Not even the Pentagon is safe from March Madness

No one is safe from the temptation of streaming March Madness at work -- not even the Pentagon, apparently.

The United States Department of Defense -- yes, the actual DoD -- reportedly sent a memo to employees ahead of Thursday's NCAA Tournament tip-off warning them not to stream games from the office.

The notice reads like something you might find at your regular old everyday job -- but the juxtaposition between, on the one hand, slacking off at work by watching college hoops and, on the other, working as part of America's national security apparatus definitely lends this a surreal tenor.

"Please keep in mind; if you’re streaming video to watch your favorite player shooting free throws, you’re consuming network resources that could be served to support the Warfighter," reads one section. (That's Pentagon-speak for soldier.)

Here's the memo obtained by CBS News. It was reportedly sent by the Joint Service Provider (JSP), which handles the Department of Defense's technical infrastructure.

CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED

JSP Notice: March Madness Video Streaming and Network Consumption

SUMMARY: March Madness is officially upon us. Your JSP support team acknowledges and appreciates that college basketball fans within the DoD are excited to cheer on their favorite teams, update brackets, and otherwise obsess over the Big Dance. In preparation for the event, JSP engineers will closely monitor bandwidth consumption and server availability to handle additional network strain as best as they can. However, it is important to remember that we share a single network and visiting non-mission essential websites degrades network performance for everyone.

Please keep in mind; if you’re streaming video to watch your favorite player shooting free throws, you’re consuming network resources that could be served to support the Warfighter.

If you experience any questions or concerns, please contact the JSP Service Desk for assistance.

Sincerely,

Joint Service Provider (JSP) Communications

So while you're kicking back and streaming March Madness at work this month, there are loyal American heroes deep within the Pentagon going without to keep you safe.

That's no small sacrifice.