The SandGram

Some Writers need to understand OPSEC

Folks, I have sat back and watched an interesting fight evolve between Michael Yon and a group of mil bloggers who I like and admire.  The latest post by Yon on the weaknesses of a certain base in Afghanistan in my opinion is irresponsible and Yon being a former Army guy should know better!  Mr. Greyhawk from the Mudville Gazette is a guy I believe to possess a slow burn when it comes to his temper but this latest post by Yon about releasing prisoners has him torqued while his 3CAB post has others fuming, and I mean pissed off rightly so.

 I had one tour in Iraq in 05 next to Fallujah and if I were to point out soft points of that base or my base on my web page at that time, I would be up on charges.  All the people who support him with money might as well start giving it to Green Peace because I doubt that this guy will ever see another embed EVER!!

 While I was in Afghanistan in 08, I was stationed in Kabul, but I always wrote about being in Kandahar for safety reasons.  OPSEC rules are in place for a reason and for the supporters of Mr. Yon who don’t understand this; it’s to keep folks from dying.  He could have easily edited the email deleting the key notes to keep the bad guys from even guessing its whereabouts and then contacting the command with this info.  He chose to spray and pray this errant email on his site with no consideration for the consequences of the guys over there.  It’s easy to drop a dime when you know that you will never feel the effects of it while you get foot massages in Thailand. 

For any of you parents out there with children serving in Iraq or Afghanistan and you hear that any reporter who would publish info like this on a public site like Facebook, and is going to join their outfit as an embed, I strongly urge you to write to the commands and beg them to reconsider. I want everyone to know this is coming from a Marine Officer whose greatest concern was getting a Marine or Soldier hurt by what I wrote. Safety folks, there is a war out there with real bad guys who would love nothing more then to cut the head off your son, brother, sister, or dad.

 Semper Fi, Taco

UPDATE on M.Y.

Folks, I was at the beach with the family when I discovered that Mr. Greyhawk and CJ had sent bogus emails to Mr. Yon pretending to be soldiers over in the war and it appears that Mr. Yon published these letters with no fact checking at all of the sources.  This makes me chuckle a bit as I think of what hate he must have for those guys now.  I am a nobody, thus haven’t been singled out for attacks by his masses which is fine by me, but a buddy Chuck over at TCoverride has put a letter out to his fans that really shows a lot of restraint and thought… Please enjoy his piece, I think he’s a poet!

Tags: gullible, Mr. Yon, Mudville Gazette, OPSEC, Security, Yonbots