Wired is running a Xeni Jardin piece on military blogs called, “Under Fire, Soldiers Kill Blogs.”
Milblogs offer one of the last direct witnesses to the Iraq war from the point of view of front line soldiers — a sharp reversal from three years ago, when the U.S.-led invasion was among the most closely-watched military attacks in history. According to Editor and Publisher, the number of reporters embedded in military units has dropped from 770 at the height of the conflict to just nine today.
But some 1,200 active milblogs currently offer commentary on a range of military topics, including the daily experience of soldiers from basic training to the front lines, says retired paratrooper and Army officer Matthew Currier Burden, blogger at Blackfive and author of the milblog compendium The Blog of War.
The article goes on to explain that when the war started these so-called milblogs flew under the Pentagon’s radar for the most part. Today, with our armed services full of young soldiers weaned on open digital culture, concerns about soldiers’ safety and secrecy are now changing the game. Would-be milbloggers must now check with commanders before publishing posts.
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