Rules of Engagement

So I mentioned to a few people that I was going to write a blog during my deployment to Kuwait for the Navy.  Most said the same thing your elderly grandmother might say to you, "Oh, isn't that nice", and moved on without giving it a second thought.  A few asked what it might include (good question!) and one had an interesting reaction.  "Oh!", he said.  It was not the kind of "oh" you would give a particularly cool firework, not even the kind of "oh" you would say after a big hit on the ice or football field, it was more like the kind of "oh" you give when it is your turn to get your 2-year-old up from a nap and you find a large diaper surprise that has been fermenting pretty much since the beginning of the nap.

That kind of "oh" will give one pause, and he subsequently offered some good words of advice on whether or not a blog was the right choice for me.  I admit I had not fully thought out the whole blog thing.  I had some notional reasons for taking it up - I want to continue to work on my writing style, for instance.  Writing is a muscle that needs to be exercised, and restricting myself to official Navy writing will be akin to only doing tricep dips for 8 months.  I am going to be very good at nonconcurring with SNMs correspondence SUBJ: PFA FAILURE 2ND CYCLE 2012 but maybe not so great at good ol' reg'lar writin'.

I would also like to communicate better.  One of the things that I admired about some past Navy Commanding Officers and that I ultimately adopted was that they issued a written command philosophy, and one of my main points in my own command philosophy is that we can't over-communicate.  I would far prefer to have to screen the noise than to never have it transmitted to me.  This blog is an attempt to communicate what is happening to me, because it is a fairly limited population that can talk knowledgeably about the Navy in general and the Navy Customs mission in particular.  Hopefully I can effectively communicate things so the audience can understand a little bit of that very, very, very specific topic.  My brother-in-law Joe is an inspiration there, his weekly takes on his life in China have been must-read material.  I also intend to share some of the things that interest me, for instance there are some great military blogs out there that I follow closely and folks might do well to look at them every once in a while.

But who is the audience?  Well, I suppose it is the people that care about what is happening to me, primarily my immediate family (hi kids!) and close friends.  I suppose it might grow wider to Facebook friends or coworkers, and if they like to read it then that will be great, but my inner voice will be talking to the people that are close to me.

One obstacle is that the Navy has published guidelines for social media.  There are the typical rules - don't publish classified info, make sure it is clear that these are your opinions and not that of the Department of Defense, don't bring dishonor to yourself or the Service, etc.  Then there is one that gives me pause - don't post information that can compromise mission security or success.  The governing term is OPSEC - Operations Security.  It means I have to be vague: no specific numbers or durations, no specific details about some of the training I will go through, that sort of thing.  Ultimately that makes the job of communicating things to the audience a little tougher, but please understand that this is not negotiable.

I hope to get to this at least once a week, but who knows what time and connectivity will be like as I move through the pipeline.  Comments are welcome.