Blogosphere and Social Media Report 20 - 26 March 2010 List of Blogs Mentioned in this Report Blog Type Blog Name No. Top Posts 100* Wired.com/Dangerroom 2 y Blackfive 1 Michael Yon 1 Small Wars Journal 5 Attackerman 7 Mudville Gazette 1 This Ain‘t Hell 10 Military War Is Boring 2 Source: I Want to Wear MultiCam Too! Armchair Generalist 1 Spouse Buzz 1 Marjan Adil, the Chapa Dara District sub-governor, shakes hands with U.S. You Served 3 Army Capt. Kevin W. Hutcheson, of From My Position…On the way 1 Reno, Nev., the commander of Company A, 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry KiT Up! 2 Regiment, Task Force Lethal, during a The Corner At National Review 1 visit to the Chapa Dara District center, March 15. International Security Huffington Post 9 Assistance Forces held a meeting with Daily Kos 1 the sub-governor and delivered Think Progress 3 materials to improve the defensive perimeter around the center, which is Pajamas Media 1 located in eastern Afghanistan's Kunar Political The Atlantic 3 province. Weekly Standard 1 The Daily Beast 1 Stripes Central 1 Mainstream ABC News Political Punch 2 Media *These blogs were listed on the Technorati Top 100 Blogs list as of 17 Feb 2010. **Note: The Tier 1 blog memeorandum.com is not listed above. Key Highlights A total of 60 blog posts were sourced from 20 March – 26 March 2010, with the majority of blog posts falling within the Comments on News category, and two entries falling within the News Generators category. There were 59 balanced and one critical blog posts this week. The critical entry discussed a photograph of Capt. Tejdeep Singh Rattan, in relation to the Army‘s policies and regulations on turbans and uniforms of Sikh Soldiers (Sikhs Given Preferential Treatment). In line with coverage from previous weeks, the top issues in the blogosphere focused on the ―Don‟t Ask, Don‟t Tell‖ policy, and Gen. Petraeus and CENTCOM‘s report to the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) on Israel. Some other topics of interest in the blogosphere during the week included: a Washington Times report claiming that Stanford University will reconsider its 40- year-old ban on the Army‘s ROTC program discussed on This Ain’t Hell; the new MRAPs and their use in Afghanistan; and the new MultiCam uniforms. Executive Summary Part 1: Blogosphere Overview *Note: For an explanation of the term ‘Overall Blog Site Reactions’ or ‘OBR,’ please see the Report Overview section provided at the end of the report. Similar to coverage from previous weeks, the Top Issues focused on the ―Don‘t Ask, Don‘t Tell‖ policy, as well as Gen. Petraeus and CENTCOM‘s remarks on the U.S. involvement in Israel. Discussions of DADT covered various aspects of the issue. Several bloggers touched upon recent news of Lt. Dan Choi who was arrested last week for chaining himself to the White House‘s gate, in protest of the policy. Some bloggers commented that Lt. Choi‘s act undermined his own cause by creating a publicity stunt (DADT Don't Be A Douche, Dissent Of The Day, Ctd). Other bloggers discussed Sec. Gates‘ announcement on changes to the implementation of DADT: ―The first modification mandates that only general officers (brigadier or higher) can initiate an inquiry into whether or not someone violated DADT...The second modification attempts to prevent someone from being discharged under DADT for being outed by a third-party…I personally support this change 100 percent (New Policies Regarding DADT). Additionally, ABC News Political Punch focused on Lt. Gen. Ben Mixon who is ―in hot water with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Adm. Mike Mullen after publicly challenging proposed changes to ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ in a letter to the editor of ‘Stars and Stripes’” (Secretary Gates, Admiral Mullen Rebuke Top Army Officer Over 'Don't Ask Don't Tell'). The topic of CENTCOM‘s presentation in front of the SASC remained visible in the blogosphere this week. ABC News Political Punch emphasized Gen. Petraeus‘ remarks on the issue, saying that ―Comments attributed to him on the Foreign Policy blog on March 13th—that ‘Israeli intransigence…was jeopardizing U.S. standing in the region’—were simply inaccurate‖ (The Petraeus Pushback: General Says He Never Made Those Statements on Israel). A blogger from This Ain’t Hell highlighted an issue related to Sgt. Matthis Chiroux, who served in the Army until being honorably discharged last summer after over four years of service in Afghanistan, Japan, Europe and the Phillipines. Chiroux recently made news for burning the American flag in front of 2 the White House, while protesting the war in the Middle East. The blogger expressed his disapproval of Chiroux‘ actions: ―We’re talking about a guy who calls himself an Iraq veteran without