I do not like it when people post specific information about their husbands online. It really, really irritates me. Recently, I saw a girl post the exact number of days until her husband returned home from Afghanistan on a Marine wives support page. I didn’t run and go tell her command or bitch her out; no, all I did was leave a comment saying “OPSEC” to remind her that hey, specifics like that are not a good idea. I got jumped all over for being an OPSEC Nazi. Um, excuse me? I wasn’t being rude, I didn’t castigate her for being stupid or thoughtless. It was a one word comment. When you say something like, “OMG my husband is coming home from Trashcanistan in 76 days!!”, well, that’s violating OPSEC. Know why? Because people can count. You’ve just told everyone when your husband is coming home, and thereby told everyone when his unit is returning as well. And that “everyone” could potentially include terrorists and Taliban. It may be Afghanistan but guess what? They’ve got computers, too.
As far as I’m concerned, you can never be too careful about OPSEC. If I’m even a little bit unsure about whether or not its an OPSEC violation, then I don’t say anything. Why? Because I value my husband’s life, and the lives of the Marines that he deploys with. There are some wives that apparently do not feel the same way. Case in point: Matt’s last deployment. This was mostly moms of our Marines and not wives, but good Lord… there was violation after violation after violation. “So-and-so has been injured and is leaving Leatherneck at 0800 tomorrow to fly to Landstuhl.” “Just talked to my son so-and-so and they’re going to __________ first thing in the morning!” The worst was when a wife posted that one of our Marines had died before the family had been notified. I don’t know if they saw her Facebook post or not, but my blood was boiling over that one. The point is that it happened all the time, and was by and large fueled and encouraged by a group of embedded reporters we had with the unit — they actually posted GPS locations on a map of Marines they did interviews with or stories they published. They never interviewed my husband, but lets say they did. They would have published his name, his rank, his picture, and a location on a map of where he was. Um, hello???
Now, I do believe that there are two different kinds of OPSEC violators. The first one probably just doesn’t know any better, like the person I mentioned above. The second doesn’t care, and just thinks they’re above the rules. This is the group that the OPSEC violators from the last deployment fell under, as they got multiple warnings from command AND their Marines were disciplined for their violations. But they still kept doing it. They think that because they are civilians, they don’t have to follow the rules. Well, guess what? You do. This isn’t some game. This is war, and hacking through Facebook to get an idea of troop movements isn’t altogether difficult, especially when you’ve got wives putting dates online, or moms saying that their sons told them where they were going the next day.
I know no one likes the wife who points out OPSEC violations. I also know that no one likes to be wrong. But when it comes to the safety of our Marines, you can’t be too careful as far as I’m concerned, and it frankly pisses me off that a reminder to safeguard the information we have is oftentimes met with derision. I know that the phrase “Loose Lips Sink Ships” used to actually mean something. But time and time again today, I see family members freely sharing information they have about their Marines without even a second thought. Why do more wives not get upset about this? These are our husbands over there, it is not a safe place, and for God’s sake, they are fighting for us. We can’t even keep our mouths shut in return? No, apparently there are wives who feel that its OK to make the incredibly dangerous job they’re doing even more dangerous. And yet somehow, I’m the bad guy for politely pointing out the obvious. I don’t think so.
Jim Armstrong
October 12, 2011 at 7:35 am
Here’s a real-life example of OPSEC. It’s from WWII, but maybe these chowder-heads can make the connection to the present day.
During the early part of WWII, the submarine force was our only real option to do any offensive operations in the Pacific. We were scoring major tonnage against the Japanese without suffering significant losses. That is, until a congresscritter was asked why. He proceeded to explain that the Japanese were setting their depth charges too shallow. Needless to say, our enemy picked up on this, and submarine losses escalated.
From this, the submarine community has become the most tight-lipped about ships movements and capabilities. Talk to one of us, and all you’ll get is “Greater than 400 feet, greater than 20 knots”. Hence the term “The Silent Service”.
Of course, I’m sure the majority of these flappy-mouthed ladies will still continue doing this. At least until their hubby comes home escorted by an Honor Guard in a casket. I hope it never happens, but they need to realize they have some responsibility to keep their significant other safe.
Alli Hegge
October 12, 2011 at 4:38 pm
I was a little confused by this too…Maybe something you need to bring up with Jim your FRO. On the (Our battalions page, ) official page, which is a public group that the whole word can see, he posted a slideshow and at the end of it has the time lines of ALL ****(Our battlion) *** training, and when they deploy!! This slide show is still on their! Did you know about this? I brought it up with the girls and they too thought it broke Opsec…Maybe there is different points of view of opsec?? But I dunno. Even if its flight windows or just a time line, its no different I think if someone say, “My marine comes home in 45 days.” 45 days is still a window. Lemme know if you dont know what I am talking about, PM me, and i’ll tell you what slide show I am talking about the FRO posted…
Tyler
October 15, 2011 at 9:53 pm
I know your own blog is a place to vent, but I read that post on that website and you’re not being entirely honest about yourself. To quote you, you said you had a “whiskey tango foxtrot moment”(wtf) which is not polite to most people. You also “agreed 100%” with a woman who had ripped her apart. Yet on here you are making it sound like you were sweet and just reminding her with one word. Maybe your perspective is skewed. If you’re going to put a link to your blog on that site you shouldn’t blast someone who probably wouldn’t feel comfortable trying to defend themselves on here. Go ahead and vent, but you should have some consideration to keep it real.
cassy
October 16, 2011 at 7:37 am
Um, actually, NO. This post was in reference to a post on Facebook, not the one you are referring to. Check the dates on the blog post and the forum message. The blog was posted before I wrote that. And if you actually *read* the blog post, you’ll notice the difference in OPSEC violations. The FB post had something like, “76 days until I get back from Trashcanistan”, which is nothing like the post on the forums you’re referring to.
