Critics of what we do as milbloggers, especially the active duty ones, may question why we do what we do. What service does blogging provide? Who is our audience? What impact do we hope to have? I’d like to take a few moments and address some of these and others.

My blog’s purpose is not to provide a service, at least not originally. Any service provided by any of my writing is an unintended consequence. I think that people come here to get educated on topics related to the military with the understanding that we’re not necessarily experts on anything. I never profess to be an expert at anything nor am I highly educated person from whom people should seek important advice. I’m an opinionated Soldier who likes to offer up discussion and debate while providing MY experience.

The truth is that when I speak I don’t speak for anyone but myself. When I say that “many Soldiers” or “most Soldiers” agree with me, those comments are based on my personal conversations which are admittedly limited in scope. However, I do travel a lot and meet with many different Soldiers and military personnel during those trips. I converse via email with Soldiers from around the world – Korea to Germany to Iraq to Afghanistan and points in Africa. Solely based on those conversations, I formulate an unscientific, unaccredited opinion that is mine and mine alone. Any declaration that “most Soldiers” or “many Soldiers” feel the same way I do or not is merely an assumption based upon my experience. However, even in those circumstances, I don’t speak for anyone else.

What service do I provide? I really don’t care. To be very blunt about why I write at all – I write for me. It’s a very selfish purpose and probably the only selfish thing I do in my life. I spend 90% of my time taking care of other people, I’m entitled to a small percentage of time left for me. I write because it gets my mind off of other things and allows me to release some stress, frustration, anxiety, and sense of worthlessness I deal with on a daily basis. For some reason, people have decided that they want to stick around and hear what I have to say. I can’t imagine why as I’m no smarter, no more educated, and no more important than any of you are.

So, who is my audience? It’s very simple – me! At least, that’s my intended audience. Naturally, my audience is all of you and every so often I’ll address you in those posts. I don’t care how many people leave comments on this site. I don’t care how high my site meter goes in a month or year (though the milestones are fun to watch). Many of you are the silent majority who have better things to do and better bloggers to read than spend the time agreeing or disagreeing with me.

My intended impact of this site to tell the Soldier’s story. Sometimes it is told through my eyes and sometimes it is told through others’ eyes. As this site has progressed I have altered my original intent based on my audience. I recognize that many of you want to do whatever you can to support our troops to a higher level than just putting a magnet on your car. To meet that demand, I also publicize Soldier support individual, organizations, and businesses that support our troops. It’s important to me that these entities get the credit they deserve, whether they seek it or not. Some have contacted me privately to help and specifically asked that I not highlight their contribution because they don’t want publicity. I’ve honored those requests.

All the other crap that has come with being a blogger is an added benefit that doesn’t affect me as a person. I never thought in a million years that I’d be invited to the White House twice under two administrations. I never thought I’d meet the celebrities, military personalities and elected officials that I’ve met over the past six years. None of it has changed me, I don’t think. Emily might disagree with me on that and tell you that my head has grown to enormous proportions, but I try to stay grounded. And if it all went away, it wouldn’t faze me in the least.

I don’t subscribe to the school of thought that when you become a Soldier, you forfeit your rights that all Americans enjoy when you join the military. That would be preposterous at any level. If fighting to protect rights means we don’t get to enjoy them, then that philosophy should ideally be extended to our elected representatives as well. Our rights are not stripped, but they are slightly limited in our exercise of them. I also recognize that freedom of speech does not equal freedom from consequences. If I say something that will get me in trouble, then I need to pay the consequences. When Jenine Garofalo (sp?) says that Tea Party participants are “racist” and “redneck” she has every right to say that. But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t deserve to be called on it and suffer whatever consequences come of it at the box office.

We in this country need to come to a realization that we’re in fairly unchartered water these days. A blog is no different that Soldiers going to a bar or coffee shop and talking politics. The main difference is that the bar or coffee shop is virtual and open to anyone. None of you out there need to agree with my opinions on anything. But you MUST respect my right to have them. And if you don’t, I’ll still fight to protect your right to feel otherwise.

Let me just wrap this up with a few reminders. I really, really love this country; almost to the point of tears. I love our system of government where we can disagree with our leaders and not have to worry about getting executed or jailed (most of the time). I love the rights that are guaranteed to EVERY legal American that are contained in the U.S. Constitution and the values set forth in our Declaration of Independence. These are rights and values to which even Soldiers are entitled. I will not always say things that everyone agrees with.

I started this blog for MY self-interests and nothing more. I continue this blog for the same reason. But the added effect is a recognition that there are a lot of people who read this site for various reasons, among them accurate and specific information. You support me because you also love this country – or you’re more uneducated than I am and don’t know better.

Finally, I’m human. I make mistakes. I’m not always right and I tend to type too fast to get my point across as intended sometimes. Usually, I can count on you to correct those mistakes either publicly or via email. I’m not so self-absorbed that I can’t see my frailties and imperfections which are many.

I have priorities in my life. Those priorities start with God. Then they extend to my family. Nothing else will ever replace those priorities. Not my job, not my blogging, not my hobbies, not my friends, not my superiors, peers, or subordinates, and not my critics. I have two relationships in my life that I actively seek to strengthen on a regular basis – my relationship with my family and my relationship with God. I miss the mark often and piss them both off, but my drive is to always seek improvement.

The fact is that I seek improvement in everything I do. I didn’t get where I am in my life by sitting on the sidelines. I got here through hard work which has prematurely aged me beyond my mortal years. I got here through adherence to a strict principle of right and wrong, not debating various degrees of wrong. I also got here not putting too much stock into what people think about me. I am who I am and will change very little from here on out. My values will never change. They may get added to, but they will never be lowered.

The military is filled with honorable people. They are a diverse group from all walks of life: rich and poor, male and female, liberal and conservative, religious and non-religious, patriotic and benefit driven, and selfish or selfless. We have criminals and we have saints. We make mistakes and work hard to correct them. We constantly strive to do things better, more efficient, and more economical. But, we’re all bound by a code of conduct. We all have certain personal and institutional values we live by. And we don’t always agree with each other, but can always find that middle ground by separating our personal and professional lives. The day that we allow personal lives to affect our professional ones is the day that we should change our profession. Perhaps that time has come for some of us…