Villainous Company

Why not just file a FOIA request?

Funny, the questions sound very similar to questions in the Saturday Night Live skit just prior to Desert Storm where press asked such insightful questions as: Can you tell us the exact time and place where the offensive will begin? Can you give us an example of information that you don't want the enemy to know? etc.

Now now Frodo.

There you go. Thinking like a military guy again.

/smack! Nothing is more important than answering questions.

Nothing.

Because, actus, that makes sense. How dare you insinuate such a nonsensical solution! The Captain's Journal would then have nothing to whine about, and therefore, nothing to post on (beotch about?) for the next week.

I have a feeling I'm about to lose my temper.

How dare the Corps deny Captain's Journal some heavy blog traffic and linkage??
Just who do they think they are anyway???

Yeesh...they need to get some perspective here.

Yeah, well I figured your take would be similar to mine, Carrie. But I was surprised at some of the comments on that site, coming from people who were military, no less. It was like they didn't understand why it might be difficult to answer questions like that (do you think maybe that is the only question of that type they got that day? that week? that month?).

Sheesh. My husband has actually had calls from people on the Hill who cannot understand why he isn't just *itching* to call up a combatant commander in Iraq and pull him out of the rack in the middle of the night to answer some survey, or other question that probably sounded like a very good idea at the time, but when it is rolled up with the other 10,000,000 questions that came in that day, is the straw that broke the camel's back.

People just don't really have any idea sometimes what they are asking. Yes, your question IS important...and so is everyone else's. And so is whatever the heck the guy answering was doing when he stopped to pick up the phone, or answer your email.

It all has to get balanced into the work load. And you may not come out on top of the priority heap, but if we are reasonable we do not get a case of the ass about it.

Admittedly LCpl So and So could perhaps have dealt with that situation a tad more gracefully, but who knows how it played out? This is all second hand.

Even if it is 100% as reported, I see no major issues with saying, "Sorry - that is too much work - we have limited resources and we have to prioritize".

Frodo is getting all up in your face just because he has been in Iraq.

And isn't that just like one of them deranged vet fellers?

Hey buddy... you seeing anybody about that? Ummm... you're not armed, are you????

Heh.

*running away*

You know I'm in the middle of some serious mean today but I did go over and read some of the comments and I just shook my head.

What units are deploying? What units are going to get the specialized so and so armor?
Jesus Christ on a pogo stick.

No terrorists would ever really be interested in that, now would they?

And FWIW, I think they're being consistent.

DoD release concerning reserve units as an example,
the Army Reserve and the National Guard list each unit and give a state total for activated personnel but do not note which units are included in the state total.

USMC lists all of their reserve units and no numbers except the servicewide total of activated reservists.
You can't tell which units are being activated at all.

No fear Cassandra, I was armed this weekend, but no longer ... and you should be comforted by the knowledge that yours truely (and all the Hobbits of the Shire who deployed to Mordor) will once again go through a psychological screening sometime soon ... third time is the charm I guess (third time if you don't count the mailings and phone calls from the VA etc. to ask if I'm doing okay). I feel like the Chick character in Armageddon when he he freaks out during his screening ... I can deal with what I went through in Mordor, what I can't deal with is all the psychological screenings to 'help me' cope with what I went through.

Jesus Christ on a pogo stick? :)

Now THAT'S entertainment!

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's off to hell I go....

Oh, but Frodo... we want to know what you're feeling...

Feelings.

Nothing more than feeeeeeeeeeelllliiiiings
Trying to forget mahhhhhhh- ah - ahhhhhh
Feelings of luuuuuuuuuuuuuvv

Aiiiieeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sound of gunfire]

ARRRRRRRRRR

The would have had plenty of time to answer the question if they weren't too busy checking me out. I am responsible for most of the wasted time at most offices.

You ain't it, Miss Thang...

You just made me spit my drink out.

If Keira Knightly's Jaw posts, I *am* going to lose it.

