Public Affairs Training

[RiverAux]

I recently listened to a podcast where they were discussing the Coast Guard public affairs program.  Apparently, this is now being conducted as a joint service school, including the Air Force, and is now a 6-month (rather than 3 month) program.  CAP has been upping its public affairs and public information officer game to some extent and I wonder if this joint training might filter down to CAP in some way. 

[etodd]

As a slight sidetrack:  CAP folks will mention going out and recruiting more pilots.  But I don't hear as much about how we should also be looking for Public Affairs, Media Relations, and Media Reporter types of people from the corporate world. They could quickly ramp up into a CAP position. (Well, after learning the CAP way of doing it.)

[TheSkyHornet]

As a slight sidetrack:  CAP folks will mention going out and recruiting more pilots.  But I don't hear as much about how we should also be looking for Public Affairs, Media Relations, and Media Reporter types of people from the corporate world. They could quickly ramp up into a CAP position. (Well, after learning the CAP way of doing it.)

We do good to recruit ground-pounders and fly boys.

We don't do a great job at recruiting for the rear echelon.

[Eclipse]

PA should be done at the National and Wing level and no lower.

There's no Wing that is doing so much that Wing-level PAOs couldn't keep
up with news story insertions, and NHQ could concentrate on NATIONAL stories.

[Holding Pattern]

PA should be done at the National and Wing level and no lower.

There's no Wing that is doing so much that Wing-level PAOs couldn't keep
up with news story insertions, and NHQ could concentrate on NATIONAL stories.

Hard disagree. An active PAO program has been a cornerstone for one of my local squadron's largest growth hike in its history.

Restricting squadrons from doing it if their commander wants them to is just slightly more silly than the current regs that require squadrons to do it even if they don't want to.

Leave it open to the commanders, don't shackle them with overly restrictive regs.

[Eclipse]

Commanders, or other members, who "want to do it" would be assigned as A/PAOs
at the wing level.

Commanders who don't "want to do it" aren't then shackled to something they
have no interest in or need of.

Done.

[Eclipse]

Assigned and vetted at the wing level, at there is some chance of
consistency of message, format, and FSM help us, and the use of spell and grammar check.

Left to their own devices, the majority of units wind up with happenstance postings
"when they remember", which is not a "plan", tinged with the occasional unit that randomly
scores someone with actual experience and expertise, and those guys usually stick around
a year or so until they get either fed up or pulled up (to higher HQ).

It's the economy of scale coupled with the odds that at a state level you can generally
cobble a team together that will work pretty well, vs. most units who have neither the time, nor
the interest, so you get what CAP has now.

Having someplace a unit can send a story to someone else, who is then responsible for
proofing and posting is what I would hazard the majority would really appreciate.

[Holding Pattern]

Commanders, or other members, who "want to do it" would be assigned as A/PAOs
at the wing level.

And then when you have bad leadership in the wing the squadron PAO program suffers. No thanks. Already saw that show play out. Results UNSAT.

[Eclipse]

You don't create programs based on anecdotal poor performance of random players.

That's how CAP is in the situation it's in.

No one trusts anyone to just do their job (nor are most held to a standard or
face ramifications for poor performance).

[Holding Pattern]

You don't create programs based on anecdotal poor performance of random players.

That's how CAP is in the situation it's in.

It isn't anecdotal, I can provide a direct comparison between two squadrons of comparable demographics and two different leadership styles in wing PA.

That changes things from anecdotal to data.

[Eclipse]

That changes things from anecdotal to data.

Sample size is too small compared to the total number of squadrons.

[NIN]

There's no Wing that is doing so much that Wing-level PAOs couldn't keep
up with news story insertions

Let me introduce you to my Wing PAO...  *cough*

[Holding Pattern]

That changes things from anecdotal to data.

Sample size is too small compared to the total number of squadrons.

And yet it is more data than you've EVER brought to the table on the subject.

[Eclipse]

You don't need to "bring data" for an assertion you're not making.

Your sample size is essentially "1" - literally the definition of "anecdotal" in
regards to statistics.

The comments I made are demonstrably true based on publicly available information,
mainly the posts, or lack thereof, that support my assertion.

To bring it around to my beloved tires - on average a driver will experience
5 flats in their lifetime.

Countering that with "I've never had a flat..." is irrelevent as the sample is too small.

[Holding Pattern]

You don't need to "bring data" for an assertion you're not making.

Your sample size is essentially "1" - literally the definition of "anecdotal" in
regards to statistics.

The comments I made are demonstrably true based on publicly available information,
mainly the posts, or lack thereof, that support my assertion.

To bring it around to my beloved tires - on average a driver will experience
5 flats in their lifetime.

Countering that with "I've never had a flat..." is irrelevent as the sample is too small.

2 separate squadrons using 2 methodologies over time, one of them being your way (let wing do PAO work) the other being my way (focus squadron PA efforts) makes it 4 separate data points, 2 of them confirming your way fails, 2 of them confirming my way works.

[RiverAux]

Okay, this is now way far afield from the original post, but I'll play. 

Having been a Wing PAO I can very confidently assert that there is no way that I could have provided anywhere near the same level of service to the unit that a squadron PAO can.  At a bare minimum you have to have a very good finger on the pulse of the unit so that you know when something that is worth PA attention happens.  Squadron commanders have way too much on their hands to keep a Wing PAO apprised of these events. 

