I found a sitemeter hit this afternoon with the referring link was the 2007 Milblogs Conference page.

Anyone else seen the same (if your blog is linked?)

A day of blog silence is planned as a memorial for the Virginia Tech shootings on 30 April, 2007.

Click the picture to get to the blog established.

In researching a little bit of info today for a post, I bumped across the WikiProject Military History page. It seems the Wiki community recognizes there is lots of open ground here and are asking for inputs. Maybe you MilBloggers (or soon to be MilBloggers) have some things to contribute, so that there is some online content from fthe first person perspective, without having to write and publish your own book!

It looks like 600+ people are actively working the project now, with a list of inactive members, too.

Hey! Go for it!

Tracked back @: < ahref="http://www.yankeesailor.us">Ynakee Sailor

Just a few thoughts in the aftermath of the VA Tech shootings this morning:

• The phone call could have been different. Thankfully, it was “I’m fine.”
• The press wants to know how we can prevent this from happening AGAIN. So would the rest of us, but I’m not about to go to a police state society
• Someone is gonna have to answer some hard questions about why the warning email too about 2 hours to be sent out
• Someone else will have harder questions to answer as to why a shooting could occur (even if just random shots at the wall) in a dorm and it took so long for the law enforcement to show up
• Some will ask: Could a law abiding citizen properly authorized to carry a concealed weapon have diminished the carnage?
• Some will ask: Why is anyone allowed to have weapons?

We remain a reactionary society. Regardless of the questioning voices, we will most likely not be able to prevent every single scenario to come down the pike. Some will demand it, but they are not living in a real world, nor would they actually accept the response to their demands to make all people safe from all things at all times….

Link chasing…see what comes up?

Update 4/13/2007: There is history on this issue and a MilBlogger, Yankee Sailor began working on this sort of issue to introduce civility and OPSEC self-policing concepts in place. He has a new post up here, but the “long version” of the, showing his proposal is here. Join the MilBlogs ROE Project at this post. As far as staking a claim to a good idea, he had had this in the works before the 2006 MilBlogs Conference (link to the 2007 Conference Site), held April 2006.
End of update.

Tim O’Reilly of Reilly’s Radar is working on a bloggers Code of Conduct.

Given the nature of interactions these days, might be worth looking into….

Here’s the first draft:

We celebrate the blogosphere because it embraces frank and open conversation. But frankness does not have to mean lack of civility. We present this Blogger Code of Conduct in hopes that it helps create a culture that encourages both personal expression and constructive conversation.

1. We take responsibility for our own words and for the comments we allow on our blog.

We are committed to the “Civility Enforced” standard: we will not post unacceptable content, and we’ll delete comments that contain it.

We define unacceptable content as anything included or linked to that:
– is being used to abuse, harass, stalk, or threaten others
– is libelous, knowingly false, ad-hominem, or misrepresents another person,
– infringes upon a copyright or trademark
– violates an obligation of confidentiality
– violates the privacy of others

We define and determine what is “unacceptable content” on a case-by-case basis, and our definitions are not limited to this list. If we delete a comment or link, we will say so and explain why. [We reserve the right to change these standards at any time with no notice.]

2. We won’t say anything online that we wouldn’t say in person.

3. We connect privately before we respond publicly.

When we encounter conflicts and misrepresentation in the blogosphere, we make every effort to talk privately and directly to the person(s) involved–or find an intermediary who can do so–before we publish any posts or comments about the issue.

4. When we believe someone is unfairly attacking another, we take action.

When someone who is publishing comments or blog postings that are offensive, we’ll tell them so (privately, if possible–see above) and ask them to publicly make amends.
If those published comments could be construed as a threat, and the perpetrator doesn’t withdraw them and apologize, we will cooperate with law enforcement to protect the target of the threat.

5. We do not allow anonymous comments.

We require commenters to supply a valid email address before they can post, though we allow commenters to identify themselves with an alias, rather than their real name.

6. We ignore the trolls.

We prefer not to respond to nasty comments about us or our blog, as long as they don’t veer into abuse or libel. We believe that feeding the trolls only encourages them–“Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, but the pig likes it.” Ignoring public attacks is often the best way to contain them.

More in his post. Looks like a “bloggingcode.org” exists as the planned resting place for this initiative. Even more in the trackbacks/comments. Not like its going to be easy sledding, but then it’s all about debate, isn’t it?

The “media” that is seen/heard by much of America and the world continues to pronounce doom and gloom in the Middle East. No longer “news” most of what I look at seem to be little more that editorializing at any opportunity. It bothers me.

