On Popularity, Readership, Publishing, and Big Brother
Since my return from Iraq, my posting has sort of tanked into the black hole of nothingness. It seems my readership has as well. Things just aren’t as interesting in the good ol’ US of A as they are on the “front lines.”
I would love for my blog to become one of those milblogs that has a large daily readership and active discussions and forums. The site is ready to go for that never-coming day. I would love to discuss the interesting points in my life; military, EMS, or otherwise, and have a general readership that interacts. It would be nice if I had “guest posters” and the perspectives of others on this site as well, although this place is more of a real-time memoir for me. Heck, I would just like to have a readership large enough to cover the costs of my web hosting (which my ability to pay for this time is questionable).
However, I am also leery of putting my blog, and thereby my thoughts and life, more into the public eye. The Military has taken a dim view of bloggers, and milbloggers specifically. They are attempting to censor, close down, and control what we put on our sites for one reason or another. They claim OPSEC concerns, which I understand, but I also believe there are more politically motivated reasons as well. I know the Army hates it when they see soldiers engaged in PR where the soldiers views differ from the “company line” as it were. They don’t want the negative feelings of soldiers regarding the war, government, and politics in general to feed to fires of anti-war people, ultra-liberals, the terrorists (think Tokoyo Rose-esque), etc. I understand the need for that, but I also think that our right to voice our opinions, feelings, and thoughts on the war and the life we lead are important to the future and understanding this point in our grand history. I personally think the right to tell our story, in our own voice, outweighs any negative impact on such a naturally flexible thing as politics.
The thing is, I have a decent career going here and while I want to enlarge my presence in the milblog community, I also don’t want to endanger my career, promotability, and family because some blowhard in a uniform somewhere at the end of a long hallway doesn’t like what I have to say or the “image” I projected in a particular article or statement. I guess the status-quo is good for now, but I would like to know that my tiny little voice is audible in this ocean called the internet (as all bloggers would I assume).
Short URL: http://bit.ly/cOfOmp
Doc,
You keep writing and I’ll keep reading. As far as OpSec goes, as long as you don’t detail planning and show our weapons, things are pretty much ok? Have you read some of the front line bloggers? They certainly haven’t been curtailed due to OpSec. Take it up with your C.O. I, for one would love to read more of the actual day to day happenings while you were deployed.
So hang in there….
For what it’s worth, I read every day. I’m interested in both your personal and professional life because I’m moving in a similar direction. I’m 40, in the process of joining the ARNG as a 68W, in a state where I’m almost certain to deploy as soon as I finish IET.
I have a wife and son who will be dealing with the separation and the same worries as your family, so please keep on posting both sides of the coin. I need all the input & advice I can get!
Later!
The writing is on the wall for active duty bloggers. This one is costing you money. Consider starting a new blog under a nom d’ guerre where you post your politically incorrect thoughts and transfer this one over to a free blog like wordpress.
If you’re going to buck the system, you’re going to have to take on the attitude of the insurgent. You need auxiliaries.
It’s the little guys like you that are telling the biggest story. It’s not how many who read but who.
I still read your articles.