“When liberty comes with hands dabbled in blood it is hard to shake hands with her.” Oscar Wilde

“A Solider’s best friend, next to his rifle, is the postman.”
– Lt. Gen. Walt Boomer

During World War II mail carriers were able to carry single mail sacks which could now hold 150,000 one-page letters instead of the 37 mail bags needed for the same amount of traditional letters. And what did million of these letters consist of? Ramblings of sad, happy, and the un-eventful everyday life without their loved ones. During WWII much like today’s e-mails they were able to present military personal with insights of home and include them into the everyday life they are missing while away. As discussed in class this was an essential way to maintain their spirits. Mainly this blog is trying to compare the similarities and differences of the blogs of today’s era to the past letters of World War II.

Due to the blog assignments, we are required to write, I have read numerous amounts of military blogs. Similar to those letters we read last week in class, the military blogs lead to countless hours of reading about the uneventful nights they encountered during their missions or a new revelation that has occurred during their deployment. By making note of this, I am not trying to state that none of the blogs I have read have influenced my life nor have informed me of life during the war. Rather, I am trying to state that many military blogs ramble on similar to letters that were written during World War II in the book Since you Went Away.

To illustrate my point I will be using The letters of Mary Louisa Hernandez to Nicholas “Nick” Ortiz and the blog Unfinished Business by SPC Beaird.

A letter to Nick from Mary:

“My Dearest:

I’ve been very lucky these past weeks. I got quite a few letters from you. I received the one you wrote the 29^th of September, Saturday, which was the 30^th of October. But Darling, that was a swell letter. You say that why do we speak about the children we’re planning on having. That before we have them you must have me. Yes, my darling, I realize that but I do know that I will have nobody else but you. But, just as you say, we’ll have a little girl first but I do want a boy. You’re the boss. Yesterday I received an air mail you wrote Oct. 15. Darling, I do have the silver dollar and all the rest of the things that you send me.……”

A paragraph in the blog Unfinished Business:

“…One of the missions was to provide security while one of our PRT* officers answered questions during a live radio interview in which locals could call in. The kids from the nearby villages came out as usual looking for any handouts. But as my fellow PRT member Desert Dude said, you get hounded so much by the kids that you learn to save your generosity for the ones that look like they really need it, or the ones that are the least annoying. I gave a couple water bottles to a little boy and girl who were herding a big group of sheep around. I found out they were cousins. They must not have been more than 10 years old, though guessing age can be hard, as people seem to age much quicker here. Even the kids’ faces show the hard life they live, with the wrinkles and wear and tear of a person twice their age….”

Although, the reader of this blog might not agree with my opinion, I find that these two articles function as a way of bringing loved ones closer to their reality while leaving the random reader to uncover the reality of the soldiers’ uneventful missions or that Mary has received the silver dollar with pleasantry. And since stating this, I assume many would rather end reading my blog by assuming that I am inconsiderate, and misinformed rather then finishing reading, all the while, I am only trying to compare and contrast the similarities of WWII letter and the military blogs of today. By comparing and contrasting the letters to the blogs I find many similarities and differences.

The blogs and letter both try to update the military personal with information from home. While they letters could take days to receive sometimes they would take weeks, unlike the blogs that may take hours to write but five minutes to receive. This eliminates the imminent loss that we discussed in class during WWII. Furthermore, technology has greatly improved, which I find has brought the United States more awareness of historical news sooner rather then when our government wants its people to know. While the blogs are able to write more freely since censoring is difficult in this vast technology era, it is still important for the military personal to not inform blog readers of major details about their missions. Therefore, many questions are still left unanswered as in World War II. The major change I find is the quality of letters throughout my countless hours of milblog reading. The dialect in which the letters were written in WWII were more personable, and intellectually written then in today’s date. For example, the Unusual Suspect often uses profanity to explain events and even questions why they are fighting.

March 7, 2008, The Unusual Suspect blog:

“We had landed, anticlimactically, and still, we were herded like fucking animals, still not knowing a damn thing, and the cycle would never end. And there I was, finding myself in Baghdad, chomping at the bit to get outside the wire, to experience This Fucking War.

Barely 21 and dumber than shit, I was all sorts of optimistic, thinking we were going to do great things and kick lots of ass, GI Joe hero type shit. That we could be cool with the people, and bring the hammer down on the baddies.”

Overall, both letters and blogs still bring loved ones hope that their husbands, sons, wives, and daughters will return home safely and overall, is that not what really matters?