Add to this that a common complaint from those who are defending us forward is “the story is not getting told.” I concur.

I was spurred on to write this after hearing the hearing the author of “Grace Under Fire,” Andrew Carroll, on the Laura Ingraham Show this morning. He has taken it upon himself to help preserve the letters of service members and family for history. He also has a list of troop support organizations up on his book’s site.

Here’s what I’m thinking: Make your blog available for the troops who would like to share their stories, but certainly don’t have time to set up and write a blog of their own. If have a blog that gets lots of such inputs, and can’t possibly get them all out in a timely fashion, find those who will volunteer their “space” and pass the inputs out, so they are spread far and wide. More possibility of exposure to those who might not otherwise get to read the story of the platoon that takes on the task of cleaning up/repairing and outfitting a school in Afghanistan, for instance.

I haven’t set up a blog roll, but I’m on several, so I suspect one would be useful and then the cross-pollinating would be extensive (if there were lots of blogs willing to chip in.

That’s idea number one….and it just might have some leverage in turning the tide of no news on the good news. Comments?

Idea #2: I have chosen to highlight the ValOUR-IT project the 11th of each month, just to be a friendly reminder that it’s not just Veteran’s Day when we should consider contributing to this wonderful program. The follow on to this idea is to either weekly or monthly, pick one of the troop support organizations (see my compiled list here), post their charter and find some testimonials to the success of the work they have done and spread the word that way….

Anyhow, I had been planning to blast this out to the Navy ValOUR-IT blogs (and I suspect I still might this weekend), to see about getting the ball rolling at the grass-roots level.

Anyone can help in this, particularly the second idea above.

If you have friends/family serving in the Sandbox, ask permission to get their stories and post them. Let them tell their stories.

Just think: Everyday bloggers helping to tell real stories that otherwise may have to wait years for historians, or be forever lost because “I didn’t think anyone cared.”

Fire away with modifications/ideas/etc.

What better way to be a servant, particularly in this week, than to support those who are supporting us.

‘Jack Army’, the former Army recruiter and now member of the 25th Division and deployed to Iraq has begun an interesting project: He writes a story in chapters, and then each chapter goes to a different blogger to post, and then to be linked for your reading pleasure. The link here goes to my piece, which is Chapter 12. I have sent my link back to “Jack,” so he can pass it to the others on each side of my, and I hope to get similar data in soon, so I can connect the dots for the effort.

Great idea….share you story and share readership. I would suspect the posts will get much more visibility as a result….

A chaptered story told on many blogs starts here and continues here:

Chapter 11

Chapter Twelve: Great Americans
We have a great team assembled at my FOB, which could be considered unusual. My commander didn’t get to hand-pick his team, whether the members that came from our parent unit or the various attachments, some of which came from within our brigade and others from Reserve units or even other branches. The guys here take their jobs seriously and many take the initiative to find ways to support the mission despite an occasional lack of support or other challenge that may keep us from using “conventional” means to get the job done.
I am excited to have had the opportunity to serve in this position. I have grown professionally because of it. More than I thought I would, which is an unexpected surprise. I am a lucky man in this respect.
I would like to thank the folks working here at FOB X with me. These are truly great Americans. I look at all these troops and am amazed, not only at the tremendous effort they put forth under crazy conditions sometimes, but also because these are people that could be doing anything but putting their lives on the line for Iraqis. And yet, here they are, volunteers each and every one, working hard, sweating, laughing, crying, sometimes bleeding for something that is beyond day-to-day comprehension, something that transcends the individual and actually makes a difference in our world. I am privileged and honored to serve with such selfless and open-hearted people.
The irony is not lost on me either, how we are ready to kill those that would threaten us but we are dedicated to making life better for normal Iraqis who just want a taste of what many Americans take for granted: freedom.

The customer base is overactive this week, which is a good thing, but, cuts into blogging time.

Besides the superior trackbacks you readers might send, I refer you to a post I wrote after finding a comment on another blog. The title: “How to Bury a Hero” by (then) HM3 James Pell.

In the spirit of the movie “300,” some reminder from a modern day Spartan on how to lay your comrade to rest.

James, last I could track him down, made HM2 (Petty Officer Second Class Corpsman), but his email address wasn’t working. About 6 months ago, a friend of Marine LCpl Antoine Smith sent me an email after finding the post linked above, asking how to get a hold of James, so she could thank him. I sent out a few queries and was able to get a lead for her.

It’s all about connections and relationships, when you peel all else away.