[PAO] Is The Suggestion Box Open Part 2?

Sun Sep 27 21:55:42 CDT 2015

Because you haven't posted your last name I can't look in my archives to
check and see if I've ever met or talked to you before Ken. But I don't
think I have. Anyway, your name doesn't ring a bell.

Like yourself, I was a Wing PAO, and like yourself a PAO of the year and
Region PAO OTY (but in two different Regions). When I was a Wing PAO I also
saw things that I thought  could be better.

But instead of resigning as a PAO like you did, or posting a dozen
open-ended bullet points on a forum that is not monitored by NHQ/PA, I
composed professional, polite and detailed suggestions and sent them *up
the chain of command *for consideration. Not surprisingly, NHQ responded by
appointing me chair of a working group that put together the first How-to
Guide for PAOs (and Arthur Woodgate was a key member of that group and has
worked tirelessly on follow-up revisions.)

I was named National PA Team leader by MG Courter, National PAO by MG Carr
and National PA Manager by MG Vazquez. During this time we've eliminated
the outdated AFAIDIL course, revised CAPR 190-1 several times, instituted a
National PAO Academy, revised the PAO Specialty Track, produced a Branding
Guide and a Style Guide, instituted a robust social media program,
promoted the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony and the Total Force
announcement and we're working hard on how CAP will publicize our 75th
anniversary. And then there are the ongoing projects, such as an annual
report, Legislative Day, the National Conference and countless media
requests for information, etc. that fall to NHQ/PA to handle.

All of this is done with a paid staff of three at NHQ/PA and a volunteer
CAP/PA team of three. Does it sound like we've been slacking off?

As I write this reply to your two lists, while you're sitting in the
comfort and safety of your home, I'm the lead FEMA PIO in Lake County,
Calif., which the President declared eligible for assistance after the
horrific Valley Wildfire. I'm working 7 to 7, seven days a week. Cellphone
coverage, wifi connectivity and passable roads are all in short supply. So
when I read that you don't like the way I post comments on online news
stories, I take exception to the cheapshot. I'm working my ass off, for my
country.

The bottom line is this. Nobody wants to be handed a list of problems.
You've got great ideas? Then hand us a list of solutions -- WITH your offer
to personally take on the project. That's how we make progress.

[image: cid:9A18312A-A445-4805-8F77-524A881DDED9]

*Lt Col Steven Solomon, CAP*

National Public Affairs Manager
(C) 240.505.6279
U.S. Air Force Auxiliary
gocivilairpatrol.com <http://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/>
[image: FB]
<https://www.facebook.com/pages/Civil-Air-Patrol/107647995924164>[image:
Flickr] <http://instagram.com/civil__air__patrol>[image: Twitter]
<https://twitter.com/civilairpatrol>[image: white-large-chiclet]
<https://www.flickr.com/photos/civilairpatrol/sets/>

On Sat, Sep 26, 2015 at 7:40 PM, Arthur Woodgate <awoodgate at austin.rr.com>
wrote:

