Hoo-ah: The importance of social media in the Army

Commentary by Capt. Charles Barrett, 3rd HBCT, 3rd ID


FORT BENNING, Ga. — The Army was still on the sidelines stretching when the gun went off for the social media race.

The entire country was jumping on the Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter bandwagon while the Army “big brother” was just barely opening the razor-sharp jaws that have had a lockdown on internet freedom.

Last year over lunch, the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division’s public affairs team, began to throw out ideas on how to jump start the Army’s social media program. Lt. Col. James Carlisle, Staff Sgt. Natalie Hedrick, Spc. Ben Hutto and Pfc. Erik Anderson had a lot to answer; “How do we get the Directorate of Information Management to give us access to social media sites? Can a dot mil site adequately work as an official site and blog for a unit, or is a dot com the better way to go?

Who is responsible for managing the site once it’s up? What is the current Army policy on social media sites? Is there an Army policy on social media? What operational security considerations should be taken into account? Is this even a good idea?”

Two weeks, Carlisle’s own 100 dollars, and the internet savvyness of 3rd HBCT’s Sgt. Jeremy Gadd, the team was up and running with a unit website and blog, as well as Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube accounts. The overwhelming realization came that it wasn’t just a good idea; it was a great idea. The question then became, “How do we take full advantage of everything social media has to offer?”

Capturing every detail of what social media has to offer is a daunting task. Just ask Pfc. Erik Anderson, public affairs specialist for the 3rd HBCT. Anderson is now responsible for maintaining, monitoring, and updating of the brigade’s social media sites. The distribution list for www.hammerpao.com is over 5,000 Soldiers, families and friends; there are close to 1,000 3rd HBCT Facebook fans, and 2,000 Twitter followers. Anderson wasn’t trained at the Defense Information School in Fort Meade, Md., to do this, and none of these new responsibilities are part of his job description as a journalist, yet his efforts are felt across the brigade, mostly by the family members.

The real key to social media sites is they allow for feedback; two-way communication between the command and the internal audience. The command is still putting out information to their internal audience as they have been; only the medium has changed. This new medium allows for the audience to more readily respond. If the command fails to take those responses into account then they’re not really taking advantage of social media.

This is the first major benefit. For the 3rd HBCT the responses received through the social media sites have been incredibly supportive. Unit leaders know they’re on the right track and just need to make a few adjustments. Anderson is the Soldier who collects all the feedback and reports responses to his chain of command. He does all of this on top of his normal duties.

The exchange of information assists the command and its internal audience to fill in some of those information gaps. Through online surveys and website analytics, the unit is now able to collect and track a wide range of data. This data can then be used to tailor to the audience’s needs better; something that never could have been done 10 years ago, or at least not without a lot of heartache. The Defense Information School explains the Army should take more of a “glass house” approach to telling the Army story. The 3rd HBCT PAO team now knows there is no better way to do that than through social media.

Once everyone’s on board with the “glass house” approach, public affairs can take on a whole new attitude with the media. There are companies who are praised for their stellar customer service. They don’t know how to say, “No.” All customer service should be like this, and that’s where public affairs customer service should be when working with the media. Building a relationship with this mindset will enhance the social media information exchange, and will lead to very positive and long-lasting effects.

A word of caution; at some point during the reading of this an intelligence officer cringed. It’s more crucial now than ever before that we as an organization maintain operational security. Social media gives us more opportunity to violate operational security and to a much larger audience. To solve this we don’t need to ban or create stricter policy on social media sites, we need to better enforce the already existing policies.

This security begins at the source, the individual Soldier who blogs at the end of every day in Iraq or Afghanistan. Just as important are the spouses of Soldiers who also have a duty to maintain the security of the unit. If you don’t know what is or is not part of operational security then it is your responsibility to find out before you discuss something on a social media site. There are also concerns of privacy, but a Soldier’s privacy has been and will always be a top priority of public affairs operators. Just because social media changes the way we send stories to our audience, it does not change the way we write or film those stories.

Social media is here to stay, whether anyone else wants it to or not. Networks are always vulnerable to attack. It should be the duty of all Soldiers to recognize the benefits of social media and then protect that resource, just as Soldiers would protect other valuable equipment and military systems.

So, where to go from here? It’s evident there must be a change in the way Public Affairs operates. Although not everything is listed for both sides, it seems evident the benefits of social media far outweigh the risks involved. There isn’t a need to create a military occupational specialty just yet for social media, but Soldiers at the Defense Information School should be getting some training on how to set up and operate these social media sites.

For Operation Iraqi Freedom, the tip of the spear has been held by many. So much improvement has been made in Iraq, despite the violence still present, and it is more crucial now to tell the Army’s story of success. Today, there are a handful of public affair operators, such as Anderson, who are the tip of the spear. If the 3rd HBCT PAO is ever asked, “Capt. Barrett, do you seriously think one Soldier can make a difference in this war?” With a smile and an overwhelming sense of pride for his fellow Soldier, he’ll say, “You bet, and his name is Pvt. 1st Class Erik Anderson.”

