The War Blogs: Stories From The Frontline & The Homefront

May 30, 2011

From the sands of Iraq and the mountains in Afghanistan to here back home, we mark Memorial Day with the phenomenon of blogging in the military.

US Army flight medic SGT Jaime Adame, right, and an unidentified United States Marine help Marine LCPL Chris Propst of South Carolina, center, who was wounded in an insurgent attack in Afghanistan, May 15. (AP)

Soldiers tell stories. They always have. For ages in ballad and poetry. In the Civil War and World Wars, Vietnam and Gulf War by letter and mail.

And now, by the web.

From Afghanistan and Iraq, battlefront and home front, military men and women and families are blogging, up on Facebook. Telling stories of war and after war. Bragging, griping, encouraging, explaining. Creating a real time window into war and military life – and death - like we’ve never had before.

Up next On Point: on Memorial Day, we’re listening to the voice of the American military blogger.
- Tom Ashbrook
Guests:

Jim Dao, national correspondent for The New York Times covering military and veterans’ affairs.
Matt Gallagher, creator of the blog, “Kaboom: A Soldier’s War Journal” and author of the war journal, "Kaboom: Embracing the Suck in a Savage Little War". He's a Former Captain from the US Army and veteran of the war in Iraq, currently acting as the Senior Writing Manager for the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
Lindy Kyzer, former Senior Social Media Maven and Public Affairs specialist for the US Army. She is currently working as a Public Affairs consultant for Lindy Kyzer Communications and Editor of ClearanceJobs.com.
Nancy Davin, blogger and the creator of the blog “My Yellow Ribbon”. Her son Sgt. Tyler Davin is currently serving in Afghanistan and her niece, Spc. Brianne Roe, in Kuwait and Iraq.

More:

Excerpt: "Kaboom: Embracing the Suck in a Savage Little War" (PDF)

This program aired on May 30, 2011. The audio for this program is not available.