General

[DSA]

YouTube - Soldiers Using YouTube To Stay In Touch

This happened quite by accident. I corresponded with my local news crew and the next thing you know there is a story about blogging,myspace all with a familiar persona. My wife emailed me to tell me about it.

In you guys opinion was it a positive or negative for the Army.

[Drum]

As far as your interaction and the vids they posted, I don't see them as negative at all. Anything that humanizes the big Green Machine at all, without reminding us of why we sent you, etc. is a good thing for the Army.

However, my suspicious nature and love of free speech and communication cause me to think that the whole banning of Youtube and MySpace is a black eye for the military in general.

I know they have been censoring mail and so forth for a long time, but I still think it stinks.

Stay safe.

D.

[BulldogPaintball]

I think it was a positive for the army. Glad to see you can still keep in touch with friends and family back home (with every means available).

[Pepper]

Hey I’m in Midland TX and have family in Lubbock, your vids were positive but I can understand why they did what they did. I've ran across some vids that were pretty bad and put the military in a bad/goofy light.


On a personal note:
Be a hero in the small things first, when the big stuff hits the fan you’ll know what to do.

[blackrain]

My opinion on the blog and utube blocking was a good thing. There have been several disturbing videos that have been posted. Personally alot of unproffesionalism. Alot of whining of guys that went vouluntary. Take for instance the video when the boy was running behind the truck chasing a bottle of water. There was an officer involved in that incident. Some won't understand, but it wasn't right. It's stuff like that, that gives us a black eye. Other videos of snipers shooting, and convoys. If everyone is so interested in what goes on and feels they have the right to know, then enlist and see first hand. It's not censorship, it's just protecting.
Later,
Blackrain

[blackrain]

DSA what your video presentation is very positive. It shows how we save lives. Few won't understand, but that's how things are. If anything alot of new technology has come out of all this. Saving lives is #1 priority in all of this. I'm sure if you use the cunning way you did for RAP4 use, I'm sure your command would be more than happy to let a "how we train to save lives" videos go thru the cracks.
Later,
Blackrain
Later,
Blackrain

[Drum]

Call me anti-American, if you want, but I want to know, as nearly as is possible, what our people are doing.

Abu-Ghraib springs to mind as an example of the double-edged cutting surface presented by the unregulated dissemination of uncensored info, pics, video etc.

Did the resulting scandal make our military look bad? You betcha. But would it have been better for the military to have a better, albeit false, image or was it better that these transgressions were discovered and, presumably, discontinued?

It's a tough call, but I do not trust our military brass nor our politicians in general, so I REALLY do not trust them to determine what is news, and when, where or how they plan to let us know what is really happening.

In this day of CNN and other outlets broadcasting so much drivel and the Government trying to put a better image on everything, the only ones I trust are the grunts with their cameras.

The camera eye is unblinking and unflinching and I want to see what our troops are doing in our name.

PS: DSA; it woulda been kinda nice if those news people had taken the trouble to edit the excerpt from your email that they put up on the screen. Not sure whose typo it was, but it made it look like someone did not know how to spell the word "refuse". Bastids!


D.

[blackrain]

Yea well it was nice to hear what went on in the prison. Funny how enlisted only went to prison and the General who ran the prison had no knowledge of what and who was there doing interigation. Wonder if she ever got charged? I guess the Gov censored that one out of the press. Anyway, I don't want to get into a pissing contest in DSA's thread. What he is doing is a positive thing. When I was and OC, my motto was: "We kill you in peace, so you don't die in war". Doesn't mean much to some, but it ment alot to those I sent and those that came back.
Later,
Blackrain

[oldschool]

I did not get an impression either way from the video

[Lrrpie-CT]

I thought it was a decent news story on how the changes will affect soldiers.