I would like to introduce a new guest author from the military side of the house. His name is Captain Bret Bellzio, US Army, and he has written an excellent little article in regards to today’s military and media relationship, and how to use new media as a way to tell the story of the soldier in war. Of course this is a constant theme over at Wired’s Danger Room, at Small Wars Journal, and you even see official military blogs popping up all over the place these days. The other day I even made a comment on the US Coast Guard’s blog, and I actually got a response back!
The key here, is connecting with the population and learning from and educating folks. It is about the interaction and connecting with others. For me, the blog is an essential tool for understanding my industry and making it better–pure ‘Kaizen’. I learn from you guys, and you learn from me and others that interact on Feral Jundi.
On another note, according Col. John Boyd, the way you defeat the enemy is you isolate him mentally, morally, and physically. In other words, you turn him into a closed system, and closed systems are not good because they end up destroying themselves out of sheer insanity.
The military, if it wants to be a learning organization and defeat our enemies, cannot be a closed system. And low and behold, good ol’ Mr. Lind has a wonderful article about such things as well. By the way, if you would like to contact Captain Bellzio, let me know and I will make that happen. –Matt
Edit: I have been informed by Mr. Pelton that he was not technically embedded with the SF during the time period the Captain mentioned, and I will pass that along to get it changed.
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“The Soldiers story, who should be telling it?”
By CPT Bret Bellzio
May 05, 2009
During the Cold War and even Operation Desert Storm both the media and the American population maintained a moderate interest in the military, its policies, and the issues service members faced. Both the media and the military followed their expected roles during this period and the quality of reporting was high.
Following September 11th interest in the military sky rocketed. Analyst of every caliber and experience populated the innumerable cable news shows. Every aspect of the War on terror was dissected. Americans had access to documentaries on everything from Al Qaeda to Special Forces and every organization in between.