Last time I put out this call for people to step up and take on these briefings, a guy named Dan Darling answered. We accepted, he delivered, his own blog Regnum Crucis grew in popularity, and now he's with a Washington think-tank thanks to his work here. USMA Instructor Robin Burk also answered, and she ended up becoming a team member on this blog.
Winds of Change.NET had over 1,000,000 visitors in 2003, and we're on pace to top that in 2004. This is a great gig for the right person - and right now, 2 regular slots are open:
(1) An Iraq Briefing, covering both military and political/economic news every Thursday. Maj. Olmsted currently has the Monday briefing [example]; and
(2) A Winds of War briefing, covering the global War on Terror once a week [example]. Dan Darling will write the other weekly briefing, and he'll have 1st pick of either Mondays or Thursdays.
You get the template and a list of source sites we respect as a starting point - the rest is up to you. Key points:
- You don't have to give up your own blog if you have one - in fact, doing this will enhance your own blog's popularity.
- Time commitment is 1-3 hours per week.
- As you can see from the examples above, it's about bullet points and quick entries that make people want to follow the links for more, not long analysis.
- We will publish in-depth analysis as a separate Special Analysis feature, however. Indeed, Dan Darling made his name doing stuff like this.
- Regularity is key. You'll be on one day a week - Monday or Thursday - every week. The briefing has to be there in the morning, or we have to have several days notice.
- We'll consider collaborations involving more than one individual - in fact, Maj. Olmsted's Monday Iraq Report briefing may already be moving in that direction.
- We have both liberals and conservatives writing for Winds of Change.NET. All we demand a serious commitment to the ideals in our banner: "Liberty. Discovery. Humanity. Victory (in the war)."
If you're interersted, here's more info. re: what we're looing for. Email our War on Terror Editor Dan Darling ("scorpius", over @ shwiggie.com), and Cc: to me ("joe", here @ windsofchange.net). Give us a quick summary of your background, and tell us why you think you'd be good at this. We'll take it from there.
I would be delighted to assist in some small way.
However I do have one teeny problem, I'm on short notice to return to Iraq (or elsewhere).
However within the rules of the Official Secrets Act, I would be delighted to collaborate, perhaps with another Blogger, (Lewykatorze leaps to mind).
Brief CV.
Ex regular Infantry Officer.
TA Special Op Officer.
TA Sapper Officer .
Service in Ulster. GW1. Bosnia (Liaison Officer with 1st Us Armoured Division). OIF Chinook Helicopter Squadron.
Subject to OSA, I do have a wide range of contacts within the NATO and UK military, I am happy to share non classified and PoVs.
Interests, other than my business in UK.
Military History.Laws of International Conflict. Training my dog. Indian Cooking.
Stance: Violently anti war, unless for a good cause. IMHO OIF and GWOT are good causes. Are we making mistakes, could we do better? Sure. Will we strive to do better, of course.
Anyhow, if I can be of any assistance be delighted to help with the good work.
What DID ever happen to Armed Liberal? Did he become head of NBC News or what? ;)
Steve,
Afraid that's too much to hope for. Armed Liberal's fate will be made public very soon, however. Hold on tight.
We seem to be graduating quite a few Winds team members to serious (and related) gigs....
Joe,
I'm thinking about it. There are two problems - regular columns and that I'd have to be more restrained in comments. What are you looking for in terms of output?
if you can wait a few months:
I know of a whole bunch of soon to be unemployed, equally discredited, talk to themselves in front of mirrors and confuse that for affirmation from the masses types from the OSD and OVP that would fit right in with Fair and Balanced Joe and the "new" team.
Thanks, 4:32pm commenter!
As s/he points out, aspiring "Winds of War" briefers should expect a wide range of reader responses, from incendiary through insightful. While some commenters will throw brickbats, others of us (right, center, and left) will show our appreciation for perceptive and intelligent posts. Hope it works out, Max or Tom.
Tom,
Tried emailing you - even removing the spam, it didn't work. So...
For Winds of War, one full briefing per week, every week, on the same day every week. Pretty much without fail.
My recommendation: if the initial reaction to something is "interesting, but I'll have to squeeze myself into this box to fit"... don't. It's never worth it.
Maybe submitting topic ideas and then doing Guest Blog pieces would be a better idea all around?
Joe, did you get my e-mail? I'd be interested in the spot.
Or. . . How about doing a regular bit on, "Things That are More Important than the War on Terror"? :-D
Lili
Why don't you solicit Wretchard over at Belmont Club? He would be a brilliant addition.
He would - but these kinds of briefings are not his style. I'm sure we'll continue to feature his in-depth analysis in our links, howver.