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Too much military info!!! Loose lips sink ships!

2K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  cdn_rhino 
#1 ·
O.k. Time to update this old riverboat engineman again.
Watching satellite t.v. programs on the Afghanistan war, or any of the other conflicts we are in now, they constantly are showing inside vehicles', helicopters, inside fire bases, showing how robots work defusing land mines, how snipers hide in buildings , ect.
Isn't this too much information for us to know? If we in the States are watching all of this, guess who else is watching also? The same enemy we are fighting!
I was in a Riverine unit, special warfare unit in the early 70's.
Nothing was put out for anyone if you were not in our unit.
The public thought SEALS were animal and they wanted it that way!
Our river craft were top secret, our ops., our training, personnel in the units were classified. No photos, no interviews, nothing.
Now just turn on the t.v. and it is all there!
I would be afraid to operate in those areas with so much known about how we operate and our equipment.
How do the guys who have to fight feel?
The world has changed I guess.
 
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#2 ·
I expect that the shows on NatGeo are OK'd by the Marine Corps, Air Force, and the Army, as much of the footage is from their personnel. Unless they have relaxed their vigilance, the people who monitor this stuff have been on it. They've comm'd with staff here in the past, over OPSEC issues.
I'll admit that a lot of technical information and personnel identification is shown these days, more than used to be. Public relations and network audience draws have to constitute part of the reason that the programs are produced and aired.

I haven't got the answers, but like you, I hope others are asking these questions.
 
#3 ·
Most times when a network, like NatGeo or G4, want to produce a show about Air Force PJs or Navy EOD they have to go through a pretty strict process of getting pre-approval from the DoD and/or Pentagon and the respective branch of service to get the ball rolling on production. And after production ends all footage intended to be aired is usually scrubbed to maintain OPSEC by the previously mentioned parties. The shows I'm talking about mainly showed these units doing missions that aren't too sensitive like basic combat resuce and route clearance. I'm pretty sure we'll never see a show that follows a unit on a Direct Action raid or Recon mission.

I'm also willing to bet that the shows featuring training of similar units are also cut in a similar fashion, one example being "Surviving the Cut" who featured basic and advanced SWCC training but were not allowed to show all of the advanced training because it is classified. And anyone watching these shows is not going to learn enough about the subject matter to become an expert in it.
 
#4 ·
I think they are OK showing it, because it is already front line stuff, and well known by now. But I imagine all the newest things are kept snug and tight in a little box that the media is not allowed to dream about.

Plus, there is probably something new and super cool and even more deadly than the thing they are showing us. What they show us is old news to them.
 
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