Patches, Security, and Blog Contests

A few weeks ago, I wrote about an author who had, essentially by accident, trained himself to become an intelligence analyst:

Trevor Paglen is an author, and Dr. of Geography, who developed a fascination for the "black" side of the military some years ago; and started snooping.

His first book on the subject "I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have to be Destroyed by Me", was basically a recounting of his experiences in trying to figure out what mission patches for classified projects meant.

...snipped a video...

His new book is "Blank Spots on the Map: The Dark Geography of the Pentagon's Secret World."; in which he extends and develops on the methods and means from the first book, into an expanded view of the black world, focused on geography (and specifically logistics, and how they are related).

...snipped another video...

If you haven't watched them yet, go back to the original post and watch the videos; and be prepared to be amazed at just how much can be inferred about black projects, by simple things like unit patches, and public records.

Amazed, and/or horrified (or perhaps simply resigned and amused), if your job is (or used to be) to keep such things secure…

Which brings me to the fun part of this post.

Dr. Paglens publishers saw my original post, and have graciously sent me a review copy of the book; which I plan to read and review this weekend.

In addition, they've offered a signed copy of the book to one of my readers, to be decided by blog contest (smart publicists these ones).

So, here's the rules and parameters of the contest:

1. Submissions accepted as comments to this post, from now through Wednesday morning at 11:59 AM, or until we recieve 10 solid entries, which happens last (but no later than Thursday at 11:59).
   
   
2. At 12:01 I will pick what I think are the top five posts if we get ten or more, or top ten if we get 20 or more. I will them put them up for a vote to the readers of this blog, open from the time I post the stories, until 5pm the following day (at which time I will also be posting a review of Dr. Paglens book).
   
   
3. Entries will consist of one each of the following:
   
   a. Your best, funniest, most interesting, or scariest (from a security perspective) patch, flash, sign, symbol, or insignia story; preferably with a pic, but at least with a very clear description and detailed story.
   
   b. Your best, funniest, most interesting, stupidest, or scariest (from a security perspective) security story. It can be infosec, comsec, psec, prosec, opsec, doesn't matter.
   
   
4. Stories do not have to be military or governmental in nature; though I suspect most of the best and funniest will be (governments are even better at absurdity than big corporations), so make it good
   
   
5. Multiple entries from a single individual will be accepted; and if the stories are good, are in fact encouraged.
   
   
6. All entries must be true and correct to the best of your knowledge (notice the out I gave you there).
   
   
7. First hand stories are preferred, and will be given more credit; but a sufficiently good second or third hand story will certainly be considered.
   
   
8. (I'd like to think this one would be obvious, but you'd be amazed... or maybe not) All entries should be either declassified, or sanitized sufficiently to avoid compromise; or in the case of non-military security stories to avoid compromise or disclosure of private or confidential (or higher) information.
   

Also, although I'm generally not a linker or memer, I would ask that if you find this interesting, please link it up, and forward it around. I'd really love to see what we get.

If there are enough entries, or if people post some REALLY GREAT after the deadline, I might even throw in a consolation prize myself afterwards.