setting foot in Iraq. A guy, who last year said he would have served in Afghanistan if the Army had given him a choice, but now leads an organization committed to ending the war in Afghanistan‖ (IVAW‘s Executive Director on burning the flag). In terms of Blog Tonality, the single critical entry during the week addressed a photograph of Capt. Tejdeep Singh Rattan, who recently became the first Sikh Soldier to complete the Officer Basic Training Course at Fort Sam, Houston. In the picture, Rattan is wearing a turban and has a long beard, which upset one blogger from You Served: ―If requests for accommodation will not be entertained, why is the Army relaxing its standards and violating its own regulations on religious headgear?…I think the Army has made a huge mistake bending the rules for TWO individuals. There is a reason the military has standards. The Army is not a faith-based organization, it’s a well-oiled combat machine! If your religious beliefs contradict with our doctrine, standards, and/or regulations I say find another job! In this economy, we aren’t hurting for people wanting to serve‖ (Sikhs Given Preferential Treatment). Executive Summary Part 2: Lines of Effort (LoE) The majority of blog posts fell within the Other Line of Effort (LoE), the result of blog discussions focusing on the DADT repeal and Gen. Petraeus‘ concern for resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict. Blog entries on DADT came from the top-ranking blog site The Huffington Post, as well as from Mudville Gazette, The Atlantic, Blackfive, This Ain’t Hell, Attackerman, Think Progress, ABC News Political Punch and The Daily Beast. Also within the Other LoE, a notable blog entry in Armchair Generalist discussed the Pentagon‘s assessed danger that Wikileaks.org posed to the Army. Julian Assange, the editor of WikiLeaks, stated: ―It contains the analyst’s best guesses as to how the information could be used to harm the Army but no concrete examples of any real harm being done‖ (You Can't Stop The Signal). 3 Within the Equip and Train Soldiers LoE, Kit Up! compared the plastic PMAG to the aluminum ‗Improved Magazine‘: ―Through testing, we know that the aluminum magazine is the most durable magazine there is for its weight. We also know that certain plastics do not work in all operational environments. In extreme cold, they can crack. When you expose them to different types of lubricants and things, they can corrode‖ (Army Could Be Open To PMAG Buys). A notable entry within the Strategic Environment LoE discussed the U.S. and ISAF‘s decision to not eradicate the opium crops in Kandahar, Afghanistan, for fear that destroying the crops will impoverish the farmers and negate the legitimacy of the government (Want To Buy Some Opium?, Huffington Pos). Within the Soldiers and Families LoE, You Served discussed the Army‘s decision to no longer charge Soldiers with leave when they visit home during deployments. Sam Retherford, director of officer and enlisted personnel management, stated this change is ―an additional benefit specifically for those servicemembers deployed to the most arduous combat areas‖ (Free Leave For Troops). Social Media Weekly Snapshot BuzzGraph shows a visual summary of ‘buzz’ around the searched query - by listing words that appear frequently along with the search query. Association between different keywords is represented by connections between them, which can be bold, simple, or dashed - based on the strength of association. Strongly related words, which frequently appear together, have darker connections between them. From 20 to 26 Mar, the BuzzGraph of an Army-specific search term query yielded the results below, which were taken from an array of social media sites. This week, the Buzzgraph primarily drew data from the top-ranking social networking site, Twitter. An array of search terms appeared most frequently in relation to the Army this week, including terms associated with: the Afghanistan war, US Army officials visiting Apple Inc. headquarters to discuss technologies, and the alleged plot by Fort Jackson Muslim Soldiers. Additional Twitter ‗buzz,‘ or ‗tweets,‘ included mentions of US Army Buffalo Soldiers, earthquake relief efforts in Haiti, and Soldier honors. The nature of Army mentions and reposts, or ‗retweets,‘ on Twitter did not follow any notable trend this week. 4 Comments on Blog Posts* * Note: The content of the blog reports is provided in its original unedited form, as posted on the site. ―I have a problem with this. I also have a problem with the NYNG rabbi retaining his beard and the story the Army Times ran a few years ago about the muslim female who wore her hijab from basic training on. It seems that we, for the sake of diversity and numbers, are too willing to give some more ‗individualism‘ than others.