Updates

Okay, those of you who don't read the site via RSS feed will notice that I've cleaned up the blog a bit, started to catch up on my tagging, and generally made it much more visually appealing--you know, unlike a typical Blogspot blog.

I've also signed up for a Facebook page for WOI. Each post is also cross-posted to my Twitter feed. Let's see Ahmedinejad try to ban me now!

Web 2.0 and Work

Dave Dilegge at Small Wars Journal pointed out that the military's policies regarding Web 2.0 and social media seem to vary from service to service, with the US Marines and Navy blocking access to Small Wars Journal's discussion board (oddly enough, Dave Dilegge, Bill Nagle and Robert Haddick are all retired Marines).

The US Army, on the other hand, not only allows Soldiers to post on the SWJ message board, but also receives great feedback from these boards, with General Martin Dempsey and Brig. Gen. HR McMaster frequently soliciting the boards for advice.

Much has been written about the US military's reluctance to embrace social networking, but let's not be too harsh on the military--the corporate sector can be just as bad about blogging, as this article from Lifehack.org points out.

Focus: What does your work place think of your blog and Facebook? Do they know it exists? What would happen if they found your blog?

Army Doctor Raises $1000 for Breast Cancer Research During 5K Run in Iraq

On Saturday morning, 12 September 2009, thousands of runners lined up in New York City for the Susan G. Komen "Race for the Cure", a 5-kilometer run designed to raise money for breast cancer prevention, awareness and treatment.

As the race kicked off in New York's Central Park at 9 AM Eastern Standard Time, Captain Erica Feola, a US Army flight surgeon for the 6th Squadron-6th Air Cavalry Regiment, began the race as well. Except Captain Feola was seven time zones ahead of the rest of the runners, running the 5-kilometer race within the confines of Forward Operating Base Warrior in Kirkuk, Iraq.

A number of Captain Feola's friends and family volunteered to sponsor her; in fact, she raised over $500 through an application on her Facebook page. Additionally, Captain Feola amassed another $500 worth of donations after I posted an article on Small Wars Journal last month, for a total of just over $1000 (edit: as I have later found out, only a portion of that additional $500 came from SWJ).

This is yet another example of how the new media shapes nearly every facet of our daily lives.

Captain Feola and a few other Army officers braved a sandstorm and temperatures over 105° F (41° C) in order to participate in the race. They were clad in standard Army physical fitness uniforms, albeit with pink reflector belts in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month (click picture to enlarge and note Capt. Feola's belt on the left).

Thanks to all in the SWJ community who helped to make this possible!

Bond did it first...

In the 007 film "Tomorrow Never Dies", James Bond has a social encounter with yet another millionaire megalomaniac with aspirations of world domination. The villian later sits down with his henchman, a computer hacker, and they try to discern what they can about James Bond's (or his alias') past. As they run the background check, they find that Bond's false identity (I think a stockbroker) has never gotten a speeding ticket, has never been late to work, and has never been in any sort of trouble whatsoever.

In short, the hacker concludes, he's a government agent masquerading as a stockbroker.

The people at Haft of the Spear wrote something along those lines today, noting the distinct electronic electronic tail that our social networking sites give us.

[quoting an article in Computer Weekly] National security advisors are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit people who do not have an online trail, according to Rob Cotton, chief executive of NCC Group.

Anyone with a Facebook account automatically has images in the public domain and is associated with a variety of organisations and other people, making it difficult to keep a low profile, he said.

"Having a Facebook profile, you are opening up a Pandora's box of online traceability that you can't ever truly close, which extends to close associates too," said Cotton.

[Haft of the Spear chimes in] Your name is Alice and you're a "student" on extended holiday in some 2nd world garden spot and the local service looks you up on Facebook and finds . . . nothing. Myspace . . . nothing. LinkedIn . . . nothing. Twitter . . . nothing. Guess what they're thinking? "WTF kind of 20-something doesn't have a social networking trail a mile long?" Guess how long before Alice gets rolled up and PNG'ed? If anything, backstopping someone online is faster, cheaper and easier than doing it in meat-space, but then that would require someone who makes such decisions to know that the IBM Selectric isn't the preferred technology of the day.

The impact of social networking sites on background security checks is one which has been in the news considerably in the past week, with Britain's future head of MI6 drawing considerable fire for having pictures of himself on Facebook.

Focus question: Work and Facebook...do they mix?

