I’m flying to DC tonight. I have a bunch of meetings to attend with my commander and some on my own. These are important meetings that take me away from home. What am I doing? Ask my kids. They’re pretty sure I’m flying to DC in order to protect America.
I have to work late. Why? To protect America.
I’m deploying…to protect America.
I have to attend a school to be better at protecting America.
Too often we try to send a nuanced message to uninformed audiences. Every Department of Defense (emphasis added) news release, should be grounded in the fact (emphasis added) that the action featured in the news release is in an effort to protect of America. I emphasize ‘Defense’ here because that’s our job.
Example:
This is a nice story. It’s humanizing. Americans love dogs and this Soldier has a nice smile with heartwarming quotes. My kid would love this story but would also be confused, “What is combat camera and why are they in a place called Kurdistan?”
Good question. If only the author mentioned the whole reason she is deployed and messing with these fleabags is in defense (emphasis added) of this great nation. Our audience is not my kids. Considering current-day information overload and our chickenhawk nation, we have to communicate assuming our audience has the attention span and understanding of my kids.
We have to go back to the basics of what we do and communicate it clearly. Will our military always have the resources, authority and support to protect America? Only if we communicate our efforts toward protecting America.
An article about a Soldier adopting a feral dog is nice but it only takes away from audience understanding and confuses our tax payers. My kids won’t get it. An article about a Soldier deployed across the world to protect America and while doing that, makes friends with a flea-bitten pup lends some understanding. My kids will eat that with a spoon.
“Why are you writing this article Dad?”
“I’m trying to help communicators protect America.”
