British troops are blogging!

British forces are blogging from Afghanistan

A People In Defence news article

1 Jul 10

British forces in Afghanistan have launched a mass blogging initiative involving dozens of personnel writing regular posts from the front line on the Army, Navy and RAF websites.

Royal Marines keep in touch with their families and friends over the internet from Forward Operating Base Gibraltar in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan (stock image)
[Picture: Corporal Rupert Frere, Crown Copyright/MOD 2009]

The individual blogs, some of them accompanied by video or podcasts, detail the realities of life on operations so far.

The authors, who range from junior personnel to senior officers, talk about their jobs, their living conditions, their battles and successes, their impressions of Afghanistan and their relations with the locals.

Task Force Helmand spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel James Carr-Smith, said:

"This is a first for the British forces. Servicemen and women have been blogging for years of course privately on personal pages, but we have never provided the platform to bring all those blogs together before.

"People can follow just one person or a number of bloggers from one regiment, or indeed read them all."

Of all the three Services, the British Army has the most people serving in Afghanistan, and this is reflected in the number of bloggers writing online at www.britisharmy.wordpress.com

They include soldiers from the Royal Dragoon Guards, 1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles, 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (The Royal Scots Borderers), and 21 Engineer Regiment to name but a few.

In all, eleven regiments are represented so far, but the number of bloggers, and participating units, is growing all the time....

GREAT idea! Check out the rest of this story - and the related links - here.