Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

He really is that stupid.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Come on, man.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

The only way through is to slog through the muck one step at at time.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Military / Bleg: Reality-Based Milblogs?

Bleg: Reality-Based Milblogs?

by | 98 Comments

This post is in: 

A long-term acquaintance on a small group mailing list chose this week to move from a steady drip of more-or-less-ignorable libertarian/objectivist statements into Full Frontal Wingnut.  After circulating a long, badly-written, tediously unfunny “humorous letter” about the Self-Proclaimed So cia list President Obama’s Nazi-Inspired Campaign to Trick Innocent Americans Into “Flagging” Their Neighbors for Thought Crimes Against IRS Death Squads of the So-Called-Health-Reform Task Force to Destroy the World’s Best Medical System, they were rebutted with great patience  by fellow members from all points of the political spectrum.   Amidst the ensuing squid-cloud of butthurt, rules-lawyering, and accusations of bad faith, Acquaintance announced that they get all their news from four “smart, unbiased” online sources:  Instapundit, Google, and two “trustworthy” milblogs, Winds of Change and Blackfive.

I know nothing of military blogs or bloggers, but I suspect that if Glenn Reynolds is the measure of  smart & trustworthy, then these two may bear the same relationship to military news as Icanhascheezburger bears to veterinary science.  Can the better read among you, especially the veterans, provide some recommendations for sane milblogs that won’t be too frightening to someone with a bad case of Starship Troopers Syndrome?

Reader Interactions

98Comments

  5. 5.

    cRaB8y

    My better half, who is an Iraq War vet, suggests the following: abu muquwama, kings of war, best defense, and ink spots.

  7. 7.

    JK

    Glenn Reynolds is a smarmy, repulsive, lying sack of shit. It’s a profound tragedy that this obnoxoious prick is a law professor. In a perfect world, Reynolds would be a janitor.

  8. 8.

    celticdragon

    Sorry to keep at it…But a very good resource is The Department of War Studies at Kings College, London.

    http://kingsofwar.wordpress.com/

    This is the department blog, and their blogroll is simply outstanding if you want both field analysis and military theory.

    Includes:

    http://counterterrorismblog.org/

    http://defenceoftherealm.blogspot.com/

    http://www.d-n-i.net/dni/

    http://easterncampaign.wordpress.com/

    http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/
    (this blog is considered one of the best COIN blogs along with Abu Muqawama)

    http://www.longwarjournal.org/

    Hope that helps. This is a sample of the Blogroll at Kings College…so look for yourself.

  11. 11.

    thingsbreak

    Abu Muqawama
    Tom Ricks
    Marc Lynch
    Small Wars Journal
    ArmsControlWonk
    Armchair Generalist

    Danger Room is nice for tech coverage and its level of access, but at times it seems to suffer for the latter in terms of forming realistic views of the US and its allies.

    A sometimes helpful roundup of progressive takes on foreign affairs: http://www.progressiverealist.org/

  12. 12.

    amorphous

    ‘Scuse me, waiter? There’s a possibly first-time-ever use of the word “butthurt” on my B-J front page.

    /It’s doing the backstroke

    //that sounds dirty

  15. 15.

    Barry

    Black Five is where people hang out who think that Cheney was a peace-loving liberal hippy.

    I used to cruise by every so often, but gave it up. Anybody who cites them is both full of it, and is extremely right-wing whackjob.

  19. 19.

    Patton

    I second all of the recs for Abu M, SWJ, and Armchair Generalist. I would also add Information Dissemination, for nautical coverage. Although Galrahn, the main guy at ID, tends to be conservative (as do some of his co-bloggers), I can’t recall any Full Frontal Wingnut episodes. Also, they added Robert Farley, of LGM, recently, so they now have more balance. I’d also also recommend Spencer Ackerman’s “Attackerman” blog on Firedoglake, War is Boring (superb independent military coverage by David Axe and several other reporters), and Afghan Quest (written by a National Guardsman training Afghan soldiers).

  21. 21.

    Skippy-san

    As a military blogger myself-I can tell you that Blackfive and Winds of Change hardly represent any type of logical thinking. ( Especially Uncle Jimbo-who is positively deranged). There is an unwritten rule when it comes to Milblogging. Support stupidity or else. Voice an opinion that is contrary to teabagger orthodoxy-and you will be branded as a lunatic or a liberal, both words have the same meaning in Greyhawk’s universe.

