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JACK ARMY

Stand by for your daily briefing. Information about past, present and future events, activities and training experienced from your favorite NCO on the go.

Now, About Me

Question: What are three things your readers probably do not know about you?

That’s a tough one since I’ve blogged about so much, from education, to military experiences and training, to opinions on things such as religion, childrearing, politics, etc… I’m not sure that I’ve mentioned that I would love to be a writer. I’d love to make a living from it. Not sure that I have the skill or discipline, though. People don’t know that my middle name is a family name: Truett. It’s my father’s middle name as well as my great-grandfather’s. Pa-paw (my great-granddad) got his middle name from his mother’s maiden name if I remember correctly. That name dies out with me as I don’t have a male heir to pass it on to. People also don’t know that I have many little collections that are pretty pitiful. As a kid, I marveled at the various collections I saw and wanted one for myself: my grandmother’s spoon collection was the main inspiration. I tried collecting patches, marbles, coins, stamps, and many other things. All were miserable failures as collections and mostly served to frustrate me. It wasn’t until years later that I realized that the key to building a nice collection of anything was patience, something I had almost none of as a child.

Question: How long have you been blogging and why did you get into blogging?

I started my blog in February 2005. The first blog I ever saw was Wizbang! (http://wizbangblog.com//) and their post with the video of the Tsunami in December 05. I started reading other posts, clicking the links in their blogroll and discovered the wondrous world of the blogosphere. It was a magical time. So, after a few weeks of reading blogs, I felt like it was something I could do: it was writing, which I enjoy, but it was short blurbs instead of pages and pages of work. I had a lot of free time on my hands at that time so I decided to join the club and started JACK ARMY. I love blogging and reading blogs.

Question: What is your military experience?

I’ve been in the Army 18.5 years. I entered as a mechanized infantryman and my first assignment was in Germany. Good times. But I wanted more of a challenge so I tried out for Special Forces and was accepted. I spent a few years there before being assigned to recruiting duty. Now, I’m back in the infantry world and in Iraq. I’ve been to Airborne and Jumpmaster schools, SERE school, ANCOC as well as couple of the recruiting courses. I was taught to speak Polish while in SF and earned the parachutist’s badge from Poland and Germany. I’ve been to about 9 different countries and 20 or so states in the US either assigned there or for temporary duty.

Question: What are some of your other favorite Milblogs?

I enjoy several other Milblogs and check many regularly when I’m able. The one’s I always look at even if I only have a few minutes are Andi’s World (http://andisworld.typepad.com/welcome_to_andis_world/), Badger 6 (http://badgersforward.blogspot.com/), Countercolumn (http://iraqnow.blogspot.com/), Adventures of a Detailed Recruiter (http://detailedrecruiter.blogspot.com/), and Recruiting Tirade (http://recruitingtirade.blogspot.com/). Like I said, I check out many more, but those are a few of my regular reads.

Question:

What has been the biggest factor in helping you create and publish a successful blog? I’m not sure I would characterize my blog as “successful”. I don’t have a huge readership but I know there are a loyal few that check JACK ARMY often. Some are family (hi Katy!) and some are friends (hi Ernie!) but some are just folks that stumbled upon my blog and enjoy what I have to say. While I do blog about the military, and the Army in particular, a lot on my blog, I talk about a lot of other topics as well. I think one of the things that people like about my writing is that it is easy to read. I almost write like I talk and I’m able to make it flow easily. Of course, a generous portion of sarcasm gives it a bit of a sour twang, but the humbleness and truthfulness help take the edge off that bitterness.

Question: Do you have anything else you would like us to mention about you, your blog, or your readers?

Sure. I love blogging. If I could do it for a living I would. I love the Army, and luckily I’ve gotten to do that for a living for my entire adult life. I know the Army isn’t perfect, but it’s full of people that believe in the greatness of America and are willing to fight and die for the principles and ideals that make it a great place to live, work, play and raise a family. I have done so many things, gone many places and met many, many people that I would never have had the opportunity to do if it hadn’t been for the Army. Finally, thanks for this opportunity to share a little bit about myself and my blog. I don’t believe that I’m a great blogger, but I enjoy it and I’m thrilled that there are folks that find at least a little of what I have to say interesting enough to read and sometimes discuss.

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A car bombing took place in Iraq’s “Triangle of Death,” leaving at least four people dead and approximately two dozen wounded.The incident took place in the city of Iskandariyah, an area lying 30 miles south of Baghdad which has been the scene of numerous attacks - the majority of which have been blamed on Sunni insurgents.

But despite such incidents, top military leaders in Iraq are expressing cautious optimism.

U.S. and Iraqi officials say they’re seeing less violence since the start of last month’s security crackdown.

Read more at CBN.com

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Russia will take “military measures” to counter the U.S. plan to install a missile- defense system in Central Europe and the Caucasus, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov said.

“Expansion of that kind into the area which is absolutely right next to our borders is increasing the military potential in that area,” Losyukov said in an interview at the Foreign Ministry in Moscow yesterday. “Russia cannot but react to that increase.” He didn’t specify what measures Russia would take.

