This book is about ….Front-line Dispatches from Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
After the death of a friend in Iraq, Burden started his own blog, Blackfive.net, in mid-2003 to support the troops fighting the War on Terror and tell their stories. Blackfive.net quickly became one of the most visited and linked blogs and has won consecutive “Best Military Blog” honors in the Weblog Awards. Now, Matt Burden has collected some of the most riveting and insightful work by other bloggers in THE BLOG OF WAR.
Military bloggers offer the public unfettered access to the War on Terror. The public does not have to wait weeks or months to hear what’s happened, nor settle for the government’s approved messages. In the past, there were only three sources from which the public could learn about a war: Combat correspondents, who sometimes wrote in the midst of action but just as often did not; government reports, which were often a mix of truth, propaganda and even disinformation; and soldiers who gave their own accounts of what they witnessed in letters to friends and family, accounts sometimes censored by the military, and always written and received well after the fighting had subsided.
THE BLOG OF WAR is a remarkable account of men and women as they actually experience the trials and tribulations of war on the battlefield, where our soldiers must daily test their humanity against harrowing episodes of the horror and fear. Readers are certain to have a better understanding and a greater respect for those who risk their lives for their country in these most turbulent times.
Wild Thing’s comment……
As you all know, this blog I have is mainly to support our troops, to thank them and to thank our Veterans. I wanted it to feel comfortable like a place to put your feet up and rant and cheer the news and events. To share of your experiences and know this blog belongs to each of you that served. A little home online to gather and not have to put a tie on. haha And always with a Welcome Home sign over the door.
So when I started to blog and saw the many blogs of our troops today and our Veterans it really meant a lot to me.
To be able to go to their blogs and read first hand how they are doing. To be able to thank them as close to in person as possible. And what an honor as well to be able to go to our Veterans blogs and read their take on things, to thank them for their service to our country and welcome them home.
There is something in a persons soul that smiles when you can say, thank you for my freedom, thank you for all you have done. It truly is a debt that I can never repay.
You can order this book at Amazon and it will be one to give as Christmas gifts also. To keep forever as one very special book.
Blackfive is great, a sort of Ernie Pyle with a different methodology.
Wild Thing. Your blog is very special, a product of the heart. And every vet who visits/comments here feels like you are family, a Sister that always has the door open and a home cooked meal ready. Thanks for your blog.
WT, Blackfive has been one of my inspirations since I found the blogosphere, his blog was amongst the few I visited regularly from the beginning, I have been reading his site for nearly 3 years now. If his book is half as good as his commentary it will be a masterpiece. I hope it sets him up financially and that he continues to write. I doubt you’ll find a more credible author.
I as most veterans highly regard your site, like Tom said, we feel at home here.
What you said about former methods of gathering war information outside the media is less informative than the blogs. Most of my fellow servicemembers never wrote letters home about the bad stuff, and never where we were going on a daily basis, we didn’t wan’t to unduly stress our families so the day to day routine was ‘polished’, the good stuff emphasized and the bad stuff downplayed, we never knew if our letters home were being censored by the military, since they certainly could have been.Some letters simply disappeared, they never arrived. The internet has bypassed all the inhibitions and censorship, and it’s instant information.
Thank you WT for all you do for the warriors and for us old has-beens.
Tom that is a great way to put it, yes he is very much like that. And thank you for being a brother to me.
Jack that is interesting about the letters. I remember being given some to mail when I got back home each time. Or phone numbers too so I could give one of their wives a phone call. It was all a very special time.
I think this book will be fabulous. And it will be fun too reading it and recognizing the blogs mentioned in it.
I love your blog Jack and I am also honored that you feel at home here too like I do yours.