We recently interviewed LT Nixon of LT Nixon Rants to find out more about his blog.
What are 3 things your readers probably do not know about you?
1. I have a Type-B personality and I’m more apt to listen than to shoot my mouth off, believe it or not.
2. My real name is not LT Nixon. I chose the name to honor the cynical character from Band of Brothers who had a skeptical view of war and personal problems, but he still was able to do his job and serve his country.
3. My favorite beer is Miller High Life.
How long have you been blogging and why did you get into blogging?
Not too long, only about a month or so. But I’ve been reading blogs and have been a total internet junkie for years and years. I started blogging because I thought that the American public was getting the wrong messages about Iraq from the media. It seemed many people didn’t understand what was going on over here, or just chose not to care. On the right-side you have people talking about Holy War against Islam and on the left you have people talking about bloodthirsty soldiers killing civilians. Both sides, in blogs and the media, have been incredibly inaccurate. I think that has to do with our nation never coming to grips with the aftermath of 9/11 and what needed to be done. We’ve chosen to tune ourselves out and I was growing seriously concerned about the fate of our nation. I’m not naive, I know one blog isn’t going to make a difference, but I can’t sit back and passively watch our country go the way of the Roman empire.
What is your military experience?
I joined the Navy out of college in 2002 and shipped out to OCS. I was on a fast-attack submarine for 3 years from ‘04-’07. One day, my XO asked me if I’d be interested in doing an IA (individual augmentee) assignment in Iraq, I said sure, why the hell not. I’ve been working a staff job for over 6 months with the Army in Baghdad’s notorious International zone (aka The Green Zone). It’s interesting since I get to work with all the branches and see all the different cultures in our military. I’m definitely no soldier, they only gave me a 9mm, and I never leave the wire. I have it pretty good compared to most in Iraq (hot food, wet trailer, etc.) and I’m in total admiration of all the brave guys and gals in harm’s way out in the field putting in the hard time. You have my utmost respect and gratitude. I’m lucky because I get to see policies and strategy in a top-down manner. I also get to see how those policies affect politics back stateside. That’s when I realized that I humbly needed to try and provide that bridge from Iraq to the American public, since it was so misunderstood.
What are some of your other favorite Milblogs?
I’m a total blog junkie I have so many on my Google reader. Let’s see, for open-source policy analysis I’m a huge fan of Long War Journal and the Captain’s Journal. For veterans issues I’m a big fan of Irritated Vet and Vox Veterana. For a good dash of satire I always swing by War is Boring. For truly professional military journalism I’ve always liked Michael Yon and Michael Totten. But my favorite is reading the blogs of soldiers just writing their personal diaries. No politics and no BS. Bill N’ Bob’s Afghan Adventure, Iraq the Purgatorium, and Army of Dude, and many others. I also read the Iraqi blogs to cross the cultural divide, Iraq Pundit, Iraqimojo, and IraqiBloggersCentral to name a few.
What has been the biggest factor in helping you create and publish a successful blog?
haha, I would hardly call my blog successful (I’m still in single digit Technorati-authority territory), but thanks. I think it’s important for veterans to speak their mind. The people involved with the conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, and all the other people deployed around the world on ships and planes, are, sadly, a very small minority of the American population. I think America has become a place where people don’t understand its military and have chosen to ignore what veterans are saying with regards to politics. I wanted to do my small part in ensuring that vets get heard by American society, since we all have some very unique insight into how American foreign policy is applied abroad. Keeping an open mind and listening to people’s opinions and concerns from a variety of sources helps me to come up with ideas and things to point out. I also try to have a good sense of humor about everything, and I’ve never taken myself very seriously at any point in my life.
Do you have anything else you would like us to mention about you, your blog, or your readers?
Well, I just hope that veterans get more involved in the political process and speak their mind. I’m terribly concerned about where our country is headed as our military gets more and more stretched thin and outsourced. I always welcome everyone’s comments and criticisms, since political discourse is the only way to find solutions that solve problems in an increasingly complex world. There’s an election in 2008, and I have no political allegiance to any party per se, but we need to make sure that the right people get elected. I know that sounds cheesy and I don’t want to be an alarmist, but I think we have some serious trouble ahead.
Also, I’m one of the lucky bastards who gets to go on R&R during the holidays, so I wish everyone in foreign lands and out at sea a merry Christmas and a happy New Year’s, I’ll be drinking a beer in your honor.