    I served 29 years in the US Navy and took up blogging about four years ago. One of the things that has really depressed me about the blogosphere is how much of an echo chamber most Milblogs have become. Want to see that in action? Got Neptunus Lex and post a comment that is opposed to its prevailing right wing ideology. Watch how fast the herd descends on you and calls you every name in the book. Now mind you, the author of that blog is great writer and when he writes about aviation-his words are beauty unleashed. But when he writes on politics or issues of international relations-he does nothing but echo right wing tripe. His readers however will abide no opposing views-and I have been a regular commenter for years. ( Although I go there less and less-I can only stand getting beat up so much).

    The Mil-blogging sphere is the same as any other politically motivated group. They have their orthodoxy and anyone who thinks differently gets branded as “deranged”. That’s even though there are lots of veterans who think like me-and are tired of the same old mindset.

  22. 22.

    John Cole

    @thingsbreak: The Armchair Generalist is the jackass who mocked me when I merely noted that a unit designated for domestic activity seemed odd. I wouldn’t trust that armchair cowboy with anything.

  24. 24.

    JK

    OT

    Woman Shouts “Heil Hitler!” At Jewish Man Praising Israel’s National Health System
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/18/woman-shouts-heil-hitler_n_262554.html

    The more I see of these crazy protesting motherfuckers, the more I wish Obama would stop being such a pussy and ram thru the strongest healthcare bill possible thru Congress. These shithead protesters and the Republican assholes in Congress will never accept Obama no matter what he says or he does. He needs to stand up these swine and tell them to go fuck themselves.

    @Ruckus: I can’t help it. To me , Glenn Reynolds is one of the biggest scumbags in the right wing blogosphere. His wife Dr Helen is also a smarmy, lying asshole.

    @Stoic: @thingsbreak: I dig these choices

  25. 25.

    JenJen

    Umm… excuse me, but I have been getting my veterinary advice from Icanhazcheezburger for years now.

    ;-)

    Great post, and good timing, Anne. We get closer to Peak Wingnut every day, as evidenced by the bizarre morphing of several people in my personal orbit as well. I never know whether to laugh, cry, or smash something in utter frustration.

  26. 26.

    void_pelican

    another vote for spencer ackerman at attackerman.firedoglake.com and the washington independent. lots of good mil-bloggy stuff from a somewhat progressive perspective, plus he frequently posts hip-hop and hardcore music videos and other random pop culture stuff.

  28. 28.

    fouroboros

    Remember how, when you finally outgrew them, it was fun to pretend you were napalming your GIJoe and the rest of your army men with lighter fluid, cherry-bombing the lot of them as they huddled in the Lincoln Log bunker you’d made as the evil Pez-head men, packed with last July 4th’s firecrackers instead of candy, made swooping suicide attacks while your sister’s half clothed Nurse-Barbie® struggled valiantly to give CPR to Special Forces Joe®?

    No? The Blackfive guys do. It was four o-clock this afternoon.

  30. 30.

    Mike in NC

    One of the things that has really depressed me about the blogosphere is how much of an echo chamber most Milblogs have become.

    Honestly, as a Navy Reserve O-6 with almost 30 years in, I come up empty. Military.com sucks since anybody can create an account there.

  33. 33.

    cleek

    The more I see of these crazy protesting motherfuckers, the more I wish Obama would stop being such a pussy and ram thru the strongest healthcare bill possible thru Congress

    how?

  34. 34.

    CT

    Anne Laurie: Great post-I nearly sprayed the monitor with the apple I was munching on when I got to the icanhazcheezburger line-awesome.

  35. 35.

    kid bitzer

    @28–

    now *that* is funny.

    (as is “squidcloud of butthurt”, although instead it could be the name of the big chief in a mel brooks oater.)

    funny helps to take away the pain of no andrew. damn. he was sane, where sanity is rare and precious.

  38. 38.

    JenJen

    CNN Breaking News: “Sources: Dems consider pushing through health care reform without GOP support.”

    They had scant information, but it was encouraging to hear, and Anderson Cooper specifically referred to 51 votes.

    I’d like to see the word “consider” just plain drop-kicked out of that opening sentence.

  40. 40.

    Ruckus

    @JK:
    I may not have made myself clear. 100% in agreement with you, just saying why should he get a good janitors job when many far more deserving people need the work.

  41. 41.

    kid bitzer

    sorry, jenjen. haven’t you heard? elections have consequences, but only when they produce republican victories.

    whereas when democrats are swept into office with huge majorities, the election is a stern repudiation of the platform on which they ran.

    why am i even explaining this to you? you watch cnn; you know the drill.

  43. 43.

