Waving the bloody shirt in .... Kansas

Looks like even in the middle of Middle-America the Democrats cannot get away from their Iraq surrender-drum. Everything, it seems, has to be used to attack the war in Iraq.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said the government's response to the disaster was limited by ongoing National Guard deployments to the Middle East.

"I don't think there is any question if you are missing trucks, Humvees and helicopters that the response is going to be slower," Sebelius said. "The real victims here will be the residents of Greensburg, because the recovery will be at a slower pace."

Kansas has 88 percent of its state Guard forces available, and 83,000 Guardsmen from neighboring states are also on the ready should the state request their assistance, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Tuesday, citing National Guard Bureau statistics.

According to Whitman, the Kansas Guard have available 352 Humvees, 94 cargo trucks, 72 dump trucks, 62 five-ton trucks, 13 medium-haul trucks and trailers and 152 2 1/2-ton trucks, a surplus, he noted.

OPSEC Follow-up

The recent controversy over the Army’s latest update the Army Regulation (AR) 530-1, Operations Security (OPSEC), certainly added discussion fuel and maybe some added media attention to our 2007 MILBLOG Conference.

The controversy took shape in public this week with Noah Shachtman’s article on the OPSEC update in Wired. Since that piece came out, MILBLOGS and other conservative bloggers have reacted strenuously to the new Regulations. But even within MILBLOGS, reaction to the OPSEC update is far from uniform.

Some, like Blackfive and I, are very concerned that local commanders and intermediate commands will shortcut potential OPSEC problems by reading the Regulation literally, and err on the side of caution. This would certainly mean bloggers having their work reviewed and possibly censored, or even with blogs shutting down. Commanders might also consider other prevention measures for electronic email or instant messaging (IM). The AR is written very expansively, and in the interest of giving military personnel a comprehensive summary of OPSEC threats, directs unit Commanders to conduct very thorough OPSEC reviews in a wide range of communications that might otherwise have escaped such scrutiny.

Matt Burden, the MILBLOGGER behind Blackfive, has long been warning that the attitudes towards MILBLOGS from some senior military leadership might soon mean the end of blogging by active duty military. Promotional materials for Burden’s anthology of MILBLOGS, The Blog of War quote a Vanity Fair review, “Grab it before the Pentagon orders it burned...,” in explicit reference to the possibility that MILBLOGS might be shut down by the military.

Earlier updates to AR 530-1, as well as policy announcements from military officials, suggested increased military attention to and concern with military use of new media. In the past two years, some local commanders and higher echelon leaders put pressure on MILBLOGGERS over content. Several MILBLOGGERS voluntarily closed down their blogs pre-emptively.

Other MILBLOGGERS dismiss these concerns as overblown. They suggest Commanders have always had great latitude and control over soldier communications, public posting and/or dissemination of military information, and even pass or entertainment privileges for the soldiers under their command. They also point to interviews given by the AR’s author, MAJ Ceralde, who goes to great lengths to explain that the specifics in the AR are guidelines, and that in no way is the AR intended to shut down or censor MILBLOGS. Military officials have also released a two page fact sheet that reiterates many of the same points made by MAJ Ceralde, which in some cases directly refutes the language contained in the AR.

Still others, among them former military, think it long past time for the military to impose tighter OPSEC restrictions or at least oversight of MILBLOGS who have allowed sensitive information to be made publicly available and exploitable by potential enemies and adversaries.

Some excellent must reads include Joe Carter at Evangelical Outpost and DJ Elliott up at Bill Roggio's site.

Read excerpts, with lots more commentary, back at Dadmanly here and here.

Continued sacrifices of the military & their families

DoD Announces Force Adjustments

The Department of Defense announced today additional major units scheduled to deploy in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The announcement involves 10 brigade combat teams consisting of approximately 35,000 personnel.
These units will deploy as replacement forces for formations currently operating in Iraq. The deployment window for these units will begin in August 2007 and continue through the end of the year.

These deployments will provide commanders in Iraq the flexibility to maintain the appropriate level of effort based on their assessment of the security situation on the ground.

Specific units receiving deployment orders include:

3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Hood, Texas.
1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky.
3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky.
2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky.
4th Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Polk, La.
1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
4th Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga.
2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii
2nd Cavalry Regiment (Stryker), Vilseck, Germany.
2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division, Baumholder, Germany.

These deployments reflect the continued commitment of the United States to the security of the Iraqi people. The Department recognizes the continued sacrifices of these units and their family members.

My emphasis.

"So, give us something" shout the hordes of imaginary readers....

..."Quiet, damnit, I'm busy. And besides, I'm sleep deprived and jet lagged."

"Come on, just something..."

Okay, how about this great quote from a story about the guy who dishes out ice cream at a local base:

"So great was the mortar threat that soldiers -- until last month -- wore armored jackets and helmets around the base."

"Ohhh... progress in Iraq, eh? Well, that's nice, but you're the guy who wrote "On Leaving" it was made into a song and we want a topper."

"What part of sleep deprived and jet lagged do you not understand?"

"Oh please, who among us hasn't stayed up way too late with a bunch of milbloggers on the day prior to travelling to a war zone half way around the world via a three-hop flight with six hours of layovers, during one of which you couldn't even leave the plane and then immediately wrote something that will inspire us all on the homefront."

"Maybe tomorrow... for now, read this story and ponder what might happen to these kids if I and 150-odd thousand people dressed like me weren't here tomorrow."

"They'd be slaughtered, that's obvious. But come on, give us a good reason to stay."

"You don't need to stay. I need to stay.

Video From the Conference

Courtesy of Stacy Lee:

Plan 'B' - The Second Rotation

via Defenselink

In addition, Dempsey said, experience on the battlefield has imparted quick lessons. He said operational planning has improved rapidly in recent months....

The benefits of that experience are paying out in the current Baghdad surge, Dempsey said. He explained that even six months ago it would have been impossible to bring 5,300 Iraqi soldiers into Baghdad from other parts of the country, but now the Iraqi army is already in its second rotation.

The Pentagon Channel Part II

This features some good footage of the conference and short interviews with Sean and Holly Aho.

The AAR's Are Pouring In

I'm compiling a comprehensive list of blogger reaction to the 2007 MilBlog Conference. I'll keep updating the post, so be sure to send me your links and I'll add them.

Doing My Part To Help A Shipmate

While you all were building legendary hangovers hobnobbing with the likes of Miz Ex-Wonkette inside the Beltway, it turns out that some family desires went unmet.

Specifically, in Idaho.

So I'm just, you know, passing the word to help a brother out.

I'm here for you, man.

It's a Conspiracy! A c-o-n-...spiracy!

Glad to see somebody decided to re-register this domain name.

Though I have to say it looked a bit odd to have MG and MILBLOGS go down right after the conference and the new OPSEC flap.