Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has vowed to pursue the matter of the Pentagon's decision in banning Myspace, Youtube, and several other social sites. There is a huge concern about how stateside families will be able to communicate with their Marines, Soldiers, Sailors. Warner wrote Secretary of Defense Robert Gates Wednesday asking for an explanation of the ban. 

He expressed concern about how the decision would affect troop morale. He concluded by asking if "perhaps some more accommodating balance may be struck ensuring our personnel can communicate with their friends and family." 

If comments on Military.com discussion boards are any indication, Warner will have the backing of a strong and vocal constituency: the families and friends of overseas troops.

"This whole thing (stinks)," wrote Frank B. Rinchich, a former Marine buck sergeant who now lives in Loris, S.C.

The issue remains controversial -- even though Pentagon officials say it has been blown out of proportion.

Certainly the matter is more complicated than initially reported. As it turns out, U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan Never Did Have Access to the popular social networking websites -- a least not on Defense Department systems and computers, said Pentagon spokesman Col. Gary Keck.

But troops can still contact friends and family at My Mil Pics.com, on almost any computer worldwide. Troops can use their MySpace pages or download family videos from YouTube on privately owned computers or Internet cafes on bases in both "war theater" countries. But there is a problem with this scenario. A large percentage of the troops and sailors, that are overseas, live on military bases that do not have private computers.

Instead, the troops at other U.S. bases overseas -- in places like Guam and South Korea -- will feel the new restrictions most keenly. Until now, they could enjoy the occasional sneak peek at a YouTube short video -- or a daughter's piano recital -- via a DOD computer. ("Could" is the operative word here, since department regulations generally prohibit Defense Department employees from using the sites for personal business, like many private workplaces do.)

Not anymore.

All the DOD systems around the world now will prohibit viewing of 13 social networking websites, including MySpace, YouTube, MTV.com and others, outlined in a memo from Army Gen. B.B. Bell. However, troops can e-mail family members through portals such as My Mil Pics.com, Yahoo, and AOL.

Although some retired and active military members wrote on a Military.com discussion board in support of the Pentagon's decision -- after all, letters to soldiers in wartime have been censored and restricted for ages -- a more passionate group of posters said the ban makes no sense in this modern era of Internet communications.

While understanding the Pentagon's concern that some sensitive information might be released through some of the networking websites, Rinchich said when contacted by phone that there was an easy way around that: Emphasize to the troops that no personal or troop details be released in private communications, and then punish anyone who does.

"Those troops are doing one hell of a job. So what's the difference, after a mission, going to have a beer or making contact with your loved ones? This is the modern times, not 50 years ago," Rinchich wrote.

Most poignant of all were the posts by parents of troops now serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

One woman, who could not be reached separately for comment, wrote: "My son is deployed in Iraq, I don't get much news from him, letter writing is not his thing I guess. MySpace is a way for me to see that he is ok. I can just log on, go to his page and see that he has logged on for the day. That alone takes some of the worries away."

Another woman wrote similarly, describing how difficult it was not to know what was happening to her son, who served with the Army's Special Forces in Baghdad.

"We could not always connect via phone. Leaving 'comments' on myspace was his way of letting us know he was okay. He could send a note to everyone on his friends list in one posting. I lived to see he had logged on. His ... unit already had myspace and youtube blocked. He had to search to find a DoD or private computer that would allow him to log on. The DoD has NO idea how much I lived for those log on's. It told me MY kid was okay."

But there was a staunch contingent of military families who said that when people sign up with the military, they do so accepting the loss of some personal freedoms.

A woman who identified herself as "Bella" -- and who declined to give her name or her son's because she said she doesn't trust the media -- wrote in a separate e-mail that military families should expect to face obstacles in contacting their loved ones overseas.

"I might complain, but as a military family member I will suck it up and endure," she wrote to The Politico. "It is what we do." 
 
Daniel W. Reilly contributed to this story.