> Ken,
>
>
>
> All this goes away if:
>
>
>
> (1) The unit plans for PA coverage before the event takes place, assigns a
> PAO for the event, and the activity director or CC follows through
>
> (2) PAOs take the job seriously and bone up. There is a lot of excellent
> training information online.
>
> (3) The SUI is conducted according to the checklist, so reading it way
> ahead of time will prepare the PAO for a good rating.
>
> (4) The PAO is able to establish dialog with the CC for current and future
> work.
>
> (5) The PAO seeks guidance from PAOs up the chain.
>
>
>
> Thanks for the comments, though.
>
>
>
> Arthur ~
>
> [image: cid:image001.png at 01D0C38B.F0C6B850]
>
>
> *Lt Col Arthur E. Woodgate, CAP*
>
> Southwest Region Director of Public Affairs
>
>   & Director of Organizational Excellence
>
> (H) 512.432.0231
> (VoIP) 512.547.6997
> (C) 512.567.1935
>
> awoodgate at austin.rr.com
>
> LtColWoodgate at gmail.com
>
> U.S. Air Force Auxiliary
>
> GoCivilAirPatrol.com <http://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/>
>
> http://swrcap.com
>
>
>
> [image: cid:image002.png at 01D0C38B.F0C6B850]
> <https://www.facebook.com/pages/Civil-Air-Patrol/107647995924164>[image:
> cid:image003.png at 01D0C38B.F0C6B850]
> <http://instagram.com/civil__air__patrol>[image:
> cid:image004.png at 01D0C38B.F0C6B850] <https://twitter.com/civilairpatrol>[image:
> cid:image005.png at 01D0C38B.F0C6B850]
> <https://www.flickr.com/photos/civilairpatrol/sets/>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: cap-pao-bounces at lists.sempervigilans.org [mailto:
> cap-pao-bounces at lists.sempervigilans.org] On Behalf Of Ken
> Sent: Saturday, September 26, 2015 7:48 PM
> To: CAP Public Affairs Officers
> Subject: Re: [PAO] Is The Suggestion Box Open Part 2?
>
>
>
> Hello folks some other things that come to mind as a former squadron PAO :
>
>
>
> 1.  CAP VOLUNTEER NOW WEBSITE (http://www.capvolunteernow.com/) COULD
> PRESENT INFORMATION DIFFERENTLY -- Since this IS the CAP news site National
> needs to ensure that all wings are appropriated covered at this
>
> website.   IF a particular wing hasn't been covered in 45 days I think
>
> National needs to be asking the wing why there's no articles.  Also I
> think on the web based submission form for the story releases the minimum
> number of words needs to be lowered.  I always found as a former PAO that I
> couldn't think up enough words to fill that in, so no news
>
> got reported to National.   Also I think for each wing there needs to be
>
> a specific index page/pages maintained either by the wing PAO or his/her
> designated person could upload stories to that area, so if someone was
> interested in a particular state they could easily see what that wing (and
> units within that wing) has accomplished.  NATIONAL could also decide what
> gets "front page" coverage.
>
>
>
> 2.  SOCIAL MEDIA EFFECTIVENESS NEEDS TO BE CAREFULLY EXAMINED ---  I think
> the jury is still out on what we really achieve with some of the
>
> social media methods.   Surely an up to date
>
> regions/wings/groups/squadrons website & public access facebook pages is
> IMHO primarily where the effort needs to be and with most volunteers having
> limited time to spend on too much social media (but frankly we've met some
> people that apparently that's all they do and showed up at a CAP activity
> just to meet some of our social media posters, with really
>
> no interest in the organization LOL !!!!).   Generally when anyone is
>
> considering joining a volunteer organization, they will checking out that
> organization's website/facebook site as well as doing a google news
>
> search to see what they come up with.   Many of the cadets we recruit
>
> are due to other cadets talking about the program to their peers in
>
> school versus any media sources.   Senior members will vary BUT most
>
> will look at websites etc.   I might add that its' important to ensure
>
> that old web sites/pages are taken down IF at all possible since sometimes
> the search engines find those pages.  The current CAP membership may not
> have any control or even know who originally had the website.  Might be a
> good "how to do (get old sites taken down)" article to post on the CAP PAO
> training site IF there's been success in website removal.
>
>
>
> 3.  EXTERNAL NEWSPAPERS/TV/RADIO IS STILL EFFECTIVE --  IMHO getting
> coverage via these sources is VERY important since it validates the
> organization's existence & it's more likely that those that could help CAP
> or recognize its' individual members are reading/watching/listening to
> these media (two of our squadron members were recognized via letters from
> our local state representative after an article was published about our
> annual awards dinner).  We compete with many other organizations for news
> space.  HOWEVER, the local community newspapers are always looking for
> stories (and in many instances I had to split a story to only cover the
> members that were from the towns/cities that the specific newspaper edition
> covered).  Some will have a paper, web (reduced number of stories), and
> also pdf archive.  Note:  IF it is primarily a printed/pdf
