[PAO] PAO SUI/CI Recommended Changes Re: The American Red Cross Versus Civil Air Patrol Public Relations

[Arthur Woodgate]

Ken,

9/11, the second Gulf War, and our protracted involvement in the Middle East
have changed the world forever -- at least for the AF. In-country in the
Middle East, given personnel constraints, the AF no longer enjoyed army base
security but had to take care of it on their own. As a result, they started
sending airmen to Ft Benning for infantry training. At times, as never
before, AF forward bases became isolated in different locations and had to
do everything that normally was done for them by higher HQ. 

Also, the AF now considers us members of their Total Force, and we need to
be able to take care of ourselves. 

Finally, mammoth hurricanes (Katrina, Ike, and the like) and the possibility
of man-made disasters have made both the AF and CAP think twice. In Katrina,
for instance, New Orleans became isolated and cut-off from the world, as the
entire area became paralized. The same thing happened in Houston (not as
badly, though), with communications in shambles and all roads transformed
into endless parking lots making it impossible to drive in or out. In
Houston, a squadron PAO (not even a PIO) had to work the mission. Wing was
able to communicate intermittently and guide that PAO in a general way, but
it was the PAO who had to face the media and produce the news releases. In a
case like this, a Wing or Group Plan would be of no use to the squadron,
since most of the assets listed at the Wing or Group level would not be
available to a squadron cut off from the world. This is why squadrons need
to have a PA Plan and a Crisis Communications Plan -- without them, they
would be seriously handicapped in trying to function. And... you don't get
to pick the emergency; the emergency picks you.

So yes, there is a reason for all this "unreasonable burden" -- it's called
survival. Your survival. 

I'm sorry that you didn't get the support and mentoring you needed. But your
present and past predicaments won't make CAP stop requiring a squadron to
have both a PAP and a CCP. In a real emergency, that squadron might, find
itself the sole representative of wing and need to do the job without any
support from higher HQs.

Regards,

Arthur Woodgate
SWR DPA

-----Original Message-----
From: cap-pao-bounces at lists.sempervigilans.org
[mailto:cap-pao-bounces at lists.sempervigilans.org] On Behalf Of Ken
Sent: Sunday, October 04, 2015 10:07 AM
To: CAP Public Affairs Officers
Subject: [PAO] PAO SUI/CI Recommended Changes Re: The American Red Cross
Versus Civil Air Patrol Public Relations

To the group:

I may be talking in the wind so to speak but here it goes:

My specific heartburn is the SUI evaluates ONLY the planning aspect of
squadron PAO and requires very specific formats to be followed in order to
"pass" (yet doesn't really give any good examples at the squadron level).
It fails to evaluate/mention what was ACTUALLY accomplished by the unit PAO
during that evaluation/inspection period.

In my military career as enlisted and officer my experience has been that
squadrons implement plans from wings & groups very rarely do they have a
responsibility to write their own plans. In some military units I was
assigned to our units were considered to be at the group level, so we did
write an annex to one of the wings/military installations' plans 
and actually did have our own plan.   We were actually sent to a week 
long course on how to write the plan and there was very specific formats
(the entire plan was outlined on what to place in each paragraph/sub
paragraph) for the entire plan that were utilized.

Again over IMHO planning (both overall PAO goals & contingency plans) is a
wing function in CAP and should not be a squadron function.  
Tactically at the squadron we should be implementing the wing guidance and a
report mechanism should be in place to the appropriate wing/group PAO can
easily monitor what the squadrons under his/her supervision are 
doing.   Interestingly the Wing CI PAO checklist doesn't appear to place 
any emphasis on supervision/mentoring at the wing level to subordinate
units. (e.g. doesn't ask the Wing PAO to produce copies of each squadron's
PAO plan or contingency plan).

Volunteers have limited time, there's a vast difference from doing nothing
in a position to do something -- there seems to be some reference that I
didn't do anything, as I said before best TV news coverage in the wing,
numerous published stories, etc. consistently for 
five years!!   At the squadron PAO level if one is sending out news 
media releases/stories (that are getting published), getting TV & radio
coverage than the job is getting done.  Successful action is more important
than spending time writing about potential action!

