Open Letter to Military Big Brother [Update w/ CJ View]
October 22nd, 2006 by Marcus
Dear Military Big Brother,
I know you're out there. You're probably sitting in an office in DC or Quantico Googling the hell out of milblogs to see what we are up to these days. Well, how about I just give you a quick round up.
We are not happy with you. No, not in the least. You're keeping a close eye on us like you should, but don't go too far. I appreciate the efforts to ensure OpSec is observed that will keep me and the rest of the Marines safe, but realize we are your greatest ally in the other war that is going on. That war is not one of bullets, mortars, or IEDs. That war is of public relations.
We are in the position to tell people things that talking heads and PAO Officers could never say. A majority of them don't see what happens first hand. They aren't the ones getting told thank you for removing the threat next door. We are the boots on the ground. We are the greatest asset.
You remember what you did in World War II, right? You took two PFCs and a PO2 and changed the entire view of the war. Three young troops did what Generals and Admirals couldn't do. They got the American people to come even closer together and make real sacrifices so that the American forces could win the Pacific campaign.
I've always supported the policies and directives of high headquarters. All I ask is you remember the PFCs and PO2 of this war are the milbloggers. Don't forget that.
H/T Dadmanly
[Update by CJ] I asked the good CPL if I could append to this and he kindly agreed. This is something near and dear to me. 2% of the traffic to this site comes from a .mil address. I've been personally emailed about some of the content on this site. I got an email almost every time I did one of the IED Roll-ups with threats that I was violating. I impolitely informed my Big Brother that I'm not the bad guy here and he should be looking at his own Public Affair officers if they don't like my writing. Thankfully, they've stopped trying to get me in trouble and started sending me stories that I want to share. Let me address those Soldiers reading this right now because they were told to monitor this site:
Stop wasting your time. Stop wasting my tax money. If you think that this site is any kind of threat, think again. You need more training, if that's your feeling. I pay for this site with my own money. I use my own time to manage it. I use my own computer to access it. There is NOTHING you can do to keep us from writing. I enforce strict OPSEC measures and ensure that any violations are quickly fixed. All writers on this site are aware of my only two golden rules: no profanity and maintain OPSEC. Beyond that, I don't care if they bash the Pentagon, Rumsfeld, Hillary Clinton, Murtha, the President, officers, NCOs, whatever. It's called free speech. We enjoy it here.
My name is MSG CJ Grisham, US Army and I approved this message.
I am going to add my two cents from a civilan's point of view in case anyone is watching. I read the milblogs faithfully every single day because we cannot trust the mainstream media to tell the truth. They tell part of the story or just slant things their way for political reasons. I support our troops and the job they are doing. I have learned alot from doing so and from reading milblogs. I want our troops to be safe so yes, I know they have to be careful about revealing OPSEC things but please,please ,please let them tell their side of the story.
The DOD does everything it can to separate the public from the troops, then acts surprised and disappointed when they find there is a disconnect between the public and the troops.
Wow! You've got my vote, CJ. Seriously though, I have to agree with pretty much everything Karen had to say.
Ok,so now I am going to be up to four cents. Carole, Glad I am not alone
And to whoever is doing the monitoring, I am sure you are just doing your job BUT there are sites out here on the web that give out much more info on our troops and their movements than I have ever read on any milblog.I won't post them on here in case there are any whackos reading this but please think about monitoring them. I think I am done now or maybe I am just done for now……..
My name is Chad Fisher and I agree with MSG Grisham and Cpl M!!!
The media gives out more critical information on the movements of our troops than is EVER given out on this blog. Right now I'm attending the Army F.A.S.T. training in San Antonio and this particular subject was the topic of discussion at the icebreaker we had last night. We have a couple LTC's and Maj's in the class and even they had the same opinion. I agree with Karen, when you monitor the sites, you need to be aware of the junk that's out there that is dangerous to our troops. Sure a lot of it isn't milblogs, therefore you have no control over the content. When you're on the milblogs, we cognizant of the fact that most of the things the troops are reporting on their blogs are "after the fact" stuff that's already been released to the general public and grossly slanted by the media, so they're giving the REAL version of what happened, from the people who were actually there.
CJ:
Your blog is the first one I read each day. I check back to see if you have posted new items. As usual you set it out straight and like today I got a good laugh. You help get my day off to a good start.
May The L RD G D Bless and protect each of you serving our great country!