May 06, 2009 
My hubby and I were still relative newbies to the military when 9/11 happened, and we didn't really 'get' what war meant. I remember being very irritated by people getting on their high horses about operational security or OPSEC. Yeah, yeah, we know. Loose lips sink ships. But how would that happen in the modern world? How about the USS Cole. Oh yeah.
It was only the year before when the bombing of the USS Cole took place, and it wasn't hard to figure out why. The
entire city of Aden looked on as the ship - like other Navy ships - steammed into harber for a port call and refuel. So it didn't take much effort for terrorists to load a zodiac boat with C-4 and a couple of guys to blow it up next to the hull, killing. Of course, they blew it up after the tanks were full of fuel and just below the galley where the crew was lining up for breakfast. The blast killed 17 sailors, injured 39 and nearly sank the ship. Not to mention a few egos, my own included.
The bombing of the USS Cole required no intelligence leak by Americans. Yet imagine how much more intelligence
could be gathered about our troop movements simply by scanning family web sites, email and discussion forums like
CinCHouse.com.
"My hubby's team leaves Fallujah on the day of his birthday!"
"I'm so bummed they'll only let the unit go on R&R to Bahrain."
"I'm flying into the port city on Saturday so I can greet the ship."
Thread together a couple hundred statements like this, combined with the spouses' "Go Rangers!" signature image or
noted location of Fort Campbell, and terrorists can piece together enough for a plan of attack on our own loved
ones.
I worry about personal security or PERSEC as well. We didn't know about PERSEC before 9/11, but we started to worry
when the wives of deployed British soldiers received terrifying calls from terrorists in Iraq claiming to have
kidnapped their husbands. It turned out they had only captured the cell phone numbers via a police scanner when the husband had called home from deployment, but imagine what could have happened.
Then there were a few news reports of criminals targeting vulnerable spouses who had been left alone by deployed
service members. Those cute car magnets cheering for the service member's unit had indicated that the women were
probably alone and distracted by their children. The attackers had prowled for them at a local strip mall where military wives shopped.
Now that a new generation of recruits' wives come on board, we must share these stories. We are all military wives
now, and we must accept our portion of responsibility for operational security.It doesn't matter that your mother-
in-law doesn't get it; don't send the email and only tell her dates by phone. Enforce OPSEC and PERSEC with yourself and your friends on CinCHouse and throughout your lives. Reminder others by posting one of the OPSEC signature images found on our
Siggies & Images page. They're sized for Facebook, MySpace, and anywhere else people need a reminder.
The rest of America may have gone on its merry way, but we are still at war. All of our husbands' lives rest in your hands.