This Toronto Star story about a Canadian soldier in Afghanistan being ordered to stop blogging raised some questions...

While I understand the Canadian military's position (and the views of many current and past soldier's themselves), that too much transparency could imperil the safety of fellow soldiers, I also wonder if the top brass might have overlooked a potential opportunity to strengthen the image of Canada's armed forces, and the Government of Canada's own PR campaign for the Afghan mission.

Giving these soldiers - many who are extremely proud to be doing the work they are doing - a sanctioned forum to openly discuss their experiences serving overseas, to share not just with their own families and friends but with Canadians regardless of their political stripes, the challenges, joys and dangers they face in representing our country, could serve a number of National Defence objectives related to morale, recruitment, reputation and issues management, as well as broader government policy objectives.

Does this make the job of the military harder? Of course. Could the military face criticism from within its own ranks or have to deal with an inappropriate in-the-heat-of-battle comment? Perhaps. But I would believe the potential benefits (when combined with reasonable controls and policies) far outweigh the risks and negatives. Images and videos such as this and this, so long as they don't put our soldier's at unnecessary risk, portray the stark reality of the job we are asking our soldier's to perform in ways that we've never experienced before. 

The faster the military can put a blogging/social media policy in place, one that respects operational and personal security concerns, the sooner I believe Canadians can more fully understand the contribution and sacrifice our soldier's are making.