Our Thanks to the Milbloggers

The history of warfare has always been written by the Generals and politicians in the past. Now, with the internet and our Milbloggers the common soldier is telling the story. We occasionally carry a poignant report that BlackFive or Smash will post, but we read many, many more accounts of individual and group acts of extreme heroism. It is not from the newspapers that we get these accounts, they are way to concerned about playing statician. No, it is the Milbloggers that are getting out the story.

USA Today has an article out today about these great people. Typically retired military, they tell the civilians what are brave soldiers are experiencing in the field. They translate the reports, and give that personal touch that to be honest blows me away.

The number of Internet Web logs — or “blogs,” as online diaries are known — by American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan is soaring, giving people everywhere unprecedented windows into service members lives.

From 50 or so a year ago, the number of their online journals is now about 200 and is expected to be near 1,000 by the year’s end, say the bloggers themselves and experts who track the Web.

The growth means a historic phenomenon is gaining momentum: Anyone with access to the Internet can read many first-hand accounts of life in a war zone within seconds after they’re finished.

And the blogs are “full of real substance and depth,” says Jon Peede, director of the National Endowment for the Arts’ Operation Homecoming program, which helps troops and their families write about their wartime experiences. “They’re raw, powerful reflections on the war.”

They also could be among a troop’s last words. At least one “soldier blogger,” Army Spc. Francisco G. Martinez, has been killed in action.

To the Milbloggers I say this, Thank You. And please keep it up. You do your country a great service.