USS Russell (DDG 59) Takes Blogging To Sea

This is what I call evolution, a clear example of someone my age leveraging the tools of my generation for a purpose never attempted before. Our good friend LCDR Chris van Avery, aka Yankee Sailor, the XO of the recently deployed USS Russell (DDG 59) has started a blog for the USS Russell (DDG 59). We love the name: TheDestroyermen, and we love the purpose.

To deliver an authentic, unvarnished, informative and entertaining account of life aboard a U.S. Navy destroyer, report on USS RUSSELL's contribution to the Global War on Terror and execution of America's Maritime Strategy, and provide insight into the character of the American Sailor.

This is a very clever idea, and something we have a great deal of interest in observing. The Navy does a lot of work behind the scenes out of view of the public and PAOs, and a blog which has the potential to be more personal can do a lot of good sharing stories normally concealed due to lack of mediums for exposure. When we have talked in the past about the Navy needing to leverage the internet to get its message out, we see this as exactly the right way. Steve Cohen may not have discussed it in his February 08 article in Proceedings, but we believe this is exactly what he was talking about when he advised the Navy on the need to talk to the public in his article Marketing is not a Dirty Word.

We see this as good for the Lincoln CSG, good for the Russell, good for the families of the sailors on the Russell, and good for the Navy. We are featuring the blog predominately on our link list for the duration of the USS Russell (DDG 59) deployment.

Good luck to Chris and those working with him in this venture, and good luck to the officers and sailors of the USS Russell (DDG 59) on this deployment. We look forward to great photography and interesting stories that give us land bound folk a taste of the salt air in the Pacific.