Tags : blogging, military, social media
Does soldier blogging help remove the oak cluster barrier?
Blogging in the military can be really confusing for those that want to be able to reach out and connect with the soldiers as well as raise some serious security concerns in the minds of the military bureaucracy. There are plenty of returning vets who have taken up blogging along with a few that the military has decided it better to leave alone; but generally the upper echelons of the armed forces have been reluctant to join in.
That is with the exception of Major General Michael Oates who is the Army’s Task Force Mountain who argues that contrary to blogs bypassing the chain of command they allow soldiers to connect to the chain of command like never before.
The general’s blog posts are simple — questions, mostly, designed to be conversation starters. A quick query, on "what need to be changed," led to an improvement in mental health care at Ft. Drum, New York, where is unit is based. Another on "tour lengths in Iraq" sparked a fevered, 40-comment debate with soldiers and family members taking Oates to task in ways that would be unimaginable face-to-face. "Honestly no one really cares what we think," one commenter wrote. "Asking this question is a futile attempt at appearing to be concerned with the welfare of soldiers and their families," sighed another.
Oates doesn’t seem bothered by the push-back. "I enjoy the open engagement with my soldiers. I’m interested in hearing their thoughts. And I have no problem with challenging them in an honest open fashion. I think this medium allows that," he says.
Source: Danger Room
I think one of the big reason this kind of thing works is because the normal officer/grunt separation that happen in face to face chance meetings doesn’t happen in the comment sections of blog posts. This gives the soldiers to ask the more honest questions and giver much more honest answers with the typical fear of officer lash back.
The one other point that the military leadership likes to use to stifle things like blogs is the fear tactic of soldiers giving away operational intel. Well I my opinion this is a kind of bullshit point especially when you consider the fact that if anyone is acutely aware of their vulnerability it is the soldiers so it would make no sense for them to write about on-going or future missions. After all it would be their lives and those of their buddies who they would be putting on the line. somehow I don’t see them willing to do that.
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