OPSEC....Spells Teamwork!

Family and friends of Son to Soldier, with the success of Son to Soldier in the past few weeks (we've been getting up to 50 views a day on our site and have friends and viewers from all over the world including the U.S., UK, Netherlands, Poland, Germany, India, Korea, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia,  and Russia just to name a few.  This is so exciting for us!  We love to receive your comments and questions.  Please keep in mind that as you post your comments and questions, there are some things that we just don't know the answer to or can't post the answer due to OPSEC Rules (Operational Security Rules).  We are posting a list of these rules so you know what we can and cannot discuss.  We appreciate your support and hope you understand.

These OPSEC rules aren't meant to limit free speech or restrict liberties - that's exactly what our Men and Women in uniform fight to protect.  However, they are designed to help ensure the safety and security of the Service Members in your life.

Remember, no matter your affiliation, status, rank or age - you have a part in the security of your loved one! 
(And I can't for the life of me figure out why it's posting in all CAPS...LOL...it must know it's important!!!)

OPSEC Rules:

by U.S. Army Future Soldier Family on Friday, November 4, 2011 at 7:46am ·

1. Do not post exact deployment dates or redeployment dates
2. Do not reveal camp locations, including nearby cities. After the deployment is officially announced by Military officials, you may discuss locations that have been released, normally on the Country level.
3. Do not discuss convoy routes (“we travelled through Takrit on our way to X”)
4. Detailed information on the mission, capabilities or morale of a unit
5. Specific names or actual nicknames
6. Personnel transactions that occur in large numbers (Example: pay information, powers of attorney, wills, etc)
7. Details concerning security procedures, response times, tactics
8. Don’t discuss equipment or lack thereof, to include training equipment
9. Don’t speculate about future operations
10. If posting pictures, don’t post anything that could be misconstrued or used for propaganda purposes. A good rule of thumb is to look at your picture without your caption or explanation and consider if it could be re-captioned to reflect poorly on coalition forces. For example, your image might show your Soldier rescuing a child from a blast site, but could be re-captioned to insinuate that the child being captured or harmed. (it’s happened!)
11. Avoid the use of count-up or count-down tickers for the same reason as rule #1
12. be very careful if posting pictures of your loved one. Avoid images that show significant landmarks near their base of operations, and black out last names and unit affiliations
13. Do not, ever, post information about casualties (coalition or enemy) before the official release of the information.
14. Do not pass on rumors (“I heard they’re coming home early”, etc)

Be Safe - Be Good - Be Strong