Read more at Bloomberg.com

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NORFOLK, Va. Mar 14, 2007 (AP)— The Navy temporarily lost communication with a submarine off Florida’s coast and sent ships and aircraft to search for the USS San Juan before the vessel was contacted early Wednesday, military officials said.

There were no problems with the Los Angeles class sub, based in Groton, Conn., and the Navy was investigating the incident, the Naval Submarine Force said in a statement.

Read more at ABCnews.com

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SC talks about his MilBlog Recruiting Tirade.

Question: What are three things your readers probably do not know about you?

This is hard.

1. I am really not a people person at all, which is odd being that I’m a recruiter.
2. I hate basketball.
3. The Army was my first job.

Question: How long have you been blogging and why did you get into blogging?

I am coming up on my 1 year mark. I got into blogging when I read an article about recruiter bloggers in the Army Times. I lurked for quite a while before I finally started one myself. It was mostly due to SFC B’s blog that I got into it. I guess you could call him my “blogfather” (kiss the ring). Being that his inspiration was Jack Army I guess that makes Jack my “bloggrandfather.”

Question: What is your military experience?

I have been in the Army for twelve years.

Question: What are some of your other favorite Milblogs?

My blogroll has gotten too big for me to be able to check all of them but my daily reads are SFC B, Jack Army , Guardsman, Hub, Urbangrounds, Blackfive, and Army Lawyer.

Question: What has been the biggest factor in helping you create and publish a successful blog?

Question: Successful?!? That’s funny. I’m far from successful. I have my loyal base of readers and every once in a while (read twice) I’ll get linked from one of the big guys but that’s about it. What limited success I have I would attribute to the fact that I very rarely write something and immediately post it. I usually sit on it anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks before posting it. Right now I have about 12 posts just sitting around waiting to be finished. Usually this helps but a lot of times it backfires especially when I try to right about current events.

Question: Do you have anything else you would like us to mention about you, your blog, or your readers?

I have experienced an immense amount of satisfaction by knowing that people actually read what I write. It boggles my mind that people read me. Oh yeah… recruiting is hard.

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Tacobelll talks about Sandgram.

Question: What are three things your readers probably do not know about you?

Three things…

1. Well see, my wife says I stink (tired bowels) but on the other hand that I’m very romantic.
2. I hate any professional sports. They are way OVERPAID.
3. I don’t like Beets.

Question: How long have you been blogging and why did you get into blogging?

I signed up for AnySoldier.com while stationed over in Al Asad Iraq and Marty allowed me to flourish on his site. That was back in Sept of 05 and then with the Help of Maj Pain over at One Marines View, I branched over to Blogspot. I have always enjoyed writing, it’s an outlet for me. My wife hates that I spend so much time reading all the other Blogs, but it’s the best way to catch up on current events.

Question: What is your military experience?

I flew KC 130’s on active duty, did recruiting duty for the last three years on active duty before leaving the service to fly for my Airline in 98. I missed the Marines and rejoined in Nov 04 with a recruiting station here in Texas before volunteering for duty in Iraq, Aug of 05. I’m back here flying the mighty KC 130T again.

Question: What are some of your other favorite Milblogs?

I read all the blogs linked on my site and then I like to surf through all of their links. I’ll end up going from Maj Pain’s all the way to Gunnutt’s.

Question: What has been the biggest factor in helping you create and publish a successful blog?

All the help from Maj Pain, trying to crack that code was kicking my butt. He would drop what ever he was doing to help out. I found that all the bloggers out there are the same and it’s awesome to know that if you needed help, everyone would bend over backwards to fix your problem.

Question: Do you have anything else you would like us to mention about you, your blog, or your readers?

All my stories either happened first hand to me or they were situations that were passed to me by a friend. I have to change the names to protect the guilty of course!! I just try to make folks laugh while sitting at their computer.

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WASHINGTON — American military planners have begun plotting a fallback strategy for Iraq that includes a gradual withdrawal of forces and a renewed emphasis on training Iraqi fighters in case the current troop buildup fails or is derailed by Congress.

Such a strategy, based in part on the U.S. experience in El Salvador in the 1980s, is still in the early planning stages and would be adjusted to fit the outcome of the current surge in troop levels, according to military officials and Pentagon consultants who spoke on condition of anonymity when discussing future plans.

Read more at LaTimes.com

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WASHINGTON — The Bush administration appears increasingly focused on undertaking a risky military rescue of three Americans held hostage more than four years by drug-trafficking leftist rebels in Colombia.

Current and former U.S. officials say the U.S. government has failed to engage in routine negotiations or take other diplomatic steps of the kind used in similar hostage situations.

Read more at Newsvine.com

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Andi talks about milblogging on Andi’s World.

Question: What are 3 things your readers probably do not know about you?

1. That I love old-style heavy metal music (Tesla, etc.), which is usually a big shocker for people when they find out.
2. That I hate the name of my blog, “Andi’s World,” but it’s too late to change it. I’ll probably be stuck with it forever. Almost daily, flashes of the movie, Wayne’s World come to mind. Party time. Excellent. Ugh… What was I thinking?
3. As much as I love my fitness program, if I could exist solely on dark chocolate, I would.

