Last week, GovLoop featured an excellent review of the U.S. Army’s Facebook Landing page. For the Army, Facebook is a great way to keep families and friends informed of their latest activities, and serves as a superb recruitment vehicle. It also keeps families connected while men and women in uniform are away from home, as Greg Jaffe’s emotional story reports:
Facebook brings the Afghan war to Fort Campbell
Here’s an excerpt from the story:
With each successive year of war, new technologies and social-media sites have narrowed the distance between the home front and the frontlines. In the early days of the Afghan war – before Facebook existed – troops typically e-mailed home a few times a week. They called even less frequently.
Today spouses and troops, based in even the most remote areas of Afghanistan, can trade messages and phone calls dozens of times a day. In good times, the minute-by-minute status updates provide peace of mind.
In moments of crisis, the connectivity can make the looming possibility of death seem almost suffocating.
What about you?
Do you know someone in the armed forces who is away from home,
and with whom you keep in touch via social media?
Share your story.
I keep in touch with my buddy Drew all the time on facebook. I’d say we chat once every 2 weeks for 30 mins or so but honestly when he’s on tour just seeing an update helps me know that he’s still fine.
My cousin in the Army makes sure to blog, tweet or post to Facebook regularly (several times a day). He keeps me aware of his well-being and the well-being of the troops around him. It really brings the sacrifice these men and women in the military make very real to those of us who are only peripherally connected.