air Force’s link to DOD Live at http://airforcelive.dodlive.mil was set up in October, and it got 14,001 hits from March 1 to April 30. The DOD expects the Navy and Marines to hop aboard DOD Live, and there is a move to get the Coast Guard involved, said Jack Holt, who works for the Defense Media Activity Office of Emerging Media.
It appears that blogging is growing in the Air Force’s commands and among its ranks, said Paul Bove, a digital media strategist with the Air Force Public Affairs Agency.
"We are getting one or two phone calls a week from people whose leadership is interested in starting a blog," Bove said.
"I think it is definitely a good thing. Even when people express an interest in working with us on our blog, we tell them we want [to post] your experiences."
Blogging, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube appear to be the most effective new media to reach the public, Bove said. "I don’t think blogging is going to be overtaken by anything," Bove said.
The Navy may not be on DOD Live, but one way it has gotten involved with blogging is when the USS Russell became the first U.S. warship to have a blog while it was deployed last spring, said Roxie Merritt, a public affairs spokeswoman for the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
The Navy has even had bloggers embedded with sailors, and DOD has had blogger roundtables with captains from the bridges of their ships and other high-ranking military officials, Holt and Merritt said.
Navy officials could not be reached for comment for this story.
"[Blogging] is going on throughout the services and they are still trying to get their arms around it. It is becoming more and more prevalent and they are seeing the value in it," Holt said.
And once bloggers get started, they can get hooked, one Army grunt admitted.
Troy Seward, a first sergeant in the New York Army National Guard, who started bouhammer.com and several other blogs, said blogging has kept him up until 2 a.m. at times.
"It went from a hobby to a full-time non-paying job," Seward joked.
He said bouhammer.com gets about 10,000 hits a month.
Seward, a veteran of Afghanistan, said he sees blogging as a way for servicemembers in harm’s way to record history.
"I was in Desert Storm, and back then, we didn’t have all this technology and I didn’t keep a great journal," he said. "I wanted to keep a living history of my tour [in Afghanistan]."
Seward works in computers but said you don’t have to be a computer wiz to set up and run a blog. Software provided online makes it easy, he said.
He describes one blog he runs with other Afghanistan veterans as a way to give troops headed there a resource to learn about what the country and culture is like and other valuable tidbits to help them adjust.
Seward pointed out that several higher-ups, including generals, have started blogs, which junior officers and enlisted troops have noticed and view as a sign that it is OK for them to blog what’s on their minds.
"We are a society of freedom of speech, and soldiers have an opinion. I think [blogging] gives soldiers a chance to express their opinion," Seward said.
Ellie