Soldier Systems Daily had over 5.1 Million hits in December 2009. What a great way to close out the aughts. Thank you very much to our readers and supporters.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at SHOT Show in Las Vegas next week.

We want to thank our readers for making November our best month ever. Our readership continues to grow and represent a wider cross-section of the tactical industry. With over 4.5 Million Hits we recovered from a slight dip to 4.17 Million hits in October.

Look for even more exclusive content this month including a multi-part series on the Army’s Fire Resistant clothing program and even more giveaways.

Mil Std 2525C which sets the standard for all of those little pictures situated on your map overlay was updated over a year ago and one of the most significant, yet overlooked changes was the addition of map symbology for IEDs.

The Army is making a major push to integrate the new icons into digital C4ISR systems so you should be begin to see them soon on a FBCB2 screen near you. For those of you who would like a guide to learn to decipher all of those diamonds and rectangles, check out Mil Std 2525C.

In honor of tomorrow, Veterans Day, we are pleased to post about “The Warrior Song”. “The Warrior Song” is currently for sale to the public on iTunes for .99 cents. Every purchase supports members of the United States military, as the profits derived from its sale will be donated to the Armed Forces Relief Trust.

Thanks to AFMO for bringing this to our attention. Active military can receive a free copy of the song by following the instructions at www.thewarriorsong.com. You can purchase the song on iTunes.

This year’s International Sniper Competition was as exhilarating as the competitors. The 9th International Sniper Competition, held in Ft. Benning, GA differed from previous years in that this year the teams were divided into two classes. Service Class consisted of teams firing a 7.62×51 or smaller caliber. Open Class consisted of those firing a 7.62×51 or larger.

In a stunning display of sniper skills, the U.S. Marines took first place overall in the competition. My congratulations to the Camp Pendleton, CA, Scout Sniper School, well done.

Final Results:

Overall
• Team 3, Scout Sniper School, Camp Pendleton, CA

Service Class
• 1st place- Team 3, Scout Sniper School, Camp Pendleton, CA
• 2nd place – Team 24, Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, Ft. Bragg, NC – Special Warefare Training Group
• 3rd place – Team 6, Charlie Troop, 1st Battalion, 73rd Cav, 82nd Airborne, Ft. Bragg, NC

Open Class
• 1st place- Team 10, Able Company, 2nd Battalion, 46th Infantry Regiment, 194th Armor Brigade, Fort Knok, KY
• 2nd place – Team 23, Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, Special Warfare Training Group, Fort Bragg, NC
• 3rd place- Team 21, U.S. Army Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, NC

Copyright 2009 Sal Palma

If you want to write for Soldier Systems Daily its pretty simple. Just contact the Editor with your article idea. Seriously, that’s all you have to do. Generally, we want an article that is a couple of paragraphs long and answers the basic who, what, where, when, why, and how. Pictures are also helpful but make sure you have the permission of the owners. We are happy to give you a by-line but there will be no payment. One caveat for vendors, we will happily post press releases but the impact is much greater if someone checks out your product and writes an article on it. If you have a product and want us to hook you up with a write, just drop us a line.

Inclusion of products or information on Soldier Systems Daily is for informational purposes only and in no way construed as an endorsement unless otherwise stated. We do accept paid advertising and we fully endorse all of our advertisers.

All content is copyright 2009 Soldier Systems Daily unless otherwise credited. Further use of content is prohibited unless specific permission is provided by Soldier Systems Daily. Corporate logos for companies featured on Soldier Systems Daily are the property of their respective owners and are used solely for illustrative purposes.

SEALs: The US Navy’s Elite Fighting Force has sold more than 40 thousand copies since its release last October. The book features over 130 never-before-seen images of SEAL operators in training and during combat missions dating back to the 1989 invasion of Panama. Published by Osprey Publishing, “SEALs: The US Navy’s Elite Fighting Force” is the best selling general military history book the company has published in the last 10 years. Chris Osman, the co-author said that “considering that of all the books published each year, 195 thousand of them never see sales beyond 5 thousand copies is a great feeling of accomplishment for Mir Bahmanyar and I”. Mir and Chris are currently collaborating on a new book that will focus on military Snipers, their training, their equipment, and missions. Like their first project they will focus on modern day operations and training and again use photographs and stories that have never been released to the public. No date has been set for the release of their second book.

“SEALs: The US Navy’s Elite Fighting Force” is available from Amazon.

The Federal Trade Commission recently revised their rules for endorsements and testimonials.

Blogs will now be covered by the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising last updated in 1980. So what does this mean? Well, effectively, the new rules are intended to be applied to those bloggers who write content for money. But it also extends to websites like Soldier Systems Daily who receive paid overt advertising. Additionally, it extends to any blog that writes reviews of products.

From the FTC’s statement, “The revised Guides also add new examples to illustrate the long standing principle that “material connections” (sometimes payments or free products) between advertisers and endorsers – connections that consumers would not expect – must be disclosed. These examples address what constitutes an endorsement when the message is conveyed by bloggers or other “word-of-mouth” marketers. The revised Guides specify that while decisions will be reached on a case-by-case basis, the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement.”

What the blogger needs to do is to disclose to the reading public any compensation received for an “endorsement’. From what we have been led to believe this includes material as well as monetary compensation. For example, if a writer prepared a review of a day pack and was allowed to keep it after the review, the writer would be required to disclose this to the readers. It has been suggested that bloggers should also disclose if a product was provided solely on an “on loan” basis. CMP.LY has produced a set of banners that can be used on a web site to provide disclosure to the readers.

So could this also extend to forums? It should. We have all seen ghost accounts created for use by shills eager to pump up their brand’s cred. And then there are the internet “experts” who provide “free” advice that always seem to point toward the company that is supplying them with free kit. This is particularly rampant in the firearms business. It would be nice to see some of these connections come to light. Additionally, forum goers who are employees of companies will need to disclose this as well. As for forums, no one is sure as of yet who would be fined in the event of a violation; the forum or the poster.

So, for the record, Soldier Systems Daily receives paid advertising and the reader can readily see our advertiser’s banners openly displayed. No endorsement is granted or implied for any other products or services unless specified in writing.

Ultimately, we aren’t lawyers and we still aren’t sure how this will be implemented or enforced but with violators facing an $11,000 fine, it’s good to at least be informed that this is coming and to begin to develop a strategy on how to deal with it. If you are concerned that your website, blog, or forum will be affected by this we suggest you start planning now.