Assignment: Daily Show

To all Milblog readers and writers out there:

Tonight you need to watch The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Yes, he leans a little too far to the left on most issues, but he's usually pretty funny and the show is entertaining. His guest tonight will be none other than John Hockenberry, an emmy-winning journalist who just wrote a great article about Milblogs for Wired magazine. He'll be talking about the article and how he came to be interested in the world o' milblogs.

Sure, Mr. Hockenberry and I got off to a rough start, but now he's a friend of the Forum and a friend of the milblog community- so let's all support him by watching the show tonight.

11 pm Eastern on Comedy Central.

Be there or be square.

Another Email

Since so many people seemed to appreciate my "reader mail" segment yesterday, I thought I'd share a more serious and thoughtful email in today's post. I received it just before I left for my honeymoon, so my apologies for taking so long to respond. Here goes:

Hello:

I purchased a copy of "Desert Sky" awhile ago. I apologize for not watching it yet. The past few months have not been conducive for viewing a DVD about OIF in Iraq. I have some time off, so I plan to watch it sometime over the next 2 weeks. If my husband and I have any questions, are you still willing to answer such questions, via e-mail? I know you mentioned this, but that was many months ago. Is it an invasion of privacy to ask your first name, as you said you were in this film. thank you for your service

"L&H"

Well, thank you L&H! The money you spent on that Desert Sky DVD went to a scholarship fund for children of fallen soldiers- you are great Americans! I am absolutely willing to answer any questions that anyone may have about the DVD. Since much of the film was produced while I was in Kuwait (serving out a second tour), I didn't get to participate in it as much as I would have liked- but I'm happy to report that I (along with some help from my aunt and a few cousins) was able to contribute from afar. Eric did a great job putting that film together, and I'm just proud to be associated with it. As for revealing my "true identity"- I'll give you the same answer that I gave John Hockenberry when he offered to mention my name on the Daily Show tonight:

...As a condition of starting the blog, I had to make a promise to my wife that I would always remain anonymous. Why? She's convinced that if Karl Rove ever leaked my identity, we would immediately find ourselves besieged by crazed anti-war lefties and bloodthirsty radical Islamists- all fighting for first dibs on my spleen. Personally, I find that scenario a bit far-fetched, but as I'm sure you know- the lady is always right...

But trust me- my identity is not a factor. Watch the film, enjoy it, and send me your questions and/or comments. The ones I like will be answered right here on the Forum. Somewhere in my responses, I promise to mention how cool you are for buying the DVD, watching it, and taking the time to write me about it.

Yesterday's Email

"Hockenbone" (Not to be confused with the aforementioned John Hockenberry) seemed to generate quite a response. You'll note a comment from Froggy (of the excellent Froggy Ruminations blog) asking for the guy's email and IP addresses. I was confused when I saw this, because I was certain that I had posted his email address- but then I looked up there and sure enough- no email address. What gives? Can the "Blogger people" take that stuff down? Or am I just getting old before my time? In any case, here's the contact info for "Hockenbone"- fire for effect!

Email address: thockenbone2002@yahoo.com

IP address: 206.190.37.57