I honestly did not expect for You Served to win the Veteran Milbloggie this year. I didn’t even think about an acceptance speech. As usual, lack of planning completely bit me in the rear end.
The veteran category often proves to be the most competitive with many exceptional blogs like Blackfive, This Ain’t Hell, Bouhammer, and CDR Salamander making the finals year after year. Blackfive had a lock on the award for many years and I jokingly call the Veteran Milbloggie the Blackfive Award. We were also up against Neptunus Lex, an amazing blogger that was snatched from our community entirely too soon after a training accident. Carroll, thank you for providing a great example of what a blogger and Naval Aviator should be. You voice is missed in our community.
With all of that said, I want to thank the entire You Served team. This would not have been possible if not for the years of work CJ, Troy, Claire, and Wendy have put in. I’d also be remiss not to mention the new voices we’ve added in the last nine months or so. Thank you to Cassy Fiano, Kit Lange, and Rachel Porto for your voice and adding some extra spice.
I’d also like to thank You Served sponsor and my employer Veterans United Home Loans (Yes, Uncle Jimbo, I am a corporate sell out). They’ve allowed us to voice many of our opinions and views with almost zero oversight. That flexibility has given us the ability to call it as we see it and maintain our genuine feel.
Most importantly, we all owe a huge thanks to you people, the reader and voter. It doesn’t matter how much awesome content we produce if you aren’t hanging around to see it.
Here’s to another year of good times.
