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National Guard "Blog Team" takes public affairs mission to new level

Story and photos by Spc. Chris Erickson 129th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, South and North Dakota National Guard

 

MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. There's a new team in town, located in the public affairs neighborhood, and it's one you might never see face-to-face.

The Electronic Media Engagement Team (EMET) or "blog team" is a three-man operation dedicated to an ongoing public affairs mission geared toward the Internet and its media sources. The team brings into focus the "Maximum Disclosure / Minimum Delay" saying, the common underlying theme to the public affairs world, which describes getting as much information out to the public as quickly as possible.

"EMET has been able to reach an audience that many PA programs may not have," said Capt. Anthony Deiss, EMET team leader. "And that is only because we are one of the first organizations in the military to pioneer the way the military interacts with the blogosphere. Blogging has been around for a while but the way the military interacts with bloggers is relatively new. If all PA programs implement blogging into their programs, I think it would vastly improve their organization, reaching a wider public." Spc. Patrick Ziegler, one of the other two EMET members, felt that the current war is an information war as much as it is any other kind. He said that our current enemy was very good at it, adding that the mainstream media might not be doing everything possible to spread even news - good and bad - of our deployed service members. "As public affairs Soldiers it is our duty to inform the public and we need to do that through every conduit available to us," said Ziegler of Mitchell, S.D. "By getting the military's story out to the public via the Internet we are supporting the Global War on Terror. Without the public support we cannot accomplish our mission."

Deiss had similar views.

"I like to say I'm fighting the Global War on Terror one press release at a time," said Deiss, referring to how the team supports the overall effort. "And we do that by contacting a different kind of media - the blogosphere. The enemy understands what kind of impact the media has on public perception; and they exploit it," he added. "If we are not there to keep the American and international publics informed about what the military is doing here at home and around the world to combat terrorism, they will do it for us. Not on my watch!"

Both Deiss and Ziegler felt that accomplishing their duties added a big step in accomplishing the overall PA mission, as well as gaining support from civilian and military groups who may now look to the EMET as another source of information. "Contacting and creating dialogue with bloggers establishes credibility as an official news source," said Deiss of Rapid City, S.D. He continued, stating that if weblogs looked to the EMET for information and news, it would help their (weblogs) organization to reach a wider audience they may not have reached in radio, television and print news markets. Deiss said there has been a lot of support from U.S. CENTCOM's headquarters toward blogging.

"They (command) have seen the benefits of it and they are always looking for new and innovative ways to continue with it," said Deiss. "The benefits of EMET for an organization like CENTCOM are huge," he added. "When you are the lead organization overseeing all military operations in the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters, it becomes critical to get the news out to the online public."

Ziegler said that although he had encountered views that challenged the legitimacy of the EMET, much of the response was encouraging. "The majority of the feedback we get is positive," he said. "However, there are some with very extreme points of view who have some very not-nice things to say about our efforts. You certainly get a feel for the very wide spectrum on ideas and attitudes out there; it makes you scratch your head sometimes."

To accomplish their overall role, the three team members have a variety of tasks to perform. The main duties the team must carry out daily involve the Internet, either keeping CENTCOM's Web site updated with new audio and video files, or reading through blogs to find out what topics of discussion are for that day. Doing this helps the media officers to know what people are talking about, which helps the entire team take a more proactive approach to their mission. "We also engage these blogs by issuing press releases and news stories," said Ziegler. "Many bloggers will then post these products on their blogs. We will also post comments to correct inaccuracies or to simply invite readers to visit the CENTCOM website to get more information about the war." Another task they have been looking to accomplish is "virtually embedding" bloggers and milbloggers with deployed service members. That means the EMET would act to facilitate interviews through e-mail in order to get direct dialogue between the two groups. The idea has been slow in coming to its full potential, but the team hopes to expand the process.

The duties don't stop there. Within their schedule, they must also find the time to write articles concerning developments at CENTCOM headquarters, perform as staff photographers, and act as escorts to contractors working at CENTCOM HQ. Ziegler said that put simply, their main duty of informing the public through interaction with bloggers and milboggers alike helped the overall PA mission.

"Wars are won with public support," he said. "The public cannot support what they do not understand. "There are a growing number of people who are turning to the Internet to get informed about the events in the world. There is no other wing of military public affairs that is doing what we do and that is reporting the daily events in the war to the electronic media or blogs," he said. Ziegler said that as more and more people keep turning to alternate sources to get their news, CENTCOM, or the military in general, has to go with the flow by expanding its role. "The military must inform the public about what it does, after all the public pays the bills," said Ziegler. While there are cases when the military can't tell the public certain news to maintain security and privacy for its troops, the public can be sure that "Maximum Disclosure / Minimum Delay" now envelopes one more brand of media, getting stories out to the people that deserve to know them.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION, contact Spc. Chris Erickson at (813) 827-1727, e-mail: erickscj@centcom.mil, or Maj. Orson Ward at (605) 737-6721.

VISIT THE U.S. CENTCOM WEBSITE at

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Editor's note: Spc. Chris Erickson, Bismarck, is the third member of the EMET. Photos are available on request: