Now, jo, you being USN and all might not have the authority to speak for the army, but - how well do you think this is gonna work? I mean, I heard a segment on a carrier on NPR during the Afghan war or the interbellum period, where the little PR loot was running around with the reporter trying to tell him how everything was hunky-dory, there wasn't any illicit sex or drugs or morale problems, and so the reporter grabbed a swabbie and asked him how his experience shaped up with the official story, and the rating started laughing so hard he could hardly say that yes, people were screwing around all the time in every way you could imagine, up to the point where the PR officer dragged the journalist away just like the old days in a communist state where the reporter was getting out of the Potemkin village...

And all the WWII stories about illegal stills, and that guy who carried off a big giant gold thing from a medieval treasury he was supposed to be guarding, carried it back to texas, I dunno - I don't think this is a) going to work, b) if they do try to enforce it they're going to have an even bigger morale problem on their hands...

(but what do I know...)

What are they going to do with inventory of the PX/BX system now that they have banned the merchandise. What sort of rebates are going to need to be made to vendors, now that the US is voiding contracts with base facilities.

Exactly how are you going to keep lighter-sized cameras out of anywhere.

Does Rumsfeld actually think that this is going to be viewed as anything other than an attempt to prevent the documention of misconduct.

Re bellatrys' implied question, there isn't a military outfit worth it's salt that can't produce something alcoholic to drink.

My Dad's outfit in WWII in Italy used to cool beer by dripping aviation fuel on a marble box. More than one CO2 extinguisher has been emptied in the same pursuit.

Perhaps some TANG duty helped aWol master those techniques... maybe we sold him short on his experiences there.

Doubtful any of the regs would even honor the newb with such beverage knowledge...

I think Rummy can expect the digital salute from our servicemen for this ban.

Bush/Orwell '04 Controlling media and minds.

My dad told me, actually just this past Saturday, that the worst headache he ever had was in France in WWII. One of the guys in his outfit brought a dozen bottles of champagne in from somewhere and the had themselves a fine time.

Take 138,000 mostly twenty-somethings, put them in a foreign land under great duress with death stalking their movements, toss in long periods of utter boredom, then see if any of them break some rules in pursuit of stress relief. And see if some of the breakings go beyond mere rules to actual cultural taboos. Why do you think there used to be camp followers?

But that aside, the ban on cameras just shows what the mindset of the brass is really about. Why don't these people ever learn the lesson? It has been said so many times and it is so obvious that there are probably fourth-graders who know it. IT ISN'T THE CRIME THAT GETS YOU, IT'S THE COVER-UP.

Wash, rinse, REPEAT.

I swear, the folks in charge of that fiasco all have their heads up their Rumsfelds.

1. Timely
   
2. Strategery
   
3. Webb wins
   
4. Huh?
   
5. Bunnypants in Bagdad
   
6. Outage
   
7. Filthy Lucre Watch
   
8. Playing the numbers
   
9. My letter to Countdown
   
10. Jefferson's Nigerian Scams