OPSEC or STFU!

So, very recently a soldier was killed downrange and his wife learned about it via social media. This is so disgustingly tragic, I cannot even begin to explain. The military has a system of notification that is in place-THAT WORKS... Some people have argued that the blame shouldn't be placed on the spouses-Umm, the hell it shouldn't! HOW DARE THEY! Initially of course soldiers are to blame too, because they told their significant others (HUGE VIOLATION and I hope that the commands discipline them right where it hurts-their pocket books) BUT we as spouses, well the ones that do in fact attend FRG meetings, command functions, AFTB, etc, we as spouses ARE told repeatedly about OPSEC and PERSEC.

OPSEC is as defined as- OPerations SECurity) Determining what information is publicly available in the normal course of operations that can be used by a competitor or enemy to its advantage. OPSEC is a common military practice that is also applied to civilian projects such as the development of new products and technologies.

PERSEC stands for Personal Security.
Do not post personal information anywhere on the internet, such as your address, phone number, place where you work, etc.

These soldiers and I use that term VERY loosely, started the violation, but the spouses with what I am sure of, is VAST knowledge, indeed know better and even if they didn't know about OPSEC, common sense would have come into play, at least I hope.. Sadly it did not. By violating OPSEC and by spouses posting all over the web about the tragic death of this young hero, they may have just encouraged commands to change their policies on communication. Many allow personal cell phones to be taken downrange and pretty good Internet and phone access. These wonderful examples of soldiers and spouses may have just changed the lives of MANY soldiers and family members. APPLAUSE, APPLAUSE, APPLAUSE-NOT. I am irritated by this on many levels, ONE, because I am a military spouse, a military mother and military mother in law and I would definitely have issues with spouses that were posting something about the death of my loved one ALL over the web. As I said earlier, the military has a system for this and it should be left to them to see it through. Those spouses and soldiers should be ashamed of themselves and I hope each time they see this topic on FB or Twitter, they feel sick to their stomachs and that the guilt eats away at them. These are peoples lives you are playing with! Think!!! OPSEC and PERSEC are very important and I hope that soldiers and family members learn more about it, because I am quite certain that ALL spouses would not want to hear about the death of their soldier via text, fb, twitter or any other way, except for how they should learn about it..

My prayers to the families of ALL soldiers that have paid the great sacrifice.