The Washington Post reports how social media and instant communications are rapidly changing the way the military community learns of events that happen halfway around the world. 

Highlights:

• At  Fort Campbell, Kentucky Emily Franks was playing with her toddler when a soldier called from Afghanistan with devastating news. A massive roadside bombing had killed five soldiers from her husband’s 120-man infantry company. The soldier was calling Franks, who was at the center of a wives’ support network, in violation ...