reese's pieces

Today, the New York Times published a memo from a Colonel Reese, stationed presently in Baghdad. The memo title is “It’s Time for the US to Declare Victory and Go Home”…
See: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/world/middleeast/31advtext.html?ref=middleeast

Yikes. I’m not sure all the brass will be pleased about this and the President must be a bit perturbed. Call damage control…Scotty…we need more power. Strategic battle fatigue sets in?…folks have realized that this whole expedition and one to the east has been a bit empty in the “hey I’m proud to be an American” department. Have they issued Reese a one-way ticket to Fort Swampy as the new gate guard? Have they been able to secure the email server in Baghdad?

A few lessons for consideration:
- next time, no press
- no data spewing devices allowed in combat zones
- side with the insurgents next time
- fight only at night
- make it a short one…three weeks max (short ones do not require worthless strategic thinkers)
- release all prisoners in week three
- no book deals for veterans unless they give their royalties to support wounded and disabled veterans
- no parades
- no cheeseburgers in the combat zone
- no hot food in the combat zone
- no consultants

...soldiers on blogs

I think after today we may see the beginning of the end of soldiers on blog sites. Seems Colonel Reese had a blog…had as in it seems to have been swept…

This community of candor seems a bit too volatile for the professional defense employees. I know it’s interesting to interact with “the national will” element of power thing by writing here but like having digital cameras in firefights, it just doesn’t seem to be an essential piece of equipment. How do their employers, taxpayers, feel about their professional volunteer force spending time social-networking?