Blogs arm military families with information

Whether they’re providing outlets for soldiers’ battlefield tales or sending positive reinforcement to families awaiting the safe return of loved ones, military blogs are standing tall these days.

As many as 4,000 active-duty and retired U.S.` soldiers and family members now operate milblogs, Tara Sue Clark estimates. A self-described “military brat” in Greensboro, N.C., Clark helped organize the first-ever MilBlog Conference in Washington, D.C., April 22.

The gathering, which drew about 150 attendees — along with more than 1,000 virtual visitors who viewed sessions online — suggests the milblogging community is growing into a force to be reckoned with.

Participants discussed how milblogs give people without service connections an unfiltered look at the lives and concerns of soldiers and their families, Clark said. The sites also “serve as a watch group on the traditional media and increasingly expose stories of their own,” she added. One current mission: to stop the imminent closure of a D.C. restaurant that caters to wounded service members.

But especially during wartime, strengthening communications among military families remains milblogs’ most important function, Clark said. “They keep troop morale up by giving them a connection to home, and they lift the spirits of the troops on the home front.”

Parents, spouses and children check in-theater milblogs for reassurance their loved ones are alive and well. Meanwhile, soldiers visit blogs maintained by their families so “they can see the baby they’ve never seen in person” or attend special events via video link, Clark said.

The milblog community also constitutes a growing support network for everyone from coping spouses to veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, said Bill Benson, an ex-Marine weapons instructor who has written The Gun Line from his Rockford, Wash., home for about a year.

Benson, 41, restores old military vehicles when he’s not working as a sales coordinator and yard supervisor at the United Rentals Trench Safety office in Spokane Valley. After commenting on several milblogs, launching one to showcase his thoughtful, sometimes irreverent, take on military issues was a natural next step.

The Gun Line hasn’t joined the elite milblog ranks occupied by Blackfive, Some Soldier’s Mom, The Mudville Gazette, Citizen Smash and others featured prominently at Milblogging.com. But Benson, who attended the D.C. conference to meet a wounded comrade-in-blogs, said he’s proud to support military relief programs and guide people in need to the proper resources.

Recalling one Army blogger in Iraq who reached out to the milblog community when he was promoted to take over a company after his commander was killed in action, Benson said, “The support he received from us was instrumental in getting him centered and settled.”

With milblogs starting to attract a wider readership, Benson said they also provide “an opportunity for outsiders to see what is going on between the ears of a war fighter.” But he asked that new visitors be respectful of the troops, even if they disagree with the war.

“The soldiers need to know folks back in the world are supporting them,” Benson said. “Waiting for a letter just doesn’t hack it sometimes.”

Drilling down

Beyond the short-term fixes popular with politicians, what will it take to create a sustainable U.S. energy policy? The academics behind The Oil Drum provide enough research and analysis to lubricate many thoughtful discussions on the subject. Recent entries include a graph showing where our gas dollars go and a look at the connection between pump prices and oil-company profits.

Guilty pleasure

Defective Yeti, defectiveyeti.com

The site of Seattle computer programmer Matthew Baldwin delivers a whimsical mélange of conversational snippets, “great ideas” (such as replacing marriage with an adult version of the kindergarten buddy system) and amusing anecdotes. Sample entry: “I think it’s ridiculous that ‘attempted murder’ carries a lesser penalty than ‘murder.’ We should be encouraging people to excel in their professions, not rewarding them for failure.”