Army Sailor -- War in the Sandbox...
The Adventures of a Sailor in Afghanistan...

In light of all that is going on in the world, and the fact that the government now appears to be taking what could be a paranoid stance on blogs and milblogs, I am glad to see that some people can see this for what it is. I am a huge fan of Apple, and I am obviously a Blogger, this guy nice summarizes how I feel right now... Plus his site is Made with a Mac! All the better.

And since I can't post it here myself for fear of command reprisals... I offer you this link.

Enjoy!

And remember Support Bloggers Rights!

I picked up the latest copy of Stars & Stripes at lunch today. I don't read it too often, it's mostly crap. However today's headline definitely caught my eye. In big bold letters "Watching your blog". I have been reading reports about a 10 man Virginia National Guard team that has been stood up to keep track of blogs, and that the DoD is gonna start looking more carefully at blogs. I've noticed a lot of military bloggers seem to be a bit worried. Some have even gone so far as to voluntarily shut-down their blogs. This sort of self-censorship scares me. It should scare you too. Don't get me wrong, I certainly understand the need to maintain OPSEC. I carefully review my posts to ensure they don't violate any OPSEC guidelines. The last thing I want to do is aid the enemy.
However, it strikes me that the DoD may be making a huge mistake by putting enough of a scare in Military Bloggers to cause some to silence themselves. The 'War on Terror' is not very popular these days. When it does make the news (which doesn't seem to be often), it's usually bad news. Those of us serving on the front lines are much more likely to draw a more realistic picture of what is going on. We are also more likely to highlight the positive things we are doing. Every reporter has an agenda. Soldiers, sailor, airmen & Marines do not. We only want to share our stories. If anything, I think the DoD should be encouraging Military Bloggers.
The civilian news media loves to over emphasize deaths, and negative news. Gore sells. But it does not tell the whole story. Now don't get me wrong, I do not mean to belittle the deaths of American GIs, no one is more appalled than I am by the fact that on average we lose one soldier every nine hours. However, if we are to draw an accurate picture of the war, we must talk about the good things those soldiers are doing also. The civilian news media tends not to mention the schools we build, the medical missions we conduct, the clinics we build, the training we give the local populace, the roads we build, the promise of a better future we bring.
Our positive efforts in Afghanistan can not succeed unless we have the complete support of the civilian community at home, and we can not reasonably expect to get that support if the only news they here is negative. The fact remains that every Major News Outlet in the United States has a political agenda. Their stories are tainted by that agenda. I have an agenda also. Mine is to let the people know the truth, as best I can. I will promise this much...
If I am asked to change or remove an article due to an OPSEC violation, I will. However, I will not be silenced, and I most certainly will not voluntarily shut down my blog. Our story must be told, and it must be told in a manner commensurate with the sacrifices we make daily.

By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes

WASHINGTON — Army officials this week issued new warnings to soldiers about posting personal stories from combat zones on the Internet and taking photos at overseas bases, saying those actions could jeopardize troops’ security.

The list of prohibited activities includes taking photos of Defense Department facilities, posting any official Defense Department information and releasing information detailing job responsibilities.

“Whether it is a family Web page or a personal blog, safety and security measures must be strictly observed,” the message said. “Sensitive DOD information must not be divulged to the public at large for national security reasons.”

The message also notes that even some unclassified information “may not be appropriate for use on the Web” and directs all other questions related to prohibited activities to security managers.

Army spokesman Paul Boyce said the goal isn’t to prevent soldiers from writing about their time in a combat zone, and said he knew of no discussions considering shutting down blog sites or banning the use of personal cameras.

But Boyce said soldiers need to know that simply taking photos could threaten operational security.

“We’re just re-emphasizing the danger here,” he said. “We have warned soldiers to please be extremely careful of any photography, especially street scenes, because they could be useful to the enemy.”

Boyce said shots of the aftermath of insurgent attacks or roadside bombs are especially dangerous, because insurgents could use them to gauge the effectiveness of their attacks.

Officials said the new guidelines were designed to be a reminder to troops and were not prompted by news this week of a Web site offering free access to pornography in exchange for gruesome war photos.

Last month, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker released a memo to unit commanders telling them to take the issue more seriously.

“The enemy aggressively ‘reads’ our open source and continues to exploit such information for use against our forces,” he wrote. “Some soldiers continue to post sensitive information to Internet Web sites and blogs. … Such OPSEC violations needlessly place lives at risk and degrade the effectiveness of our operations.”

