Interesting bit of dialog while I wasn't about, wasn't there?
Firstly, I'd like to ask that we keep it civil, eh? Montague is raising a nice number of good points, which I'm perfectly fine with addressing, and it's perfectly good to see another tanker type around here.
Any type of blog like this (one that's only focused on the personal experiences and insights of an individual) is going to have the livejournal emo feel, it's very difficult to avoid. Surprisingly enough, I actually do a fair bit of thinkerating about how best to keep it going. To some extent, I'm helped by the fact that I can be pretty random, and by the comment-response-comment nature of putting it in thread forum. However, as far as I've reasoned, the only real way to keep a thread from getting somewhat LET feeling is to make it focused on something concrete (like Mr. Fox's excellent blog, which is focused on video-game design). In my case, while I very specifically left this thread open for discussion and debate about any issues pertaining to me, I don't really have a single-issue that I care about enough to fill pages with.
To no small extent, I think that the effect gets negated by my good old optimistic insanity, I'm not sure how other people read my voice here, but I imagine that pages of "kinda annoying, doing great, random observation" tend to leave an optimistic tone in my voice, which has always been my goal here. However, I think that it gets very easily lost unless I work to keep it up.
Which kinda brings us to the very valid points that Montague raised: do I violate OPSEC, and does this thread bring credit to self/corp/army/country?
As Merchant of Menace indicated, I go through relatively great pains to keep in accordance with OPSEC. Exactly what all I do, I'm not going to say, but it's enough to make it pretty tough for anyone hostile to get any information from me, it'd be rough for them. Sure, I'm sure that any serious inquiry into this blog from anyone official type would get me a counseling statement saying "don't do this shit," it's not putting anyone else around here at risk (which is something I take very very very seriously).
When I post some pictures from downrange, expect to see me in front of a hesco or jersey barrier with an M4 in one hand and a M240 over a shoulder, or a conex that we were able to shove absolutely full of exercise equipment. About the closest thing that I'd get to anything compromising would be external shots of an MRAP, which are all allowed (we've been briefed on what we can and cannot take pictures of). And honestly, at the difficultly I've been having with getting the internets, the odds of me getting my ipod or ds connected to a wireless network before the Army and this private are out of Iraq is starting to look increasingly slim.
Now, the second question is one of if what I'm doing helps the Army, and I'd argue that it does. The modern portrayal of the soldier comes in three primary flavors, Soldier as Paragon of Goodness, Soldier as EVEEEL Scum, and Soldier as victim of horribly run war. I do my best to present myself as Soldier as Soldier. Yeah, I'll be the first to admit that the army isn't perfect, but at the end of the day, my underlining point for these things is "we're doing good work here," which is *the* point that needs to be made. Also, the fact that my existence in the little corner of the internet that I really consider my home right now gives a nice bit of personification to everyone who reads this. A soldier isn't a faceless guy in a helmet. A name on that soldier is good, but I'd argue that Strife26 of Bay 12 Games, that crazy sonofabitch who is only needs sleep to be cheerful is about as good as it gets. I don't consider myself all that emplaced in reality, but I'm a very real fixture around here, and truth that soldiers aren't really all that different. That, I'd content, is very much in the Army's interest.
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Topic: Life and Times of Strife26 (Read 142520 times)