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Pentagon launches its own version of YouTube

Eighteen months after banning access to YouTube and other social networking and entertainment sites on Defense Department computers, the Pentagon has launched a site where troops and families can upload and share videos.

Don’t look for anything too edgy on TroopTube. All videos are subject to screening for “taste, copyright violations and national security issues,” according to the Web site, which is administered by Military OneSource, the Pentagon’s online family resource center.

But the good news is that unlike YouTube, MySpace and 10 other networking and entertainment sites banned on official sites worldwide by the Pentagon in May 2007 — primarily, officials said, because they took up too much bandwidth — TroopTube can be viewed on an official computer.

That means a service member deployed in Iraq and working at a government computer can call up a wholesome slice of home such as “Samantha’s first steps” or “Jamie asleep in the car.”

Launched on Veterans’ Day, TroopTube had amassed more than 500 videos in its first 24 hours of operation — although for now, most are in the category of third-party shout-outs, such as members of the Chicago White Sox sending best wishes to troops, and things like parade scenes and speakers at a military bloggers’ conference.

“Obviously, there’s a lot of demand there among the younger contingent to have a sort of a YouTube type of ability to communicate back and forth with family members, so that they can exchange videos and messages and so they can see the birthday parties and all that — things that they otherwise couldn’t see,” said Lt. Col. Les’ Melnyk, a Pentagon spokesman.

The site requires users to register, but anyone can sign up.