Under current Army rules, soldier bloggers are required to register their sites with commanding officers, who have the authority to them shut down if they deem them problematic.

Sgt. Todd Kobus, who runs the blog site LostInIraq.com to chronicle his Massachusetts Army National Guard unit’s activities there, said he has been confused and aggravated by Army’s guidelines that have limited what he can write about the troops’ lives overseas.

“They have managed to keep everything extremely vague,” he said in an e-mail from Iraq. “The site hardly serves its original task of keeping family and friends informed of anything, aside from the prank wars that occur on the base.”

Kobus said he understands the need for security and has taken many steps to make sure his site doesn’t pose security risks, doing things like blotting out Iraqi troops’ faces in photos. But he still fields complaints from superiors worried about photos and stories on the site.

“All this is pretty frustrating since I have kept my site positive during the entire deployment, have never intentionally violated that giant gray area known as OPSEC,” he said.

The Army has also issued rules about appropriate e-mail use in the past, warning about revealing secure information in personal notes as well as discouraging anything that could “reflect adversely on the DOD or the Army,” referring to things like chain letters or pornography.

We finished building a school today. It is one of many schools we have built throughout Afghanistan, locals come to the ribbon cutting, everyone seems very pleased. Next week, the Taliban will burn the school, a week or two later we will repair it. Such is the dance.

The Afghan people are in a very unique, and often very poor situation. They are stuck in a strange place to be. On one hand is the Coalition Forces, we do good things, try to help them and try to make their country a better place. Our ultimate goal is to see Afghanistan become a functional citizen of the global village. The people see the good we do, and most appreciate it, most want more. However, I can not blame those who still rather we weren't here. After-all, if there were Afghan soldiers in the streets of Philadelphia I'd be pretty displeased, no matter how much good they may be doing. No one wants foreign fighters in their country.

On the other hand you have the Taliban. The Taliban are a bunch of brutish thugs who impose a quasi-religious oppression of the people. In the name of god they strip their own people of their personal freedoms. The harsh reality being that they don't do it for god, but rather to keep themselves in power. The very methods they use are contrary to the teachings of the Qur'an. The vast majority of Afghans do not seem to support the Taliban, at least not in their hearts, but are sometimes forced to show their support.

I have a somewhat unique perspective on the plight of the Afghan people, as I grew-up poor and in the inner city. The Americans are like the police, and the Taliban are common thugs. The residents don't like the thugs, but dare not oppose them or stand up to them for fear of reprisals, and the police seem ineffective. The fact is that for generations of Afghans who have never known a life better than the one they have, it is hard to understand that lasting change does not happen quickly. It is hard to ask a man who has not realized the dream of freedom to be willing to lay down his life for that dream.

It is a most perilous and delicate situation that this country finds itself in. One which must be approached with a great deal of care. What worries me is that the world (especially America) is distracted. High-ranking officials in the UK seem to be damning our efforts in Afghanistan to inevitable failure, and the Canadians are calling for a withdrawal of their forces from Afghanistan. Meanwhile in the U.S., from what I gather, all the news is about some homosexual Senator who slept with his teenage aide and whether or not Michael J. Fox is faking his disease. Here we are at a place and time in history when we can make a lasting difference for an entire nation, in an effort which nearly everyone in the U.S. supported in the beginning... and the best our political pundits can do is accuse a man with Parkinson’s of being a faker? The United States Republic (arguably an empire) of the early 21st century will be judged in history by the actions it makes right now. Let's hope that our citizenry is cognizant enough to see through all the nonsense they are being bombarded with and pressure their representatives to make the right decisions.

I have been feeling kind of crappy the last few weeks. Like I have said, I have been tired, beat-up and worn out... I am ready to get home and move on. As I have been feeling worse, I have used this blog as sort of an exhaust port to blow off steam and to express some of my inner feelings and thoughts of frustration. Just the act of writing those thoughts is often enough to make me feel a bit better, and help me realize that my situation is temporary. But I have gotten another pleasant surprise from those posts... An overwhelming expression of support from all those who read these pages. For that I am very grateful, and I thank you all.

I have to say that each time I go outside the wire, I can't help but wonder if perhaps this will be it... Maybe this time I won't make it back. Of course, I don't wonder too long, I realize all too well that I have to keep my mind in the game and my head on a swivel. But as I sit and write this entry I can not help but wonder... If something were to happen to me tomorrow... What lasting legacy will I have left?

No time to wonder too long, I have to try to get some sleep. I'll worry more about my 'legacy' tomorrow night, hopefully.