http://www.military.com/blog/tankerbrothers#blog3

The Hardest Post I've Ever Had to Write...
Oct 25, 2006

This is, without a doubt, the most difficult thing I have had to write, in terms of this Blog. I'm not going to mince words with you: TankerBrothers is about to go away. Make no mistake, it has nothing to do with not wanting to Blog anymore: on the contrary, this has been a labor of love for me. I started this blog with one goal, and only one goal: to let the American Public know what was REALLY going on in Iraq. I wanted to tell people about the War being won in the streets of Baghdad, and in the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people. Unfortunately.... sometimes things don't always work out the way we want them to. As my readers know, my little brother has already deployed to Iraq, and I'm literally on "the countdown" to when I get on a plane to join him. There was nothing more that I wanted to do than to continue this site, and even "kick it up a notch", since I would once again be on the ground. With the new OPSEC paranoia, though, I don't think I would have the opportunity. The DoD is cracking down on MilBlogs, and I wouldn't be able to continue Blogging and still be compliant with AR 25-1, the Army's Regulation governing Personal Websites. With the "running out" of local commercial Internet Service Providers in Iraq, the only bandwidth available to me would be government-owned. AR 25-1 states that I cannot use government time or resources to maintain a personal Web Site. That means that TankerBrothers has to go into hibernation for a while. Now, unofficially speaking, I think the DoD is making a huge mistake crippling the MilBlog movement. MilBlogs have been instrumental at keeping the American Public informed, and getting the good news of the War on Terror out to people that would otherwise never hear it. And the American public is hungry for news like that. The American public is starving for news like that. Instead of embracing the movement, instead of helping MilBloggers fight the IO war home and abroad, using their own words and their own experiences, the powers that be have decided instead to put up as many roadblocks as possible to silence the movement. Many can site First Amendment protections to try and keep the movement alive, but let's be honest. As a Soldier, I'm here "to defend Democracy, not practice it." I have a job to do, and if what I have to say, MilBlogging my thoughts, insights and experiences, has been identified as an OPSEC risk... then I will not put the lives of my fellow Soldiers at risk. That's one thing I won't do. It really ticks me off, too, considering we're now on the Military.com Blog page, we're "up there" at Milblogging.com, and we're consistently in the top ten in the BestMilitarySites.com rankings. The funny thing is that we've been featured more times than I can count on "Stand-To" a US Army-published "Early Bird" for US Army Senior Leaders. Hilarious, I know. So, here's the deal: I'll still find a way to email posts to someone to keep it "going", but I don't expect anyone to hang around. It will mostly just be "I'm still alive, don't worry" stuff, but it will just serve to keep the Blog active and not canceled. I honestly don't expect anyone to stick around. When I get back from Iraq, then I'll start it back up again, on my bandwidth and my time. By then, I'll have to start gathering up readers, just like I did over the course of the last few years. I wish it didn't have to be like this, but I really don't know anything else to do. Any suggestions? So, that being said, I've decided that Veterans Day will be my "Goodbye Posting", signing off until I get back from Iraq. Unfortunately, Veterans Day will also be the last day (as far as Tanker Brothers is concerned) of the Rolling Victory Fast. We've made a huge statement with the RVF, and I want you all to be proud of it. Not only did we keep it going long after the Hollywood Nutjobs quit, but we even outlasted Code Pink and Crazy Cindy Sheehan. And I think if we had the opportunity, we would have kept it going forever. I've really made some great friends from the ranks of my Tanker Brothers and Sisters out there. I'd love to keep in touch with each and every one of y'all. Maybe I'll come up with an email list so I can shoot updates to y'all while we're "in the sandbox". I know that Nelly, my Soldiers Angels sponsor/Little Sister, will have our "real" names/addresses while we're in Iraq. You have no idea how emotional I am right now, and that's kind of hard to admit for a crusty ol' Tanker. I'm going to miss reading the comments of each and every one of y'all. So... any suggestions? I came up with a couple of things, but they aren't really up to me: 1. Turn TankerBrothers over to the readers. Give the core group (you know who you are) authoring rights, and step back and leave it in your care. (This is the only way I can think of to avert The End as we know it) 2. The aforementioned one-year hibernation. 3. Email-only updates, and people sign up for the email list. I don't know... my mind is pretty jumbled right now. PLEASE...let me know what y'all think. In the meantime, if you have no idea what I'm taking about (the situation that brought us to this point), you should really read: Blog Of War Is Now Camo Another Milblogger Bows Out US Army watching blogs P.S.: I'm also emailing this post to my new "good buddies" at CENTCOM Public Affairs, the Milblogging.com Webmaster, and anyone else I can think of. But honestly... I don't think CENTCOM, MNC-I, or even the DoD are going to change their policies for one little Milblog. Or two little Tanker Brothers. (They don't get it. They just don't get it.) [Edit: read a Tanker Sister's Response HERE]