How often do you hear PAOs say, “If only I had more people”, “if only they would invite me to the meeting”, “if only they wouldn’t think about public affairs until the last minute”?
News flash, you won’t get more people, you have to invite yourself to meetings, and if your planners and operators don’t know about PA, they won’t think about it until the last minute. Luckily, there is a way to fix this. It’s called educating your fellow staff officers.
Yes, we are often a small shop. A shop of one in many cases, and when it rains for a PAO, it pours. You can’t be everywhere at once. You can’t track everything all the time, but saying “if only” is not going to solve anything.
As PAOs, we are communicators. Communicate your mission and needs over a cup of coffee with your fellow staff officers- the ops crew, your intel nerds, the planners, the Commander’s exec and RTOs. Educate them on the PAO mission. Get them excited as to why public affairs needs to be involved. It is your job, PAO, to make sure their hard work gets seen by to Congress, the Secretary of Defense, the President and the public. Make yourself valuable to the team, and everything else will come together.