    Tsulagi

    If you’re talking about a blog written by someone currently active duty, not likely you’re going to find one with strong political opinions. That’s a no-no with DoD. If they have one, service members have to register their blogs and they are monitored. Actually, on balance I agree with that.

    There were some good active duty milblogs around the beginning of OIF, but then the Rummy on-message police started with the regs. One I liked was written by a pro-Bush, pro-OIF CASH surgeon. He wrote some funny shit. He was shut down. Not for OPSEC violations. Guess because he was letting people in on the secret soldiers get killed and injured in wars. Not good for the message.

    Reservists, though, get a little more slack. Your bleg made me think of one I came across a few years back that have a feeling you’d like. Don’t think anyone could shut up this chick. On any subject. She’s a feminazi of the first order and proud of it. Impressively foul-mouthed. She cracked me up. Haven’t read her in probably three years or so. Just now looked to see if A View from a Broad is still there. It is; from her bio…

    This blog belongs to a blue-collar liberal, a high school feminist, a pinko commie hippie godless combat veteran. I am Rush Limbaugh’s worst fuckin’ nightmare.
    ..
    I’ve been in the military for a good long while but I got injured in various tedious ways in Iraq, though I try not to complain too much about those things. If I write about them it’s for the purpose of illumination from the inside of the maelstrom.</blockquote

    Oh, and for all you military haters, one of the last posts I read from ginmar was her re-enlisting in the Reserves. Said a major reason was she was treated more fairly and more as an equal in the military than elsewhere.

    Army of Dude is a good blog. Not nearly as political, but way less feminazi crap than ginmar.

  44. 44.

    Warren Terra

    @ JK, #24

    I can’t help it. To me , Glenn Reynolds is one of the biggest scumbags in the right wing blogosphere. His wife Dr Helen is also a smarmy, lying asshole.

    Her letter to the editor published in the current issue of Mother Jones was hilarious. A deliberate parody could scarcely have exceeded it. I reproduce it for your delectation:

    There’s not space to correct all of Amy Benfer’s confusion regarding Ayn Rand’s Obama-era renaissance (“And the Rand Played On”). But the phenomenon is really quite simple. Living off the labor of others without their consent is slavery. When people talk about “going John Galt” rather than working to fund Obama’s patronage machine, that’s what’s going on. And when those who like to live off others’ labors complain about this resistance, well, that’s what slave masters do—complain that their chattels are lazy and undisciplined.
    HELEN SMITH, DRHELEN.BLOGSPOT.COM
    Knoxville, Tennessee

    I guess that’s what happens to your brain when you mainline Ayn Rand once too often.

  45. 45.

    JenJen

    @kid bitzer: I know. Next, CNN will tell me that Democrats are considering writing a very stern letter to McConnell and Boehner.

    All kidding aside… the fact that blowing off the GOP is finally, officially on the table is the best news this Democrat has heard in years. Took f’n long enough.

  47. 47.

    shy me

    @hilzoy:
    hi hilzoy! I had the same thought. I so wish he were here.

    OT: Very happy to hear from you. If you’re interested in sharing – how is/was Africa?

  49. 49.

    MarkusB

    I don’t have anything substantive to offer, but let me also add my vote for “squid-cloud of butthurt” as a major entry in teh funny sweeps.

  53. 53.

    thingsbreak

    @John Cole:

    Duly noted. He was at the end of the list, as I don’t read him all that often.

    I used to read Attackerman more often, but the whole weird incestuousness of that group of bloggers can get a little overwhelming.

  54. 54.

    srv

    Most of the best milbloggers are defunct now.

    2nd vote, to the right in the blogroll, Pat Lang. Connected to the old school folks still in power.

    http://turcopolier.typepad.com….._tyrannis/

    For a SOF in early Vietnam, he’s a bit of a fainting daisy when it comes to criticism. Der Dolchstoss on Vietnam and all that, threatens to stop blogging every month when someone snarks a silly/confused post of his. Just chalk it up to dottiness.

    As for someone ex-military who blogs on how-we-have-forgotten-all-the-lessons of old battles, life, the universe and was the best commenter on the defunct intel-dump:

    http://dlgellar.blogspot.com/

  55. 55.

    Calming Influence

    One more vet vote for Army of Dude.

    And my veterinarian follows icanhascheezburger religiously.

  57. 57.

    Steve Hynd

    John,

    Most of the blogs that have been mentioned in comments are foreign policy blogs rather than milblogs (unfortuantely, whether Dem or GOP its often hard to tell the difference between military and foreign affairs) and most are distinctly neoliberal interventionist even when ostensibly mildly proggie (like Attackerman). As for Small Wars Journal, its a stenography dept for the neocons still in the Pentagon’s basement.

