Today is our blogoversary. Seven years ago I got booted from Right Nation and it was like the millionth time I’d been booted from various forums (including the History Channel) and I decided to start a forum that couldn’t boot me. It began as an opinion blog like the millions of others and became a military-oriented blog through about two years of knocking around until I found my niche in the military community. I’m truly humbled by the fact that thousands of you choose to spend a couple of minutes everyday with us. I’m truly humbled by the friends I’ve made over the last seven years. <\/p>\n
I’m proud of the blog, but I’m always cognizant of the fact that I couldn’t have done it without you and the established bloggers who found some value in my idiot ramblings through the English language. We’d probably be just one of the countless voices in the wilderness without support from Matt Burden and Jim Hanson at Blackfive<\/a>, Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit<\/a>, all of the guys (especially DrewM and Andy) at Ace of Spades<\/a> and Michelle Malkin<\/a>. <\/p>\n I guess it was five years ago that I took on COB6 and TSO as co-bloggers and that truly changed our direction and improved our success. We have about 20 others who can write here and do so occasionally when their muses poke them. I appreciate everything that they’ve done for me without pay over the years. Hondo being the most recent who has been a great help in both writing posts and research on phonies.<\/p>\n But, we’ve always been a reader-driven blog which is why most of the posts I write come from you guys so we can talk about the things that interest you, with some Stolen Valor busts mixed in. We write about ten posts everyday because I’ve found that to be the magic number – to talk about everything you want to talk about. But more than 10 posts leave nothing to talk about tomorrow. So that’s how I arrived at the number.<\/p>\n I’ve had a number of offers to work for other blogs and news folks, but my loyalties remain with this blog mostly because I don’t like to be told what to do and no one else offers me the opportunity to bust phonies. I treasure my friendships in the Stolen Valor business with Doug Sterner, Mary Schantag and Don Shipley, as well as Scotty and the Guardian of Valor folks who all fill my inbox with tips when I need them most. And the ex-wives and ex-girlfriends who also dish dirt on their ex-es.<\/p>\n