Text messages from the front

Families of British Merseyside soldiers in Iraq will be sent text messages by the army if the regiment is targeted. The idea is to channel information and to stop the rumors about incidents and possible casualties. If there are casualties then, a casualty notification officer will be asked to go out to the family and “break the news” to them directly.

“Families will get a flash message to tell them that something that has come out is not true and that the truth will follow as quickly as we can”, said Commanding officer Lt Col Gary Deakin. “We plan to test and adjust as we go and see what is appropriate,” he added.

It’s hard to classify this as either a good or a bad thing. On one side it’s good that family members know exactly what’s going on with their loved ones on the front. On the other hand, I’m not sure just how SMS is good medium for such sensitive information…

[Via: BBC, textually.org]