LOOSE LIPS SINK SHIPS
LOOSE LIPS SINK SHIPS: Considering that our war plans have been in the papers for months, that our tactics are pretty predictable, and there’s little Saddam could do about it if we faxed him the actual coordinates of the attack, this new DOD policy clamping down on e-mail seems like an overreaction. When I was deployed for Gulf War I, we of course had no e-mail and it was in the age where satellite telephone communication was exotic. One of the biggest morale problems I faced as a junior officer was the soldiers’ not being able to communicate directly with their families for weeks at a time. Rather slow and unreliable snail mail service was all we had. The fact that our troops can now e-mail home whenever they want is a good thing. They’re smart enough not to give away our battle plans. And, frankly, below the most senior officers, they don’t really have a clue what’s going on anyway–they’re just focused on the small unit level of operations.
