A SOLDIER'S PERSPECTIVE
THE WEB'S LEADING MILITARY BLOG SINCE 2004
Before I begin on this rant, I would like to state for the record that I read both of the blogs I’m going to bring up and their authors are great people. Both of their blogs have been in my various RSS feeders for almost three years and I’ve corresponded with them via email several times. Good people doing great work, but. . .
Dr. Rusty at Jawa Report got an email from a military reader reporting that all of the MuNu domain was blocked on the horrid NMCI (Navy and Marine Corps Intranet, aka Hell on Earth) network. I emailed Rusty to let him know that it appears to be a state side issue only. Rusty also shared the story with Charles over at LGF. Both blogs try to keep some benefit of the doubt in play, but it doesn’t extend to the comments at LGF.
Let me break this down for those that might not understand how the military works in relation to your civilian jobs. For the most part in peace time, you work just like a normal American. You get up in the morning, fight traffic to get on base if you don’t already live on base, do your job, and go home at night. Now, that doesn’t count time spent in the field for training or deployment workups, but that is generally how it works. Sound familar? Yup, sounds like that civilian job you have. Now, does your company block sites on their network? And why do that do that? Yup, that’s right. You’re working on their dime.
I’m working on the government’s dime. They want me to do my job. I’m pretty sure you want me to do my job, too. Now, how am I supposed to do that job if I’m surfing blogs all day? NMCI blocks websites, blogs, YouTube, MySpace, etc. because they detract from work time. It is that simple. I love Jawa Report and LGF as much as the next guy, but I need to do my stinking job while at work! So, next time you hear about the military blocking this site or that site, remember that your company does the exact same thing for damned good reason. You’re getting paid to work, not read blogs.
Trust me, if the military starts blocking things out of hand, I’ll let you know. Then you can all get as pissed as you want. Until then, cool them jets, mmkay?
(15) Readers Comments
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L40carruth
Seems fair to me Cpl M
Tracy
I agree. If they are blocking things from work computers I don’t see that as an issue. Like you pointed out, most workplaces do that b/c they want their employees to work.
Jacki
I’m in IT at a place with incredibly liberal surfing policies. I wish I could lock things down for my users because I’m sick of cleaning up the mess on computers of users who have no sense of discretion or appropriate use. I’ve had to report on people who watch videos all day, get viruses from downloading “free” games, and even have had to clean up computers with oodles of naughty things downloaded to the hard drives.
My users can go home at night. They’re paid well and internet’s not that expensive. Not only are they paid to do a job, it’s pathetic when their lack of work ethic makes my job more difficult. I hate cleaning up after ignorant, lazy users when I’ve got real work to do.
Unfortunately, in places where there are restrictions placed on internet use, it’s usually because a handful of nitwits abuse privileges and force the geeks to lock down everyone.
Terri
It’s been that way where I work for quite some time and has been on most of the Army computers. I think the media made a bigger deal out of it than it really is, since there are still the internet cafes and the ability to have internet in the CHU’s on the FOB’s that still makes it possible for the troops to communicate with folks back home through those means. I’ve said all along, as you did Marcus, that they shouldn’t be accessing those sites while they’re working anyway, it distracts them from the mission at hand. As you said too, most businesses block those sites as well from their company computers. I myself don’t see a problem with it.
Sharm
This is what I understood the concern to be (taken from the link to the Jawa Report in the post:
For those of you who have satire or “personal” blogs I suppose this is no big thing. But for others who cover news, politics, and current events, your blogs are great search engines for those of us in the military. You have active, engaged readers who bring your attention to hard to find stories, and then you expose that information for the rest of us. For someone like me, it’s like having 500 people sift through the news for me and filter out the noise until the good stuff comes up. Some of this info I would never come across without the contacts that you all have established as bloggers.
Debbi
I know that blogs & like sites are blocked out here in the civilian world so I totally understand that the military would want their people to do their jobs too. I never thought that the Army was gonna cut off the best PR they had in the men & women who told their stories of what was really happening & those men & women wouldn’t put themselves in harms way by putting it out there where they were so the bad guys could get em. Those that are the bad guys are gonna get that info out no matter what is blocked……or at least try.
Cpl M
Folks, let’s remember this has nothing to do with the recent Army regs on blogging. This is purely about the DoD blocking websites so we all do our jobs. No different from your job keeping you from browsing eBay all day long.