Cpt. Charles Barrett, PAO, 3rd HBCT, 3rd ID.

The Iraq War Fades Away, with NO BAD News Old Media let the story go away

The Iraq War Fades Away,
with NO BAD News
Old Media let the story go away

The war in Iraq is passing from the American memory, before it's even over. Analysis of news reports on the war, show that 15 percent of news stories were about the Iraq war last Summer, but are only three percent now. It's out of sight, out of mind. For example, a recent survey asking people how many U.S. troops had died in Iraq, only about a quarter knew the number (4,000). That's half the number who knew the correct number all the way back to 2003.

News directors say they are putting more effort into covering the presidential election, and the usual stories (celebrity scandals, disasters of any sort, notorious criminals). But there are other reasons for ignoring Iraq. Since last Summer, more good news than bad news began to come back from the front. This was not useful for news organizations. Bad news makes money (by attracting larger audiences for advertisers), good news is useless. Moreover, only about five percent of Americans (military personnel and their families) have any personal interest in Iraq. There are even fewer Iraqi Americans to care. There are also fewer veterans. Only nine million American actually served in the armed forces during the official Vietnam war period (1964-1975, most U.S. troops were out of Vietnam by 1972, and the big build up didn't begin until 1965). And only 30 percent of those were actually in Vietnam. That's 2.7 million troops. Those who served in Vietnam represented nearly ten percent of the men of their generation. The current war on terror will probably only involved a few percent. Veterans of older wars are dying off at a rapid clip. The Iraq war is something most people simply can't relate to.

In a word, the war has no constituency. News stories about how much the war costs, which impacts all tax payers, tend to flop, so news directors have come to think of Iraq as a poorly performing subject. The war won't go away, it will just seem like it has, if all you do is pay attention to the mass media.

McCain Makes Baghdad Stop; 8th Iraq Trip

McCain Makes Baghdad Stop; 8th Iraq Trip Sen. John McCain, the likely Republican presidential nominee who has linked his political future to U.S. success in Iraq, was in Baghdad on Sunday for meetings with Iraqi and U.S. diplomatic and military officials, a U.S. government official said.

Details of McCain's visit, which had been anticipated, were not being released for security reasons, the U.S. Embassy said. It was unclear who he met with; no media opportunities or news conferences were planned.

McCain, a strong supporter of the U.S. military mission in Iraq, is believed to be staying in the country for about 24 hours.

"Senator McCain is in Iraq and will be meeting with Iraqi and U.S. officials," said Mirembe Nantongo, spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

This is the senator's eighth visit to Iraq. He's accompanied by Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. Before leaving, McCain said the trip to the Middle East and Europe was a fact-finding venture, not a campaign photo opportunity.

The senator last met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki during the Thanksgiving holiday.

"We were informed that John McCain landed in Iraq Sunday morning. A meeting will take place with the Iraqi government," said Ali al-Moussawi, an official in the prime minister's office.

McCain was to meet Sunday with Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh. Later in the day, he and Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, were to talk. It also was thought McCain would meet with al-Maliki.

McCain's weeklong trip also includes stops in Israel, Jordan, Britain and France.
He is expected to meet with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for the first time, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy for the third time. He met and corresponded with Sarkozy both before and after the French president was elected. They last saw each other last summer.

McCain has relationships with every leader in Israel he plans to see, including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and hawkish opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

McCain told U.S. reporters last week that he would be visiting Iraq, and expressed worries that insurgents might try to influence the November presidential election with increased attacks in Iraq.

"Yes, I worry about it," he said Friday in Springfield, Pa. "And I know they pay attention, because of the intercepts we have of their communications."

McCain told reporters later that al-Qaida remains smart and adaptable despite an increase of U.S. troops in Iraq.

A defiant supporter of the 2003 invasion and President Bush's troop increase last year, McCain is likely to focus in Iraq on the drop in sectarian violence and U.S. and civilian casualties since last summer.

Note the V-22, In the background

Maybe Obama should read this

Staying to Help in Iraq

We have finally reached a point where humanitarian assistance,
from us and others, can have an impact.
By Angelina Jolie

The request is familiar to American ears: "Bring them home."

But in Iraq, where I've just met with American and Iraqi leaders, the phrase carries a different meaning. It does not refer to the departure of U.S. troops, but to the return of the millions of innocent Iraqis who have been driven out of their homes and, in many cases, out of the country.

In the six months since my previous visit to Iraq with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, this humanitarian crisis has not improved. However, during the last week, the United States, UNHCR and the Iraqi government have begun to work together in new and important ways.

We still don't know exactly how many Iraqis have fled their homes, where they've all gone, or how they're managing to survive. Here is what we do know: More than 2 million people are refugees inside their own country -- without homes, jobs and, to a terrible degree, without medicine, food or clean water. Ethnic cleansing and other acts of unspeakable violence have driven them into a vast and very dangerous no-man's land. Many of the survivors huddle in mosques, in abandoned buildings with no electricity, in tents or in one-room huts made of straw and mud. Fifty-eight percent of these internally displaced people are younger than 12 years old.