>
> type archive the search engine won't find all the time.   As far as TV
>
> media coverage, that is IMHO the most stressful for the PAO because
> there's always "if it bleeds it leads!" in the background and even a
> scheduled story (usually verified that same day by followup with the news
> director) might not get covered.  Also TV media have websites and a story
> on the evening news likely will be posted to the website and some
>
> archive up to two years including the video.   My understanding anything
>
> to do with veterans/military are hot interest items for our local media
> and the local "Wreaths Across America" ceremony at the veterans cemetery
>
> gets excellent TV coverage.   Also google has a news search function
>
> that will gather all stories for the day and email one the story links,
>
> which gives a good idea what is getting covered (and not covered).
>
> What I also liked about TV media is the chance to get to personally talk
>
> with some of the up and coming news reporters/TV anchors.   Also we had
>
> talked with one TV station about the possibility of providing them with
> video and the story details in case they weren't able to send a crew to
> cover the activity.  BTW some media outlets may not always list the
> organization's webpage address when the article gets edited for
> publication.  Radio wise we had copies of the older public service
> announcements and last year one of our members who works in the technical
> side of broadcast radio was able to get this placed with three major radio
> stations in our area and these will be running thru 2016 (oh, BTW let me
> mention, the IG during our SUI was also told about this and even our wing
> commander had heard one of the PSA's while driving to
>
> work, yet NO mention in that SUI report.   I might add that likely we
>
> were the only unit in the wing that had accomplished this!).  Also it
> didn't appear to us that National had any interest in knowing how that
> volunteer provided professional voice PSAs were being utilized, since no
> reporting was required.
>
>
>
> 4.  PRE DETERMINED/AUTHORIZED RELEASES FOR MEDIA COVERAGE DURING CERTAIN
> MISSIONS --  I think we really need to get this worked out. After the last
> east coast hurricane/tropical storm we had a local CAP aircrew/aircraft
> that was going to fly to the coast to take some recon
>
> photos.   It just seemed to me that IF we had automatic permission to at
>
> the very least get some video footage (the plane taxiing away)  along with
> a prepared statement ..e.g. that units from x are supporting the x agency
> for disaster relief efforts by taking photos of the coastline
>
> (and if an example of an aerial photo is available provide it to us).
>
> TV news is based upon the immediate and not the deferred so a real good
> story got missed due to the hurdles of the requirements for a release for
> something so simple.  Google news showed no immediate stories but only one
> after the whole mission was complete there was one story in the printed
> media.  With the number of personnel participating in this there should
> have been significant local coverage throughout the northeast and even from
> outside the area for wings that were supporting the effort.
>
>
>
> 5.  MAKING APPROPRIATE COMMENT ABOUT CAP ON NEWS MEDIA WEBSITES IN
> RELATION TO THE SENSITIVITY TO THE NEWS STORY  --- Some media outlets allow
> the readers/viewers to comment on stories.  For awhile there was one CAP
> member that was basically just posting the CAP tag line in the
>
> comments area without any thought to what the story was about.   In one
>
> example a community very cherished parish priest flying his aircraft
>
> crashed and was killed.  CAP found the aircraft.   Perhaps a more
>
> personal crafted message, something along the lines of CAP was successful
> in finding the aircraft BUT were saddened that the pilot did not survive,
> might be more appropriate as the first line in the post and then a bit more
> about the organization.
>
>
>
> 6.  TRAINING PAO MORE ON LINE/ WEBINAR PRESENTATION ---  There's been lots
> of work put into the National PAO website, but perhaps more on line
> training opportunities or even prerecorded webinar presentations could help
> PAO's along their quest for becoming the best.
>
>
>
> 7.  THE CAP TV & RADIO CHANNEL -- Perhaps now with all the web streaming
> that can be done National should consider a TV & radio channel that
> produces video and/or voice with weekly programs. Similar to what was done
> with the recent National Commander's comments on the CAP status as an
> Auxiliary with the USAF being included in the total force definition.
>
>
>
> Ken
>
>
> Ken rfinder1 at charter.net via
> <https://support.google.com/mail/answer/1311182?hl=en>
> lists.sempervigilans.org
> Sep 26 (1 day ago)
> to cap-pao
> Hello folks:
>
> First by introduction I am a former squadron level PAO (having served over
> five years in that role) and had also been selected for Wing PAO and Region
> PAO of the year.  I had the best TV media news coverage in the wing for
> many years.  I specifically left the PAO volunteer position because I
