What is the nature of the threat? The threat is real, our adversary is cunning, sophisticated and we should not underestimate him at any time. My name is Lieutenant Dwight Lahti, and I am the Battalion Information Operations Officer. One of my jobs here at Camp Shelby is to train soldiers on Operations Security (OPSEC), part of that job is to tell soldiers what they can do to protect our critical information from the adversary. Due to the fact that there is so much information about us already through what we call open source information, our enemy knows about 80 to 85 percent of the information to defeat us. We look at what is the most important piece of the puzzle that we can keep away from the enemy to protect our soldiers and our mission. The big piece that we can keep away from the enemy is dates, times and locations. We know this information, the enemy does not. The hard part of knowing it is that our families want to know as well. This is why your soldier can be rather vague when you talk to them on the phone. If we can keep this information to ourselves we can protect our mission and our soldiers. It is not like we keep information from soldiers, we inform them when we know as much as we can and still be accurate about what our mission will be. It is very important that they do not tell you those specific dates, times and locations that we will be moving or going to just for the fact that it could cost lives.

Being a husband and a father of four children, I know my family wants to know what is going on in my life, and there are times when I just have to keep my mouth shut. The time is coming soon when you will have no communications with your soldier. It is not because they are ignoring you, they just cannot talk to you. So be prepared for a period of four to six weeks when you will not hear from them until we reach our final destination. This is not an excuse to not contact your love ones, it is a reminder that some information is not for everyone to know. Cell phone calls are easily intercepted, I often hear other people talking when I call home at night. It is a know fact that if the government wanted to listen to our phone calls they have the ability to do that. It is also a known fact that our adversary can obtain the same equipment to listen to our phone calls as well. The internet is not 100% secure, e-mails can be read. Once you send anything to a .com site it is fair game to be intercepted and read by anyone. One of the best ways to contact your soldier through e-mail is to set up an AKO account for your family members. It is easy to do, and it is more secure that Hotmail, AOL, MSN or some other .com site.

I wondered how my parents survived World War II without cell phones and e-mail? They wrote regular letters back on forth faithfully. I know in our fast paced world that the letter may take a long time to get, but think about what that letter can do. When the postal clerk tells you that you have mail, it is one of the greatest feelings that a soldier can get, knowing that someone cares about them to send them something in the mail. The time it takes to write a letter tells that special someone that you truly love them. Spend the time writing. A letter lasts longer than a phone call, it is always in your pocket, ready to pull out and read that someone loves you.

The last item I want to bring to your attention is security. There are bad people who want to know that your soldier is gone and for how long. They are looking for lists of people that do not have someone home to watch them. They want to send you messages that your soldier is dead. They want you to get so frightened that you are constantly sending messages that your soldier needs to be home. Be proactive! There is nothing wrong with asking the local police department to keep an eye on your house while you are gone. Letting your friends and neighbors come over and become a part of your life will keep your house active. Get involved with others, whether it is the FRG, a church group or some other social activity. It is your ability to keep yourself going at home that will keep your soldier from worrying about you.

To my wife, don’t ask me when I am going or where I am going, just remember that I love you and I’ll be calling and writing to you when I can, you know …OPSEC.