An additional 2.5 million Iraqis have sought refuge outside Iraq, mainly in Syria and Jordan. But those host countries have reached their limits. Overwhelmed by the refugees they already have, these countries have essentially closed their borders until the international community provides support.

I'm not a security expert, but it doesn't take one to see that Syria and Jordan are carrying an unsustainable burden. They have been excellent hosts, but we can't expect them to care for millions of poor Iraqis indefinitely and without assistance from the U.S. or others. One-sixth of Jordan's population today is Iraqi refugees. The large burden is already causing tension internally.

The Iraqi families I've met on my trips to the region are proud and resilient. They don't want anything from us other than the chance to return to their homes -- or, where those homes have been bombed to the ground or occupied by squatters, to build new ones and get back to their lives. One thing is certain: It will be quite a while before Iraq is ready to absorb more than 4 million refugees and displaced people. But it is not too early to start working on solutions. And last week, there were signs of progress.

In Baghdad, I spoke with Army Gen. David Petraeus about UNHCR's need for security information and protection for its staff as they re-enter Iraq, and I am pleased that he has offered that support. General Petraeus also told me he would support new efforts to address the humanitarian crisis "to the maximum extent possible" -- which leaves me hopeful that more progress can be made.

UNHCR is certainly committed to that. Last week while in Iraq, High Commissioner António Guterres pledged to increase UNHCR's presence there and to work closely with the Iraqi government, both in assessing the conditions required for return and in providing humanitarian relief.

During my trip I also met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has announced the creation of a new committee to oversee issues related to internally displaced people, and a pledge of $40 million to support the effort.

My visit left me even more deeply convinced that we not only have a moral obligation to help displaced Iraqi families, but also a serious, long-term, national security interest in ending this crisis.

Today's humanitarian crisis in Iraq -- and the potential consequences for our national security -- are great. Can the United States afford to gamble that 4 million or more poor and displaced people, in the heart of Middle East, won't explode in violent desperation, sending the whole region into further disorder?

What we cannot afford, in my view, is to squander the progress that has been made. In fact, we should step up our financial and material assistance. UNHCR has appealed for $261 million this year to provide for refugees and internally displaced persons. That is not a small amount of money -- but it is less than the U.S. spends each day to fight the war in Iraq. I would like to call on each of the presidential candidates and congressional leaders to announce a comprehensive refugee plan with a specific timeline and budget as part of their Iraq strategy.

As for the question of whether the surge is working, I can only state what I witnessed: U.N. staff and those of non-governmental organizations seem to feel they have the right set of circumstances to attempt to scale up their programs. And when I asked the troops if they wanted to go home as soon as possible, they said that they miss home but feel invested in Iraq. They have lost many friends and want to be a part of the humanitarian progress they now feel is possible.

It seems to me that now is the moment to address the humanitarian side of this situation. Without the right support, we could miss an opportunity to do some of the good we always stated we intended to do.

Angelina Jolie, an actor, is a UNHCR goodwill ambassador.

Hoo-ah: State Senate Approves Operation Iraqi Freedom License Plates

The Oklahoma State Senate has given unanimous approval to legislation creating special vehicle tags for Oklahomans who have served in Operation Iraqi Freedom. The author of Senate Bill 1138 is Sen. Todd Lamb, R-Edmond.

“I was first approached about creating this special license plate by a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. We’ve lost more than 70 Oklahoma soldiers in this cause, including 19 year-old Pfc. Micheal Phillips of Ardmore just this past weekend,” Lamb said. “It is important for us to honor all of the Oklahomans who have risked their lives for our country in Iraq.”

Lamb said approximately 21,182 active duty or reserve soldiers have served in Operation Iraqi Freedom. About 5,500 Oklahoma Air and Army Guard have served two to three tours of duty.

“I think the fact that this measure was passed unanimously in both committee and on the floor shows that the State Senate supports our troops and believes this is an appropriate way to honor the thousands of Oklahoma men and women who are serving our country in Operation Iraqi Freedom,” Lamb said.

SB 1138 now moves to the House of Representatives for further consideration.

For background see - Lamb Wins Committee Approval for Operation Iraqi Freedom License Plates

Hoo-ah: Lamb Wins Committee Approval for Operation Iraqi Freedom License Plates

The Senate Finance Committee has given unanimous support to legislation creating special license plates for Oklahomans who have served in Operation Iraqi Freedom. State Sen. Todd Lamb, R-Edmond, is author of Senate Bill 1138.

“Approximately 70 Oklahoma soldiers have died in Operation Iraqi Freedom. 5,500 Oklahoma Air and Army Guard have served two to three tours of duty…and approximately 21,182 active duty or reserve soldiers have served in Operation Iraqi Freedom,” Lamb said.

Lamb said the request for this legislation had actually come from a constituent who was a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

“I think it is very important for the State of Oklahoma to make a statement that we support our veterans, especially when you consider how many of our young men and women have stepped forward to defend our nation,” Lamb said. “This is just one small way that we can honor their service on our behalf, and I am grateful we had unanimous support in committee for this effort.”

SB 1138 now moves to the full Senate for further consideration.