When approximately 95% of the PAO function at the squadron level in a region
gets a marginal because one is only looking at "planning" versus actual
action/results there's a problem. Surely National "wins" in the end because
volunteers have to clear those SUI discrepancies otherwise the CAP
inspection machine will go crazy (on such minor administrative things)!!!
So change the SUI to a more reasonable/valid evaluation.  
IMHO here's an example of the squadron checklist:

  1.  Does the squadron have a web site and/or face book page?
  2. Is the website/face book page up to date (at least one posting every 20
to 30 days)?
  3.  Does the squadron publish/get published internally/externally stories
about all of its' activities?
  4.  Does the squadron publish/get published internally/externally stories
about its' members CAP accomplishments?
5.  Does the squadron publish/get published internally/externally stories of
general interest about CAP (as requested by National/Wing headquarters)?
6.  How long has the squadron PAO been in the position?
7.  Has the squadron PAO received orientation/training from the group/wing
PAO?

All of this activity can easily be kept on a simple log that shows
activity/accomplishment date, activity description, news release (to
whom) and/or internal, and results (either hot keyed but preferably
downloaded/scanned into an electronic file or cross referenced to squadron
website/face book page(s)).  All of this could easily be sent to the
inspector so the PAO would not have to spend time at the squadron with the
inspector.  IMHO it is very difficult to measure results because as an
example the number of website/face book hits/likes etc could actually be CAP
members and not the external public.

IMHO Here's a recommendation on the wing checklist:
1.  Has the wing PAO developed a comprehensive overall plan & contingency
plan that meets region/national requirements?
2.  Has the plans been communicated to all subordinate units in the wing?
3.  Does the Wing PAO effectively supervise/advise subordinate units? 
(e.g. reviews monthly/quarterly reports, visits subordinate units websites,
etc).
4.  Does the Wing PAO effectively train/mentor subordinate units PAO's (e.g.
give examples of training e.g. emails, website, telephone conference calls
(memos for record).
5.  How long has the wing PAO in the job?
6.  What is his/her qualifications for the position and what
training/advise/mentoring was received from higher headquarters?

IMHO If one can simplify the squadron inspection process to one of
action/results,  I would strongly consider returning to the PAO function.
However again, I'm not going to frustrate myself if there's no changes,
since as a volunteer I do have choices on how to spend my 
available time!   Really got to wonder how many more have decided to do 
the same thing!!!

Ken
Former PAO


On 10/4/2015 8:56 AM, Arthur Woodgate wrote:
> snip..snip..snip.
> That said, Ken chose to blame NHQ, and this made it sound a lot like 
> sour grapes. CAP is a regulatory organization, and we guide ourselves 
> by the published regulations, manuals and pamphlets (that I'll call 
> collectively
> "regulations") that tell us what to do (and we promise to follow, as 
> the oath of membership states). If we think that any of it is wrong, 
> then the procedure is to send a request for change to NHQ, where 
> cooler heads will decide on the value of implementing such change. In 
> all cases, though, what is published and what is changed is based on 
> the personal experience of those who rose to the top and continue to  
> reach out to those who are practicing the specialty in the field with
vigor and success.
>
> The idea is to create an organization that can fine-tune the 
> regulations to make it more effective in Fla. Wing, Texas Wing, Calif. 
> Wing, Hawaii Wing or any other CAP wing. Bottom line, the job of 
> publishing, preserving and making available to the public the many CAP 
> success stories is in the hands of the squadron, group, wing and 
> region where it happens. This is not a trivial task, it is implemented 
> by volunteers, and some volunteers are more effective than others.
>
> Regards
>
> Lt. Col. Arthur Woodgate, CAP
> SWR Director of Public Affairs
>
>

_______________________________________________
Subscribed Email Address: awoodgate at austin.rr.com CAP-PAO mailing list
CAP-PAO at lists.sempervigilans.org
http://lists.sempervigilans.org/mailman/listinfo/cap-pao