Medal of Honor Casting a Shadow - 2000s Iraqi Skies and Soldiers' Silent Contributions

Medal of Honor Casting a Shadow - 2000s Iraqi Skies and Soldiers' Silent Contributions

In the midst of the Iraq War, an American Apache attack helicopter (AH-64) flying over the dusty land was relentlessly pursued by enemy forces. Behind it all, an unexpected presence was quietly involved. One smartphone application that seems to have nothing to do with the battlefield - Foursquare.

Since around 2009, Foursquare has been quietly spreading among young soldiers. The app allowed soldiers to "check in" to their current location, which was recorded on a map and earned them a virtual "badge. One soldier checked in to say that he had "arrived at a frontline base near Baghdad International Airport," and gleefully earned that badge. But that post was visible to someone he did not know. Information about where the U.S. soldier was, where he was going out from, and where he was coming back to - that information was floating under the eyes of the enemy, like an observation balloon.

A 2010 New York Times article, "Web Photos That Reveal Secrets," warned of the dangers posed by such location-based postings. The article cites examples of soldiers' photos and Foursquare check-ins unknowingly revealing their unit's location and routes of action through GPS tags and location metadata. Especially on the battlefield, such information can be deadly.

In fact, there was a reported case in which an Apache unit encountered an ambush immediately after launching a sortie, and it was suspected that posts on social networking sites were behind the ambush. The possibility emerged that the bases and troop positions were known to enemy forces, forcing the military top brass to reevaluate the use of social networking and location-based applications.

Since this event, the U.S. military has generally banned postings containing location information, and severe restrictions have been placed on the use of apps such as Foursquare, Facebook, and Twitter. The reality is that lighthearted posts exchanged between missions can endanger the lives of fellow soldiers. A momentary "routine" posted in search of a badge cast an irrevocable shadow over the extraordinary situation of the battlefield.

A smartphone glows silently in your hand. The irony that a single screen of a smartphone could tell the enemy the air route of the steel raptor Apache illustrates how subtle and unpredictable warfare is in the information age. Soldiers now live in an age where they suspect "posts" first before the fire of a gun.

*This content was adapted from an article in The New York Times, August 1, 2010.