Blog Posts from January, 2009
Welcome to the new EUCOM.mil
Welcome to the newly renovated U.S. European Command official web site. I'm Army General John Craddock, the commander of all U.S. forces in Europe.
It's a privilege to serve the American public and ensure our interests are projected to the European community through the very professional Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, U.S. Coast Guardsmen and U.S. Department of Defense civilians serving here, including their family members who have accompanied them.
My staff has taken advantage of the incredible advancements in web technology and New Media to develop a site that will encourage dialogue and transparency with the public while still providing information on U.S. military activities with our partner nations within Europe and Israel.
I recognize that citizens of every nation are eager for information about what the U.S. military is doing in Europe. This site will feature timely and updated content designed to keep you well informed. Please take the time to sign up for the e-mail updates and subscribe to our news story RSS (real simple syndication) feeds.
It is important to me that our activities are transparent to you. However, to protect the lives of American service members and in some cases our European partners, as well as the integrity of our operations we aren't able to share everything. We've come to understand that this is part of our job and hope that from this site you will achieve a better sense of that, too.
We promise to be as open as operational security allows us to be.
The U.S. military is committed to our friends and allies in Europe. For nearly 60 years hundreds of European communities have welcomed service members into their homes and together we have celebrated victories and grieved tragedies. This sense of community that all American service members feel while serving within the U.S. European Command is echoed from the highest levels.
I ask that you take the time to engage with us through this web site and follow us on a variety of new media sites to offer suggestions for continuous improvement, ask questions about military activities or just say "hello".
We welcome your input and look forward to our continued friendship with our European partners and serving the United States of America.
Sincerely,
John Craddock, General, U.S. Army
Comments: 18
The new site looks great and EUCOM on FaceBook...who new
This is super site. Very happy to see US with future web presents. We are excited to see good news and change.
Fantastic job on the new Web site and new look. Glad to see EUCOM is moving into the social media world.
The new website is professional progressive clean stylish modern and thorough. Additional language options sections would be a nice add later zuerst auf Deutsch . Great job
Happy to see that EUCOM is keeping up with the media battlespace. EUCOM is always ahead of the others. Great job guys
This new look has re invigorated my patriotism and desire to serve my country. Keep up the great work. Yes we can
Thank you for the offer of allowing the public to ask questions about operations involving your command. As an American citizen I m always skeptical about how the military is spending my tax dollars. I will be very curious to see exactly how transparent you allow yourselves to become.
As the former Chief of Public Affairs there at EUCOM let me add my congratulations on your redesign. This is OUTSTANDING and a wonderful extension of the early work of the dedicated folks in what we called our Web Cell. I m particularly impressed with your move into social media. In fact I often use EUCOM as an example of cutting edge communication strategies. Keep up the great work
OUTSTANDING sir. gratulations to you and your team.
A message for Gen. Brantz Craddock Sir My family and I would like to share a story with you about the quality of the men and women in our Armed Forces. We have for several years been very active in supporting our Soldiers and Sailors at home and overseas through the Adopt a Platoon and Any Service Member programs as well as local volunteer organizations such as the Blue Star Mothers. We do not feel that we have ever done anything special or noteworthy just ordinary citizens trying to do what is right by our Troops. This leads into one of the most touching moments of everything we have been a part of. Last month my 8yr old daughter Esther came home from school saying that she was being picked on by the boys in her class because they did not believe she helped in supporting our Military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan. My wife and I didnt think much of it at the time and told her it would be alright since we knew the truth. Later that evening we were visiting some of our local Military Recruiters as we often do and she was still pretty upset. No one said anything at the time other than Its alright we know better. That Friday as my daughter was getting ready to go to lunch my lovely wife knocked on her classroom door and spoke with her Teacher saying there were some special people there to see Esther. After that in walked 3 Army Soldiers in their uniforms who announced to the class that they were there to have lunch with Esther to show how much they appreciate her and her family. Esther was speechless and my wife was in tears that these men would take the time out of their day to do this for one little girl. I am still overwhelmed that we as a family would mean that much to them. This speaks to the character of all of our men and women in uniform and that character only comes from exceptional leadership. Yours has to be one of the most difficult and demanding jobs in the world. We cant even imagine the decisions you have to make on a daily basis and the and the hards
All the comments I see so far are quite positive however I would like to add my thoughts. First the type is to small. Second why do you have links on the page that are inaccessable on base It s the EUCOM Webpage but EUCOM blocks the links it makes no sense. I also don t care much for the Black Background of Death look to the page. Just my opinions I know but I thought I d share.
In the framework of the Partnership for Peace PFP I ve seen with my own eyes how the USEUCOM has done an outstanding effort by means of the Warsaw Initiative Fund WIF promoting security and stability but also helping several countries in Central and Eastern Europe to become NATO members. I really hope that EUCOM will seek still more close cooperation with countries like Ukraine Georgia Moldova or Azerbaijan to achieve the same transatlantic values we share from Estonia to Spain. Thank you very much indeed for your support USEUCOM
Seriously I am totally confused by this web 2.0 self congratulations. Given that the EUCOM staff are not allowed to access web email let alone any of the social networking or sharing sites I would hardly call the inclusion of a few links on a gussied up webpage cause for celebration. While a picassa flicker youtube presence might help public affairs get some visuals out I m blown away that the COCOMs are even on Facebook or Myspace though the fact that they can t use it at work at least explains why they would have no idea what those sites are about and would instead leap like lemmings on the hip and wow social networking craze. EUCOM on facebook is like your granddad showing up at the WARP Tour and trying to breakdance cute but awkward and ultimately bad for his hips. Social networking sites are great because they give more structure to the networks we take part in ever day but are usually only held together by email addresses phone lists and business cards. But Facebook and myspace are for fun they are not a place for professional networking. If you aren t a service and you aren t involved in recruiting then you have no business on FB MS. It really just demonstrates how out of touch the military actually is instead of giving it the super hype dope flare it so desires to reach gen next. Actually seeing those links on the EUCOM website reminds me of the commercial where the idea man recommends Get Youthenized as a tag line. Don t get me wrong we EUCOM DOD need web 2.0 though that s already old news typical that we should be last on board but not all of it and we won t be able to actually make smart decisions about what parts to use until our people can use it in their day to day work and not just when they go home where actually they don t use it they just yell at their kids for being online all night . Recommendation Tell JTF GNO and the big info assurance gurus in the sky to protect us at the front
General you have a good site here but I would offer one suggestion to make it better. Please consider a file or list that can be downloaded that contains a list of al the countries in your command. The interactive map is nice but is not downloadable. Yours is the only command for which a list of countries is not readily available.
The upcoming 2009 Quality of life will be great.
I think this is a great way to hear the voice of our community and allow them to share their concerns, and show their appreciation to the military community. Being in the military for all of my adult life so far, I have always appreciated candid, uplifting experiences shared by those who are not in the uniform. Keep up the good work here and I'll be back often I am sure. Very respectfully, Adrian U.S. European Command
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