Lest we forget that the PAO is on personal staff? One of our original posts, nearly 200 posts ago, explains the PAO’s position on personal staff.
When interacting with PAOs, we often get the question, “how do I get a seat at the table” or “how do I work direct for the commander?” The real answer is be smart, aggressive and very good at your job.
Here’s a story about how I became endeared by one of my commanders.
I worked at Fort Bragg and we had a “big time” journalist coming in from DC; the first I’d dealt with in garrison. I did a quick Google search on her and pulled some comments she made about the war. I didn’t notice it at the time but the comments were more than a year old; I wasn’t paying close attention. I e-mailed my new commander, the first general I worked for, to notify him and prepare him for her arrival.
My commander replied to me, “these comments are more than a year old, she’s obviously made more recent and more relevant comments.”
As soon as I received the email, I got up from my desk and speed walked to his office. I blew past the secretary and knocked on his door as I walked in. “What the hell are you doing here, Dave?” He was totally flabbergasted by my presence; I hadn’t checked with the chief of staff, scheduled an office call or sent a read-ahead.
“Sir, you’re right. Those comments are old. I’ll get better prep to you today.”
“You came up six floors to tell me you screwed this up? I already know that.”
“Yes, Sir.”
He shook his head, laughed and I walked out. I’m on personal staff, are you?
Photo by Cpl. Dante Fries
