It's been one year since we officially launched Gmail4Troops.com  

As a lot of you know, it was a huge success.   It couldn't have been such a big success without the hard work of Wil Wheaton, Anne Mitchell, and Mickey Chandler.  All of their time and energy promoting Gmail4Troops and helping our dedicated men and women in the military will never be forgotten.  

I've gotten so many emails from troops over the past year about how we helped them by getting them a Gmail invite so that they could trade emails, pictures, and videos with their loved ones back home while they kept our country safe.   I look at these emails, and while a lot of the stories moved me to tears, I think "Wow, these people are thanking us...and they're the ones putting their lives on the line".   I've made it my personal goal to share and provide easy access to new technologies that will help families keep in touch with their loved ones at home and abroad.

Over the past year, we've all heard a lot about blogging.   The word "Blog" was Webster's word of the year for 2004.   It's short for "web log".   Really, a blog is an online journal that you can write for yourself, your friends, or family.   They can then join in and post comments and you can communicate with a few people at once rather than one on one in an email.  Ironically, a lot of the attention came from the presidential race, when blogs were a huge part of the process.   Now, we're finding that with projects like BlogAbroad.com, blogs are an amazing communication tool.   Probably even moreso than email.

Today - June 19th, 2005, a full year after Gmail4Troops launched - we are proudly kicking off the Blogs4Troops campaign.   MindSay is offering up their blogging tool, and it's a great one.  Why MindSay and not another service?  Because MindSay is easy to setup, easy to use.  I know that you guys don't have much time on the internet when you can use it, and your family members may not be computer wizards.  With MindSay, you can quickly and easily add family members to your "Network" and even add your comrades to your online network lists as well.  You can post blog entries to yourself or just to your family, it's up to you.   It can be as private as you want it to be.

As you may or may not have heard, the military has posted guidelines to blogging and open journals.  We highly suggest that you read them (on the left hand side under links) and follow them to make sure that you and everyone else stays safe.   Once you set up your MindSay account, we'd love for you to add us to your network list.  "Blogs4Troops" is our user name.  You don't have to though.  Also, please submit your new blog to a superior officer so that they can OK it for you (per the new guidelines).

This can be a great experience for everyone, you'll be able to interact and stay in touch with family and friends who only yesterday seemed so far away.

Join me in promoting Blogs4Troops by getting the word out, passing the link around (http://www.Blogs4Troops.com) and inviting anyone in the military that you know.   But unlike Gmail, you don't need an invite to set up a blog!

Give this link out for people to sign up:

http://www.mindsay.com/refbt

- Drew Olanoff