The Ten Commandments of Milblogging Ok, so if you checked here over the past couple days, you may have noticed that I temporarily removed the Milblog (my choice, I wasn't ordered to do so by my commander). Well, it's back up, with a word of advice. Watch what you say. So in response to this, I have decided to come up with a list of things that I either already obeyed or am going to take extra precautions and make sure I don't slit my own wrists. Because the chain of command is watching. I - Thou shalt not speak of any sensitive items Um, basically, anything that is sensitive, it isn't to be discussed here. And I've been pretty good about not discussing sensitive items. For instance. Don't say anything that's classified. Like talking about weapons systems, unit strength, detailed job descriptions, etc. II - Thou shalt not discuss anything detailing Guard Duty Pretty much, this falls under the above, and I broke this commandment. Usually when you are on Guard Duty, you are guarding something important. If you are telling people how you do guard duty and basically III - Thou shalt not take the name of thy Chain of Command in Vain. Chain of Command is pretty much off limits. You can't diss them and say things like, "gees, Major So and So is such a moronic doofus, how did he ever get into that position", which is generally just an all around big no go. Because if Major So and So is in your chain of command and he reads that, you're chances of promotion have just been squelched. And chances are, he will read it. eventually. Or somebody else will read it and tell him. And you're still screwed. IV - Remember that thou art on Salary Pay. Um, when you are deployed, you are on the Army's time all of the time. A soldier 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Keep your baring and act like a soldier. And that is doubly true for the Weblog, you are still representing the military. And they can call you to do a detail, guard duty, or heck, a MASCAL at any time so you just better be prepared. V - Honour thy Unit and don't criticize thy Commander Yeah, you shouldn't say negative things about the unit. That is kind of a rule in the army in general, don't talk bad about your unit. Besides, they are the ones that hold your career in the palm of their hand. Sometimes they do things that don't make sense and drive you stark raving insane, but that's for you to discuss in private letters, not exploting the weaknesses for all to read. VI - Thou Shalt Not Discuss Future Missions Saying things like "yeah, we're going to fly into Bosnia at 1345 on February 31st and set up a perimeter at Grid Coordinates BF 071963 for the purposes of securing so and so" is just plain stupid. Besides, Osama is watching. In hindsight, you can talk about missions that just happened, and I tend to do that after the day is over, but this then goes hand in hand with numero Uno. Don't discuss sensitive stuff, and don't go into to much detail. Likely, if you do it that way one time, you'll do it again, and the enemy now has an idea of how you do things. VII - Thou Shalt Not Mention Adultry or spread Rumors. Its a deployment. People are going to screw around and do stupid things. Don't talk about what other people are doing or so on and so forth. Besides, if I were to talk about something stupid I did, my Chain of Command will likely read it. And then what if I say something about somebody else and the hospital reads it? Even if I omit names, which I generally do, they can probably get an idea of who I'm talking about and then the rumor mill starts flying. And we don't want that. The rumor mill is bad enough as it is without the internet helping things out that much more. And then somebody back home reads it and then we're really getting something going. VIII - Thou Shalt Not Rant Guilty as charged. Ranting is left mainly to the main blog, but I shouldn't rant about things that are general military. The Command is watching. And Rants tend to be filled with a lot of passion and emotion and generally stupid things can be said in the midst of it all. Its just better to get a clear head and post things in a rational manner. IX - Thou Shalt watch thy sarcasm. Let's say, the military doesn't always make sense. being a soldier, I am very much aware of this fact and am often times saying things about it and being a sarcastic person, such things can come out as something it isn't. Sure, I can poke fun at the army from time to time in harmless jest, but I shouldn't be scathing in regards to military proceedings. They do things for a reason, it just so happens that those reasons are usually less then crystal clear. Besides, if I'm joking around, it might be percieved as something else. And sarcasm can be taken completely for something it isn't. X - If in Doubt, Don't Post it! Yeah, if something is nagging you in the back of your mind about something you want to say, it is probably wiser to just not post anything. Besides, we are at war and anything that is posted on a Milblog can be quoted in an article in the newspaper or whatever else. Something you say can be taken entirely out of context. And that basically just about covers it. -SGT E: # 9:24 AM - |