    However, I’d definitely recommend Danger Room at Wired, Army of Dude and Pat Lang. I’d also recommend Josh Foustua at Registan.Net. For a more non-interventionist FP outlook, there’s Michael Cohen at Democracy Arsenal, the folks at The Seminal, Rething Afghanistan and, of course, Newshoggers :-)

    Regards, Steve Hynd, newshogers.com

  58. 58.

    Zuzu's Petals

    @Warren Terra:

    So Doctah Helen is from Tennessee. I see here that Tennessee receives $1.27 back in federal money for every $1 of taxes it sends in.

    Making Doctah Helen’s state a slave master to all us slave blue staters out here who are supporting her.

  62. 62.

    JK

    @Warren Terra:

    Thanks for reproducing and linking to that letter by Dr Helen, the Instawife.

    Glenn Reynolds and his dimwit wife are Tweedle Dumb Ass and Tweedle Bigger Dumb Ass.

  64. 64.

    The Main Gauche of Mild Reason

    @Tsulagi:

    Not nearly as political, but way less feminazi crap than ginmar.

    I hope you’re using “feminazi” in jest. I really do.

    I’ve been reading her awhile now, and she’s more or less the same tone as Amanda Marcotte or the other feminist bloggers. It’s fucking ridiculous that commentary about men being the problem in gender relations–which is demonstrably true in every single country in the world and a perfectly rational view–as some sort of extremist ideology. Now, clearly, there are some men who whine and bitch about this–thinking that saying that “men are the problem” is equivalent to saying “all men are evil rapists”–to whom I say grow a fucking pair.

  66. 66.

    shecky

    Thanks for some interesting leads. The only blogger I ever liked that was remotely in this category was the War Nerd. Whenever someone linked me to an actual war/mil blog, it always seemed to be in order to expose some kind of lunatic writer rather than spread the news on an interesting writer.

  67. 67.

    DeadlyShoe

    I hope this “While Woodstock Rocked, GIs Died” article isn’t typical of Small Wars Journal. That was just fuckin stupid. Robert Farley ably butchered it in the comments though.

  68. 68.

    lawnorder

    Col. Hackworth… I miss his columns!

    @The Main Gauche: I’m a “feminazy” and hardly think men are THE problem. There are a lot of bad women who reinforce the patriarch society, and a lot good non misogynist men out there.

  69. 69.

    Cassidy in Iraq

    —to whom I say grow a fucking pair.

    Sure, but say that to a woman who complains all the time about male dominated society and how unfair it is, then you’re a mysogynist.

    Is there going to be a blog roll created just for milblogs?

  73. 73.

    Cat Lady

    @MikeJ:

    That’s my Congressman! Woot!

    I’ve been to his meetings. He always attracts a lot of LaRouchies, so he’s had years of practice at put-downs. That, however, was a thing of beauty.

  75. 75.

    kid bitzer

    @72–

    man, in that clip he got in not just one but three solid whacks at that whacko.

    still, i’m glad that he supports the first amendment rights of dining room tables.

  76. 76.

    Keith G

    @linda: I have a youtube link showing a “news” show not being fair and balanced about Mr. Frank’s behavior. My comment is being moderated (20 min at this point) and will be released in time for it to be irrelevent.

    sigh.

  77. 77.

    Cataphract

    Abu Muquwama was headed by Andrew Exum, who works for CNAS now. While it is probably a good blog for warriors and the like, the CNAS ideology is largely necon-ish/liberal interventionist in orientation.

    Blackfive came off as knee-jerk low-info stuff, though they did have the original article for “Taking Chance.”

    I could be wrong on both (surprise, surprise), so judge for yourself.

  79. 79.

    Barry

    I soured on Pat Lang; in the end, he’s just too defensive of the system. He and I got into a spat about whether the CIA lied to Congress. Frankly, anybody who assumes that any intelligence agency doesn’t regularly lie to that country’s parliament/congress/whatever has serious problems with reality.

  82. 82.

    Docrailgun

    BlackFive is surely the last refuge of the Wingnut.

    Information Dissemination often has good commentary in naval issues, and is also good for it’s blogroll (which has a mix of craziness such as Blackfive, and slightly more sane blogs such as Lawyers, Guns, and Money).

  85. 85.

    scott

    I’m a gay Marine and read a bunch of milblogs but their general right wing (OK batshit crazy right wing and homophobic) bent tends to turn me off.

