You Are The Vigilant of Your Marine's Safety: OPSEC/ PERSEC

As a Marine's girlfriend I came across OPSEC by chance.  I did not know what it was nor my Marine told me anything about it. Now that I'm taking the time to research a bit more about it, it is eye shocking how it is not only important for the family to understand the value of this but also for the military themselves.  The fact that there are stories about things gone wrong by a lose end in social media made me think that I should give this topic a priority. 

Loose Lips Sink Ships

OPSEC
 or Operational Security is about keeping safeguarded the information your military SO confided you. This is our most important job. We never know who may be listening or trying to gain information about our military.

Here is what you CAN’T share with anyone

1. Deployment dates. This includes when troops are deploying overseas and when they are redeploying back home.
2. Dates when military personnel leaves and return for R&R leave time.
3. Training. Information on where, how and why they train.
4. Numbers, equipment or other security information. Information about the number who are involved, the type of equipment or weapons systems they use.
5. Troop movements. When they are leaving for a mission or changing locations.

As a general guide, the following statements would violate OPSEC:

1. My soldier deploys in the 2nd week of November...or in three days...or next Tuesday...or in the next week. All of these statements reveal a date of deployment, even if it is not overly specific. If you must share, such as with friends or family, do so over the phone and not in a potentially public forum such as Twitter, Facebook, etc.
2. My husband's unit is leaving for three days to conduct OPFOR (opposing force) training in Louisiana. While they are gone, they will be doing activities x, y and z. This is too much information and is not necessary for anyone to know. You can generally say he is gone for training if you feel safe in doing so, but there's no reason to detail his training while he is gone.
3. Please say a prayer for my soldier's unit. They are leaving tomorrow night to go on a mission in Kabul. This puts the mission as well as his unit at risk. You can ask for prayers for him or his unit without giving out specific information.

Keep in mind that some units may have more specific and stricter OPSEC guidelines.

PERSEC or Personal Security consists in protecting your personal information. While the military is not as strict on PERSEC as they are on OPSEC, it is still an important aspect of security. PERSEC focuses on protecting information such as rank, your home address and information about your family.

As a general guide, the following statements would violate PERSEC:

1. Listing his specific job on social media. You dont want the enemy to know specifically what your man does. Don’t post pics where you can see your man’s job identification or rank on his uniform.
2. Don’t post count-up (or down) clocks to deployments.
3. If you receive a pic from your man, don’t share it online. A picture can provide a lot of information to the enemy including weapons systems and location. 

By posting the metadata (information linked to your photos or status updates) people can know where it was posted from.

If you question whether you should be talking about something, especially online, then don't. Ask someone first, such as your Soldier/Marine/Sailor before you say something that you may not be able to take back. Protecting our military personnel is a responsibility that rests on all of our shoulders. As family members, we can be responsible by keeping confidential information close to the vest and protecting what we know. 

OPSEC / PERSEC

To make sure you are complying with these requirements you can take an interactive web-based course that provides OPSEC awareness for military members, sponsored by the DOD here.