Top general encourages blogging, despite military policy blocking blogs.

Small Wars Journal reports that Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, IV, Commanding General of the Army Combined Arms Center (CAC), “one of the Army’s leading intellectual hubs,” has issued a memorandum directing students and faculty to learn more about blogging:

Command and General Staff College faculty and students will begin blogging as part of their curriculum and writing requirements both within the .mil and public environments. In addition CAC subordinate organizations will begin to engage in the blogosphere in an effort to communicate the myriad of activities that CAC is accomplishing and help assist telling the Army’s story to a wide and diverse audience.

As part of this effort, CAC has even started its own blog. But as Noah Shachtman notes, “It’s a position that appears to run counter to stated Pentagon policy. YouTube is officially banned on military networks. Personal blogs cannot be maintained during duty hours. Many influential blogs are blocked. Stringent regulations, read literally, require commanding officers to review each and every item one of his soldiers puts online.”