    That having been said, give Chap a looksee over at Chapomatic — http://gmapalumni.org/chapomatic/

    Its not all mil all the time so it doesn’t get tedious about the latest weapons systems and other such mil/porn and its very smart with interesting takes on social issues as they relate to the military.

    And even though Chap is a squid he’s still a good guy. For a squid that is.

  86. 86.

    Hyperion

    slightly OT but…

    i’d like to nominate “butthurt” as one of the most over-used terms on the ‘tubes.

    it used to be that anal sex was referenced infrequently and indirectly by mentioning prison shower scenes. our host here still does it occasionally.

    but now it seems that folks cannot keep themselves from invoking it at the drop of a hat (instead of at the drop of a bar of soap). why?

  87. 87.

    Hyperion

    @srv: wow. a good summary of my problems with Lang.

    plus he writes obscure posts and when someone asks for an explanation, he comes up with BS like “you have to figure it out for yourself.” ok. so what do i need pat lang for?

    he also is hyperbolic about some pretty silly things: Obama bowed to a Saudi leader!?!!! OMG!

    moreover, his strange text formatting choices sometimes make it hard to discern what he is quoting and what he is stating.

    so for me, his potentially interesting ideas are overwhelmed by his various personal idiosyncracies.

  88. 88.

    soonergrunt

    Blackfive isn’t just batshit crazy but flat out dishonest. Uncle Jimbo’s profile over there describes him as “former special forces master sergeant” implying a long career in SF. He actually serves one (incomplete) tour as a Staff Sergeant before getting out of the reglar army and joining the National Guar, where to be fair, he actually did make Master Sergeant before he retired. When called on this by real SF operators who knew the story (and could prove it,) he demurred. Of course his co-bloggers demanded that he man up with the truth…NOT. They went on the warpath, questioning the SF vets integrity, accusing them of being KOS plants–everything except answering the question. None of them has a shred of credibility.

  89. 89.

    Aaron

    I put a link to my del.icio.us links of military blogs in my name above.
    comments indicate which are the ones who are nuts.

  90. 90.

    Tsulagi

    @The Main Gauche of Mild Reason:
    Geez. What, PC police want to pull me over to write a ticket for exceeding the snark limit? Bleh.

    @soonergrunt:
    Figures. Anyway, I don’t consider blogs like Blackfive to be milblogs. They’re written by those who served. Past tense. By that definition Balloon Juice could be called a milblog by a DAT. Or a TWAT (Tanker Without A Tank).

  92. 92.

    mutt

    Abu Muq, Small Wars Journal. Check out SWJ on torture & torturers- Abu M, too.
    Slightly OT- Serious retired CIA guys, inc. the Afghan Station Chief, on how truly bad this Afghan idea is-
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjE2wMWMJwI
    I link it to give an example of the kind of thinking you can find at above mentioned blogs- the comments, as here, are often extremely illuminating.
    Im a Viet vet, with some combat behind me (thankfully) and have traveled in wierd places. Those of you not so familiar with the …..pointy end of foriegn policy can learn a lot here. Demystify, pick up a lot of good points if you are opposed to the Wars & Occupations…

  93. 93.

    malclave

    Heh. Funny comments. Pretty much as intolerant as expected. but there were a few that seemed to be edging towards the capacity for independent, critical thought.

  96. 96.

    Jason

    @John Cole:

    @thingsbreak: The Armchair Generalist is the jackass who mocked me when I merely noted that a unit designated for domestic activity seemed odd. I wouldn’t trust that armchair cowboy with anything.

    Jesus, John – are you still carrying that cross? I apologized, do you want me to beg?

    You can judge me by that one post or you can judge me by my continued actions to discuss progressive viewpoints on military issues. Just call Noah Schactman or Rob Farley if you want a character reference.

    V/R
    J. “Armchair Cowboy” Sigger

  97. 97.

    John Cole

    @Jason: It is not a cross, it is that you reflexively trust anything that comes from the Pentagon or the DoD, to the point when someone asks something innocuous about how what they are doing is legal or good, and your gut instinct is to mock them as being liberal weenies, despite the person asking the question having almost a decade in the military.

    That, to me, shows suspect judgment. I want analysis that questions military authority, not stands in awe of it.

  98. 98.

    Jason

    “That, to me, shows suspect judgment. I want analysis that questions military authority, not stands in awe of it.”

    Well that shows that you haven’t read any of my military posts, homeland security posts, or CBRN defense posts other than the one NORTHCOM-CCMRF issue. I’m critical enough. Ah well, not gonna convince you, have a good life. Whether you believe it or not, we’re on the same side.

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