ISIS's Gastrointestinal Problems and an Uncle Named Sugar

What is the big deal with social media, anyway? In the last few years, the military has made huge strides in opening up communication with regards to "External Official Presences." According to the latest Army doctrine,

Social media allows every Soldier to be a part of the Army story and it allows America to connect to its Army.

Part of the magic of social media is that it is, well, social. People share it, comment, and interact with it. So when our amazing public affairs Soldiers write something about, say, the Air Force weather forecasters (a hint of things forthcoming?) we expect that the Airmen will pass it along, giving their online communities an opportunity to keep up with their work and give feedback.

So what makes people want to share stuff? How about this, which got over 12,000 shares on Facebook within a couple of days:

MOSUL, Iraq — Militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) are surrendering en masse to the Iraqi government following the group’s seizure of thousands of meals ready-to-eat, which made the fighters largely ineffective amid cramps and diarrhea, Duffel Blog has learned.

Well, if you've never eaten an MRE, you might not think it's funny, but we doubt that the 12,000 who shared it from the Duffel Blog did so to exclaim to good news of ISIS's demise. It's humorous, and ever since the days of Sad Sack, deployed American service members have needed their dose of military humor.

If you think it's off topic, what about a story that we recently posted to our unit Facebook page about "printing" food in deployed areas. It was definitely share-able, and directly related to how the Army takes care of its Soldiers (in an odd way).

As an MPAD, we've made much and measurable progress in our social media efforts by finding things that our online community seems to want. This blog is merely the latest in delivering top shelf information to the public. We'll go ahead and call this the "Military Blog of Record." Help us make that tagline stick.

• Uncle Sugar is the eponymous blog of a major who dispense civil affairs funds in Iraq. He continues to update his blog even though he is retired, and has put his naming skills to a book about his war experiences called, Does My Suicide Vest Make Me Look Fat?
• Guardian of Valor is a blog primarily devoted to outing those who lie about being heroic. These guys have discovered a market full of supply and demand.
• Graphic Firing Table (subtitled, "firing unobserved rounds at anything moving") caught our eye while we were at Fort Dix, because the author, who did basic training and later served as a drill sergeant there, had plenty of funny things to say about the place. Plenty.
• Breach Bang Clear has become a bona fide money-making site, as far as we can tell. You can tell, too, because the creators have real dolls to represent them. BBC effectively mixes Army-style humor with serious topics, kind of like we do.

All of these blogs are written by real Soldiers who have experienced various facets of Army operations. We do the dirty work of reading up to deliver the best of the Army blog world to you. It's social, and it is a big deal.