FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. -- (Oct. 4, 2012) When 17 journalists came to Fort Leonard Wood last week they weren't coming for the next great headline or breaking story; they came to learn about the Army.
"Bridging the Gap between Media and Military" is a program sponsored by the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kan., and is designed to teach journalists and service members about each other, said Dr. Thomas Volekm, William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications associate dean.
"This year is our fifth time coming to Fort Leonard Wood," Volekm said of the now annual event. "We now have 66 that are alumni of this program."
Funded by the McCormick Foundation, the journalists spend classroom time with their military counterparts from the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., before arriving on Fort Leonard Wood to learn more about the Army, Volekm said.
The journalists, while all dedicated to the profession of words, were from as varied backgrounds as language itself. Some were students of journalism; others seasoned professionals. One came from Albania to be part of the program, another from Spain and a couple from Korea.
"This has been a great program for me," said Rachel Wittrock, a reporter for the Sun Prairie Star in Sun Prairie, Wisc. "While we don't have a lot of military in our market area, I do write a lot of stories on veterans and veteran programs, such as the Honor Flight program. Getting the information here on what the Army is about will help me connect better with the people I interview back home."
The goal is to promote a better understanding of the military for the journalists and to give the military a glimpse into the needs and thinking of the media, Volekm said.
For two days, the group visited various aspects of military training on Fort Leonard Wood -- from the in processing of new Soldiers at the 43rd Adjutant General Battalion to operating robots used by Soldiers in the field. In addition, the group got to see first-hand how the Army is addressing the issue of suicides by allowing the journalists to participate in the stand-down operations, Sept. 27.
The visit for one journalist was more than just educational; it was a recon to her future.
"I am extremely interested in the military," said photojournalist Crystal Chatham, The Desert Sun, Palm Springs, Calif. "I have been looking into joining a combat camera unit for the Air Force Reserve in California, and this trip is helping me better understand what that really entails."
"I especially liked the 'big thinking' portion of the program at (Fort) Leavenworth, where we talked with the majors and officers about how the Army plans. That was really fascinating," Chatham said.
"Then, we come here and we see the flip-side of that, where 17 and 18-year old kids are just entering the service and how the process works. In all, it has really deepened my understanding of the military," Chatham said.
Application to the program is limited to working journalists and students studying mass communications and journalism, Volekm said. The McCormick Foundation funds the program and pays for the travel, food and lodging of the journalists.
The McCormick Foundation is one of the nation's largest charities and was founded in 1955 by Col. Robert McCormick, the longtime publisher and editor of the Chicago Tribune. With more than $1.2 billion in assets, the foundation is dedicated to strengthening a free democratic society by investing in communities and country.
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