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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! July 23, 2005
27 TrackBacksAs I mentioned earlier, I selected Freedom Alliance to support during Blogathon 2005. You don’t have to wait for August 6th to donate. Click on the Freedom Alliance Logo on any post from now through the Blogathon to be taken to the registration ... Read More I've posted a short video of a camel spider eating a lizard taken by some of my guys in Iraq, I have more too (spider and mouse, spider and scorpion, etc) this one was the clearest of the bunch. If you have arachnophobia, I'd advise you not to click ... Read More Now that April 15th is passed and many of the headaches are gone it is time to bring up tax reform once again. And the topic nearest and dearest to my heart this time of the year is the Fair Tax which is currently before the Congress. And I ask the q... Read More Back on April 30th, I posted a theme entitled, What If There is no Country When The Soldiers Come Home? The theme of this article was that while we are off fighting for the old world ideas of security (might Read More MSM are paying intense attention to the possible influence of abortion foe Jane Roberts on her husband Judge John Roberts while ignoring Democratic party activist Mandy Grunwald's possible influence on her husband, Time reporter Matt Cooper. Why? Read More I called the my local ACLU office and the National ACLU Office today to request a copy of their official policy guide. Read More Sen. Hillary Clinton on Friday harshly criticized Supreme Court nominee John Roberts over his failure to lie about his deeply held beliefs... Read More Goes to Joyce Amaral, Carol Pray, and an appeals court in Massachusetts. Seems Ms. Amaral isn't happy that golf balls being hit by golfers playing the Middlebrook Country Club kept landing on her property and sued in court claiming they were a nuisance... Read More Friedrich Hayek On Responsibility And Freedom- So often people misinterpret the meaning of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, or even the concept of liberty itself, thinking that freedom of speech means immunity from criticism. It manifests ... Read More Welcome Outside the Beltway Readers! Now this has to be THE most absurd moonbat maneuver that I have seen since the ware began. A group of peacenick blue hairs wants to deploy so that their sons and daughters won't have Read More Mario Cuomo writes today in USA Today: Most political analysts believe that President Bush, by nominating Judge John Roberts, seeks to put on the Supreme Court a justice who will help achieve significant changes in laws through judicial decisions tha... Read More Was adorable little Dancin' Jackie another Karl Rove sly trick? Did the Bush administration contact "Rent-a-Kid" and have them supply a 4-year-old known to be hyperactive? Did the Secret Service tank-up the little rascal with sugar-laced Kool-Aid bef... Read More I've seen the flag raising at Iwo Jima in a variety of history programs, pictures and books, but I never knew the story behind the men in the photo. Michael T. Powers gives us the details... Read More It's unfortunate when terrorists strike any country. It's unfortunate that the suicide bombers have been coerced into believing that they should be a martyr to the cause by the cowards who call themselves leaders... Read More I would like to think that the terrorists got everyone's attention again, that was their intention and hopefully we can use that to our advantage. Read More Fox News is reporting that a series of blasts have taken place at a resort in Egypt. There are dozens of casualties. Apparently, the majority of visitors are European and Israeli. Of course, plenty of Egyptians are among the casualties as well. A great... Read More Blue Senator from a really Blue state, John Kerry, recently demanded that the White House release all documents from SCOTUS nominee John Robert's tenure during the Reagan and Bush 41 administrations. Evidently, Kerry thinks he is in charge. Look at t... Read More Ana Marie Cox Wonkette Let's talk about the intersection of politics and humour. A gentleman sent an email this morning about yesterday's post, and unlike some who spew profanity, or insult my children, he asked a reasonable question: The... Read More "A poster on Free Republic is apparently translating accounts of Russian military men during the Cold War. It is a very interesting read, especially the accounts of a Russian submariner. In one passage, he relates his experience working with the Egyp... Read More Hypocrisy: THIS PAINTING (left), which may look like a masterpiece from a sixth grade art class was actually done by a Berkeley Lawyer, and it's causing quite a stir... The problem isn't just a 'free speech' issue. The painting hangs in the taxpayer... Read More Weekend, limited-edition of NIF Read More Rule Number One of a political campaign -- never promise what you can't deliver. Rule Number Two, a freshman Senator from South Dakota can't save a base from closure. The White House threatens Defense Bill veto if a proposed amendment is added. Read More A young man out in LA has been blogging about his impending trip to one of those fine Marine boot camps. Read More Dean reminds us that the first episode of the second season will be shown in less than 24 hours... Just lemme know where the torrents are. :) You know, this show could be the Itunes of television. Me, I'm not going to fork out $40/month to see that one... Read More The courageous now free citizens of Iraq share common cause with the Coalition for the time preserving their emergent Democracy. And they now share the risk of standing prominently against the terrorists, which of course makes them a target. Read More My message: Dear Governor Rendell: As a past, and a future resident, of Pennsylvania I was disgusted to read that your lieutenant governor had intruded, uninvited, on the funeral of a Marine from Pennsylvania, Staff Sergeant Joseph Goodrich, recently k... Read More Back on April 30th, I posted a theme entitled, What If There is no Country When The Soldiers Come Home? The theme of this article was that while we are off fighting for the old world ideas of security (might Read More |
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 |
