“TroopTube is the new online video site designed to help military families connect and keep in touch while miles apart,” TroopTube said in a statement on its homepage at Trooptube.tv.<\/p>\n
It said the site was meant for use by “Active Duty, Guard, Reserve and their families”, an estimated four million people.<\/p>\n
Videos on TroopTube can be viewed by any visitor but registration is required to upload material to the site.<\/p>\n
One of the videos on the homepage is a tribute to the troops from General David Petraeus, the new commander of Central Command, for their “tremendous work” in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.<\/p>\n
TroopTube was created in partnership with a Seattle, Washington-based startup, Delve Networks, and Marion, Montgomery, Inc., a marketing and interactive agency.<\/p>\n
In May 2007, the Pentagon banned US servicemen using Department of Defense computer systems from using YouTube, MySpace and 10 other social-networking websites.<\/p>\n
It said the ban was intended to prevent military Internet connections from being clogged with uploads or downloads of data-rich files such as video clips.<\/p>\n
The move was also meant to guard against infiltration by malicious or spying software hidden in files by hackers.<\/p>\n
Until the ban, US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan had been using YouTube and social networks to share videos, images or stories about their daily lives.<\/p>\n
US soldiers are still allowed to write online journals, or “milblogs,” using Department of Defense networks as long as they adhere to requirements not to reveal information that could jeopardise missions.<\/p>\n
MySpace, YouTube and the other websites were targeted for restriction after a usage study showed they were the most visited websites by soldiers, according to the Pentagon.<\/p>\n