[cowgirlnat]

Okay, since we have so many members interested in mailing things to our troops this year, I thought it would be prudent to make a post about Operations Security. We must all abide by it (even if you're in no way associated with the military). If you happen to be given addresses or strike up a pen pal relationship with one of the troops, it is important to know these restrictions. Not to mention, even us spouses and members could use a refresher every now and then. I think the most important thing mentioned below is that just because your troop shares something with you, that does not mean it's safe to share with others. Troops aren't always the best at following OPSEC either so the task is truly up to you. Regardless of how "safe" you may feel this forum is, you never know who may be lurking around or even who might hack someone's account.

I pulled these off of different websites because they explain things much better than I could.

OPSEC is keeping potential adversaries from discovering critical Department Of Defense information. As the name suggests, it protects US operations - planned, in progress and those completed. Success depends on secrecy and surprise, so the military can accomplish the mission more quickly and with less risk. Enemies of freedom want this information, and they are not just after the military member to get it. They want you, the family member.

The following examples may help you in defining parameters for your communications. It is important to remember that there are many more examples than those listed below:

Detailed information about the mission of assigned units.
Details concerning locations and times of unit deployments.
Personnel transactions that occur in large numbers (e.g., pay information, power of attorney, wills or deployment information).
References to trend in unit morale or personnel problems.
Details concerning security procedures.

OpSEC: All posts must conform to Operations Security (OpSEC) guidelines. Posting of current or future troop movement, missions, numbers, locations, billets, mail delivery dates, phone availability, homecoming windows or dates and morale are not allowed. Remember, the enemy only needs to know that our troops are ready to defend and act.

Just because your Marine or recruit shared information with you, does not mean you should share it in a public message board community. These security measures should not be interpreted as intent to limit free speech or exercise editorial control. Freedom of speech does not include the right to endanger someone else's life or libert

OPSEC, also known as Operational Security, is the principle that we, as Army wives and Army family members, should all abide by when talking about our soldiers. If you’ve been on any military related message board on the internet, you have more than likely seen a warning to be sure to practice OPSEC. This means protecting the information you know about your soldier and his or her unit.

Generally, it means that you should not give out the following:

(1) Your soldier’s exact location overseas

(2) Any information on troop movements – this includes any movement while they are deployed and in transit to/from theater (including R&R). Do not ever give dates or times.

(3) Any information on weapons systems, how they train or numbers – for this reason, many pictures from overseas can easily violate OPSEC.

If your soldier is in a special operations unit, the OPSEC guidelines can be stricter. You may not be able to say he or she is deployed at all, much less where. His unit and/or FRG should provide the OPSEC guidelines for these situations.

Always abide by the rules set forth by his unit. Just because it is on the news does not mean that you can talk about the issue. By talking about it, you are only verifying the information.

CORRECT: "My soldier is deployed in support of Iraqi Freedom or Enduring Freedom."

INCORRECT: "My soldier is in XYZ Unit and is stationed at ABC Camp in XXX city in Iraq."

Give only general locations IF his unit allows it. The above incorrect statement is entirely too much information.

INCORRECT: "My soldier’s unit is returning from deployment and flying into XYZ Airport at 8pm next Thursday."

Never give dates or times for troop movements. Keep in mind that “next Thursday” is a date. This includes R&R dates as well as deployment and redeployment dates. Planes have been delayed for days or weeks because an excited family member made this information public.

INCORRECT: "Please pray for my soldier. He called today and told me he is going out on a very dangerous mission tonight. They will be gone for three days and I’m very worried about him."

When our soldiers are in dangerous situations, it is natural to want to reach out to others. But the above statement puts your soldier and his unit in danger. You could have very well just alerted the enemy about their mission.

It is important to realize that putting together the bits and pieces needed to create the larger picture can be amazingly simple on the internet. Many mistakenly believe that if they don’t talk about it all at once, the information is safe. This is wrong and dangerous to assume.

The internet is a wonderful tool, but in regards to our military, it is a very dangerous one as well. It takes only minutes of searching online to find enough pieces of information that could potentially endanger our soldiers.

DEPLOYMENT TICKERS

Many family members like to use deployment tickers to count down their soldier’s deployment. Never have a ticker that shows XX days until your soldier returns. If you must have a ticker, then have one with the amount of time he or she has been gone, although it is best to not have this type of ticker at all.
Finally, for your own personal safety, be very aware of what you are putting on the internet or saying in conversations in public. With the internet, it is not difficult to track down an address and phone number. Do not make yourself a target by letting the world know that your loved one is deployed.

PERSEC

PERSEC is also known as personal security. Like OPSEC, this involves guarding the information that you know. Do not give out your soldier’s name along with rank. This includes blacking out his or her name tape and rank in pictures. If he or she is in a special operations unit, you should also black out any unit affiliation.

Be vague on the internet about your personal information as an Army wife or Army family member. This is plain common sense in just every day life whether you have a family member in the military or not.

The old saying "loose lips sink ships" still holds true today. Keep your soldier, your family and his or her unit safe by keeping the information you know to yourself. You never know who is lurking and gathering information on message boards, myspace pages, and profiles. Better safe than sorry!

[Jess!]

We needed this Thanks Nat!

I even catch myself sometimes and have to go back and edit posts! It's a great reminder.

[cowgirlnat]

Originally Posted by Jess!

We needed this Thanks Nat!

I even catch myself sometimes and have to go back and edit posts! It's a great reminder.

I try to be prudent, but even I slip up sometimes. It's so easy to do something like post your husband's name and rank and unit info today, but then when he's getting ready to deploy a year from now, forget you put it on there. Then you hop on and say "He leaves tomorrow" and think you're being all good because you didn't give out his name and unit number, but you've actually violated OPSEC twice now. We're always more aware of it during deployments, but it's something we should pay attention to year round.

[cowgirlnat]

If you are someone who's mailing, please make a post so this will stay at the top of the page.

[TB4life]

Thanks for posting that!

[Reyven]

Everyone slips up at times, it's human nature! Great post and excellent reminder

[jumper_pie]

oh wow you sound like my old major :S

[bay_blnd jmpr07]

Thank you for making this thread. I didn't know about any of this.

[cowgirlnat]

Originally Posted by jumper_pie

oh wow you sound like my old major :S

I dunno if this a good thing or a bad thing, lol.

[jumper_pie]

haha me either :S