The island nation of Madagascar has been slipping into all out chaos over a political split between ruling factions. Western media has just begun to cover the worst of it, but a gentleman from Madagascar who is currently living in Indiana has been tweeting updates over the past couple weeks with the help from his fiancee on the ground. As a result, his tweets have now gained more popularity on major search engines and when one now googles Madagascar, no longer do the requisite tourist sites pop up. Instead, the whole world is watching …
My cousin, an M.D. in the military, just returned from Afghanistan. Needless to say we were all a bit concerned with his deployment. Thank God he is back but like this Madagascar story, his frequentemail and blog updates (3 to 4 times per week) plus photos (as seen below) were a rare inside view into a conflict that is pretty tough to wrap your mind around. Dan is a glass half-full kind of guy so his humor and wit almost made me forget this was not a vacation for him.
The internet has certainly revolutionized communication and I think it’s only a matter of time before we have an official U.S. Army tweet. I’m probably behind on this as I’m sure something exists already.