Tanker Brothers is a blog from a pair of Abrams operators, initially set up to “express their frustration at the lack of American support for the Iraq conflict and to pay tribute to their Military heritage of Patriotism and Honor.” The site is one of the featured blogs at Military.com, and is in the top ten at BestMilitarySites.com.
Despite all that, the site is about to go dark, come Veterans’ Day.
Make no mistake, it has nothing to do with not wanting to Blog anymore: on the contrary, this has been a labor of love for me. I started this blog with one goal, and only one goal: to let the American Public know what was REALLY going on in Iraq… Unfortunately.… sometimes things don’t always work out the way we want them to.
As my readers know, my little brother has already deployed to Iraq, and I’m literally on “the countdown” to when I get on a plane to join him. There was nothing more that I wanted to do than to continue this site, and even “kick it up a notch”, since I would once again be on the ground.
With the new OPSEC paranoia, though, I don’t think I would have the opportunity. The DoD is cracking down on MilBlogs, and I wouldn’t be able to continue Blogging and still be compliant with AR 25–1, the Army’s Regulation governing Personal Websites…
Now, unofficially speaking, I think the DoD is making a huge mistake crippling the MilBlog movement. MilBlogs have been instrumental at keeping the American Public informed, and getting the good news of the War on Terror out to people that would otherwise never hear it.And the American public is hungry for news like that. The American public is starving for news like that.
Isn’t this exactly the kind of website that the Defense Department ought to be trying to keep online?
UPDATE 4:53 PM: “We’re carried on [the official Army website] Stand To! pretty regularly…so we’re good enough for the Army’s senior leaders, but not good enough to keep blogging? It doesn’t make sense,” Tanker Brother Mike Gulf tells me.
I would never, ever compromise security, or put even one single Soldier’s life in jeopardy. If there [is] even a small chance, I tank the story. Even CENTCOM tells me I’m “good to go”, to which my response was: “Then show me how I can [comlly] AR 25–1, and show me a way to post!“
The DoD should be embracing the MilBlog Movement: we’re the guys and gals actually getting the TRUTH out about the War, and encouraging support, and the American public to open thier eyes and get the view from guys on the ground.
(Big ups: OPFOR)
The boys at my gun forum hate this article.
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=230072
oops wrong thread :p
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http://www.milblogsearch.com
Call me cynical but isn’t this more about restricting potentially bad news from getting to the American public? About control of information flows, not unlike controlling embeds movement and content…? And rather than having to check (i.e. censor) all milblogs to allow good and stop bad, just block them all and be done with it. Easy to do in a mililtary environment, not necessarily palatable in a society accustomed to rather free speech and always-on communications.
A mafia of field grade officers made me shut my blog down last March because they were offended by one post. It’s nice to hear that there are others being forced out due to BS reasons that have nothing at all to do with OPSEC.