3

rd
Sustainment Command
(Expeditionary) / WQXE 98.3 FM

Military / Media Brief
23 April 2010

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Agenda
Who we are
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ESC / WQXE partnership
Embedding media in Haiti
How we did it
Lessons learned
Questions
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How do you get a U of L grad off your
front porch?
Question:
Go Cardinals!!!
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*Pay them for the pizza!
Answer:
*No UofL students were harmed in the telling of this joke
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Who we are
Major Paul Hayes

-16 years US Army
-Assigned to 3
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ESC, Fort Knox
-Deployments to Korea, Qatar, Iraq
-My job: provide maximum amount of
disclosure with minimum delay.
-Media relations
-Community relations
-Command information
-Editor, producer, print journalist
/ photographer
Mr. Greg Milby

-12 Radio
-Free-lance TV
WHKW, WASE, WLVK, WULF
-Currently, WQXE morning show,
program director
-Largest morning show in Fort Knox
area
-Community partner
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The 3
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ESC, WQXE partnership
April 2008 first meeting
Iraq: May 2008-Aug 2009
15 month deployment over
70 hometown interviews with WQXE
Sustainer Minute
Tried to embed
August 2009 return from Iraq
Guest hosting / interviews /
community events
January 2010 alert for
Haiti
Embed opportunity
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Embedding in Haiti 2 perspectives
From a military perspective:

Embed program is designed to have
journo live, eat, breathe, train, work
with a given unit

In general - I dont like embeds I
want partnerships

Embeds need to be mutually
beneficial for us to accept

NOT A JUNKET OR TOUR

Fairly painless once in country

Embedding WQXE was one of our
most important priorities and
accomplishments
From a media perspective:

In general I want to embed

Inside story of a Soldier

Different view of the deployment
bring it home

Life of a Haitian not seen in
other coverage

Local coverage hometown
station = coverage of hometown
Soldiers

Never been done

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Execution how we did it
The plan
1-2 weeks
Live broadcast of morning show, social media,
blogging, freelance for Louisville TV
Get Greg out on the streets
Live like a Soldier
Greg notified 16 Feb on plane 7
hours later
Movement to Haiti
On the ground 17 FEB 26 FEB
27 Radio interviews
Project Haiti video
3 TV interviews
WQXE Blog, WLKY Blog, Facebook
Sample Day: 23 FEB
0530: wake up
0550: On air
0600-1000: Live interviews
1000-1100: Blogging
1100-1400: TV shots at embassy
1400-1500: Blogging
1500-1800: Project Haiti filming
1800-1900: Run
1900-2000: Chow
2000-2300: visit U of Miami Hospital
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What we learned:
From a military perspective:

Coordination / communication are
critical

Embedding costs money either
unit or station has to pay for tickets,
travel etc

Have schedule but be flexible

Embed from small station / paper
with strong local tie is better than
national or international outlet

Anything is possible



From a media perspective:

Embed process / clearance not easy
shots, insurance, supplies

Prepare and test broadcast
capability for live radio

Toughness of deployment on
Soldiers and Families

Cannot imagine daily living
conditions / damage

Expect the unexpected and be
prepared to adapt



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Summary
Embedding is a great opportunity
Many, many challenges but many,
many benefits
Numerous lessons learned
Questions
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Backups
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Community Outreach
Media Engagement
Command Information
-Local emphasis, internationally capable
-Harness existing and past partners
-Creative products like Sustainer Minute
-Simplicity and low tech a must
-School partnerships
-Sports teams
-Speaking engagements
-Community reach-back like WQXE
Unique and rich market:
-13 unique unit hometowns
-CONUS, Puerto Rico
-Active, Reserve, Joint team
-Rural, military, urban communities
-29 engagements, 3 embeds in 10 days
-New , simplified website
-Partnered with other PAOs
-Nested with Army.mil,
FORSCOM, SOUTHCOM websites
-Routine, predictable communications with
Soldiers and Families
-Integrating Social Media 300+ fans in 72 hours
Leveraging Public Affairs