Opsec!!!!!

Operations Security can’t be summed up in a brief list of rules and regulations and be expected to cover every possible situation. However, many forum, blogs and chat rooms need to set certain standards and guidelines in order to promote good OPSEC practices. These guidelines are often referred to as “OPSEC Rules”, and must be acknowledged before an account is created.







This article will provide a basic set of OPSEC rules for free, unrestricted use on any site or forum. Please note that this is not an inclusive list, and should be modified to fit the requirements on the medium. Please note that these OPSEC rules are primarily directed towards Military sites, but it may be modified to fit any other application.







OPSEC Rules for (forum, blog, chatroom name):



1.Do not post exact deployment dates or redeployment dates

2.Do not reveal camp locations, including nearby cities. After the deployment is officially announced by Military officials, you may discuss locations that have been released, normally on the Country level.

3.Do not discuss convoy routes (“we travelled through Takrit on our way to X”)

4.Detailed information on the mission, capabilities or morale of a unit

5.Specific names or actual nicknames

6.Personnel transactions that occur in large numbers (Example: pay information, powers of attorney, wills, etc)

7.Details concerning security procedures, response times, tactics

8.Don’t discuss equipment or lack thereof, to include training equipment

9.Don’t speculate about future operations

10.If posting pictures, don’t post anything that could be misconstrued or used for propaganda purposes. A good rule of thumb is to look at your picture without your caption or explanation and consider if it could be re-captioned to reflect poorly on coalition forces. For example, your image might show your Soldier rescuing a child from a blast site, but could be re-captioned to insinuate that the child being captured or harmed. (it’s happened!)

11.Avoid the use of count-up or count-down tickers for the same reason as rule #1

12.be very careful if posting pictures of your loved one. Avoid images that show significant landmarks near their base of operations, and black out last names and unit affiliations

13.Do not, ever, post information about casualties (coalition or enemy) before the official release of the information.

14.Do not pass on rumors (“I heard they’re coming home early”, etc)

what is OSPEC? sorry i'm new to all these terms and trying to learn them! could you explain?

Hahahaha. Oh definitely not, but the posts I had seen they were giving names and ranks and base locations and all this information and it was just a bit of a schocker (the guys they were talking about were deployed). I didn't want to sound paranoid, but you never know.

As long as there isn't truly too many details. I won't post specific dates- like when he comes home etc. But I believe what happens in basic isn't too much and what girlfriends can expect during basic and ait is definitely not opsec worries because I am pretty sure terrorists do not care that you got a phone call on sunday or that during AIT or ranger school they get weekends off. That is my opinion anyway :)