Ever Time You Facebook, You Defeat Ahmadinejad

(Continued from a post made about three weeks ago) In late 2006 or 2007, I was sitting in one of those mandatory annual classes on operational security. The instructor, your stereotypical grumpy old man, decried Soldiers’ use of social networking sites, citing security concerns. He was furious at the fact that the US, as a democracy, lays itself open to the entire world. (He must have been a paleoconservative if there ever was one, as this issue was tackled nearly 2500 years ago by Pericles in the city of Athens)

The instructor even went on to mention that Soldiers—gasp—posted information about what they were doing in Iraq on “The Myspace”, and claimed that “The Myspace” would be responsible for losing the Iraq War. Yes, apparently in 2007 or so, the best explanation we had for the deteriorating security situation in Iraq wasn’t a lack of a comprehensive counter-insurgency strategy, ethnic cleansing in Baghdad, sectarian civil war, or al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, but rather, those crazy kids and “The Myspace”. I never could tell if the instructor actually was serious or if he was a carefully constructed parody of right-leaning pundits, particularly with his use of the term, “The Myspace”.

Joke’s on him, however. While Myspace is, well, Myspace, other social networking sites have, in a strange way, been able to at deal some damage to a number of organizations and individuals on the US’ naughty list.

Take the FARC (Revolutionary Army of Colombia), for example. Last year, a Facebook group entitled “One Million Strong Against the FARC” helped organize massive anti-FARC protests, held in cities throughout the world. These demonstrations resulted in alleged large-scale desertions from the FARC. Indeed, it might seem that these Facebook-organized demonstrations might have actually dealt a greater blow to the FARC than decades of narcotic eradication programs, and significantly less expensive, as well.

Although at least one technology expert doubts the extent to which Twitter and Facebook have affected community organizing in Tehran—after all, Iran isn’t quite as wired as the US—few can doubt that the New Media is becoming the number one source for news coming out of Iran, with ubiquitous cell phone cameras and mobile Internet connections operating almost as guerillas in the streets of Tehran. Small, dispersed, and easily concealed within the Iranian population, the New Media is everywhere in Tehran, and operating far more effectively than the larger, more conventional news organizations (I'll leave you to draw the 4GW analogy with this one).

OMG My Commander Joined Facebook

In recent months, we've seen articles entitled "OMG My Mom Joined Facebook", which are testaments to how truly mainstream Facebook now is. It used to be entirely within the realm of us college students, with me first joining in 2005 when the ever-trendy CasstheSass posted a thread on our college message board, The Wolf Web, entitled "OMG Facebook".

Now, I submit to you the phrase, "OMG My Commander Joined Facebook". I'm certain my troops have expressed shock at having a commander on Facebook ever since I took command, but then again, today's captains and lieutenants were the prime audience for Facebook when it first came out, so it's really not that shocking. What is shocking is the number of people who fall outside the GenY demographic who are using it for professional networking. Now, I see colonels on Facebook. And I just now got a friend referral for one commander whom I used to serve under.

This brings up a dilemma: do I friend him? What about the pictures and video of me in Cozumel? My Sackets Harbor debauchery pales in comparison to the things I've done in Latin America, so I'd really need to sanitize my profile if I were to friend him...

What if I post a note he doesn't agree with? Should I partake in the ridiculous "sheep throwing" game with him? I don't know.

Focus: Has your boss joined Facebook? What do you do? Would your boss be upset if you're not his new BFF? I think I need to custom-edit my Facebook page...

Flight from Upstate NY

They say that getting there is just half the fun. I'm hoping that doesn't apply to the flight out of Fort Drum.

Fortunately for us, a lot of local citizens had donated goodies for us as we were about to board the plane. Some people got together and donated a lot of Audiobooks which nowadays come as small iPod-like devices. Some people picked up audiobooks on speaking Arabic, some people got the Bible on Audiobook, and others picked up an audiobook from humorist Dave Barry.

I, however, reached into the bin and pulled out:

The Worst Case Survival Scenario Handbook: Dating and Sex Edition

I was appalled. Not so much that I pulled out a book of smut, but because I already own this book in print.

Anyway, it came time to board the plane and depart for the Middle East. I sat down in my comfy chair and tried to catch a few Zs. I was having a little difficulty getting sleep as we sat on the taxiway and I considered tapping into my prescription Ambien, which is a sleep aid, but decided against it.

Smart move, too, as the plane wound up with a maintenance issue and we all had to get off the plane. The communications officer wasn't so lucky--she actually took her Ambien while still on the taxiway. Based on her description of Ambien, it supposedly gives a person the feeling that they're incredibly drunk. I was kind of glad that I vaguely remembered the pharmacist saying something

along the lines of "take it only when you're really sure you want to go to sleep".

But fortunately, the malfunction was quickly cleared and it was back on the plane to cross the Atlantic. With one fuel stop, however, which I also used to check my Facebook. Clearly, others had the same idea:

A sign of the times...a phalanx of laptops at a wi-fi hotspot