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Introducing…
May 3, 2007
I’d like to take a moment to introduce one of ASM’s newest authors, Kari. She is a former Marine, a mother, a wife, and an American. Everyone please take a moment to welcome her to ASM.
We have couple more new authors who will be posting randomly. I will introduce them to you all as they make their first posts. I know my memory is short and if I introduced everyone at once I’d forget within minutes.
Wanted: Authors
April 29, 2007
First, I’d like to appologize for my absence. I think I just did this last week as well. Currently, I have a lot going on and have been running low on blogging time. Anyway, that is not the point of this post.
A few months ago I announced that ASM was looking for additional authors. Terri came on board during this first recruiting effort. Since then the blog has increased in size/readership over 400 percent. I would like to announce that we are still looking for additional authors.
There are a few things I require of all authors, but don’t worry they are no big deal. The first thing, I would prefer an author who has some sort of connection to the military. Current or prior service members would be great, but anyone who is somehow related to the military (spouse/family member/friend) will be acceptable. Secondly, there is no requirement on post quantity, however, post quality is a must. Some basic knowledge of blogging software would be preferable, but not necessary. WordPress is very simple and myself or Terri could spin any new author up in a matter of minutes.
So, if you are interested in authoring articles at ASM, please send me an email. Even if you only have one article in mind, let me know. You do not have to be a “full-time” author if you don’t want to be, just post when you feel like it or have something to say. ASM is growing by the day and we want you to be a part of it.
Essay Contest Update
April 22, 2007
Just a reminder that we have only 8 more days to get your essays in, before judging begins. The topic once again is What It Means To Support The Troops. Those of you who have submitted essays this weekend, don’t fret, Anthony will get them posted. He’s been off-line all weekend, as his girlfriend just got back from leave and he’s spending time with her. We’ve got some fantastic essays so far. You all have a tough job ahead of you, in picking out the winners.
Essay Contest: Update 1
April 13, 2007
Alright folks, Terri has already let the cat of the bag on the essay contest. I just wanted to share some further details of the contest with you. I’m hoping this will be a fun and inspiring contest. I want to make sure that it is clear that this contest is open to EVERYONE: military, veterans, family, friends, liberals, everyone! Myself and Terri are NOT literary majors. To be fair during judging, we will open voting to you, the readers.
Contest Rules:
- Topic: What does the term “Support the Troops” mean to you?
- Deadline: All essays must be submitted via email to by 2359 MST on 30 April 2007. Late essays will not be accepted.
- Length: All essays must be at least 500 words and no more than 1500 words. Please don’t submit any epic novels.
- Voting begins on 1 May 2007, with the winners to be announced on 15 May 2007.
- Have fun and keep an open mind. You might learn something new while exploring other peoples ideas of what it means to support the troops.
The Prizes (This is what everyone wants):
- 1st Place Winner:
- Ranger Up T-Shirt of your choice
- A Soldier’s Mind coffee mug
- Autographed copy of Citizen Reign’s debut album
- A Soldier’s Mind bumper sticker pack
- 2nd Place Winner:
- A Soldier’s Mind coffee mug
- Autographed copy of Citizen Reign’s debut album
- A Soldier’s Mind bumper sticker pack
- 3rd Place Winner:
- Autographed copy of Citizen Reign’s debut album
- A Soldier’s Mind bumper sticker pack
Sites Supporting the Contest:
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: What It Means To Support The Troops
April 13, 2007
Ever since I began reading MilBlogs, there have been many discussions on this topic. In January, I began writing here, and we’ve had the same discussions. We’ve had some pretty intense discussions about this topic both here and at other MilBlogs, as to what that term actually means. We’ve asked the soldiers that we’ve interviewed in our “Hear Our Heroes†section, what they feel it means to Support The Troops and pretty much come up with the same answer from each one of them. Considering that very few of the soldiers we’ve interviewed for that section are acquainted with each other, I feel is pretty telling in and of itself. So, I’m going to allow our readers to convey their thoughts on what it means to Support The Troops. We’d like to invite everyone to write their thoughts on what you feel that term means. We’ve decided that we’re going to make this into a contest. Each entry submitted to Anthony or I, will be posted here on the blog and we’ll allow our readers to vote on which one they feel best conveys what it means to Support The Troops. There will be prizes awarded for the top three submissions, which we’ll announce later. You’ll have until April 30th to email either Anthony or myself with your ideas on this title: “What It Means To Support The Troops.” We will then post all of the submissions and allow our readers to vote for the one they like the best. Good luck to everyone!
Please feel free to share this on other blogs, or to share it with your families and friends. We’d love to get as many submissions as possible. Anthony and I’s email addresses can be located by clicking the links on the sidebar.
ASM Values Week
April 11, 2007
Alright folks, lately I’ve been writing a few opinion pieces for ASM. Next week will be no different. Next week ASM will be conducting it’s own values week. Everyday next week I will be publishing an article covering one of the Army values: loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage.
Now you may be asking yourself, “Why are you covering only the Army values?” My response is, because I’m in the Army. Granted each service has its own set of values, they all fall in line with each other and convey the same ideas. Also, there are seven days of the week and seven Army values. Perfect fit! If you are interested in submitting a few of your thoughts about any of the values before next week, I will make sure to include them in the articles.
Blogger’s Choice Awards Update
April 9, 2007
Alright, this will be the last post I devote to this topic. I’m not one for self promotion, but hey sometimes you just got to. Anyway, on to the meat of the post. Make sure you visit the Blogger’s Choice Awards and cast your votes for ASP, ASM and 1U.
Vote for ASP Here
Vote for ASM Here
Vote for 1U Here
Nominations/Voting
April 8, 2007
Attention all readers, A Soldier’s Mind has been nominated for the Blogger’s Choice Awards. We have been listed in the Best Political Blog category. If you like the blog, please consider heading over and casting your vote.
More Changes
April 5, 2007
Yesterday, I added the Sphere: Related Content plugin to ASM. After testing it out for a short period of time, Terri and I realized it was not a good fit. Most of the articles on ASM are very unique and the Sphere plugin had a hard time finding “relevant” content on the web relating to our articles.
However, I have replaced Sphere with a plugin which I find more useful. The “Share This” link at the top of each post will allow you to easily email articles to friends and also bookmark articles easily using the most popular bookmarking sites. I’m still testing and tweaking the plugin to fit ASM perfectly, but so far everything is working fine. Please let me know if you experience any problems with it.
Sphere
April 4, 2007
Alright, you may have noticed already there is new link under each article. It is ‘Sphere: Related Content’ link. Sphere is a pretty new blog search engine, basically they scrub the web and find all the great blog articles. If you click on the link under each post, it should provide you with a pop-up window that shows you related posts from around the blogosphere. I’m going to test the feature out for a few weeks, determine if it is useful and go from there. Please feel free to let me know if you love, hate it, could care less, or whatever. It is a constant struggle to keep the blog updated with the newest/freshest resources available, while remaining functional.
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