Disclaimer and the skinny…
Here’s the skinny and the low down.
The other day Mr. Hooah! posted an article about Obama. Stand To, an Army information page for leaders, linked to the article. Stand To has linked to many of my articles over the past year. The majority of the articles they have linked to written by me have been articles of a family support nature about Mike’s deployment and articles I wrote about Mr. Hooah’s! time in OCS and about his injury. This article, apparently ruffled some feathers because Mr. H! criticizes Obama’s military and foreign policy statements.
A writer with WaPo decided to blog about Stand To’s decision to link to Knee Deep in the Hooah! and he linked to my blog in the process. I responded twice at the WaPo blog and remained respectful, but I was not given the same courtesy here. People are confused so let me set the record straight and then I intend to move on. I am not linking to sources here because I really do not want to perpetuate this crap. I simply want to clear up some misunderstandings that seem to be held by some folks.
#1. I am a private blogger. Knee Deep in the Hooah! was started on April 7, 2007 which was the day my son both turned 22 and landed in Kuwait. My blog was first and foremost intended to keep family in touch and to keep them posted on Mike’s deployment. It grew. I listed myself with Milblogging.com in hopes to network with other parents of deployed military members. This was also at the time when my husband joined and was in BCT and OCS. I was hoping to meet military wives too. Milblogging.com did just that for me. It got my blog noticed by other wives and mothers and it helped me find their blogs. I started writing articles about the difficulties I was facing, emotionally and mentally, with both my husband and son gone… one in Iraq as part of the surge and one in TraDoc and unreachable. At some point someone from Stand To linked to me and they have linked to me several times in the past. I hope this continues in the future and that this fiasco does not prevent them from linking to my family support entries in the future.
#2. This blog, the domain name, the writing, and everything contained with in these pages is mine. It is all private property and has never been paid for with a single tax payer’s dime (other than my own!) I am not in the military and never have been. My husband is not currently serving due to an injury (and really this is a besides the fact and I will get to it in a moment). I am only stating these things to state loud and clear — NO AUTHOR ON THIS BLOG IS CURRENTLY SERVING IN THE ARMED FORCES OF THE US. We are private citizens writing a private blog and exercising our own right to free speech (goes both ways there, doesn’t it?)
#3. Stand To did not break any Army policies by linking to this blog and the article that Mr. H! wrote. The Army’s website “Stand To” is a clearing house of information from various sources. It provides military leaders with a quick glance of various opinions, news sources, articles, and there is a section called “What’s being said in blogs.” The blog section is a cross section of milbloggers and military family blogs. There is always a wide range of opinions. The Army links to these blogs as a sample of what is being said… they do not in any way, shape or form influence the opinions of the bloggers, pay the bloggers to say what they say nor do the endorse any of us at all. They do not tell us if or when they link to our blogs. We have no contact whatsoever with Stand To and their staff. Saying that “Stand To” somehow endorsed a political statement by linking to a private citizen’s blog entry regarding his concern about a Candidate’s ability to lead us militarily is absurd. Once again they were simply linking to a cross section of opinions held by both private citizens and sometimes military members who are writing about military related things — either out of personal interest or out of a vested interest like being a military family. If you have further questions about the Army’s policies, please write to the Army. I do not speak for them. I am only stating what I have come to know about the “Stand To” page by reading it myself. Thank you.
#4. If you come to my blog and want to engage me or Mr. Hooah! in discussion that is fine, but you will follow my comment policies and regulations. This is my private blog and I have the right to delete, alter, and do whatever in the heck I feel like doing to your comments. I will always leave a note when a comment has been changed and I will leave the reason why — I’m just considerate that way. Watch your mouth, stop the stupid sophomoric insults, and know this… all threats will be taken seriously and will be sent to the proper authorities. Get over yourselves. I will talk reasonably with anyone who talks reasonably with me. If you are just a snarky jerk with nothing of substance to say then move along and make your own blog. It’s your right to own a blog where you too can write your opinions and ideas. It works both ways. Knock yourself out!
Now for the quick aside I mentioned earlier: There have been a couple of comments that I really need to address. The first one is the asinine assumption that soldiers are supposed to remain perfectly neutral in politics. That’s a load of crap. If that were true then soldiers wouldn’t be allowed to vote! You have to know your bias and your stances in order to make decisions in the voting booth. Soldiers, the enlisted, the NCOs and the COs, are all entitled to their political opinions and have the same rights that you and I enjoy in expressing those opinions. Like you and I they are not allowed to express those opinions on the job or while in their uniform. That is not the same as them not being allowed to have opinions or state them publicly. Soldiers blog too, and there are many milbloggers who are for Obama and who are against Obama. There were many for Clinton and many against Clinton. They are allowed those opinions. We need our military members to participate in democratic elections. Their votes are just as valuable as any other private citizens’.
