Happy Belated Birthday, My Public Affairs

It has been 428 days since this modest blog went live.

For those of you who went to California public schools, that's more than one year.

OK, so that's not very nice. But it is modest, since I teach math in a California public school.

On this belated anniversary post I reflect on what it means to blog about Army issues.

A virtual acquaintance of mine, whom I shall not name, but whom I hope is reading this blog, once expressed his concern that my command would shut me down.

I have to admit, I was pretty apprehensive at first about making some of this stuff public, but I threw caution to the wind and started making my feelings known about "the pros and cons of the modern American military."

It was only after a few weeks of writing boldly that I realized I had very little risk of somebody important reading it. In fact, it seemed I had to beg people to read.

I also realized, deployed as I was at the time, that my freedom of speech was just as precious to me while in uniform as it was to anybody not serving. The Bill of Rights was going to trump any command policy.

And I have to admit that nobody in a position of military authority over me has ever expressed concern with what I write.

That either speaks to the realization by all Soldiers of just how important individual expression is, or the size of the reading audience. Hmmmm...

It is still therapeutic to me, and I think I offer a valuable perspective in the greatest army. So as this 428th day of My Public Affairs comes to a close, I'd like to thank you for reading. Here's looking to the next 428 days.