Hello! I’m a friend of CJ’s stationed at Ft. Hood as well, but I’m on the main post side. More about me at the end. A few weeks ago, he told me that a poor excuse for a human being whom we shall call Michael Yon had publicly published his unit along with phone numbers to complain about CJ. Because he felt that Yon had needlessly endangered his unit by exposing something that CJ NEVER talks about openly – his unit – he needed to stop blogging.

I’ve only known CJ for about 18 months since he arrived at Ft. Hood, but as a blogger myself, we clicked instantly. However, I quit writing after my last deployment two years ago because of pressure from my unit – which I also won’t disclose. I’ve been following him since I read his story in the Army Times and agree with some of the points he brought about blogging as an active duty Soldier. Specifically, the comment he made the last time he felt compelled to stop writing that “Blogging is no longer worth the trouble.” Such was the case for me as well. I downloaded my Blogspot post to a word document and deleted it after I openly complained about the crazy rules we had to follow in Iraq like reflective belts and combat zones details that were just busy work.

When CJ asked if I wanted to write on ASP, my first instinct was “HELL, YES!” A Soldier’s Perspective is an icon among milblogs! Once my heart stopped racing, the despair sunk in that blogging brought last time and I respectfully declined. Then, he sent me an email and asked if I ever thought about just blogging under an alias. I thought about it for a week and asked some follow-up questions:

* Can you guarantee me complete anonymity? “To the extent that you want to be anonymous. Obviously, the more details you give about yourself or what you do, the less anonymity you would have,” CJ told me. “But, to the extent that I or Cat5 have control of it, NOTHING will be released about you. I don’t want you targeted by Michael Yon the way I was.”
* Can I use profanity? “I’d prefer you didn’t, but I’m not going to censor you,” CJ replied. “My vision was always that ASP was a place ANYONE could go, regardless of age, even though the subject matter was adult in nature. Personally, I don’t use profanity in real life, so I made it a standard on ASP.” He gave me permission to “be myself” but to keep my infantry tongue as reigned in as possible.
* Will I get paid? “No.” He doesn’t usually answer in one word responses, so I just moved on!
* What can I write about? “Whatever you want.” Gays in the military? “Sure, but if you’re gay keep your bedroom antics to yourself.” Then, he laughed his butt off!! Barracks Ranger games? “Just keep it clean to the extent possible.” The composition of horse manure at its various stages? “Why not? Look, just write about whatever you want whether it’s military related or not.”
* You sure I can’t get paid? No response, just that look that a Master Sergeant gives a Staff Sergeant when he’s just asked what the form number is for a counseling statement!

About me:
As you can tell from my last question, I’m an active duty Staff Sergeant, but I’m promotable and hoping my number comes up this summer! I’m infantry. I’m single. That’s all the details you’re getting out of me. CJ and I are deploying at about the same time, but to different places. I’m not comfortable saying where yet, though I know it’s not classified. Anyone that reads the Army Times knows which units are deploying when and where approximately.

I’m also from Texas, but I’m from San Angelo. I plan to retire after this next deployment and stay in the Killeen or Austin area as a contractor. There aren’t a LOT of options to infantry bubbas that translate into civilian service, but I’m hoping that I can get a good job on a SWAT team somewhere driving the armored vehicle!

Other than that, I’m just happy to be here. I don’t know how much I’ll write, but CJ said to write like I own the place – as little or as much as I want. I guess I’ll write more as I get comfortable and depending on the feedback. What do YOU want me to write about?

I’ll also try to include a military photo in every post just so that I can liven the place up with more color! Most of them will be infantry related. Obviously, this one is of a Marine, but I love this picture by LCpl Daniel Wulz.

Marines of Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, patrol in Safar, Helmand province, Afghanistan, April 15. The Marines, Afghan police and interpreters hand out candy to children of the village to gain the trust and confidence of locals.