Terri
They’re not cutting off the blogs or news from the front lines. Instead what they’re doing is making things more efficient for the operations they have to conduct in Iraq and Afghanistan. The troops are still able to access these sites and post on their blogs, just not on the military networks, but instead they can either have internet capabilities installed in their housing area, or they can take advantage of the Internet Cafes on their FOB. SNAFU is in Iraq right now, as is CplM. From speaking with SNAFU daily, when he calls home, their networks over there are at best, the speed of a very slow dialup connection, so these graphic rich sites such a MySpace, You Tube, etc clog up the network, causing them to crash, which is NOT good on the battlefield. It’s vital that they be able to maintain their networks for operations. It’s also good work practice, not to be surfing MySpace, You Tube and other sites, instead of doing their jobs when they’re on duty. This really is nothing new, at least where I work, where access to those sites has been blocked on Government computers for several years now.
I work on a Military Installation and also actively blog at A Soldier’s Mind, and as of ye, have not seen any censorship of what we’re posting on the blog. We regularly do interviews with troops who are on the front lines and they’ve not censored anything. The big thing is that when they’re blogging and posting information from the front lines, they have to be extremely careful not to violate OPSEC and post something that could endanger themselves or other troops. CplM, CJ, Patriot and SNAFU can all tell you how vitally important it is to maintain OPSEC, while still getting information out about what’s really occurring over there.
Cpl M
Thanks for sharing, Teri, but this isn’t about writing blogs at all. This is about VIEWING blogs. There is a distinct difference that seems to have been lost here in the comments.
devildog6771
It’s about $1.00′s work for $1.00′s pay or whatever you make. All private industry does the same thing. They even pay companies to write programs to check out what their employees have on their computer to make sure they are in fact working the “8″ hours or whatever that they are paid for. Many companies are “firing” employees who violate this edict. My company had a “Code of Conduct Review” once a year which was completely covered with us by a company representative. We then signed a form that we had gone over itand fully understood everything it entailed. This topic, security, and many other items was in that Code of Conduct. Any violation was grounds for immediate dismissal without any 2nd or 3rd chances. I served “4″ years in the Corps. Frankly, the ,ilitary is a lot more slack than private industry many times.
Terri
Oh I understand that too CplM and those types of sites have been blocked where I’m employed at for several years now. As you’ve said and others as well, it’s not like the access is being totally blocked. Honestly, in the middle of the warzone, I would hope that troops would have more importan things to do, than read and make posts on blogs. To me, the risk of missing something vital and risking the life of someone else, isn’t worth being able to view a blog during duty hours. Just my opinion.
devildog6771
I’d like your thoughts on those three soldiers, at least one is a Marine, who are Iraqi War Veterans. I believe all have multiple tours there. Anyway, they all marched in anti-war protest marches wearing part of their Uniform. The Military wants to give them other than an honorable discharge for dishonoring all those who are still deployed and violating the UCMJ. They are all in reserve status but no longer active duty.
Personally, I agree with the military. The military position is they can exercise their free speech all they want as long as they don’t wear any of their uniform and a couple other items but I can’t remember what they were. One was injured and could lose his benefits. I would be sorry to see that happen; but, they do know the Code. They all made a choice. But the media and rights groups are in a frenzy over it and are wanting to challenge the military about being able to discharge them from the Reserves as undesirable.
So what do you guys think?
CJ
Since I’m not a zoomie, can I cool my diesel powered HMMWV instead?
KT
I feel that you’re really missing a key point. The complaint isn’t as simple as, I can’t get on this one particular sight, it’s the amount of cenorship going on.. and in regards to many networks and communication systems. I’m on my work computer as we speak, and right now I can’t get to myspace or youtube, and that makes sense because I have no need to be on them. But the block was instituted because of active soldiers sharing their stories and daily lives and higher ups decided they didn’t like that. They didn’t do it for the people sitting in the office. They took the freedom from the men fighting for freedom… should that make sense? Because it doesn’t…
Cpl M
KT, the key point is not what you think. The block was not instituted because of higher ups’ fears of getting the story out. Many of them encourage it! MySpace, YouTube, etc are blocked because the amount of bandwidth out here isn’t able to handle the massive amounts of content provided by the afore mentioned sites. You need to read the truth about government networks and recreational sites.