Memorial Day weekend and chaos at the office have conspired to keep my blogging limited until now.  I’d like to thank Spencer for the opportunity to guest blog.  As he stated, I’ve been working as the operations officer for the US Army and Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas for the past two years.  During that time I’ve witnessed a sea of change in how the Army empowers its soldiers to communicate across the new media.

The fact that I am empowered (and encouraged) to do this at all is a major shift.  During my first fifteen-month deployment in 2003-2004 I sent weekly emails to friends and family about everything from living conditions to generalized descriptions of our daily operations.  The emails were well received, and I was constantly amazed at how widely they were distributed.  I think they presented a different perspective than that offered by 5 minute clips on the nightly news, portraying the good, bad, and ugly of the situation.  As always, I was careful to preserve Operational Security (OPSEC), for our collective protection. 

Developments and over-reach by some soldiers created an inevitable crackdown on soldier blogging.  Afraid of this new media, in 2005 the Army clamped down on soldier engagement on the internet.  New regulations, when strictly interpreted, forbade soldiers from blogging or posting information on the internet without approval from higher chains of command.  The Army even set up special watchdog units to patrol the internet for violations of operational security.  In short order, it became quite clear that blogging or communicating on the internet about all but the most sterile of subjects was harmful to a soldier’s career.  The smart money was to stay away.  I was even intimidated by the new regulations, which carried a draconian air.  On my next fourteen-month all-inclusive vacation to Iraq, I refrained from sending any public updates, limiting my stories to close friends and families.  Commanding a company from an outpost in Tal Afar, Iraq, I felt an already disconnected American people were losing a valuable perspective not found in the media or conventional press releases.   The really depressing part is that I was at “ground zero” of two major COIN successes in Iraq, first in Tal Afar and later in Ramadi, where we facilitated the start of the “Awakening” in 2006.  Unfortunately, we would leave it to a few intrepid reporters to tell story months later than it happened.   The US media was slow on the uptake, and the turnaround was first comprehensively articulated by a German reporter in Der Spiegel in summer 2007.  When the normally pessimistic and anti-Iraq-war Germans report progress, it is something.    

Fortunately, like most things in the Army, the pendulum began swinging back.  Change began when Lieutenant General William Caldwell took command of Fort Leavenworth and the US Army Combined Arms Center in late summer 2007.  Just having returned from duty as the Multi-National Force-Iraq spokesperson, he was convinced soldiers needed to learn how to communicate effectively with the press and American people without the filter of the public affairs officers.   LTG Caldwell posted a unique op-ed on the Small Wars Journal website, calling for soldiers to engage with traditional and new media, and even to utilize sites such as YouTube and others to communicate their messages.  He began by appearing on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, hardly a venue frequented by military brass.  (Although former Lt. Colonel John Nagl visited the show a few months prior to promote the civilian publication of FM 3-24, Counterinsurgency)  Within a few months he inaugurated a blog site at the Combined Arms Center.  Unlike most dry and sterile Army websites, the CAC blogs feature surprisingly candid discussions on issues such as officer retention, civilian employee morale, information operations, professional issues as campaign design, and my organization’s COIN blog.  He approved a policy memo promising to underwrite the honest mistakes of soldiers engaging in discourse online.    Shockingly, he entrusted his subordinates to exercise judgment and responsibility when posting online, a welcome change from the typical risk avoidance policies of the army so ingrained into our military culture during the late 1990’s.

Additionally, he required each of the 1,400 majors attending the Command and General Staff College are now required to conduct at least one media interview and blog as a graduation requirement.    Not all the majors are thrilled, however.  Interestingly, the complaints were expressed via a blog, so I guess that’s progress.

The point of this discourse isn’t to be a sycophantic suck-up to my boss’ senior rater.  (well, not entirely) The culmination of this change is reflected in my ability to guestblog here at Attackerman while Spencer takes some well earned R&R.  I don’t agree with all of the opinions expressed here, and that’s just fine.  I’m here to shape the conversation and provide some perspective informed by my military experiences, both downrange and in military academia.  As always, nothing I write here represents in any way Army policy or positions, and are my own thoughts.  However, I also realize that my conduct as a serving member of the profession reflects on myself and the institution, so you won’t find much political or partisan commentary from my foxhole.  I hope you will find some insights on defense policy, and lessons from my last two years studying and instructing counterinsurgency doctrine.  I hope you enjoy it.