Battle Lesssons, by Dan Baum, in the January 5 issue of the New Yorker.

In March of 2000, with the help of a Web-savvy West Point classmate and their own savings, they put up a site on the civilian Internet called Companycommand.com. It didn’t occur to them to ask the Army for permission or support. Companycommand was an affront to protocol. The Army way was to monitor and vet every posting to prevent secrets from being revealed, but Allen and Burgess figured that captains were smart enough to police themselves and not compromise security. Soon after the site went up, a lieutenant colonel phoned one of the Web site’s operators and advised them to get a lawyer, because he didn’t want to see “good officers crash and burn.” A year later, Allen and Burgess started a second Web site, for lieutenants, Platoonleader.org.

Fascinating. It would be interesting to look at the sites to see how they are similar to and different from less life-and-death online communities.

This week’s issue also includes a pretty wonderful profile of Miyazaki by Margaret Talbot, in which we learn that the great man is quite the pessimist. Talbot seems surprised by this, as Miyazaki’s films are notable in their lack of mean-spiritedness. This surprises me, as in my experience, it is optimists that create many of life’s small cruelties.