Question: How long have you been blogging and why did you get into blogging?

I’ve been blogging just over two years now. I accidentally stumbled across Mudville Gazette one day and began following the links. I was fascinated with what I found – a huge “virtual” military community. Two hours and countless links later, I had discovered the world of Milblogs and I was hooked. I thought I had something to offer and knew that I wanted to join the Milblog community, so I started Andi’s World.

Question: What is your military experience?

I’m the wife of an active-duty soldier.

Question: What are some of your other favorite Milblogs?

There are so many outstanding Milblogs. It’s difficult to choose just a few, but I love to read the blogs of those who are on the frontlines. There is no substitute for Boots on the Ground. I particularly enjoy Acute Politics, Badgers Forward, Bouhammer and The Fourth Rail (Bill Roggio). As a milspouse, I also understand that the homefront is always affected by the battlefield, so spouse blogs, like SpouseBUZZ, are an important part of the Milblog community. Mrs. G of Mudville Gazette is back with her Dawn Patrol, which is a great resource. Other daily must-reads for me include Milblogging.com, which hosts the largest index of Milblogs in the world, and Mudville’s “MilBlogs” site, which is a group Milblog and is constantly updated with interesting information and commentary. I visit dozens of Milblogs daily. It’s very hard to pick “favorites.”

Question: What has been the biggest factor in helping you create and publish a successful blog?

Persistence. Bloggers invest a lot of time in their work. Some days it’s easier to do so than others. For new bloggers, if you love blogging, keep at it. Although most of us don’t write for numbers alone, it can be discouraging if you think you have decent content and are writing about worthy topics but nobody is reading. Step away from the site meter for a while and just write from the heart. Persistence pays off.

Question: Do you have anything else you would like us to mention about you, your blog, or your readers?

I would just like to remind everyone that the 2007 MilBlog Conference will be held on May 5 in Arlington, VA. Please join us if you can. I also want to thank Lane for giving me the opportunity to participate in this blog interview.

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Francis Marion talks about his milblog Where I Stand!

Question: What are 3 things your readers probably do not know about you?

1. My name: I am still fighting terrorists and the last thing I want is for someone to start harassing or attacking my family. Beyond a select few who have been vetted, my name will remain anonymous.
2. I acquired personalized license plates for my bike. I will not advertise my plate number since it will make it easy to track it back to my name but I will say that I use a single non-English word that adequately expresses the freedom I feel when I ride.
3. I love a good challenge that gets my cognitive juices flowing. For example, while attending the Primary Leadership Development Course (PLDC) required for the rank of Sergeant in the Army, we were required to demonstrate our ability to lead a formation by properly giving every Drill and Ceremonies command a squad could perform. Rather than just going down the list numerically, I had to identify the order which would use each command only once and in the shortest time and space. I did it all in half a volleyball court.

Question: How long have you been blogging and why did you get into blogging?

My first blog posting was in 1995. Does this make me the first Milblogger? I created a photo journal after I returned from Haiti as an attempt to practice some html and web design. My domain name expired during my first deployment to Afghanistan and was acquired by a domain name pirate who tried to sell it back to me. It is still online in a subdirectory of the parent domain but I will not link it because it has too many pointers that can lead back to me.

My first post 9/11 blogging was by request of the America’s Army game program. I was asked to write about life in the army. I received some pretty good reviews. I added links to the original articles and posted a final few that they never got around to posting; you can find them on the side bar at my site.

I started Where I Stand while recovering from a motorcycle accident which left me unable to walk or work. I had been following GoldFalcon’s blogging at The Jump Blog and decided to give it a try. My initial excuse was to use it as some mental therapy to help me get over my post accident depression but I am pretty opinionated and it is really an excuse for me to express myself.

Question: What is your military experience?

I joined the National Guard at 17 and graduated from the Special Forces Qualification Course (SFQC) at 20. After a few years, I enlisted active duty and was assigned to the 3rd Special Forces Group for 5 years and participated in the Haitian (almost) invasion. I spent 2 years teaching at the SFQC before returning to the National Guard. I have deployed to Afghanistan twice and I am currently in the Philippines as an advisor.

Question: What are some of your other favorite Milblogs?

I usually start my day going down the list of links on my side bar but if I’m short on time, I typically hit BlackFive, Andi, and Barb; between them, I get a pretty good balance of news and socializing.

Question: What has been the biggest factor in helping you create and publish a successful blog?

Successful? You would have to ask someone else…

Ok, based on what little success I do have, my history and location contributes much of my success. Taking online classes with the University of Phoenix has greatly improved my writing abilities. But, my biggest effort comes from the way I develop my drafts. I don’t touch the hot/popular topics unless I have something unique and substantial to add to the discussion, and I will frequently spend a couple of days thinking about the topic and composing my rough draft in my head before I start typing. I choose my words carefully to ensure that I express my true intent.

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