The Washington Post has the Silent Posting article buried in the World News section. The article is a four page description of the man's work and the work of his unit known as the "Gravediggers".
Since he was ordered to silence the blog, his fiancee has taken it over and keeps the faithful readers up todate with the unit. The blog was not ordered down due to OPSEC it was supposedly for the fact the one post in question was not approved by a superior officer, the post was about a higher ranking officer wanting him to accept a lateral promotion, which LT G did not want. The Army felt he was ridiculing the officer.
This is a young man that was encouraged to go to college by his parents both attornies, in Las vegas, his father as a corporate lawyer for one of the casino's, the family had the money to send him to college.
He chose to go on an ROTC scholarship, his father even offered to pay back the government so LT G would not have to join the military, after all when LT G accepted the ROTC scholarship 9-11 had not yet occurred and we were not in two wars, by the time he graduated we were. LT G felt he needed to keep his agreement with the Army, they paid for his college and he owed them the time. Off to war he went.
Lt. G wrote in his last dispatch that all postings, except for the one about the promotion talk, had been vetted by a supervisor. On June 27, he wrote one last entry, titled "A Tactical Pause":
I'm a soldier first, and orders are orders. So it is.
If you think, please think of us. If you pray, please pray for us. The second half of our deployment will be just as challenging and dangerous as the first half.
Thank you for caring. Agree or disagree with the war, if you're reading this, you are engaged and aware. As long as that is still occurring in a free society, there is something worth the fighting for.
Then there are the letters his unit received from the kids, they really make you shake your head:
Then there were the letters from children, which spoke volumes about how many Americans have come to feel about this war. Some excerpts from a Feb. 6 entry:
· "I hope you don't die, soldier. That would be bad."
· "I feel sorry for you."
· "I think war is worse than math."
· "My daddy doesn't want me to be in the soldiers, cause he says that the Irack will last forever. Maybe if he changes his mind I'll see you in the Irack."
· "My cousin was in war but he got hurt. Now he has a big beard and drinks beer all day long. My mom says he should get a job."
· "Can you send me back a bad guy's head? That would be cool."
· "I'm going to study real hard, so I don't have to go to Iraq. Do you wish you had done better at school?"
LT G has been promoted to Captain G, so the blog has not been a career ender, but the article makes it plain CPT G plans on leaving the Army when his time is up.
LT G's blog on archive
the fiancee's updates
Only in the military is the first amendment a luxury