iPods, Google-Earth at War in Iraq
Submitted
by
Boulainvilliers
Boulainvilliers writes "Policy Review reports that the U.S. Army started to use iPods and Google-Earth in Iraq and
Afghanistan. The Army first created its internal version of MySpace, with personal profiles, photos,
bios, and information on soldiers' professional backgrounds, open only to U.S. Army commanders.
CompanyCommand.com, privately founded by four officers in 2000, grew to 6,200 members by the end of
2006, when the site was viewed about a million times per year. "It's not just information; it's a
personal story, and commanders are able to connect with their peers who share their knowledge." the
report, "War 2.0",
quotes one of the site's founders. The operators now "equip commanders on their way to Afghanistan
with new iPods, fully loaded with video-podcasted interviews with fellow commanders on their way
out." The journal also reports that U.S. officers started to use Google-Earth to map and document
conversations with civilians and local leaders, to create "a spatially and temporally mapped
track-record of trusted or problematic relationships that can be shared with other soldiers.""
