SECTION: Pg. 110 Vol. 8 No. 3

ACC-NO: 154332063

LENGTH: 1409 words

HEADLINE: Note to file--the blogs of war.

BYLINE: Godefroy, Andrew B.

BODY:


The medium is the message. --Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980)

With the advent of commercially available web page construction software during the mid-1990s, people who were already actively engagedin computer network-based communication and data exchange employed these new tools to further exploit the media capabilities of the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW). Of particular note was the rise of regularly updated web-based publications consisting primarily of periodic articles written by a single author or group of authors. In 1997, this type of website was referred to by psychologist and researcherJorn Barger as a 'weblog' on his site, Robot Wisdom. Soon after 'weblogs' became known simply as 'blogs', and the people who wrote them were known as 'bloggers'. (1)

'Blogging' (the act of writing a blog entry) rapidly evolved into a widely accepted form of Internet based communication and reporting.Although most early weblogs were laborious to regularly maintain, later developments in automated maintenance software and browser-based utilities greatly reduced the work involved in creating and maintaining a blog. The facilitation of blog creation made them accessible to a much wider public at large, allowing both technically and non-technically oriented people to carve out a presence online.

Perhaps the greatest attractions offered by blogs were their collaborative natures, as well as their timeliness. They became a new medium of communication, disseminating raw data immediately from nearly anywhere in the world to an unprecedented audience size scattered across the entire globe. Blogs could be used to simply 'spread the word',or even harness collective intelligence and critical thinking at dizzying speeds to tackle more serious problems and issues. Today, blogshave tremendous capability and potential, and they are undoubtedly here to stay (at least until the next great Internet invention).

Since their arrival less than a decade ago, blogs have permeated every aspect of society. They can range in scope from the personal daily diary of a single person to one hosted by a large organization. Blogs cover all ranges of topics. They can be hosted by a single author, or be the result of a collaborative effort amongst a group of authors. Blogs can be static or they can become interactive. Some blogs allow the public at large to leave comments, which can lead to a community of readers centered on a certain blog. Blogs are also highly reactive to current events. The totality of blogs and blog-related websites is often referred to as the 'blogosphere', and when a particular event or activity causes an increase in postings and/ or discussion across the blogosphere, it is sometimes called a 'blogstorm' or 'blogswarm'.

With blogs increasingly ingrained in average society and people's everyday lives, it was inevitable that this form of communication would soon cross paths with defence and the military. When armies deployed overseas or went to war in the aftermath of 9/11, bloggers were among them, and the blogs they wrote presented an unprecedented view ofthe military experience in theatre and at war. During the Second World War, a soldier's account of life and death at the front might havetaken weeks or months to reach readers back home, but today it may take only minutes. As one American soldier wrote in his blog from somewhere in Iraq, "Never before has a war been so immediately documented." (2)

Recent conflicts in the Middle East and Southwest Asia have resulted in the creation of over a hundred military blogs (milblogs) composed by uniformed members also known as 'milbloggers'. American soldiers author by far the majority of these blogs, but soldiers from other countries are also slowly getting engaged in the medium. Overall, they provide a remarkable insight into daily events in places like Afghanistan and Iraq that are often completely ignored by larger and more traditional media outlets. More importantly, many argue that milblogsprovide a critical degree of balance to an otherwise biased and politically motivated mainstream media agenda.

Milblogs written by American soldiers currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan have received considerable attention worldwide. Some have even influenced both the American government and the public back home. The milblog, A Line in the Sand (http://www.missick.com/warblog.htm) authored from Iraq by Sgt. Chris Missick, easily overtook official Department of Defense (DoD) and C-Span related websites in describing Iraq and American soldier's experiences there to the average American. Another milblog, Armor Geddon (http://avengerredsix.blogspot.com/), written by 1st Lt. Neil Prakash, was also notable for his incredibly frank day-to-day accounts of the fighting in Fallujah and Baqubalast autumn. (3) Others still talk about life as a Marine in Anbar Province, as a Medic in Baghdad, and even as a Logistics Officer at Camp Falcon. The range and scope of the hundred or so more serious U.S.milblogs provide an image of stability and reconstruction operationsin Iraq that is simply inaccessible from other media means.

The rise of 'frontline' milblogs prompted the U.S. Army to issue official policy on the matter, but instead of shutting blogs down completely in theatre (which would have undoubtedly adversely affected morale) it took a guardedly supportive approach to the subject. There were certainly growing pains; soldiers were required to adhere to operational security as well as register their blogs with the chain of command. It was a challenge to determine what subjects could be discussed and in how much detail while still supporting some degree of freedom of expression. Some sites were shut down as a result of what they reported, but others were allowed to go on even when they offered less than complimentary views and opinions of U.S. army policies and operations. In the end, the U.S. Army was satisfied and the milblogs went on.

A brief Internet research survey conducted by the author earlier this year revealed that Canadian milblogs are for the most part much less evolved. There are two official blogs, the first being Canadian Armed Forces, (http://canadianarmedforces.blogspot.com) and the other,Canadian Military Police (http://canadianmilitarypolice.blogspot.com). Both are little more than alternative sites for official DND pressreleases, and do not display any degree of interaction similar to that witnessed in other milblogs.

Turning to unofficial milblogs, currently there does not appear tobe many more to choose from. The milblog with by far the largest active community is Army.ca (www.army.ca), whose current registered membership is just over 7993. (4) In addition, there is a small handful of personal milblogs such as The Narcoleptic Private--My BMQ/SQ in theArmy Reserve Coop Program (http://spaces.msn.com/members/militarymatt/), My Life in the Military (http://www.nathaliegareau.blogspot.com), and Seven Six Two Millimeter Full Metal Jacket (http://davidkrystal.com). Still, none of these blogs originate from a Canadian theatre of operations, further suggesting that perhaps the Canadian Army has yet to witness the advent of its own blogs of war.

Some may see milblogging as a passing fad, while others might declare it dangerous and impossible to support and sustain in theatres ofoperation. It may perhaps make Army life a bit more complicated, butthere is little likelihood that milblogging will fade away (until the next great Internet invention anyway). For this and the next generation of soldiers growing up in the Internet age, blogging from the front lines may eventually become as natural as it was for Canadian soldiers in Flanders to scrawl a message home on a post card in 1915.

Major Andrew B. Godefroy, CD, Ph.D.

Endnotes

(1.) Peter Merholz is credited with coining the term 'blog' on hiswebsite sometime in April or May 1999.

(2.) Sgt. Chris Missick. Missick served with the U.S. Army's 319thSignal Battalion in Iraq, and is the author of the widely popular blog 'A Line in the Sand'.

(3.) 1st Lt. Prakash was also awarded the Silver Star for bravery in 2004 during actions in the Sunni Triangle, Iraq.

(4.) The registration at this site is impressive when considered in a larger cultural context. Imagine if only half of those registeredat Army.ca were currently serving soldiers, it could suggest that asmuch as 13%of the total Army (regular force and reserve) might be members of just this one website.