Andi's blog

Update added below fold.

I haven't had time to read the entire 79 pages of the Army's new OPSEC guidelines, which apparently cover uniformed personnel as well as civilian contractors and family members, however I have read this piece and it is cause for concern if some of Noah's characterizations are correct.

The U.S. Army has ordered soldiers to stop posting to blogs or sending personal e-mail messages, without first clearing the content with a superior officer, Wired News has learned. The directive, issued April 19, is the sharpest restriction on troops' online activities since the start of the Iraq war. And it could mean the end of military blogs, observers say. [...]

Occasionally I'm contacted by media organizations who want to tape an interview, usually when events occur which will impact military families. Right before the President's speech on the way forward in Iraq, I received some media requests. The aim was to come to my home, film me watching the speech and then interview me about my reaction to what was said. I have never done a television interview. Ironically, I think I would have accepted one of these invitations, but I happened to be out of town and not in Washington during the President's speech, so I was unavailable.

I farm these interviews out when possible. My husband calls me a "chicken" for doing this, and he's mostly right. When I'm contacted, it's usually because the outlet is looking for a "pro-victory" point of view and they know, obviously, that I represent that point of view. No doubt they already have the opposing view lined up. One of the reasons I'm leery of television interviews is because of ambush tactics such as those recently used against my blog mom, who was asked to appear on an ABC News show with another mother to discuss Iraq.

I arrived at the prescribed time, I put my earpiece in, got the microphone clipped to my sweater and the cord appropriately hidden. The New York producer and the director (or tech guy??) both spoke in my ear and I did the microphone test... 1, 2, 3, 4... 10, 9, 8, 7. I sat listening to the broadcasts and news feeds in my ear for a good 20 minutes, including a few on-air promos of the upcoming interview “with two military moms with their take on the President's State of the Union Address,” as well as the two lead-in interviews with two of ABC's female political reporters -- one in New York and one in D.C.

I'm thinking, Great. I have Hillary or Nancy in the other chair! Close. Turns out it was Barbara Boxer’s friend, Anne Roesler not to mention Nancy Pelosi’s darling. While there was a small legend that appeared and quickly disappeared under Ms. Roesler’s picture, turns out that Anne Roesler is no ordinary, average “military mom”, but a practiced anti-war speaker and writer -- AND HAS BEEN SINCE BEFORE THE WAR ACTUALLY BEGAN.