Hey, DoD: What's the point?

This pisses me off.

The thing is, these sites are probably the best way for these troops to maintain contact with their families and friends back home. This is the first time in history they've had the opportunity to maintain such contact with their home base while away at combat. And now much of that is being taken away.

The DoD pulling access this late in the game seems fishy (to put it nicely). FOUR years into this thing, and they're suddenly concerned about a drain on resources... right.

Right, okay, so they admit they're also "protecting information." Again, FOUR years into it? Isn't that a little late, sirs? And if information needs protecting from Myspace and YouTube and the like, why the hell not from the rest of the Internets?

Certainly troops can (and will, I'm sure) find other sites that will serve their purpose of keeping in touch with loved ones and being entertained. Those sites will also be a drain of resources and facilitate the possibility of information being disseminated rather than protected.

So, really, what's the point? If the powers that be are really concerned with protecting information and cutting down the "drag" on resources, doesn't it seem like an exercise in futility to ban these sites when similar sites exist and will likely become popular among troops as a result? Sites that serve the same functions? Sites that will cause similar "drag" on resources?

The only difference I see is that the banned sites are already incredibly popular with so many civilians. Is this yet another way to keep the general populace out of the loop when it comes to what's going on over there?

But, I digress. Really, the policy pisses me off because it hurts the troops and their families and friends.

Although I fear and dread the day when my company blocks me from the sites* DoD has deemed unacceptable for troops, it's not at all the same. When I put in my eight hours, I can take my happy ass to my house and get online there. I can check up on friends and listen to music and upload pictures and, you know, do all that personal, non-work stuff at home. I may not want to waste precious non-working hours in front of the computer, but I have the option. The luxury, even.

The troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan do not. I don't have stats, but I'm making an educated guess that the number of soldiers who hauled their personal computers across the world to the combat zone (for the second, third, fourth? time...) is significantly less than those who use computers regularly to communicate with their loved ones.

To be honest, this new rule won't affect me one bit. The people I know who are serving right now are definitely in my thoughts, but they aren't people with whom I'm in regular contact. But it will affect many people both here and serving abroad.



* I'm listening to Pandora right now. And YouTube... well, You know.