A Man Of Honor
It has almost been a year since I first read about Major Andrew Olmsted. He had gained some notoriety by blogging about his experiences in Iraq and came under fire from his superiors. I had been my understand that they worried about him violating the Department of Defense policies regarding political activities by members of the armed forces on active duty. Though he stopped writing for his blog, he began journaling for the Rocky Mountain News as well as occasional DoD approved entries at his friend’s site, obsidianwings.blogs.com.
While I knew of Major Olmsted only through his writings, I was taken aback yesterday when I learned that he died from an enemy ambush while on patrol in Iraq. This constant threat of danger must have been on his mind. For in July, he had given a post to his co-blogging friend that was to be published only in the event of his demise. So with a very heavy heart, I’m linking to Andrew’s final entry to the world. I wanted to share his sometimes sad, sometimes funny entry in honor of this dedicated soldier and in memory of a good man who wasn’t afraid to act on his beliefs.
Popularity: 11% [?]
It has almost been a year since I first read about Major Andrew Olmsted. He had gained some notoriety by blogging about his experiences in Iraq and came under fire from his superiors. I had been my understand that they worried about him violating the Department of Defense policies regarding political activities by members of the armed forces on active duty. Though he stopped writing for his blog, he began journaling for the Rocky Mountain News as well as occasional DoD approved entries at his friend’s site, obsidianwings.blogs.com.
While I knew of Major Olmsted only through his writings, I was taken aback yesterday when I learned that he died from an enemy ambush while on patrol in Iraq. This constant threat of danger must have been on his mind. For in July, he had given a post to his co-blogging friend that was to be published only in the event of his demise. So with a very heavy heart, I’m linking to Andrew’s final entry to the world. I wanted to share his sometimes sad, sometimes funny entry in honor of this dedicated soldier and in memory of a good man who wasn’t afraid to act on his beliefs.
Popularity: 11% [?]
Written by sprezzaturon in: |10 Comments »
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It’s “Andrew Olmsted.” Not “Olmstead.”
Also, this is incorrect: “and came under fire from his superiors. They charged that he may be violating the Department of Defense policies regarding political activities by members of the armed forces on active duty.”
This never happened. There was publicity given that blogging without authorization that caused Andy concern that he might be in violation of regs by the appearnce of blogging from him as a serving officer about politics. It was his concern, not one brought up by his superiors, and after he discussed it with those relevant, he took up his authorized Rocky Mountain News blog, while taking up blogging again under another identity, of “G’Kar,” at Obsidian Wings.
Thank you, Gary. I’ve corrected my post as soon as I got your comment. I apologize for misspelling Major Olmsted’s name. Thank you also for clarifying his concern about DoD policy. Last year, I had heard an National Public Radio report that the Defense Department had issues with military members blogging. This is where I first learned about Major Olmsted. In any case, thank you for taking the time to help me correct this post.
I’ve read it too and you can’t not be moved by what he’s written.
“what you see, what you hear, when you go, leave it here….” last heard this during my training in the Marine Corps but hey, everybody needs to know something, right? and i think everybody has the right to know… and I don’t hear any punches below the belt made by this soldier….
Hello its a very nice site!
I think that is an interesting point, it made me think a bit. Thanks for sparking my thinking cap. Sometimes I get so much in a rut that I just feel like a record.
Super-Duper site! I am loving it!! Will come back again – taking you feeds also, Thanks.
Your RSS feed doesn’t work in my browser (google chrome) how can I fix it?
-Bruno
Aw, this was a really quality post. In theory I’d like to write like this too – taking time and real effort to make a good article… but what can I say… I procrastinate alot and never seem to get something done.
Hey, awesome post.