Our Boys and Gals in the military

**Frenchy** · July 11th, 2006, 12:54 PM

We tend to forget about our family and friends in the armed forces... Lets make this thread about them.

Remember about OPSEC. You dont want to give information that talks about anything that could harm them.

OPerational SECurity is very important to understand when dealing with the government. OPSEC helps to protect classified and unclassified information that our government has. It Is very important for everyone to understand. For us it is important to keep the information of the military person we know safe. In the wrong hands, the unclassified information YOU possess could cause potentially grave harm to the United States or your military service member.
What is the Threat?
The threat is harm to the United States or your military service member. If there were no threats, there would be no reason to protect anything. These threats are what your men and woman are fighting against.
What are you protecting?
Any and all unclassified/classified information. Hopefully if you do not possess a security clearance, you do not know any classified information. But all information need to remain safe.
Examples of this include:

Last names.
All Dates (Returning/Leaving/R&R, etc.)
Exact Unit numbers or Unit Names.
Exact locations (Bases, Posts, Forts, Ports)
Addresses, email, phone numbers.

All information Trusted to You should remain in your brain, do not SHARE this information. If it's questionable as to whether or not you should say the information, then it probably should not be here
Need To Know
Need to know is an important concept to understand. Stop, think and decide whether or not another person needs to know this information. Does Person A need to know Private John's last name? In most cases NO! Addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, dates, unit numbers, locations or bases/ports etc., and all other "sensitive" information are all examples of things "strangers" do not need to know.
Even between two people who hold a Top Secret security clearance. One person my not tell the other a classified number if that person does not have a need to know.
Before you give away any information to another person, decide if they have the need to know. This is a very important concept.

**Frenchy** · July 11th, 2006, 01:02 PM

I might as well start this thread, Ty (Tyler) is my stepson, He is in Europe right now, Striker division.

Last I saw him, a few weeks back, he looked good but complaining he had not shot any thing but mortars for over 3 months!

Wife captured a pic of him with my .357 S&W, im thinking when he turns 21 ill have to gift that to him.

He was not impressed by anything else, mind you I know he likes the Mossberg also.

We Keep him in our prayers, as all our military men and woman out there. Maybe some day when they are all back home they can all gather and have a shoot some place.

He just loves that .357 S&W

**Gary in Pennsylvania** · July 11th, 2006, 01:45 PM

Frenchy...

FANTASTIC way to start this thread! You go into detail that I've heard many more times than I care to count......But I've seen many online-commandos either disregard the importance of OPSEC, or simply they just don't think about the potential consequences of what they say.

Granted, disregarding OPSEC may very well get you into legal trouble......But the most important thing to ALWAYS remember is that what you say my put a warfighter's life in danger.

Thank you Frenchy for impressing me with that post!

**IceFire** · July 12th, 2006, 05:25 PM

Frenchy,

Thanks for the OPSEC reminder. For those of us who ever have or still do have a clearance, it is a good reminder. For those who have never had a clearance, it is good information to have. That being said, my son just got out of the Navy (Master at Arms) last month, and his younger sister got out of the Navy in February, but her fiance is still in the Navy. My oldest daughter's husband is also in the Navy, and DH and I are both ex-Army, so we are very conscious of the risks our men and women in uniform face every day. Thank you to all who are currently serving, and those who formerly served our country. It is because of these folks that we enjoy the freedoms that we have. There is NO freedom without sacrifice.

**LorDiego01** · July 12th, 2006, 05:44 PM

very intresting post,

having nothing ever to do with the military on this country or any other country, its amazing how "the devil is in the details".

Either way, I'd say its common rule that you should never give out important information on the internet. Be it name, email, or even classified state secrets.

Either way, I highly doubt Al-Quaeda is monitoring this board.

On a side note, it always amazes me, that your stepson would be taught how to shoot a gun AND a mortar, and be allowed to serve in armed conflict, yet, he's unable to legally buy and drink a beer.

Tell you what, when that fine young man turns 21, you give him that .357, and I'll buy him a couple rounds. (Of BEER! not ammo!)

**danp** · July 13th, 2006, 01:07 AM

Originally Posted by Frenchy

Not to be a downer but this strikes me as a terribly irresponsible picture. Finger on the triger, pointed at the camera (which someone may be holding?)

**Gary in Pennsylvania** · July 13th, 2006, 07:14 AM

Either way, I highly doubt Al-Quaeda is monitoring this board.

You'd be surprised how MUCH internet content IS monitored by our Government. You say it......even if it is in a forum about one-eyed, left-handed, homosexual, dyslexic basketweavers......The Government can see it.
The phone tapping story that blew open recently? That’s nothing!
Echelon has been around for years!
http://home.hiwaay.net/~pspoole/echelon.html
http://www.fas.org/irp/program/process/echelon.htm
http://www.hermetic.ch/crypto/echelon/echelon.htm

And for the record.....I PROUDLY say that if the government wants to listen in to any e-mail, phonecon, fax, etc.....LET 'EM! I should hope they do! I am NOT one of these folks who feels infringed upon because my Gov't is listening.
There is soooo much going on out there ( secret governmental stuff ) that, quite frankly, I'd have to agree the American public doesn't even need to know about.
Silence and secrecy are, at times, critical to national security.
It's a damn shame that this New York City tunnel terrorist bomb plot had to be broken up in the manner that it was. Correct me if I'm wrong.....but the activity and suspects were long under surveillance/investigation. It was some journalist report/leak/whatever made public that forced the breakup and arrests when they occurred. That was NOT when security agencies PLANNED to apprehend the suspects. Who knows how much sensitive/valuable information was LOST because of that leak.

And as for the government compiling billions of phone-calls? I say "Have at it!" In fact, if I were the Government, I'd hire Google. I'd throw the billions of phone calls at them and let Google's powerful algorithms sort through the data to look for connections.

My $.02. But I'll stop here cuz I have much more than $.02 to share! I'll see what you folks have to say.

Additionally, since I certainly hijacked this thread.....I'm gonna start a new thread in the Lounge with this very post so that we can keep on.

I'd like to hear your thoughts!

**Frenchy** · July 14th, 2006, 05:00 AM

Originally Posted by danp

Not to be a downer but this strikes me as a terribly irresponsible picture. Finger on the triger, pointed at the camera (which someone may be holding?)

Cam is on a tripod, and gun is very empty, you can see all the chambers, even the one in front of the barrel. But ill grant you it does look dangerous.

**Frenchy** · July 14th, 2006, 05:02 AM

Originally Posted by LorDiego01

Tell you what, when that fine young man turns 21, you give him that .357, and I'll buy him a couple rounds. (Of BEER! not ammo!)

LOL I intend to do both, just not the same time... I think he will choose the shooting if the .357 belongs to him. But who knows, last time he visited, 2 Molsons went missing!