MMMM # 112 Dear Pentagon P.R.

MEMO

To: Pentagon Public Affairs

From: The MMMM staff

(SP5 Tim Lennox, Ret.)

Re: the way things work

 I worked in a low level PR position in the military a few decades ago, so I know how slow processes can be to change. 1776 becomes 1900 so fast that sometimes it is hard to keep up. And here we are in the 2000's already! Amazing.



While I'm thinking about it, I can come back next week and record more of those "Army Hour" radio shows on LP vinyl to send to the troops. I have a feature story almost finished about French soldiers having some difficulty in Asia. Properly vetted, of course. Wouldn't want the wrong people getting information that is forbidden.



This memo was prompted by the fine work of the Pentagon information control apparatus in buying and destroying almost 10,000 copies of a bad book by a bad former soldier. Good job Public Affairs staff! It was a great use of precious resources! (Oh, I forgot, everywhere else there's a Great Recession going on, but military spending never slows down, does it?)  Anyway, good work!Those bad words written by the bad soldier will now go away, never to be seen again.



Also, we're sure the story about the book destruction will never get out, since you have such an airtight hold on all embarrasing internal information. I mean, it's not like our military personnel have access to magic machines in their pockets that bring them the world's information in a heartbeat.



If the Pentagon itself had such a magic box, it could have found lots of stories about incidents on college campuses just like the book destruction. Students who didn't like the bad words in college newspapers went and took all of the copies and destroyed them. And we never heard a word it.



Yes, Public Affairs staff, this was a truly wise operation, well carried out. A great example for the rest of the world's military to follow.



P.S. Please remember to send some combat artists to draw pictures of the Cavalry Troop training for the Indian Wars out West for next week's newsletter. And keep it quiet!

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[ALSO: Check out the cool new "fact check" organization. Bama Fact Check, started by The Anniston Star and other media outlets.]



[AND; in the Bishop Long story out of Atlanta, the NY Times notes "Media access to the services was tightly controlled Sunday. Reporters were required to check in with church officials and were led to a separate part of the church to view the service. The media was also told not to interview church members inside the sanctuary or on church property."]





[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of this blog.]