Red Bull Rising, a blog focusing on the largest deployment of Iowa National Guard soldiers since World War II, is a finalist in the Fifth Annual Milbloggies, a "People's Choice Awards"-style competition administered by Milblogging.com, a Military.com website.According to the Milbloggies website, the award "recognizes military bloggers for their contribution to blogging, news and information, and to the military over the past year."
Readers can vote for the blog to receive an award by using a simple web-ballot found here.
Red Bull Rising appears under the "U.S. Military Veteran" category.
Voting will close on Thurs., April 28, at 7pm EST/4pm PST.
The Red Bull Rising blog can be found at: www.redbullrising.com. When it was started in December 2009, the Red Bull Rising blog was written from the perspective of "Charlie Sherpa," a soldier preparing to deploy to Eastern Afghanistan with the Iowa Army National Guard's 2nd Brigade Combat Team (B.C.T.), 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division (2-34th BCT). When the unit mobilized without him in July 2010, Sherpa covered the unit's training at Camp Shelby, Miss., and the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, Calif. while still in uniform.
A freelance writer and editor in his civilian career, Sherpa continued to write the blog after his December 2010 retirement following 20 years in the Iowa Army National Guard.
"I'm kind of a mash-up of a military-unit historian and citizen-journalist," Sherpa says. "I now write the blog more in third-person than from first-person perspective, but enjoy the ability to switch back and forth. I've also maintained the 'not-so-secret identity' because it's proved surprisingly useful in negotiating the spaces among officers, enlisted soldiers, spouses, and others."
Originally nominated in both the U.S. Army and U.S. Reporter award categories, Milbloggies contest officials apparently consolidated the nominations by listing Red Bull Rising under the U.S. Military Veteran category.
The editorial missions of Red Bull Rising blog are:
"I'm still applying to embed with the Red Bulls in Afghanistan as civilian media later this spring," says Sherpa. "And, as soldiers and families know too well, a deployment doesn't end with a homecoming parade. There are months of recovering and resetting as units, as families, as friends, and as citizen-soldiers."
"Besides, the Red Bull continues to rise. The 34th Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team--the Minnesota Red Bulls--is headed to Kuwait and Iraq later this year."
To learn more about the Red Bull Rising blog, and its pseudonymous author "Charlie Sherpa," click here.
A list of all 2011 Milbloggies finalists can be found here.
Winners will be announced at the Sixth Annual Milblog Conference to be held April 29-30 in Arlington, Va.
Voting will close on Thurs., April 28, at 7pm EST/4pm PST.
The Red Bull Rising blog can be found at: www.redbullrising.com. When it was started in December 2009, the Red Bull Rising blog was written from the perspective of "Charlie Sherpa," a soldier preparing to deploy to Eastern Afghanistan with the Iowa Army National Guard's 2nd Brigade Combat Team (B.C.T.), 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division (2-34th BCT). When the unit mobilized without him in July 2010, Sherpa covered the unit's training at Camp Shelby, Miss., and the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, Calif. while still in uniform.
A freelance writer and editor in his civilian career, Sherpa continued to write the blog after his December 2010 retirement following 20 years in the Iowa Army National Guard.
"I'm kind of a mash-up of a military-unit historian and citizen-journalist," Sherpa says. "I now write the blog more in third-person than from first-person perspective, but enjoy the ability to switch back and forth. I've also maintained the 'not-so-secret identity' because it's proved surprisingly useful in negotiating the spaces among officers, enlisted soldiers, spouses, and others."
Originally nominated in both the U.S. Army and U.S. Reporter award categories, Milbloggies contest officials apparently consolidated the nominations by listing Red Bull Rising under the U.S. Military Veteran category.
The editorial missions of Red Bull Rising blog are:
- To explain in plain language the roles, responsibilities, and routines of the U.S. citizen-soldier, with particular focus on the U.S. 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division.
- To illuminate ways in which citizen-soldiers past and present--as well as their families--can be remembered, supported, and celebrated.
"I'm still applying to embed with the Red Bulls in Afghanistan as civilian media later this spring," says Sherpa. "And, as soldiers and families know too well, a deployment doesn't end with a homecoming parade. There are months of recovering and resetting as units, as families, as friends, and as citizen-soldiers."
"Besides, the Red Bull continues to rise. The 34th Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team--the Minnesota Red Bulls--is headed to Kuwait and Iraq later this year."
To learn more about the Red Bull Rising blog, and its pseudonymous author "Charlie Sherpa," click here.
A list of all 2011 Milbloggies finalists can be found here.
Winners will be announced at the Sixth Annual Milblog Conference to be held April 29-30 in Arlington, Va.
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