The British army is creating a special force of social media soldiers to wage digital warfare. The 77th Brigade will be based at Denison Barracks near Hermitage, Berkshire and will begin operations in April. 1,500 keyboard commandos, half of them reservists, will battle on many fronts, from Facebook and Twitter to Instagram and YouTube.
More:
“British army creates team of Facebook warriors,” Ewen MacAskill, The Guardian
“Wanted: Brit Facebook and Twitter trolls for counter-jihad psyops,” John Leyden, The Register
“The British Army Is Going to Start Fighting in the Social Media Trenches,” Lily Hay Newman, Slate
The U.S. Army might send pack mules to Afghanistan. The logistics of supplying patrols in that rugged terrain are complex and costly, and new experimental cargo robots aren’t working out.
The U.S. military is determined to prevail on the cyber-psycho-cultural field of battle, winning hearts, minds, and Facebook friends with global information operations. In accordance with Pentagon planning document Joint Vision 2020 (Department of Defense, Joint Vision 2020 [aka DOD JV 2020], 2000), the U.S. military will not rest until it achieves information domain dominance with tactical tweets and barrages of blog posts. The Web has been weaponized, and social media militarized. Sign up now for a career in Information Operations (IO).
The Senate voted to repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that prohibits openly gay people from serving in the U.S. military. The policy forced 14,000 men and women to leave military service since 1993. 10,000 of these personnel were language specialists, so it’s no wonder that we have no idea what is going on in Iraq or Afghanistan.
“I don’t care who you love. If you love this country enough to risk your life for it, you should be able to serve as you are. Today the Senate has the opportunity to be on the right side of history. ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ is a wrong that should never have been perpetrated.” — Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Both houses of Congress have passed the measure, and it will now go to the White House for the President’s signature.
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In recognition of Banned Book Week, the Defense Department bought up nearly 10,000 copies of a memoir and destroyed them. The book, Operation Dark Heart, was written by former Defense Intelligence Agency officer Anthony A. Shaffer and covers his special operations experience in Afghanistan.
Former Alaska Temp-Governor Sarah Palin, whose five children include professional unwed teen mother Bristol and infantryman Track, faced Fox News fans at the Lincoln Memorial today and proclaimed:
“I’ve been asked to speak as the mother of a soldier, and I’m proud of that distinction. You know, say what you want to say about me but I raised a combat vet, and you can’t take that away from me.”
“No woman gives birth thinking she will hand over her child to her country, but that’s what mothers have done from ancient days.”
Mrs. Palin: Thank you for your cervix.
Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.
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