• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

TOPIC: Sharing CI Products between Theater and Home Station.

DISCUSSION: Many Operations DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM commanders developed innovative methods of sharing CI products produced in theater and at home station. The products enhanced morale at both ends. Some commanders and PAOs used the products to dispel rumors in theater and at home station.

When the spouses would come around to pick up their Leave and Earnings Statements (LESs), they could go into the [battalion] classroom with their kids and tape a message to their soldiers in Saudi. My wife would ship the tapes over with a soldier headed to Saudi. Our soldiers watched the tapes over and over again.
Battalion Commander

We used soldiers who were returning from overseas to meet with family support groups. They would say, "I just came from there. What are your questions? What are the rumors you want to talk about?" They had credibility.
Division Rear Detachment Commander

The CG set up a system where the guys in the PAO would send back tapes to Fort Stewart...showing good soldiers doing great things, and they'd send them back to the family center that they had set up. They would always be playing the latest tapes...and they'd also play them on the post cable [TV].
Battalion Commander

In theater they had a newspaper, and they regularly sent copies back to us. I ran copies and provided them to command group wives. Reproducing them can be fairly expensive, but the copies got a lot of wear and tear being passed around. We took the family newsletters and sent those overseas.
Division Rear Detachment Commander

Family support groups needed an information pipeline, which they usually did not have, for receiving command information for official sources.
PA Adviser

No, I don't think we had a system [for sharing CI products with home station]. It would have been a good idea; it just didn't occur to us.
Battalion Commander

LESSON(S): Commanders and PAOs should develop plans for sharing information products between deployed units and home station. There should be coordination to ensure products are shipped in a timely manner. The plan should be implemented not only during conflicts, but also when units deploy for training exercises or to respond to natural disasters.

TOPIC: Delayed CI Products.

DISCUSSION: Many CI products failed to achieve maximum potential because they were often delayed or lost. Problems with clogged supply lines, slow mail and undependable unit distribution systems prevented timely dissemination of CI products.

Newspapers were usually a week or two old, but they were better than nothing. They'd get passed around from soldier to soldier. We'd read them over and over. Magazines were like gold.
Specialist

How can command information be improved? Well, the obvious quick answer is newspaper availability.
Battalion Commander

The division commander pushed and pushed and pushed [to get newspapers to the troops]. It would get better, but it was never as good as it should have been.
Battalion Commander

There should be additional funding set aside to purchase and mail local papers. You've got to have a better system than relying on Mrs. So-and-So to cut out news clippings and send them to her husband.
Division Rear Detachment Commander

Believe it or not, soldiers hardly ever read. They always want to be entertained with video and stuff. But in that [desert] environment, in combat, soldiers like to read newspapers. They like reading magazines.
Battalion Commander

The local papers [had the most impact]. Soldiers are concerned about what's going on in their home town.
First Sergeant

LESSON(S): Commanders should ensure plans are in place to develop a dependable courier system.

• Treat CI products as official, high-priority correspondence.
• Train distribution point operators at all echelons and in the rear.
• Ensure equitable distribution of products, checking with subordinate leaders to ensure receipt.
• When possible, transmit products electronically.

TOPIC: Soldier Access to Civilian Electronic and Print Media Products.

DISCUSSION: Soldiers will usually bring radios and TVs with them -- a fact that could boost or undermine CI efforts. In most areas of the world, soldiers will have access to military or civilian radio and, possibly, TV broadcasts. With palm-sized radios and TVs now available for under $100.00, soldiers will have them. During Operation DESERT STORM, soldiers purchased shortwave radios locally and family members shipped thousands more to the theater. "Plugged in," as modern soldiers are, they are exposed to national and international news through civilian or military broadcasts. But the national and international media paint with a broad brush, and soldiers want to know how the news they hear affects them. Good CI programs take advantage of national and international news reports and augment them with localized news. They answer the tough questions, quell rumors, build morale and maintain confidence in leadership.

[Radios] were never illegal or contraband. We were starving for news. BBC gave us the best....
Battalion Commander

Guys went out and bought shortwave radios off the Saudi economy. My S-2 bought one [which] became part of our intelligence. Radio had a lot of impact. I think that it reassured soldiers that there wasn't a company line, because anyone could have a shortwave radio.
Battalion Commander

The public was getting information, and we were being told OPSEC. Even the vast majority of information from the daily intel dumps came from BBC, VOA or the Arab news. The troops should know at least what the public knows. Information is power. When you can't get it, you get frustrated.
First Sergeant

I heard one [newspaper] issue was confiscated. Why hide it? The soldier is going to find out anyway. Your wife would ask, "Did you see this? And she'd clip it out and send it to you."
First Sergeant

Being up front with the WHOLE command will make everyone feel needed, and our morale and cooperation will be high. [Otherwise] they will believe the chain of command is messed up and doesn't care for a PAWN in a game of chess!!
Sergeant

We weren't allowed to have radios. Someone would get one somehow. Then we'd put them up and make a two-niner-two, and pick up BBC. They didn't want us to know what was going on.
Specialist

It would have been much nicer, more valuable, to have had [AFRTS radio] when we made the move 500 or 700 miles away. I mean, why not? We put men on the moon how many years ago? I think, it could have and should have been done.
Brigade CSM

LESSON(S): Commanders should:

• Expect media reports to spawn issues and rumors.
• Query subordinate commanders and PAOs about issues or rumors that develop.
• Develop CI messages to inform soldiers and combat rumors.
• Seek advice from PAOs or Unit Public Affairs Representatives (UPARs) concerning the best methods of getting the command message to intended audiences.
• Brief soldiers on the sensitivity of some information (WIA or KIA, redeployment schedules, rumors).
• Commanders need to translate what national and international news mean to them.

Table of Contents
Section I, Part 1
Section II - Public Information