FOREWORD
This newsletter focuses on the effects of command information and public information during contingency operations. It is aimed at Total Army ground-level commanders and leaders, and avoids questions or problems best handled at DOD or Department of the Army level.
As we observed during Operations DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM, the media will be present on any future battlefields. We also became aware how the media play a major role in keeping soldiers and family members informed and, to a great extent, how the American and world public perceive the operation. In World War II, Korea and even Vietnam, news did not normally reach the public or the soldiers until it was at least 24 hours old. But today's technology allows the media a high degree of mobility and the ability to transmit their stories and images instantly. Technology also allows soldiers access to the media's products, right along with the rest of the world. Because of this technology, real-life media support and encounter training should be incorporated into battalion, brigade, division, and corps field training and command post exercises. Also, battlefield media play should become a routine part of the scenarios at the combat training centers.
This relatively new phenomenon is a double-edged sword: it can greatly enhance the mission or it can have the opposite effect. The challenge for Active Army, Army Reserve and National Guard commanders and leaders at all levels is to learn to deal with media and implement effective command information programs.
This newsletter is the result of Operation DESERT STORM after-action interviews conducted at Forts Bragg, Hood, Bliss, Stewart, Campbell and Benning, along with input from the Reserve Components. Nearly all of the commanders, leaders and soldiers quoted are combat arms. It was decided to lean heavily on quotations because the interviewees speak so eloquently and tell the story much better than could be done in a dry narrative. The quotations are taken from interview transcripts and edited only for brevity and clarity. They are, of course, perceptions of those interviewed. Whether correct or incorrect, these perceptions may offer commanders another perspective about the media and command information. Sometimes, perceptions of the troops and junior leaders can be just as important, if not more so, as perceptions from the command's perspective. In most cases, the published quotations are representative of several other similiar observations. Space prevents publishing all of them.
WILLIAM
L. NASH
Brigadier
General, USA
Deputy
Commanding General for Training
Table
of Contents
Section
I - Command Information
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NEWSLETTER
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