> received a marginal during an SUI and felt the entire process to evaluate
> squadron PAO's was flawed and didn't want to spend my time doing this
> anymore to just get frustrated (and I can now spend more time on my new
> hobby of photography as well as concentrate on CAP radio communications).
> BTW currently our region and wing are looking for PAO's to staff those
> level functions.
>
> Here's some things I think we need to address and change:
>
> SQUADRON PAO PLANNING SIMPLIFY IT  --  Better than 95% of the units
> inspected in my region were written up for not doing the four step plan.  I
> didn't have the plan because it is just too time consuming to do this and
> the examples given our poor and the measurements are really impossible to
> determine; BUT I did have one sheet of paper with our goals for the year
> and also maintained a log (in word format) of all PAO activities with the
> results (this would include copies of the news releases, copies of what was
> printed, and/or website cross links to TV media video) in electronic
> format.  This shows simply accomplishment of the PAO in relation to the
> goals. Our contingency plan had been completed BUT the unit commander at
> the time had forgotten to send it to wing (but wing had never requested it
> either) due to some serious family issues (passing of two immediate family
> members in a short period of time ).  Even for the contingency plan, at
> least one wing has an overall plan with groups/squadron as annexes.  Our
> past squadron leadership had always wanted for wing (we have no groups) to
> get involved if we had any negative press, so from my standpoint wing was
> always going to be involved.   We need to be much more simple in our
> planning especially at the squadron level,  IF we can get external (and of
> course internal coverage (website/facebook) for all our activities,
> personnel's accomplishments, & general public awareness we have met the
> goals of the program and that is what needs to be emphasized in any
> inspection report.  Volunteers have limited time that time should be spent
> accomplishing the basic mission which is "get the good news out about CAP
> locally"!
>
> NATIONAL WEBSITE www.gocivilairpatrol.com NEEDS TO BE CHANGED -- Since
> CAP is suppose to be all inclusive regardless of race, age, disability,
> ethnic origin, etc.  the current recruiting IMHO website fails to readily
> show this.  There a static picture of three young minority members in CAP
> flight suit.   I believe in order to meet the non discrimination
> requirements we should portray all of our members (old, disabled, race,
> ethnic, sex, size, etc)  with perhaps changing pictures ever 10/15 seconds
> or so (which should include those three minority members in flight suits).
>  My firm belief is recruiting retired older personnel for many of our
> volunteer positions might actually work out better for the organization due
> to their availability -- If someone can give us 5 to 10 years of dedicated
> service I think that's great.  HOWEVER, again a mix of young, old, middle
> age, various races & ethnicity, etc should be what we display on our
> recruiting website, so there no doubt what we stand for.
>
> PAO SKILLS UPGRADE IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE --  Surely, anything one can
> accomplish online as FEMA training and/or participation requirements in ES
> exercises/actual missions is a reasonable requirements.  What is
> unreasonable is some of the requirements for FEMA courses that require
> classroom attendance.  In some states those classes aren't even available
> and when available normally are held during the weekdays so volunteers
> would have to take vacation from their employment in order to attend.   BTW
> offering such a class one time a year at a National Conference is likely
> cost prohibitive to many members.
>
> NATIONAL NEEDS TO ASSIST PAO MORE --  As an example the National Staff
> should consider preparing theme news release for each month of the year to
> aid local PAO in getting coverage.  For example September was "National
> Preparedness Month", how many units did media releases with this theme as
> far as what CAP as an organization does to prepare?   I'm sure for every
> month we could come up with something.
>
> WINGS SUPPORT TO GROUP/SQUADRON PAO'S --  I also think that when a CI is
> conducted their needs to be more emphasis of what the wing PAO is doing to
> assist the various units and also should be checking to ensure the wing PAO
> has gotten the required PAO goals/contingency plans.  Personally I liked
> the quarterly report that use to be submitted because it specifically
> looked at squadron new releases (print, radio, TV) (and I would now include
> internal information such as posting to facebook/squadron web pages) as
> well as all squadron community activities.  So wing could readily see if
> there was an active program at the unit.
>
> So there it is from my point of view.  So is the suggestion box open or
> closed?
>
> BTW thanks to all of the dedicated PAO's who are always trying to get the
> good word out on CAP!
>
> Ken
>
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