Notes on Blog-maintenance

A couple of notes regarding recent editorial tweaks to the Red Bull Rising blog-experience:

Under "Herd Around the Net," I've added links to my unit's web and Facebook pages. I'm using the non-doctrinal and downright incorrect abbreviation "2nd/34th BCT" to help non-military types better understand how to read the "second of the thirty-fourth." Otherwise, most civilians seem to read "2/34" as a fraction.

To optimize download speeds, and to better delineate among downrange-in-Afghanistan, here-on-the-home-front, and how-to-support-your-troops topics, I've broken the blog-rolls into three groups of three (OK, in one case it's four). Among these three categories, there are admittedly some "interlocking fields of fire," as we say in the military. Still, I've selected each of these blogs from my 300 daily must-reads, because I think they offer unique news, well-presented views, and informed perspectives.

I'm particularly proud of my punny "Loyal Jirga" category. According to some cultural awareness training I've just completed, "jirga" is a Pashto word for "tribal assembly." A "loya jurga" is a "grand assembly."

For my purposes, my "loyal jirga" category lists three fellow bloggers who quickly befriended me after I launched Red Bull Rising in December 2009. Ky Woman, Kanani Fong, and Jeff Courter have been equal parts confidantes, consiglieri, consultants. I think of them as my editorial board, my circle of blog-trust, my board of mis-directors. Read their stuff--you'll learn something. I know I always do.

Finally, note that I've tweaked the "mission statement" that runs at the bottom of each Red Bull Rising page. Now that the word's out a little more publicly regarding my unit's potential deployment, and the "Red Bull" Division headquarters has successfully returned from Iraq, I've changed the mission statement to specifically read "2nd/34th Brigade Combat Team (BCT), 34th Infantry Division." Still, if you know anyone from the 1st/34th BCT, they're more than welcome, too.

Thanks for reading! Let me know if you have other suggestions on how to make Red Bull Rising more readable or useful!