Marine Corps, meet RSS

Dear Marines,

The marketing of the USMC is the envy of the other services. Marines are seen as the most elite, most intense, most hard-line warriors around.

The kind of men and women who scare the pants off of the enemy.

So for an organization with such great branding, such great message discipline, such great communication, I wonder why you don’t offer your news on your Web site via RSS. The Army does.

If there are people out there who want you to send them your message for free, why don’t you?

Look forward to hearing back from you.

Happy New Year,

Steve

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Troops to pay tribute to Ford

From Army.mil:

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Dec. 29, 2006) – Nearly 4,000 Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guard members are gearing up to support the national farewell to former President Gerald R. Ford that will span a seven-day period with events in California, Maryland, the nation’s capital and Michigan.

“This is DoD’s way of showing respect and honor to a former commander in chief and president, so it’s very important to us,” said Army Col. Jim Yonts, public affairs officer for the Military District of Washington.

Read the full article here.

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More on Maj. McClung

From The News Blog:

Marine Maj. Megan McClung, a public affairs officer who became the highest-ranking woman killed in Iraq when she died two weeks ago, had been escorting Oliver North and a FOX News crew through Ramadi just moments before a roadside bomb took her life, a military spokesman told E&P on Monday.

When the explosion occurred on Dec. 6, McClung was in the midst of escorting a Newsweek staffer, according to Lt. Col. Bryan Salas, a public affairs officer stationed at Camp Fallujah. He said he did not know the identity of the Newsweek employee or the reason for the escort.

“My understanding is that Newsweek was with her at the time of the explosion, in a different vehicle,” Salas said. “She had just dropped off the Fox News crew.”

McClung, 34, had just left North, a Fox contributor, and his crew at the Ramadi Government Center following a 10-minute escorted drive from Camp Ramadi, a U.S. Army base there, Salas said. “It was her first and only escort with him,” Salas told E&P. “He was covering the Marines in Ramadi.” Many journalists go out without any military escort, even in dangerous areas.

A Fox News spokesperson said she could not confirm North’s involvement, while Newsweek did not immediately return a call seeking information.

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In Memorium: Maj. Megan McClung

On Monday, the Department of Defense announced that Maj. Megan McClung, a Marine public affairs officer, had been killed in Iraq.

I first heard the news a day after it was announced. I wanted to write about it, but I didn’t know what to say.

The media has been abuzz about the death of Maj. McClung because it meets some of the established (and sometimes artificial) criteria for what makes news “newsworthy.” She was a woman. She was an officer. She was the highest ranking female Marine to be killed in Iraq to date.

To me, however, it feels different. This time it feels more personal.

To be clear, I did not know Maj. McClung. During my time as a military public affairs specialist, our paths had not crossed, though I wish they had. From the coverage of her death, she sounded like an incredible woman, one who I am sure that — on many levels — fellow public affairs officers would be proud to hold up as a representative of the career field and the military.

She was a public affairs officer. She wasn’t infantry. It wasn’t her daily job to find IEDs or conduct raids. Her duty was to tell a story. It was her job to help reporters to theirs and to help the American people know about the service and sacrifice of the men and women of the US Marine Corps.

I feel like I am rambling. I feel like I am not focused. I can’t tell you why, but this time it feels different. Not for any of the reasons that reporters and pundits have decided that this news is “newsworthy.”

I never met Maj. McClung, but for some reason, this one hurts more.

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Bill Roggio likes USMC PAOs

I swear, this is my last post on Patterico. I promise. (Well, I am 99% sure).

Check out this comment from prolific milblogger Bill Roggio.

Well done, USMC.

All PAOs though, here is a not so flattering comment.

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Happy Bithday, USMC

[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z37LCBNf4bc&eurl=]

h/t Blogs of War

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Army Strong

A new SecDef, a new Army Web site, and now a new Army advertising campaign.

Lots of news coming out of the Pentagon.

From the Army:

Today, the U.S. Army launched its new Army Strong advertising campaign on network television nationwide. The three television ads powerfully communicate the character of the U.S. Army Soldier and the unique and transformative power of the U.S. Army.

“Army Strong advertising was inspired by the experiences and defining character of the U.S. Army Soldier,” said Lt. Gen. Robert L. Van Antwerp, commander of U.S. Army Accessions Command. “These ads have been created with the singular aim of helping us succeed in our mission to recruit the next generation of Soldiers and build a highly capable force sufficient to meet the needs of the Nation.”

Cool stuff. The Army has a great new slogan that connects with America’s youth and resonates with the institutional Army (in a way that Army of One never did).

But it gets better:

Additionally, the Army is working to expand its recruiting efforts by using Web-based technology. The Army will reach out to recruits through the Web, text messaging, an increased presence on popular search engines like Google and Yahoo and video partnerships using YouTube.com. Further, the U.S. Army is taking “America’s Army: The Official U.S. Army Game” into the Global Gaming League, an online gaming league and social network that sponsors and covers video game tournaments.

Army recruiting, and their advertising partner McCann Worldgroup, get that in order to reach prospective recruits, they need to communicate the way they do. Increasingly, that involves the adoption of new media technologies.

It is great that they will increase their use of text messaging and further their participation in the social media sphere — including a an upcoming MySpace page (much like the Marines have done).

It will be interesting to see how this all pans out.

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