[PAO] New CAPP 201 - Public Affairs Officer Specialty Track

[Alice Mansell]

Wow, Bill!  You articulated so many fabulous thoughts on the deeper issue.

Absolutely agree with all you wrote, especially the need for different PIO
ratings.   I, also, have worked in JICs with military, federal agency, and
state government information officers.  Some random thoughts from those
JICs:

- The CAP golf shirt works there the best. Any white aviator shirt gets too
many confused reactions and to wear the USAF style uniform, one must truly
meet military weight and grooming standards to have rapport with any
military personnel present who can be a daily shifting cast of people.

- In JICs, once trusted by the lead informaton officer, a CAP member may
end up doing as much work to get the word out for "other" agencies as our
own, even for just internal CAP use.  Whatever the incident commander
thinks is the main messaging is more important than CAP ringing its own
bell during a real mission or exercise with field operations.

- It is truly fun to work in JICs..... but they can be a steep learning
curve in situations where it might take 5+ hours for every
agency-stuck-in-silos to approve press releases.  CAP should be able to
delegate "our" such approvals to regionally approved PIO3s who can train,
mentor, and/or supervise PIO2s and PIO1s.

I recall well how my Wing was one of the first to make sure only the most
vetted and experienced mission coordinators (ICs now) were allowed to run
real missing aircraft missions...and how it can take years to earn that
duty assignment by consistently demonstrating quality skills in difficult
situations.   The days of a mission PIO being whatever warm body is willing
to write a paragraph or talk to the press should stop.

-Alice



On Monday, August 11, 2014, Bill Weiler CAP <wweiler at flwg.us> wrote:
> Some great ideas and valid complaints have been posted here, but we've
danced around one of the real problems I see as an IC, PIO, and PAO.
>
> We have 3 levels of ICs, and with the diverse missions we conduct, 1
level of PIO just doesn't make sense to me. An IC3 can do ELT missions,
SAREXs, and a multitude of small missions, but if it's a REDCAP or
multi-agency mission an IC2 is required. A PAO with a little basic training
can be PIO for a local SAREX or even a simple ELT mission, and learn a lot
about 1/3 of CAP's mission while helping the local unit and team. The
current PIO requirements are completely inadequate for a REDCAP or a
Deepwater Horizon, and I spent weeks in the JIC at Mobile and Tallahassee
for Deepwater. The only non-CAP classroom training for the current PIO is a
local FEMA weekend course that shouldn't be too hard for any PAO/PIO
candidate to attend, and it's a great networking opportunity with both the
local media and ES community. Make the current basic PIO course a PIO 2 and
make that the only PIO requirement for a PAO Master Rating with no
additional FEMA training that most non-PIO PAOs don't need. A Master Rated
PAO should understand the role of a PIO and what's entailed, but may not be
well suited to ever serve as a PIO in a critical mission. The experience
will help them help the PIO if needed and will help the local unit.
>
> With 40+ years experience in the ES community doing PAO/PIO work, gaining
the trust and respect of other PIOs and ICs at a JIC is easy working side
by side with them. Also being an IC helps. I've had a much more difficult
time gaining the trust and authority I need for big missions from our own
chain of command and organization - along with the AF. I can't say I blame
them considering how elementary our PIO qualification currently is, and how
many people with the qual are not ready for prime time. If we add the FEMA
200 and 300 PIO courses to a PIO 1 qualification, along with a few other
requirements, we'll ensure that a PIO 1 can step into any mission without
needing constant handholding, will truly know what can and cannot be said,
and will be part of the JIC/IC team able to get the CAP story out real-time.
>
> Long before the term PIO was conceived, in 1969, I was the face for a
multi-fatality snow slide, and I've done dozens of serious and fatal plane
crashes since then with the sheriff and even FAA and NTSB asking me to be
part of the media QA team. Now, when invited by the FEMA and USCG members
of a JIC to be part of a media event I had to decline because the CAP chain
required 48-72 hour advance notice and a review of what might be discussed
before being authorized to be part of the event - that was called at the
last minute. Maybe I've gotten that bad over the years, but I really think
it's because we don't have an internal way of proving some PIOs are
experienced enough and well trained enough to do their job unless they're
personally known or micromanaged.
>
> Being a PIO is not some binary yes or no you can do it. It is something
that takes considerable experience and training for the big jobs, but can
easily be learned and mastered for the small missions. FEMA has multiple
levels of PIO, so we should too. We need many more basic PIOs to help out,
but we need a few Master Level PIOs just like FEMA has. We need more, not
less, Master Rated PAOs that aren't discouraged from the task because of
excessive PIO requirements they do not want to be directly involved in.
>
>
>
> Bill Weiler, Maj CAP
>
> Florida Wing Civil Air Patrol
>
> 913.488.5392
>
> FLCAP 218
>
> wweiler at flwg.us
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: "DOUGLAS E. JESSMER, Lt Col, CAP CAP/PM" <djessmer at cap.gov>
>
> Sent: Sunday, August 10, 2014 7:56 PM
>
> To: "CAP Public Affairs Officers" <cap-pao at lists.sempervigilans.org>
>
> Subject: Re: [PAO] [Bulk] FW: New CAPP 201 - Public Affairs Officer
Specialty Track
>
>
>
> All:
>
> I've been following this discussion with great interest, as it goes to
the heart of how we communicate to pretty much every constituency. Fact is,
emergency services is one of our three main missions. How can we be
effective in telling the CAP story if we don't have some background in
what's probably our highest-profile purpose?
>
> I don't believe every public affairs officer should need to be a public
information officer. And they don't have to be, but those PAs who don't
want the FEMA courses and the PIO qualification can stop with the
technician level of the track. Those who want the PIO training but can't
get to Emmitsburg can go as far as the senior level. I'm sure Emmitsburg is
nice this time of year — it's got to be less muggy than it is here in
Florida. And if you want the training and to climb the ladder of the
specialty track and lay low on the ops side, that's up to you. CAP is,
after all, a volunteer organization.
>
> But every PIO should be a PA. And every public affairs officer should at
least have a 101 card and some PIO training. Not to have that is to neglect
a very important part of what is CAP. We aren't a pure-play emergency
services organization, but people know us for that, at least the ones who
know us. (And that's another thing — many would-be "customers" for our ops
folks still don't know who we are! We need to market ourselves better in
that regard....) We aren't just a cadet-program organization. And public
affairs officers are in the best position to explain the three sides of CAP
— they're not "the ops side and everyone else," but rather, the emergency
services, cadet program and aerospace education missions with which
Congress chartered us back in the day (PLs 476 and 557). A good PA needs to
be well-versed in all three components.
>
> The most important thing in PIO training for CAP members is to learn how
to play well with other agencies. CAP's PIOs won't be the lead on any
incident, but we still stand to get our message out, and we must have the
discipline of messaging to "stay in our lane" and work as part of a greater
system. If Deepwater Horizon didn't teach us that, I don't know what will.
We need to be team players, all up and down the line. Squadron PAs play as
vital a role in our missions as do wing PIOs and the national staff.
>
> There's not really much else I can say that hasn't been said. Yes, these
are the requirements. If there's widespread issue, I imagine adjustments
may be made (that's just me speaking from my experience, not saying
anything official by any means). We still need to be realistic while we're
stretching the field, after all. But what's most important is that we want
our public affairs officers to be the best they can be, to be able to
capably, competently and confidently tell our story, and to position CAP
favorably in our populaces.
>
>
>
> DOUGLAS E. JESSMER, Lt Col, CAP
>
> National Marketing Officer
>
>
>
> COM: (727) 480-9606
>
> Clearwater, Fla.
>
>
>
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