First night of Meetings

We went out to dinner at Rock Bottom brewery with the who’s who of the military blogosphere, we all just met. No real planning involved and took over a big section of the restaurant. Here's a list of who made it. John and Beth of Arrrrrrgggghhh!, Andi of Andi's World, FLB, Carla of Soldier’s Mom, Smash my faithful sailor blogging buddy in crime, Greyhawk, one of the founding fathers, Sgt Hook, AFSister, Chromed Curses, Maryann of Soldiers Angels Germany, Holly Aho and last but far from least, John from Op-For.

Pictures later maybe, there are a few people that don't want their pictures out there. Don't you wish you were a fly on the wall?

Also got to meet Patty from Soldiers Angel's later on last night. Good times, I would blog more about it but we're off to see the town.

News of Afghanistan #56

Iranian deportations, the score from Spin Zar Stadium, and the Karzai Shuffle can be found here.

RE: Army Responds

The new version of the AR went way beyond what is intimated in the two page fact sheet, and related discussion from some. It delved in great detail into all manner of communications, and specifically states that soldiers need to get Commander and OPSEC Manager review before publishing anything in public media.

It's so broadly written, with specific directives to the responsibilities of Commanders and OPSEC Managers, that I think most Commanders would tend to interpret the bottom line of the Regulation as many of us have, with the end result, telling soldiers to stop blogging.

The local Commander will have the AR, but probably won't even know about the writer's interview, the 2 page fact sheet, all of this "calm down, no change here."

This two page explanation, in fact, seems to contradict several portions of the AR itself, the details of which I am not allowed to discuss, as the contents are FOUO.

Now that there's been a big fuss, and *clarification*, maybe our concerns have been unfounded.

But we shall see, won't we?

I have a great Commander and XO, and I've kept them in the loop. But they did have me touch base with the State Public Affairs Office. That was a bit touchy when I said I might do some interviews about the new AR. It tunred out okay, and I think I can work with them, but who knows how higher level command might react to bloggers in their midst? Or if something becomes controversial? Or they don't care for the message?

I think a lot of MILBLOGGERS will have to deal with the same uncertainties.

OpSec

I'm deploying to the Milblogs Confernce. The Middle Eastern gentlemen will arrive in the taxi shortly. I bought a new toothpaste at the Grocery store today and told the cashier I was deploying the milblogs conference. I also bought a pizza from another Middle Eastgentlemen. Shhhh...it is a secret.

INSURV Ouchie

Phibian forgot to trumpet another find of his--the LPD-17 INSURV.

For you non-Navy types, we've got a three star and staff who goes into every ship and sees how everything works. INSURV is a no nonsense check of whether a ship does what it is supposed to do. LPD-17 is the lead ship of a new class of amphibious ship, to replace some very needed and very old ships. The contracting was problematic, the shipyard changed hands during the build, and it's been a challenge. INSURV dropped by to see and report on this first ship of the new class.

This latest report? Not so good.