When Your Commanding Officer Finds Your Blog

CBFTW's My War has been the best soldier blog for some time, giving realistic, blunt, and detailed information about his operations in Iraq. Yesterday, his battalion commander found out. But despite CBFTW's fears of "latrine duty, being a Pvt again, loss of pay, or worse," things turned out okay:

He calmly looked up and told me that my shit was really good, and he liked reading my stuff, and that I was a good writer. He even mentioned something about including it in the units history and archives. That didn't relieve me one bit, like I said, it made me more freaked out. I'm waiting for him to say the word: "BUT" followed by my punishment. Then we discussed things, and he pointed things out, and told me things. I agreed with 100% of everything he was saying, and the final conclusion from what he told me was that I could continue writing, but maybe have my Plt Sgt read my stuff before I post. He stressed that he didn't want to censor me and that I still had the freedom of speech thing, as long as I wasn't doing anything that would endanger the mission. I totally 110% agree with him on that one. I thanked him and I told him that I of course would not want to do anything that would endanger anybody here or back home, which is of course true. He suggested that I should look into getting this stuff published and made into a book someday.

CBFTW still isn't sure whether he'll continue, knowing that his chain of command is reading. That's certainly understandable. Even when I had the pseudonym, I knew it was a thin protection, effective really only against Google. As such, I would be loath to ever blog about my work... I think the need for discretion is especially strong in the legal field, and in the military. Of course, soon enough I'll be both. It is wonderful to see that the battalion commander had a lot of respect for CBFTW's speech rights, and for the writing itself. CBFTW has provided an invaluable service, and I hope he finds a way to keep expressing himself.

UPDATE:Citizen Smash passes on some tips:

1. Don't violate OPSEC. Never name your unit, be vague about your location and mission, and don't use anyone's real name.

2. Be careful what you say about your seniors. Don't write anything about a superior in your blog that you wouldn't want that person to read back to you.

That's absolutely essential advice for any military blogger. But notice how well it would apply to a young associate in a law firm as well (minus the military jargon).