When I deployed to Afghanistan in 2016, my friends and family were surprised. My little brother (bad ass Marine) went twice – 2010 and 2012, but 2016? Wasn’t that war over? No, it’s not. There are still bad guys out there, and U.S. forces and our partners are going after them, putting their lives on the line. But why should America care when this war is old enough to drive? You’re the PAO. Your job is to explain this. And you need to know ops to do it.
I made it my goal to make people care, and in order to do that, I had to explain to my mom, friends and family why I was there. I had to explain it in terms someone who is not in the military, like my mom who saw her kids go to war, would understand.
When I wrote press releases, I started with the “Why”. Why did we do what we did? Why are we training forces? Why are we sending Americans to a war zone?
It’s easy to pull operational reporting- copy and paste. Isn’t plagiarism the highest form of flattery? Shit, we write from the 5Ws. We learned it in DINFOS, but if the J3 staff knew how to write for the greater audience, we would understand their emails, CONOPs, OPORDS, FRAGOs and storyboards after the first read. If they write the 5Ws, why are you there? Why?
Make yourself relevant. Be the communicator, the bridge between operations and daily life, and tell your mom, in words she understands, why you were sent to protect America.
