Erick Barnes and Brent Walker are the webmasters for the Operation Iraqi Freedom web site (http://www.mnf-iraq.com/). They are civilian employees of the Department of Defense. They came up with the idea to use the popularity of current video web site YouTube to spread the word about what’s really going on in Iraq. Brent says "With this YouTube channel, we hope to give the public a view of Operation Iraqi Freedom they may not be getting anywhere else. We're simply telling the OIF story from the perspective of those who are fighting it, without commentary and without judgment. What happens here every day doesn't necessarily get publicized back home. We're just trying to shed light on every corner of the OIF(Operation Iraqi Freedom) experience."

It started with a piece of video footage they had of a aerial counterattack on an insurgent anti-aircraft gun. Good footage that they felt was visually noteworthy. Normally when they would post a video or story on the Operation Iraqi Freedom web site it would be replaced and taken down in a few days, replaced with new material. They wanted a place to leave these videos up for people to view even after it was taken down from their web site. That’s when they thought of YouTube. "We had a great piece of footage of an aerial counterattack on an insurgent anti-aircraft machine gun. We put it on our site, but items on our front page are usually only up for a day before they're replaced by something new. We wanted a place where we could post all this footage permanently, so anybody could see it at any time. "

When asked what kind of response they have been getting, Brent shared "Our response so far has been overwhelmingly positive. I think we've tapped into something the public really wants to see. We've gone from maybe a hundred video views a day to literally thousands in only a week or so. This is a kind of war coverage people are really responding to." When I first found the YouTube channel (as its called in YouTube speak) they had 52 subscribers and 2000 video views and had only been up for a week. When I checked back later (24 hours) they had over 200 subscribers and almost 10,000 (9999!) video views. That’s a good response. Of all the millions of YouTube Channels they were rated #82 most subscribed for the week. Quite an achievement for a new channel.

They encourage people to link to and use their videos. They also wanted to add "We'd also like to make it known that anybody, anywhere (bloggers, etc.) can use our footage on their sites. It's all in the public domain." So they are hoping others will link to their site or spread the videos around. They may be getting their wish.

With the success of this YouTube Channel I asked Brent if they were considering other social sites like MySpace or such. Brent said "We have considered other public sites, such as MySpace. Nothing concrete yet. Services have done it before with varying degrees of success. We're still busy helping this YouTube initiative off the ground, as well as maintaining www.mnf-iraq.com every day."

Well I have to say if the last week is any indication, its already catching on and taking off. Oh and did I mention they are two former Marines? They wanted to make sure people knew that. There you are Brent and Erick, I made sure. God Bless and stay safe.

You can view their YouTube Channel at: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=MNFIRAQ