MCLEAN, Va – Military.com will host the sixth annual Milblog conference April 29-30, 2011 highlighted by an appearance by former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who will conduct a Q&A session with the 200 milbloggers scheduled to attend and a book signing for his recently released Known and Unknown.
A reception for attendees and presenters will be held Friday evening at the United States Navy Memorial and will be followed by the day-long session on Saturday at the Westin Arlington Gateway Hotel.
The conference, presented by USAA, is the signature event of the year for military bloggers. This year’s event features sessions on social media and the military, a DoD Blogger’s roundtable with Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, a presentation by Gold Star Families, and presentations by members of House Armed Services Committee. The conference will conclude with a discussion titled “War and Film.”
President of Military.com retired Rear Admiral T McCreary said, “Warrior-journalists have been an important part of the military narrative since the first Soldier created a blog nearly a decade ago. We remain privileged to showcase the tremendous talent in the milblog community.” Added Military.com Editor Ward Carroll, “We’ve been happy to support milbloggers from the start, and the scope of this year’s program shows the impact of the community is broader than ever.”
The featured charity this year is USA Cares, a military non-profit organization that will receive a portion of proceeds from the ticket sales. "We are honored by this selection and we want everyone to know that every dollar donated to our Warrior Treatment Today PTSD/TBI program helps another veteran gain access to the care he or she desperately needs,” said CDR (Ret) Bill Nelson, Executive Director of USA Cares.
In addition, country artist Mark Wills will perform a benefit concert for USA Cares on Friday evening and will debut a new song “Crazy Being Home” from his new CD “Looking for America,” in stores June 21st. Mark said, “I can’t think of a better place to debut my new song than at the MilBlog Conference. This song is about our combat veterans so I’m looking forward to performing it for the first time in front of a military audience.”
To see a full schedule and register for the conference click here.