Technology has changed how warfare is conducted, and how soldiers communicate with their families. In the Vietnam era, calling home meant getting your name on a waiting list for the MARS system, then having your calls monitored by several go-betweens. Now soldiers can literally “call home” via cell phones.

Blogs and email have replaced letters. A soldier can walk in from an operation, write about it, and have it on the Web in the blink of an eye. These are military blogs, “milblogs.” The writers are soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, and support personnel such as nurses and doctors.

Slate.com indirectly hosts one of the best milblogs called “The Sandbox.” You can reach “The Sandbox” here . Anyone who has been in a war zone will recognize what the soldier/writers are talking about; if you’ve not been in the service, then this will be a good place to find out what it feels like.