Band of Bloggers

What if I told you to film a one hour documentary on military bloggers, milbloggers, but told you you were not allowed to use the phrase dot com? Well that is exactly what the History Channel did.
I watched their presentation of Band of Bloggers last night and I don't recall a single time where they gave any of the people interviewed screen names or web site address of their blog. Now some of the folks I have heard of others I hadn't. So I will try to do what they didn't and give you some of the names and sites that go with the faces they presented.
One of their central members was a guy named Colby Buzzell who also wrote a book that they displayed on screen. So using that as a clue I decided to try and track down his blog. Okay so here is his Wiki page.
And I found his blog although most of the entries are now gone. It is entitled the same as his book My War: Killing Time in Iraq.

J D Johannes' blog is called Outside the Wire He is a former Marine and now spends his time as an embedded reporter still bringing home the stories of what is happening in Iraq.

And that unfortunately all I have been able to come with so far. I wasn't taking notes during the show so I don't recall the names of the other folks that appeared. And that is my point. They did a show about bloggers and either failed to comprehend what the main point was, mainly that regular soldiers could commit their thoughts to paper, or web pages in this case, and give their side of a story completely ignored by traditional media. The History channel then commits the same sin.
While I liked their interviews with the folks their failure to promote any resources for the blogs so that we can go read for ourselves left me very dissatisfied.
My central source for milbloggers is The Mudville Gazette.
See how that works. Anybody at the History Channel listening, er reading?
I was left with one sobering thought from one of the folks interviewed. He was a LT from 1-18 Infantry I believe, wish I could remember his name. Anyway he took a picture at a memorial service for 4 fallen soldiers from his unit. A LTC (Lieutenant Colonel), 2 CPT's (Captains) and a SPC (Specialist 4th Class). He said he still has the picture on the door of his office with the caption "What have you done for your country today?" The picture is one of the boots with the M16 thrust between them and the Kevlar resting on top with the dog tags of the deceased draped around them.
Tomorrow is Veterans Day. Remember those who serve.