For the past 18 months the Field Artillery Captains' Career Course has been incorporating media training, hosted by the University of Oklahoma journalism department, into its rigorous schedule.
According to Maj. Edgar Cavazos, cadet commander, the media training is an essential part of the career course. It prepares officers for interaction with the media on key military issues, management of operations security in regards to the media and how to handle critical situations on and off the battlefield.
The initial training began with a 30-minute presentation by OU visiting professor and international journalist Mike Boettcher, who discussed his experience on the front lines of Afghanistan as an embedded reporter for media networks ABC and CNN.
Discussing the motivation for journalists and the interaction between media and the military, Boettcher gave an in-depth insight to the importance of facts and how to effectively evoke a message as military personnel.
"We are in a conflict where perception is just as important as bullets," said Boettcher.
Upon completion of the presentation the class broke into four smaller forums where, amongst some of the presenters, were staff members of the OU Journalism Department. The open forums covered the military use of public affairs, integration of media as a tool, building rapport with embedded media and how to effectively present a truthful message without negating operational security.
Before any interviews, the class held an open forum on the importance of public affairs operations, past and future incorporation of media as a tool and how to interact with the media to benefit both.
Every captain was given a two page outline of events occurring within their area of operations as a battery commander in Iraq.
The scenario included an embedded reporter in the battery for three days, who went on numerous patrols and witnessed operationd - and numerous realistic challenges to include a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device, loss of Soldiers, working with the Iraqi police, the opening of an elementary school and dealing with the concerns of the local populace.
The OU journalism students acted as the reporter, interviewing the battery commander on the issues and events that occurred within those three days. The captains then underwent five-minute interviews with the journalism students.
"It puts us in a real situation, the program was set up to help the military, but it is really helping us," said Jaime Jones, journalism student.
Private rooms with state-of-the-art video cameras were allocated to the student reporters who "interviewed" the captains. Once completed, the captains' taped interviews were critiqued by the OU staff and captains' career course instructors, in order to point out some areas the captains need to improve.
Boettcher praised the implementation of the program, "Most of the students have never interviewed someone in uniform," he said."We are in a period of a lot of warfare going on around the world. Some of these students may be called upon to cover these issues. It's a great experience for them. It's a first introduction to the military for some of these students, conveying that we both have aspirations to do the right thing ... it will be beneficial to both parties."
The University of Oklahoma Media Training Program will continue to be a major resource for future training, not only the FACCC, but eventually infiltrate to young lieutenants in Fort Sill's Basic Officer Leadership Course III, according to Maj. Celester Thomas, 1st Battalion, 30th Field Artillery operations officer.
Social Sharing