] There's a new breed of combat personnel at the war front:
] soldier "bloggers."
]
] Once the narrow domain of geeks and technology
] journalists, "Web logs" -- or diary accounts published
] online -- have gone mainstream, making it possible for
] even soldiers to transmit daily updates to Web sites
] about the rigours of battle.
]
] War-themed blogs, appearing on sites such as
] www.blogsofwar.com and www.sgtstryker.com, have become a
] popular alternative news source since fighting broke out
] in Iraq a week ago, sometimes beating newspapers and
] television with war developments.

I actually wish more of the soldiers could access Email and blogs. I have a cousin who's currently deployed somewhere in or around Iraq (I don't know exactly where). He was shipped over there in January, and then he and I were Emailing back and forth regularly until last week, when he sent me a short letter saying, "I won't be able to send Email for awhile." So I follow the war developments, and try to make educated guesses about where he is, and every time I see pictures of killed or captured soldiers, I have a little mental cringe, wondering if I'm going to see his face.

I still strongly support him, and the war effort, and I know he's there of his own free will. But I'll still be incredibly relieved when I know he's able to logon again and send me an Email to let me know he's okay!

Soldier 'bloggers' report from war