To the junior Miss Knightley:
Neither are you but I am.
I am like fine wine and you are like just bottled concord grape juice.
You and J-Lo's posterior can take a hike. The adults are here. Playtime is ovahhhhhh!

To Miz C...
Fear not, the jaw is clenched.

I would defend Miss Knightley's Jaw, but like the Were-Penguins, I don't exist.

I know the feeling.

DLBS: Don't blame me cause I'm connected to the rest of J-Lo. I admit my limitations given my handicaps, but not in the history of Hollywood has one ass overcome so much mediocrity. I'm an adult in his world, but I'm being lead around by the playground.

*Has lost many hours to lectures on this subject*

*feels urge to smack the guy who replied to the blog and didn't tell them to contact the public affairs office--unless he was with the PAO*

*sighs because the Blog probably don't CARE that #1 is solidly OpSec, and the other three are possible security threats*

*wishes she'd thought of the Frodo shtick*

If the Corps wants you to know something...it will tell you. Otherwise, STHU, with all due respect.

Kiera Knightly, your chest is a pirate's nightmare; buried treasure. I am the Bosom To Die for. And if allus body parts were to join together, what would we look like? Remember, no one is More Important Than The Other, although
J-Lo's butt pretty much controls everything if she refuses to uh, vent on a regular basis.

So, she wins.

LLB
amateurs.

'wishes she'd thought of the Frodo shtick'?

Listen here Squidette, I'll have you know that Frodo is the real deal, not some 'shtick' ... so you best show some respect before the big hairy foot comes down on you!

And btw, Lindsay Lohan's Breasts are not what they used to be.

I'm with Frodo on this one.
"Does the new vest have any weak spots an opponent should target?"
"And what tactics will they use to clear buildings?"...

W
T
F

I should HOPE that the Marines would decline to answer those questions either for a blog OR for the LA Times..

Just a FWIW, but that fellow who opined that the DOD doesn't support blogs is all wet. I have personally be contacted by a PA officer at Centcom and asked to participate in blog-support program of Getting the Word Out.

Much smarter claim might have been "This command does not support blogs." But the wider assertion is simply witless, not to mention counter-factual.

M

OK, I am going to weigh in here.

*sigh*

CENTCOM has gone out of their way to support blogs, even to the point of asking us how they can better give us what we need to get the word out, WITHOUT it being perceived as a propaganda effort. They have asked us, "what do you WANT to hear?", NOT "what can we feed you?" I have traded emails with them and they have been beyond helpful. It really frosts me when people expect them to go all Hollywood. That is not what CENTCOM does, and personally if they start acting like that I for one will not be pleased. Slick is not what the military is good at, and that is why America still trusts us. Think about what you are asking them to do, people. They provide information. They don't put lipstick on pigs.

And IMAO, they really do not have to answer EVERY NOSY QUESTION WE ASK THAT VIOLATES OPSEC, FROM 10,000 INDIVIDUAL BLOGS.

Bloggers need to be reasonable and think about the fact that there are practical limits on what the military can (and should) do to support us in an information capacity.

I really hesitated to write this post because I thought I was going to get jumped on with both feet, both by military people and bloggers. Frankly I'm surprised I haven't been accused of being a mean-spirited poopy head officer snotty wife.

But there are different perspectives depending on where you live in the food chain and I just felt that I needed to provide the one from where I am sitting. I'm surprised I didn't get my head bitten off (yet)

Cass, I don't think you will get your head bit off from One Of Us who have either been in the service or who, for better or worse, became
the spouse of a service member.

I think where you will get the 'Why the heck not?' is from clueless civilians. Note that I did not say liberals.

Once again, J-Lo's Butt is literally begging for a spanking, Cricket.

Do you ever get the impression he... err... she enjoys this?

Yep. J-Lo's butt needs a spanking. She has been very cheeky lately, bouncing in and out of threads with a very jaunty air.