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 Greetings! You are reading an article from The Mudville Gazette. To reach the front page, with all the latest news and views, click the logo above or "main" below. Thanks for stopping by! March 29, 2004 29 March 04 Morning BriefingBy GreyhawkAs a service to our readers and fellow bloggers, the Mudville Gazette presents The Morning Briefing, the same compilation of news from around the world that top US militay officials are starting their day with. Links in this section are presented without editorial comment and do not represent an endorsement by this web site, the DoD, any component thereof, etc. Don Rumsfeld has a copy in the limo on the ride in. Why shouldn't you start your day the same way? We ask only that you, like our SecDef, use this information only for good. (Well, you could also hat tip this way should you use this info or find it potentially useful.) By the way if you're a blogger and find an article here you'd like to use as in an entry on your blog, feel free to leave a comment here and use the url entry to link your story. TOP STORIES 1. Rice Defends Refusal To Testify 2. President Asked Aide To Explore Iraq Link To 9/11 3. G.I.'s Padlock Baghdad Paper Accused Of Lies 4. Shiites Organize To Block U.S. Plan 5. Iraq Economy Shakes Off The Shackles Of Saddam IRAQ 6. Iraqi Minister Escapes Attack 7. U.S. Soldiers Kill 4 Insurgents In Iraq 8. U.S. Plan Seeks To Build Civilian-Run Iraqi Army 9. Iraqis Take Control Of Health Ministry 10. Blast Clues Lead To Dead Ends 11. U.S. Pitches In For Iraqi Kids (Paid reg required) DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 13. Censored Study On Bioterror Doubts U.S. Preparedness 14. Shifts From Bin Laden Hunt Evoke Questions 15. Growing Doubts On Vaccine In Military 16. Defense Panel Faults Nuclear Plans ARMY 17. Gitmo Cleric: I'm On Watch List 18. Army Spouses Expect Reenlistment Problems MARINE CORPS 19. Report Details 'Friendly Fire' Casualties In Deadly Battle AIR FORCE 20. Cadet Accused Of Rape Allowed Back In Academy ASIA/PACIFIC 21. Musharraf Has Rumsfeld's Support In Nuclear Case 22. Conflict Ends In Pakistani Tribal Lands AFGHANISTAN 23. New Attacks In Afghanistan Raise Concerns About Security NA AFRICA 25. U.S. Seeks Military Access In N. Africa HAITI 26. Troops Offer Hand, And Native Tongue MIDEAST NA NATO 28. Baltic States Mark New Era With NATO EUROPE 29. Prodi Would End Italy's Role In Iraq 30. Keep Bases Here, Germany Implores U.S. TERRORISM 31. Hamas Leader Calls Bush Foe Of Muslims 32. U.S., Allies Stingy In Sharing Terror Intelligence BUSINESS 33. Air Force Work Renewal Brightens SI's Outlook 34. Tanker Bid Was Tailored To Boeing OPINION 35. Expanding The Alliance Of Democracies 36. An Essential War 37. The Question We Should Be Asking 38. Follow-Up To Kofigate 39. South Koreans Cuddle Up To The North EDITORIAL 40. An Insulting Waste 41. Bottom-Of-The-Sea Treaty Posted by Greyhawk / March 29, 2004 9:24 AM | Permalink 1 Comment |
November 26, 2010America@war [Greyhawk]
I think anyone who's ever pondered the "comment" option - once only available on blogs and bulletin boards, now ubiquitous on almost any web site - will appreciate this:
The so-called faculty of writing is not so much a faculty of writing as it is a faculty of thinking. When a man says, "I have an idea but I can't express it"; that man hasn't an idea but merely a vague feeling. If a man has a feeling of that kind, and will sit down for a half an hour and persistently try to put into writing what he feels, the probabilities are at least 90 percent that he will either be able to record it, or else realize that he has no idea at all. In either case, he will do himself a benefit. That's wisdom from the past, captured for posterity at the US Naval Institute, shared via the web on the institute's 137th anniversary. From their about page:
"The Naval Institute has three core activities," among them, History and Preservation: The Naval Institute also has recently introduced Americans at War, a living history of Americans at war in their own words and from their own experiences. These 90-second vignettes convey powerful stories of inspiration, pride, and patriotism. Take a look at the collection, and you'll see it's not limited to accounts from those who served on ships at sea, members of the other branches are well-represented. I'm fortunate to have met USNI's Mary Ripley, she's responsible for the institute's oral history program (and she's the daughter of the late John Ripley, whose story is told here). She also deserves much credit for their blog. ("We're not the Navy nor any government agency. Blog and comment freely.") We met at a milblog conference - Mary knew (and I would come to realize) that milbloggers are the 21st-century version of exactly what the US Naval Institute is all about. Once that light bulb came on in my head, I mentioned a vague idea for a project to her - milblogs as the 21st century oral