OPSEC Rules
- Do not post exact deployment dates or redeployment dates.
- 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.
- Do not discuss convoy routes (“We travelled through Takrit on our way to X”).
- Detailed information on the mission, capabilities or morale of a unit.
- Specific names or actual nicknames.
- Personnel transactions that occur in large numbers (example: pay information, powers of attorney, wills, etc).
- Details concerning security procedures, response times, or tactics.
- Don’t discuss equipment or lack thereof, to include training equipment.
- Don’t speculate about future operations.
- 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!)
- Avoid the use of count-down tickers for the same reason as rule #1.
- 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.
- Do not, ever, post information about casualties (coalition or enemy) before the official release of the information.
- Do not pass on rumors (“I heard they’re coming home early,” etc.).