Nice try, though.
cassy
October 16, 2011 at 7:41 am
To further prove my point, I just checked the date on the post you’re referring to. This post was published on October 12th. My comment on that forum was published October 13th. So that was a nice try at a “gotcha!” moment, but sorry, no.
Tyler
October 16, 2011 at 9:15 am
Lol. Ok ok, you “got” me. But that only goes to prove my point further. If you’re being accused of being an OPSEC Nazi on more than one site maybe you should take a step back and ask yourself why. I think the majority of military spouses are just as diligent and concerned for their soldier’s safety as you are. I think it’s all in the delivery and yours could use some tuning.
Tabby
October 17, 2011 at 2:28 pm
Honey, you are quite young, naive, and full of yourself. I hate to break it you but coming from another Marine wife (of 28 years) you’ve got a lot to learn about OPSEC before you go complaining about other women being guilty of violations. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see all your own violations. Are you aware that on this blog alone we have your first name, last name hometown, your husbands name, and the general time frame of when he’s deploying next? You think your being slick by saying “Obviously I can’t say when” but from your pregnancy announcement we can all deduct way too information simply by doing a little adding and subtracting.
You shouldn’t throw stones when you live in a glass house.
cassy
October 17, 2011 at 3:01 pm
Saying our hometown is not an OPSEC violation, nor is saying my name. I have never disclosed what unit my husband is with, where he is deploying to, or when he is deploying/coming home. Saying he won’t be home for the birth is not a violation, either. I never said he would be home when the baby was _ months or weeks old, or how pregnant I would be when he left. So, no. There are no OPSEC violations on this blog. Thanks though.
cassy
October 17, 2011 at 3:02 pm
No one accused me of being an OPSEC nazi on the other site. And I wasn’t trying to be mean, either — that was why I apologized if it came across the wrong way and commended her for her work in NGOs. But I still stand by my statements on that particular forum, that she had blatant OPSEC violations. I’m not going to pretend that’s not true to avoid hurting someone’s feelings. Publishing an exact date online of when your husband comes home is a really, really bad OPSEC violation, albeit it wasn’t the one I was talking about in this post.
Tabby
October 17, 2011 at 3:17 pm
Why are you “thanking” me? You just come across as obnoxious and a know-it-all, when to any wife who’s been doing this longer than you’ve been alive can see how green you are. I’m not trying to be mean, honey, but you’re in denial if you think your not sharing too much. No your hometown itself is not a violation, but what I’m trying to tell you is that when you add up all the information it would give anyone enough information to then go on facebook or any of the military support sites and get more. I found your blog from milspouse, so don’t think for a moment someone else couldn’t be on there first, come to here, then take a look at your facebook. Think about a hacker, too! Just because you don’t give all the information in one post or one site doesnt’ mean someone looking to gather information can’t get way too much from you. And in case you didn’t know, part of OPSEC is to not even give time frames, which you do. If you’re going to preach OPSEC, make sure you’ve got it right.
cassy
October 18, 2011 at 9:50 am
Sounds like you don’t know the difference between OPSEC and PERSEC. Again: there are no OPSEC violations on my blog. Any personal information I choose to disclose is my decision. I know very well what risks there are when it comes to the internet. I’ve been a blogger for almost five years now, and not just for myself. I’ve blogged for a presidential campaign and written for some very big websites, and currently get paid as a freelance writer for two different sites in addition to writing for this one. I also worked for a newspaper for four years as a reporter. I know very well what dangers there are on the internet and what people can dig up on you. But that’s still my decision to make — its my choice if I choose to disclose personal information. It is not an OPSEC violation. If you’re going to castigate someone for violating OPSEC, maybe you should make sure they actually are violating OPSEC first.
That’s two people now coming here from the same source trying to play a “gotcha!” game on me. Sorry if you don’t like my opinion or the way I phrase things or come across, but its not going to work and you aren’t going to make me feel guilty for expressing my opinion. If you don’t like what I have to say, or think I’m a bitch or a know-it-all or a hypocrite or whatever else, then I really don’t care. You don’t have to read my blog.
As for me being “green”, yes, there are wives that have been doing this longer than me. So what? Is this a “who knows more” contest? I never claimed to know everything about the Marine Corps or be the most experienced milspouse in the world — although considering this is the third generation of military in my family I’d consider myself to be pretty knowledgeable. I’ve done all the family readiness training available, I’ve worked with multiple military charities, I work with the unit itself. I don’t know everything, but I do know a lot, even if you do look down your nose at me for being too “green”. Sorry my husband isn’t high-ranking enough for you or whatever the hell your issue with me is that makes you be so damn condescending. You call me a know-it-all? Please. I’m not the one running around telling people they don’t know anything and that I know more than they do, bragging about how much longer I’ve been a milspouse. If that’s how you feel then I really don’t care. This is my blog, and I will write whatever I damn well please on here. Like I said — you don’t like my outlook or my opinion or what I have to say, then don’t read it. It is really that simple.