If squadron commanders were required to submit regular narrative reports of their activities and important events, then yeah, I could use that as the basis for generating local coverage for them as well as content for the CAP outlets.  However, even that would be significantly hampered by the loss of timeliness that is critical for local media coverage.  If they sent in a monthly report, no local paper, not even a weekly, is going to be that interested in something that may have happened 4-6 weeks ago. 

How can I say all this?  Because as Wing PAO I tried to basically act as the squadron PAO for about 7 squadrons that lacked active PAOs and it just didn't work.   

Just like we really need an ES officer in every squadron to both train the members and maintain local relationships, we need a PAO in every unit.  The reality is that we don't have the number of people interested and capable of doing it, so we make do.  But, the solution to this problem isn't to eliminate the local positions. 

[Spam]

Waitwaitwait... does that count as seven, or as one?  I'm finding it hard to keep score here. At what p value are we declaring statistical significance, anyways? I'm always an inning behind, sigh...

(Dang, need more popcorn... please, do go on)!

Cheers
Spam

[Eclipse]

Okay, this is now way far afield from the original post, but I'll play. 

Having been a Wing PAO I can very confidently assert that there is no way that I could have provided anywhere near the same level of service to the unit that a squadron PAO can.  At a bare minimum you have to have a very good finger on the pulse of the unit so that you know when something that is worth PA attention happens.  Squadron commanders have way too much on their hands to keep a Wing PAO apprised of these events. 

If squadron commanders were required to submit regular narrative reports of their activities and important events, then yeah, I could use that as the basis for generating local coverage for them as well as content for the CAP outlets.  However, even that would be significantly hampered by the loss of timeliness that is critical for local media coverage.  If they sent in a monthly report, no local paper, not even a weekly, is going to be that interested in something that may have happened 4-6 weeks ago. 

How can I say all this?  Because as Wing PAO I tried to basically act as the squadron PAO for about 7 squadrons that lacked active PAOs and it just didn't work. 

Just like we really need an ES officer in every squadron to both train the members and maintain local relationships, we need a PAO in every unit.  The reality is that we don't have the number of people interested and capable of doing it, so we make do.  But, the solution to this problem isn't to eliminate the local positions. 

I don't necessarily disagree with anything here, my assertion is trying to end the conversation
and lack of "anything" in favor of accepting reality and getting "something" done.

There's a few things that stand out...

"Required" isn't a word that functions within CAP, and the organization needs to
discontinue its use, because there's nothing behind it when you can barely keep the doors open.

Further to the above, the fact that the  majority of units do not, and have never had,
any sort of functional PA plan, yet continue to grow, or not via the same happenstance
which has been the core of CAP for 80 years is proof that PAOS aren't necessary at the unit
level, much like a number of other positions which are affectations of the USAF model that
doesn't fit CAP and are largely unfilled anyway.

Again, looking to Scouting, which despite its current...ahem..."issues"...still asserts 2+ million
members. They leave the majority of the administrative nonsense to paid people at the council level
or higher and leave the units to just do Scouting Stuff.

I've done a lot of things in both orgs, I don't recall ever having Scout meetings that involved
PA plans, or AE plans of action - we just went out and did "stuff". Curriculum and plans was done
outside the rank and file and no one seemed to suffer for it.

Maybe that's why CAP has about .01 of the membership.

But I know, you can't compare the two orgs, even though the membership is essentially the
same demo, and the general goals align.

[RiverAux]

One could argue that one of the reasons that most CAP units don't really grow and are hanging on by a thread is at least partly due to a poor public affairs program. 

And I wasn't suggesting that narrative reporting should be required.  I stated that even "if" it were required, it  would allow a remote PA to fulfill some of the PA duties, but not all, and not well. 

And, as discussed in a previous thread, trying to compare the Boy Scouts to CAP in terms of local units and public affairs needs is ludicrous. 

[Eclipse]

One could argue that one of the reasons that most CAP units don't really grow and are hanging on by a thread is at least partly due to a poor public affairs program.

It would be hard to argue that, which is why having it done at the Wing level makes sense.
NHQ can't even compel unit to have a web or social presence, let alone any sort of standardization
(which the attempt at was, I think we'd all admit, kind hilarious).

At least if it was "done" at the National or Wing level it would, in fact, be "done", and any
decent template page farm could knock that out, including SEO in a few hours with 10 photos and
a .csv.

Same goes for Social presence - just do it, and stop saying "we should", "you will", etc.
There are services that can do it with 8 clicks, nationwide, 3 times a day.  Take some of that
sweet Amazon Smile money and put it toward something actually useful.

Done.

And I wasn't suggesting that narrative reporting should be required.  I stated that even "if" it were required, it  would allow a remote PA to fulfill some of the PA duties, but not all, and not well. 

The thing is, it used to be, many moons ago, the result being people just didn't, like so many other things
in CAP that are "required".

And, as discussed in a previous thread, trying to compare the Boy Scouts to CAP in terms of local units and public affairs needs is ludicrous.

This is demonstrably false despite the fact that people don't want to admit it.