There is a push here to restrict information going home. A new policy, a punitive one, has been announced limiting what we can tell people back home. It also calls for a prior review of certain means of communication. Letters to the editor or anything that is submitted for publication, blogs, chat rooms, internet bulletin boards, anything in those media are supposed to be submitted for review by the Army before it is published. If you violate the policy, you can be punished.
I support this policy, mostly. We have some boneheads who are giving away harmful information. For example, what time a convoy will leave, and what route it will take. This type of stuff clearly shouldn't be published. It can get soldiers killed. We also have soldiers telling folks back home inflated stories about injuries or firefights. These stories make people at worry needlessly, and sometimes cause our leadership problems by having to try to calm the waters.
My personal opinion is that the policy goes a bit too far, insofar as it requires the prior review. However, I understand that in WWII, letters were read by censors before going home, so maybe the prior review is ok. I don't think we're making an effort to choke off all info outflow, rather just trying to stop the stupid stuff. There is always a tension between commanders who want to limit information flow to protect their troops, and freedom of speech. Tough issue.
So, I hope the this blog gets past the censors. I expect it will.
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