U.S. military 'shuts down' soldiers' blogs

[Montauk6]

Letters home filled with tales of death and danger, bravery and boredom are a wartime certainty.

And now, as hundreds of soldiers overseas have started keeping Internet journals about the heat, the homesickness, the bloodshed, word speeds from the battlefront faster than ever.

More and more, though, U.S. military commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan are clamping down on these military Web logs, known as milblogs.

After all, digital photos of blown-up tanks and gritty comments on urban warfare don't just interest mom and dad.

The enemy, too, has a laptop and satellite link...

http://www.newsday.com/news/yahoo/ny-e4572547jan02,0,2530360.story?coll=ny-newsaol-headlines

[Atman]

1. The enemy has laptops with satellite links?

Awesome! It shows how much we've done for them! Before the liberation, Saddam forced them all to use AOL on old Gateways. WE'RE MAKING PROGRESS, PEOPLE!

[Montauk6]

5. Uh-oh... I think I have a satellite link...

I use Google Earth, am I a threat?

[zbdent]

7. Wait a minute - weren't the enemies the ones who were still

in the "stone age" that we were going to "bomb them back to"?

[niyad]

2. they hate us for our freedoms.

[CoffeeCat]

3. If freedom is on the march in Iraq...then why in the hell...

...don't they bring some of it over to the United States.

We'd like some of that!

[gratuitous]

4. Considering joining the military, young man or woman?

Be prepared to give up your freedom of speech. Now, I'll warrant that most of what 18- or 19-year-olds have to say isn't worth much to me, but I know from my own experience that I thought I had many valuable thoughts at that time in my life.

You also don't get to choose where you'll be posted or what you'll be doing there. I know, the recruiter said you would have all these options open to you, and probably even talked about a posting in Hawai'i. Ain't gonna happen, Junior.

You've probably seen all kinds of Hollywood movies and TV shows featuring competent, likeable superior officers. Well, some of the people that you have to answer to are going to be assholes. Big, walking, brown, puckered assholes. And they will have and exercise a great deal of control over every miserable aspect of your life.

But don't worry; you'll be making a lot of money for college. Unless, of course, you fudge a fact or two on your application. Or finally get pushed to the limit just before your separation, and take a swing at that smug asshole who's been making your life a living Hell for four years.

[leftofthedial]

6. "the enemy" is a euphemism for "democrats"