history that they are. "Put that in writing," she said (of course - see first paragraph above!) - and here's part of the result. Shortly after the first tent was pitched by the American military in Iraq a wire was connected to a computer therein, and the internet was available to a generation of Americans at war - many of whom had grown up online. From that point on, at any given moment, somewhere in Iraq a Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine was at a keyboard sharing the events of his or her day with the folks back home. While most would simply fire off an email, others took advantage of the (then) relatively new online blogging platforms to post their thoughts and experiences for the entire world to see. The milblog was born - and from that moment to this stories detailing everything from the most mundane aspects of camp life to intense combat action (often described within hours of the event) have been available on the web... And et cetera - but since you're reading this on a milblog, you probably knew that. And you know that milblogs aren't just blogs written by troops at war, that many friends, family members, and supporters likewise documented their story of America at war online in near-real time, as those stories developed. The diversity in membership of that group is broad, the one thing we all have in common is the impulse to make sense of the seemingly senseless, and communicate the tale - for each of us that impulse was strong enough to overcome whatever barriers prevent the vast majority of people from doing the same. Everyone at some point has some vague idea they believe should be shared - we were the people who, from some combination of internal and external urging, found and spent those many half hours persistently trying to write it down. But where will all that be in another 137 years? Or five or ten, for that matter. That's something I've asked myself since at least 2004 - when I wrote this:
Membership in the ghost battalion has grown in the years since, and an ever growing majority of those abandoned-but-still-standing sites are vanishing. Have you checked out Lt Smash's site lately? How about Sgt Hook's? If you're a long-time milblog reader you know the first widely-read milblog from Operation Iraq Freedom and the first widely-read milblog from Afghanistan are both gone from the web. If you're a relative newcomer to this world you may never even have heard of them - or the dozens upon dozens of others who carried forth the standard they set down. If you have a vague notion that something should be done about that, (a notion I've heard expressed more than once...) then you and I and the good folks at the US Naval Institute are in agreement. Preserving the history documented by the milbloggers is just one of the goals of the milblog project, the once-vague idea that we're now making real. And it's a big idea, if I say so myself - too big to explain in one simple blog post, so stand by for more. Likewise, it's too big a task to be accomplished by just one person. So if you're a milblogger (and exactly what is a milblogger? is a topic for much further discussion on its own) I'm asking for your help. All I'll really need is just a little bit (maybe just one or two of those half hours...) of your time, and your willingness to tell the tale. We've already made history, it's time to save it. (More to follow...) Posted 4:02 PM | Permalink |
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The Mudville Gazette is the on-line voice of an American warrior and his wife who stands by him. They prefer to see peaceful change render force of arms unnecessary. Until that day they stand fast with those who struggle for freedom, strike for reason, and pray for a better tomorrow.
 
 
 Furthermore, I will occasionally use satire or parody herein. The bottom line: it's my house. I like having visitors to my house. I hope you are entertained. I fight for your right to free speech, and am thrilled when you exercise said rights here. Comments and e-mails are welcome, but all such communication is to be assumed to be 1)the original work of any who initiate said communication and 2)the property of the Mudville Gazette, with free use granted thereto for publication in electronic or written form. If you do NOT wish to have your message posted, write "CONFIDENTIAL" in the subject line of your email. Original content copyright © 2003 - 2011 by Greyhawk. Fair, not-for-profit use of said material by others is encouraged, as long as acknowledgement and credit is given, to include the url of the original source post. Other arrangements can be made as needed. Contact: greyhawk at mudvillegazette dot com  Tending Distant Far from hearth and home, watching What tales we'll tell When things grim Some distant sunset, vision fading Saluting fallen friends whose names - Greyhawk, Baghdad, December 2004 |
Greyhawk,
Do you get this brief mailed to you or do go to the AFIS site to get it?
DarthVOB