A SOLDIER'S PERSPECTIVE
THE WEB'S LEADING MILITARY BLOG SINCE 2004
I learned an important lesson on April 1st – People are gullible!! I also learned that you can draw a lot of attention by saying the right (or wrong) thing on a military blog. Not long ago the military tried to crack down on military bloggers with new and improved regulations (we didn’t take it lying down!). In an effort to prevent drawing unwanted attention by Big Brother, I humbly offer some rules to those military bloggers concerned about crossing the line (and how to avoid it).
1. Violate Army and related regulations. Get to know them. Know your left and right limits. Once you know them, you can get as close to that line as you want, but do not EVER cross it. Knowing the rules keeps you out of trouble. It’s just not as fun!
2. Avoid embarassing photos or videos. If it’s going to bring discredit on the military or may be illegal or unethical, report it to the chain of command. Don’t blog about it. Let them decide if it needs to be released. Our job is hard enough without us making it harder. This goes along with Rule #1 of the “You Served“ rules.
3. Verbally slay your Chain of Command. A sure way to get the microscope focused on you is to embarrass or belittle your chain of command. For one, it’s against regulations. If you’re a senior enlisted NCO, it’s a myth that “only an act of Congress can take your rank.” Don’t go there. Focus on the issue you’re pissed about, not the individual.
4. Ignore your wife to write that one extra post. There’s a reason she’s been lying next to you in lace for the past hour. If that doesn’t distract you, maybe the government needs to relook your security clearance and/or next promotion!
5. Pretend the DOD shut down your blog as part of a very elaborate April Fool’s joke. You’re guaranteed to lose friends, frustrate the trolls who will have to find a new place to haunt, and have Pentagon types from every floor wanting to know who was responsible! Is it funny? Yes. Is it worth it? Hell yeah!!
Wondering where the other five rules are? Check out VAMC’s “You Served Blog” for the rest.
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![[UPDATE] The “Face” of Military Dating Scams – The Wall of Shame](http://militarygear.com/asp/wp-content/themes/LondonLive/thumb.php?src=http://militarygear.com/asp/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/2.jpg&w=53&h=41&zc=1&q=100)
Anatomy of a Military Dating Scam
@Jc great job scammers NEVER seem to get their lies right glad you sme
l_67adf48d1a7f4cfb5ad16cbc7155d263
@ No Name dont you think you can find something better to do besides a
Anatomy of a Military Dating Scam
OK how about Clement Rogers, US Army? he sent me a long email after me
John Dusbabek
Your “we didn’t take it lying down post” reminded me of an article I read the other day.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080410-black-hat-is-the-new-jarhead-for-cyber-warfare.html
My advice, as a computer professional, to those reading blogs/harassing bloggers on behalf of big bro: there are funner things to do in the Army with your ‘skillz’.
CJ
The military learned the errors of its ways since then. I actually get MORE cooperation since the uprising than beforehand. There are actually Generals and top ranking Pentagon officials (who will remain nameless) asking me to pass along information that the media won’t even look at because it doesn’t fit their defeatist mentality.
Miss Ladybug
Yeah, I know I said an hour ago that I needed to get to bed. What can I say??? Now, I get to go to bed serenaded by a line of thunderstorms…
Anyhow, that’s kinda cool, that you are asked to pass things along.
Well, I’m really going to bed now. Got the dogs settled in, the cat can’t get out of the room, and, man, that alarm clock will be going off entirely too early!
CJ
Don’t forget to leave comments on the VAMC side too. I need to know that my humor isn’t wasted on cyberspace!!
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lilpuddietat
I don’t really know where to post this so I am going to post something here in hopes to get some feedback.
First off my name is Tiffani Nelson, I am 24 years of age and married to a wonderful man that wants nothing more than to serve his country. In October of 2207 we decided that we were going to go down to the recruiting station and join the army. When we first arrived he wanted to join the AirForce. Well the recruiter was rather nasty and said there is nothing that we can do you for you. He has a GED and 2 tattoos on his neck. So when went into the Army station and we were told the same. A few days later the recruiter came to my house because he was inlisting my brother and told us that he wanted to take some pictures of his tattoos and see if they were fine. So he did and they were fine. Ok, so the other problem was a charge that happened 8 years ago. We got that in and sent it up for a waiver. We waited for quite a while before we heard anything back. During this time he had done his testing and being that he has a GED we were told that he needed to score a 50. The first time he tested he scored a 41. The second time a 45 and the last time a 47. We were exhausted. GED Bravo had closed and now we had to wait. So about 2 weeks later we checked in the reserves. The recruiter there said he would be fine to join and that he needed to just get his waiver finished. Well he found out the the recruiter for active duty had messed up his paper work for the waiver and we had to start over. So he sent it up the right way and made sure he dotted all the i’s and crossed all the t’s. Everything was looking good. The waiver came back and was good to send to the next chain. As we were going through this he was waiting on his first interview. Well that was taking a long time. I think about a mnonth went by and then the recruiter for active duty called us. He said I have good news GED Bravo is open and we have like 3 weeks to get you in. So we were excited everything was going fast. Then we get a call about the tattoos. We were like now what. The recruiter said that we had to come down and they needed to take some pictures again because they think it is going to be a problem. We were crushed. So he went down and they took pictures and he met with people that said no they are not fine, you cannot join until they are removed. We could not believe this. Here it is March, 5 months later and down to the wire and you are telling us that he cannot join over something that you told us was fine. When I questioned them they told me that the laws changed October 17, 2007, but when we went down to the station it was after that so why did we go through all this? All he wants is to fight for his country and he can’t even do that. He is being told that he has to remove something from his body first. So I told him not to give up. We went down to a dermatologist to see about removal. We were ready for our first removal, well hard times approach and we were unable to make it right now. Everyday all I can think about is how much they dragged us around and my husband had to watch my brother fullfill his dream. What makes me real upset is that when we went down to watch my brother get sworn in I saw about 3 people with tattoos all over there neck. Today I contacted my local congress and they are going to see what they can do if anything. My main thing is that I want to know what elae I can do and who else I can contact because we will never give up.