A story on Wired's website a week ago outlined how a Department of Defense "warning order" solicited feedback on a potential ban on the use of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook by military personnel.
Such a ban seemingly would fly in the face of efforts by Lt.General William B. Caldwell, who oversees the Army's Command and General Staff College on the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center in Fort Leavenworth, Missouri. Caldwell recently ordered every officer at the CGSC to complete a course of "strategic communication" in order to graduate. Assignments include blogging, participating in an interview with a television, print or
radio reporter; publicly addressing a community group and writing an article or
opinion piece for publication.
"You have an amazing influence in the blogosphere," Caldwell told The Pitch in this story. "Here you're deciding
what you want to talk about, and you're sharing it with the world." He expressed similar sentiments on the benefits of online communication in an article posted last month on Small Wars Journal.
Caldwell's progressive decision to encourage more online interaction between the public and the military was followed by a recent Army order to all U.S. military bases to stop blocking Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.
Now, a military social media ban is "all-but-certain," Wired reports.
The news was surprising to some of the CGSC officers featured in The Pitch's story earlier this year. Major Mark Andres emailed to say, "We all feel a bit shocked by it since we...were just starting to open up to SNS (social networking sites) and strategic communications with the American people."
Andres collaborates on a blog called PiaFidelis . On the subject of a potential DOD-ordered social networking ban, Ft. Leavenworth soldier John Bushman writes, "I personally believe that it would be a major step backwards for the
Department of Defense and for any ongoing strategic communication
campaign envisioned by the US Army if the plug were pulled on social
media sites. The internet remains a major medium to tell the Army's
story and its become a major link in connecting with the American
people."
Now that Gen. Caldwell has turned Ft. Leavenworth's officers into such good communicators, they know how to keep us in the loop on the latest developments. Ban or no ban, online communication between the military and the public might be one genie that can't be put back in the bottle.
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Ladies and Gentlemen,
First, I want to thank The Pitch for starting this thread on the Plog.
The issue of direct communication between the American people and their military Servicemembers is critical for our Nation. The American people and their military are in danger of becoming separated again by a confluence of three events:
�The United States only has about .7% (2,264,500 out of 330,000,000) of its citizens in uniform defending the Nation;
�Operation Iraqi Freedom has lost coverage in the mainstream media;
�Operations in Afghanistan are too remote to report on effectively.
The Department of Defense�s (DoD) Strategic Communications (STRATCOMM) initiative was meant to offset the lack of reporting by mainstream media about heroics and dangers that our Servicemembers face daily, mainly through Social Networking Sites (SNS). Should the DoD ban SNS, Americans will be deprived of the ability to communicate with their Servicemembers. As a military officer, I shudder at this thought, and I had hoped that others would as well and speak out on this issue.
Although I have my opinion of this topic, I would invite you to add your opinion to this blog thread. Do you not care that your communication with your military could be subject to the print space available on a newspaper or the thirty-second time slot available on the news broadcast? Do you not care that the only explanation for your questions would come from �official public affairs press releases?� If you do not lend your voice to this discussion, then official press releases may be all you can get in the future.
Please take a minute and lend your voice to this debate. Thank you.
Respectfully,
Mark C. Andres
Major, Infantry
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