Armed with Media

With still so much media I would like to talk about from advances and technology updates, media applications, Firefox 4, to text messaging, there is one thing that I cannot pass up talking about, something that is closely connected to me and remains to stay that way, our military. I am blessed with a Dad who serviced in the U.S. Air Force for 20 years. I also have close friends in the military, at least one in every branch including National Guard and Coast Guard, a few friends who are at military schools, and a few family members serving today. After doing some "old school" research with 3 different newspapers, USA Today, Arkansas Democrat Gazette and The New York Times, I found 13 news stories which pertained to the U.S. military but not all of which were about the on going war. Thinking back to 2001 the media was covered with news stories on the attack, the start of the war on terrorism and American patriotism. Now we don't hear about the war as often, the radio has stopped playing as many songs about being patriotic, news stations have stop reporting on the war and headlines continue to read about how all troops need to come home and how the Middle East want to limit U.S. soldiers. Truth is there are still men and women in a war zone serving our county, and there are still casualties of war. The Northwest Arkansas Times from the Arkansas Democrat Gazette has a small section that states "To honor the men and women in our armed forces and remind our readers of their sacrifices" to identify Americans killed in active military operations. "As of Thursday, 4,431 U.S. service-members and 13 Defense Department civilians had been reported killed in the Iraq War. In Afghanistan, 1,406 U.S. service-members and two Defense Department civilians had been reported killed." according to USA Today. These numbers seem to continue to grow and do not include the number of service-members who have been injured. We as Americans are blessed, but I continuously wonder how many citizens are still aware of the fact that we have the right to live in a free country and that there are men and women still serving our country to keep those of us here at home safe and protect our rights. I am amazed by the way technology and the way the media has grown. Staying in contact with loved ones in the military has become so much easier, which for me is a relief. Being able to traditionally hand write letters, e-mail/ text message (e-mails can now be sent to your phone), instant message, Facebook (with different military branch fan pages, groups and pages), and video messaging such as Skype, it is much easier to know the conditions of our military personal or loved ones. On Arkansas Democrat Gazette's Editorial Page the article headline, "It's time, Mr. President To recognize our friends in Libya- and win this war," alone makes readers wonder what the outcome of this war will be and when it should end. With at least two close friends deployed and more friends continuously being prepared for deployment, I am glad to be "in the know" about what continues to happen in news of the war and the military. The media is all around us helping us to stay connected in may different ways from what's happening in our country to international and back to what's happening right in our communities, from the newspapers, television, radio and internet we are all connected and need to stay connected.