Iraq War Iraq War milblogs have been highlighted in scholarship as an important source of public diplomacy and perception management during the early 2000s. Whereas Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld was at first believed to be skeptical of military blogs, Thus, Matt Burden of Blackfive.net cites as the rationale of his blog the death in combat of a fellow soldier and good friend of his, who died saving the life of a magazine reporter, yet had his death go unreported by the magazine. One milblogger chose to offer his site "as an educational service to the American People who wish to know the true story of Iraq and Afghanistan." Other milblogs cite similar intentions to report the news that they did not feel the mainstream media was reporting. In contrast, anti-war blogs have been noted in retrospect as a major source of
opposition to the Iraq War and criticism of pro-war messaging in news media. The Army did not universally censor antiwar messaging on milblogs, but such blogs were eventually brought to their attention. In 2004,
Colby Buzzell was confined to base in Iraq after his milblog
My War was quoted by
The News Tribune to describe a difficult firefight in Mosul which had not been covered in depth by national news media. Buzzell was deeply opposed to the occupation of Iraq, but
My War was not shut down entirely; instead, Buzzell was made to submit all posts for review by his chain of command. Official oversight of websites maintained by military personnel deployed to the Middle East began in 2002. The oversight mission consisted of active-duty soldiers and contractors, as well as Guard and Reserve members from Maryland, Texas and Washington state. Its remit was expanded in August 2005. Some milbloggers took down or altered their blogs for fear of violating the regulation that many of them believed to be ambiguous. The regulations were updated in April 2007 but, according to many bloggers in war theatres, failed to resolve their ambiguities. Although the
U.S. Department of Defense was initially concerned about milblogs as a potential
OPSEC violation, it eventually embraced the concept and attempted to implement official versions of milblogs. Official milblogs did not receive the same reception or popularity of the unofficial milblogs as they were written in the same dull language as other official publications of the Defense Department.
Invasion of Ukraine In Russia, milbloggers (sometimes called
voenkory, "
war correspondents") have gained prominence during the
Russian invasion of Ukraine, providing a greater level of information about the war than is available from state media. Blogs range from those affiliated with state media, which often provided information more in-line with that of government positions, to independent and
Wagner Group-affiliated blogs which are more critical of the Russian military establishment's performance in Ukraine. These blogs are notable for their ultranationalist and pro-war views. However, since September 2023, the Russian government arrested a number of high-profile milbloggers, which some have seen as a crackdown on the community. ==Famous milbloggers==