Pentagon letter prompts Troop Greeters to change how they use their website

Pentagon letter prompts Troop Greeters to change how they use their website

By Nick McCrea, BDN Staff
Posted Nov. 18, 2011


BANGOR, Maine — Bangor’s Troop Greeters have altered the way they use the Internet after the Pentagon expressed concerns in a letter that troop safety might be compromised.

The Department of Defense sent the letter after a deploying military member contacted the Pentagon because an image of the soldier was posted on the Greeters’ website, The Maine Troop Greeters. That caused the soldier to worry about troop security, according to David Nokes, the author of the letter and a community relations staffer for the Defense Department.

After receiving the complaint, Nokes visited the website, which displayed official seals of the U.S. Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard.

“I’m certain you have done this as an expression of your patriotism and to honor our troops,” Nokes wrote. “I also believe that you probably don’t realize that these service seals are restricted to official uses only. With that in mind, we would greatly appreciate it if you removed them from your website at your first opportunity.”

The Nov. 7 letter, addressed to three leaders of the Troop Greeters, opens by thanking the group for “the tremendous outpouring of support your organization has provided our deploying and returning military members and their families.”
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