VetVoice Welcomes New Front Page Contributors

by: Richard Allen Smith

Mon Dec 07, 2009 at 08:48:00 AM EST

First, VetVoice diarist EyesOnly, who recently began blogging here about his upcoming deployment will be blogging as he prepares to deploy and send us dispatches from the field once he arrives for his second deployment to Iraq:

"EyesOnly" is an Active Duty Noncommissioned Officer who joined the Army in November 1999.  He has served in duty locations across the United States and around the world. Currently, EyesOnly is scheduled to deploy to Iraq in mid-December, 2009 for his second Operation Iraqi Freedom tour. While deployed, EyesOnly will offer a unique perspective on issues as they relate to Soldiers and Veterans and also will seek to shed light on the day to day life that our Soldiers are living, as the US draws down in one theater, only to build up in another.

EyesOnly states that he hopes to use blogging as a platform to "ensure that our military is not used to further anymore wild adventures, and to hold accountable those who send the military into harms way. Troops are not just numbers, we are human beings with families, loved ones, and should be seen as an American asset, not just chattel to throw at an inconvenient foreign policy problem."

EyesOnly is married and the father of four daughters.

EyesOnly has quickly become a staple on the recommended diarist list and his clear talent combined with the fact that we have not have a front-pager down range since Alex, Nixon and I returned made EyesOnly an easy pick.

Secondly, I'd like to welcome the writer of the popular milblog, GI Kate, Kate Hoit:

Formerly known throughout the blogosphere as "GI Kate," 25, served as an Army photojournalist in Balad, Iraq, from 2004 to 2005, with the 301st Area Support Group out of Queens, New York. She was raised in Albany, New York and joined the Army Reserves at 17. She has served eight years in the Reserves. She is pursing a bachelor's degree in journalism at the State University of New York at Albany and is working on a documentary film about women in the military.

In addition to maintaining a blog, gikate.com, she has appeared in the History Channel documentary special Band Of Bloggers and has guest blogged for The New York Times The Caucus: The Politics and Government Blog of The Times.

Readers who are familiar with Kate's body of work will recognize the immediate impact that her unique talent will have on this community. For those who haven't been regular readers of GI Kate, you've been missing out, but we're lucky enough to have her here now.

Please offer these new front pagers a warm welcome.  As a side note, there is no limit to how many writers we can have on our front page team.  Consistent, quality diaries which offer unique perspective and analysis are what we look for when scouting out new writers.  So, get in the diaries and make your voice heard!