The second comment that needs to be addressed is a comment left here in the Obama thread where a commenter said something to the effect of “I pay your paycheck through my tax dollars… blah, blah, blah…” Shut up. I hate to bring this little bit of information to light for you, but ALL SOLDIERS PAY TAXES TOO BUDDY! Yep, they perpetuate their own paychecks. Pretty darned cool, eh? So, the next time you are talking to a soldier in uniform and you are tempted to use that comment I hope you remember that it is stupid, rude and erroneous too. I have heard this one used one too many times to try and silence service members. You do not own them, and most certainly you do not have the right to silence them!
The comments on this blog will be turned to moderated mode tonight. Please send your notes of love or hate to claire AT kneedeepinthehooah.com If I care I will send a note back. If I don’t care, I won’t.
You go girl! Write what you want. I’ll defend your right, as an American, to say whatever you want (well, almost).
My family has served in most every war this nation has fought (French&Indian, Revelotionary, Mexico, Civil War, WW I, WW II, Korea, Vietnam (me & 2 brothers), and both Iraq).
I disagree with your statement on Obama, but, say what you want.
Thank you James. That is fair! I too believe that people have the right to disagree with me — well except for my little one when it comes to bed time. The soldiers I know, and this includes my husband who wrote the article, would fight to the death to defend any American citizen’s right to have a contrary opinion to his own. That’s what practicing free speech is about. It’s about speaking your convictions and defending your neighbor’s right to disagree — you just don’t have to buy him a bull horn, he can buy his own!
Freedom means speak your mind what ever it is, if you don’t like Obama is your choice, but if you want to write your opinion you should use FACTS, not just repeat other personal opinions based on ideology and plane lies.
I pray your son is safe and I respect all the Brave man following orders with conviction, but the men in the air conditioned rooms really don’t have his best interest in mind, nor your family’s and certainly not the Coutry’s
I happen to think Obama is an honest Patriot, trying to do his best. I have not seen anything whatsoever to the contrary, I am a news junkie, I listen and read all points of views, and that’s how I form my own opinion.
You should not base your opinions with just one side of the story. Be willing to listen.
Only Jesus holds the absolute truth.
Be safe, and thank you for your and your families service.
Jose, thank you for your response. I think that we will just have to agree to disagree in regards to Obama. I am not going to accuse you of not reading for yourself or following blindly, and I would encourage you to understand that just because we disagree it does not mean that we have not read, listened, kept our minds open — it means that we have come to a different conclusion than you. I do listen closely. I do pay very close attention. The lives of people I love more than anything in this world depend greatly on the decisions made by the person sitting in that office. I do not take that lightly. Ever.
With that said, thank you again for stating your response. I appreciate that you took time to write that out, and that you were able to disagree, make your points and remain so respectful. I really do appreciate that.
{{{{{{{{{{{{{{Claire}}}}}}}}}}}} I may not be an American (shocker, I know…lol) but I will always stand with you.
As you say, people who “pay attention” and find themselves coming to different conclusions from yours, can always go start their own blog. They really are wasting their energy coming to blogs such as yours, and being rude and ignorant on a PRIVATE, non-taxpayer-funded site.
HOO-frickin-AAH!
CARRY ON!
Hey Claire:
Are you scared to post this retired USMC LtCol’s comments?
Don’t my 21 years count for something?
Sermper Fi
Hooah
dumbmarine
I’m not for censorship of any kind, I very much respect the military, and I certainly want you to keep speaking your mind.
That said, I’m not sure it’s helpful to claim that private citizens are “stupid” and “erroneous” when they state that their taxes fund war, and therefore they have grounds criticize, or applaud, any part of it.
It’s rude, absolutely, to marginalize the opinions of servicemen because of it, and it is absolutely no excuse for telling them to “shut up,” but in my opinion it’s equally rude, in exactly the same manner, to tell private citizens to “shut up” because we all pay taxes.
Here’s where I stand: We all pay taxes. So we’re all entitled to our opinions about their use. And we’re all Americans, and we’re all entitled to those opinions.
dumbmarine — I have stated in more than one place that the comments are off (or are being held for moderation). I can not leave my comments open right now because there seems to be a lot of people who think that I owe them a soap box or forum. It’s my blog and I will post the comments when I am ready and I will post the comments that don’t violate my posting policy. I did post your comment. Thank you.
Mark, I have no problem with a private citizen criticizing the war or the tax dollars being spent on the war. If you would go back and read carefully what I said I was speaking to ONE situation and ONE comment. I have heard that comment made to soldiers (my own soldier has heard this crap come out of the mouths of people). It is stupid and erroneous for a citizen to think that a soldier is not allowed to have his/her own opinions because that tax payer “pays your paycheck.” It is an elite “I’m your master” attitude. Tax payers do pay into the military and I never said they did not… tax payers do not own military members and have no right to try and silence them. When I said “shut up” I guess it was my way of saying that kind of controlling and manipulative talk isn’t going over on this blog. They can say it where ever they would like, but not here.