ONE REASON I took up blogging was to religiously document elements of my previous life in the service of the US government. Some of those incidents make good copy. Most of the time, I've been careful to mask some of my involvement in counterinsurgency (COIN) operations because the tactics I used, the fight profiles I trained pilots to fly, and the operating locations related to several taskings are still hot more than a decade when I was there. Without a doubt, details of my movements could be stamped "For Official Use Only" and that phrase would attract special scrutiny.
I have more than 10 posts in draft mode that my censorself kept offline because if they published, they would land on the radar scope of Pentagon analysts (or mechanical Turks) and subsequently result in SixApart receiving takedown notices for those entries. The entries contain references to places that Google Earth now allows you to easily find and fly over. Some of my writing points to environments tolerated by hosts because no one knows what lies underneath them or who drives through them with impunity. I know these things because a duty officer told me that my COSMIC credentials and legacy NATO control number opens access to many areas of compartmentalised clearance in the United Kingdom where I once worked under 45 feet of concrete.
Fortunately, Vox allows me to post in private while sharing items that could relate to a tightly-constrained public discussion. I keep my Vox ID and Typepad persona separate and unlinked. The conversations arising on the back of those private posts could fill the pages of a book about the tragic condition the United States government finds itself in Iraq. Make no mistake about it--the situation is worse than Vietnam. The glorious efficiency of American firepower cannot win street battles against insurgents. And you certainly cannot win the hearts and minds of the occupied through blind faith and obedience.
Some people never learn.
Xeni Jardin -- "Under Fire, Soldiers Kill Blogs"
Jeremy Botter -- "The Army and Blogging"
