I started my military career in the Cold War era, and I know that loose lips sink ships.
I guess this falls under "Another disclaimer," but I didn't want to lose my audience before they've clicked "Read More!"
A friend of mine asked how many people hit this site now, and I couldn't answer her. So I checked my stats and my readership appears to be steadily increasing.*
* There are more than three of you now, not counting my parents.
Then today, I found this article about a soldier who's been blogging about his far more exciting and involved adventures at Mosul and who came under the, um, "scrutiny" of his chain of command.
As an aside, let's chuckle at this brilliant bit of secret-keeping journalism from the article:
Spc. Buzzell says he was called to account for two details: the observation that his unit ran low on water during the hours-long standoff and a description of the steps he took to get more ammunition as the firefight waxed on. Both were excised from his online archives.
(I'm glad they deleted the facts that they were caught without adequate water or ammunition from his archives. Now those dirty insurgents who hadn't already read his blog won't find out. I feel safer already. Don't you?)
But anyhow. I thought I'd mention here that, in the event I post pictures of things around base and offer information about what's going on, etc, I've already extensively questioned our Public Affairs office here to determine what I can and can't say. They told me to not write that we have scores of unhardened yet occupied barracks just south of the BX, and that the Army does a complete perimeter guard change at 0600, 1400, and 2200 hours, and that it is mass chaos here at those hours. Pretty much everything else is fair game.*
*Particularly the fact that we have plenty of water and bullets.
*Sigh* OK. I hate to destroy a good joke just as I'm getting started, but in all seriousness, I have checked and they've told me what I can and can't shoot/publish photos of and what I am not to talk about. I believe in the power of selfish motivation, so they don't have to come threaten me with a wrist-slap to enforce it, either. My self-motivation is quite simple, really: to live.
As engaging a read as troop numbers, movements and weaknesses may be, I'll just stick with boring stuff like what it's like to live near the Army, work constantly, and be stuck in this godforsaken dustbowl without hope for parole until Christmas, thank you, because when the rubber meets the road, it's my butt out here being shot at, and I take more comfort than I should from the fact that they don't know what they're shooting at and thus the chances of me walking out of here intact but with the same cynical bent on life as I walked in with are high indeed.
On to actual info, though, like I keep threatening to write. I think I'll pop a bunch of pics up for those of you out there who require the occasional visual stimulation in order to maintain interest in the written word.
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