Encountering Media on the Battlefield: Will You Be Prepared?

The relationship between our country’s armed forces and the media is unique. Like any constantly evolving relationship, it has its highs and lows. Gone — for now — are the days of a uniformed press corps attached to moving armies. The birth and rise of the 24- hour news cycle and international live broadcast has changed how the people of this nation will see every engagement in the future. A strong military is a pillar of our democracy, as is the media. The media inform the very people who pay our salaries, own our equipment, and help form the opinions of the parents whose sons and daughters they entrust to us. For a significant portion of this nation, the media is their only link to the military. By recognizing and using this tool, we can tell the Army story, promote a positive image and continue to give our nation reasons to be proud of us. A simple analogy is this: your unit is on a patrol when you make contact. The first thing you do is assess what you are up against. The second thing is to report your situation to higher headquarters. In a broader sense, we do the same thing. As soon as we find out what our situation is, we must report it to our higher headquarters. In this case, the American people are our higher headquarters, and the media is our radio. By keeping in mind a few key points about the media, we, as leaders, can prepare our soldiers for when we encounter reporters on the battlefield. It is important we incorporate this, just as we incorporate the concept of civilians on the battlefield as part of our training. Most reporters today have never served a day in uniform. Only a small percentage cover the military regularly. By gauging reporters’ depth of knowledge about Army operations, we can help them to understand what we do. Patience comes in quite handy when explaining things that may be mundane to us; i.e., platoons are made of squads, which are made of fire teams, etc. But don’t mistake their lack of knowledge for stupidity, as most reporters possess above-average intelligence. Respect for that aspect and patience will get you along way. Contrary to Hollywood stereotypes, it is not the pushy journalist who causes less-than-favorable stories. Think about it for a second; who are you more likely to say something embarrassing to, a reporter who is aggressive and needling at a certain point, or one who is conversational and non-threatening? The aggressive reporter will put you on your guard, and you will more likely say nothing, much less anything compromising. Luckily, the majority of reporters want to file a ‘good news’ story. They have to put food on the table too, and wouldn’t want to burn bridges for future stories. Because of this relationship, we can help them find the “good news” story. “Interview 101” The first rule when encountering media on the battlefield is that your mission comes first. In other words, you are in control. You are not required to grant an interview. You control when and how long the interview lasts. A great example of this principle comes from my experience as an observercontroller during the Mission Readiness Exercise (MRE) for the Stabilization Force Rotation in June 2001 at Fort Polk, La. As part of the exercise, a crowd of civilians was protesting American presence. When SFOR was called in to “control” the riot, there also was a group of reporters present covering the developing story. While attempting to talk to the SFOR commander on the scene, the commander politely but firmly reminded the reporters that he had a mission to accomplish. He told them once the situation was under control, he would be more than happy to grant a brief interview outside the town. With that said, he went about his mission. After the demonstration was under control, he met with several of the role-playing reporters outside the town and gave a terrific interview. When entering a theater of operations, journalists register at a central office to receive their credentials. Their identity, news group affiliation and other information is confirmed to ensure that they are, indeed, members of an accredited media outlet. They are then issued some sort of identification badge or card which must be on them at all times. Even if they are escorted by public affairs, go ahead and check their credentials before granting an interview so you can report this information to your higher headquarters. Usually, reporters will be reluctant to hand over their credentials, so it’s preferred to write down the information. It would be helpful to familiarize yourself with what current media credentials look like when you arrive in the theater of operations. This leads to the next critical point of dealing with media on the battlefield. Most of the time, a public affairs representative will escort reporters. If you decide to grant an interview, use this resource to help you prepare. They will brief you beforehand as to what the reporters will probably ask, review command messages, (discussed later in this article), remind you about opera-

Continued from Page 19 48 ARMOR — prepare you and your soldiers dealing with media on the battlefield. Referring back to the patrol analogy, we owe it to the American people as well as the Army to tell our story. Once we understand our situation, we must report it to our higher headquarters, the American people. The only way we can communicate with our higher is to use our available tool, the media. Remember, the media always gets their story. We can either help them get the story that portrays the Army in a positive light, or we can ignore them and take our chances.

CPT Jeffrey P. Nors was a rifle and anti-tank platoon leader in the 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry at Fort Drum, N. Y., prior to serving as executive officer for HHC, 10th Mountain Division. He is currently in command of the 27th Public Affairs Detachment at Fort Drum.

ARMOR — 49

It might be better to bring back the M108 as an M108A1: 105mm Royal Ordnance howitzer with a 17km range, 30mm Bushmaster II Chain Gun coax for direct fire targets, modified commander’s turret with an Mk 19 40- mm HVGL/7.62mm minigun (a Vietnam-era AH-1 Cobra chin turret based system) with the ability to elevate to 75 degrees, appliqué armor, LRF/BC and an M113 variant as its Field Artillery Ammunition Supply Vehicle, also with the Cobra turret. The key is to keep the vehicle weight under 16 tons so it can land via C130 on an unimproved runway. My worry is an M109 chassis won’t fit in the C130 and the turret might be too tall if it did. So, would the USAF be willing to risk large airlifters close to a battle zone to bring in artillery? Are there other options for C130 compatibility? Yes, but cost and time get in the way. However, since the LAV III doesn’t fit on a C130 and exceeds the 16-ton limit, an M113-based 105mm howitzer/direct fire system variant would be cheaper and available more quickly. As an example, cut off the M113 top deck, place anew top deck with the M108A1 turret in place and you’re ready to go. You might want to check G2mil.com for other ideas and comments on the same subject.

LTC (Ret.), FA

“India’s Tank Fleet” Missed German Engines, Transmissions

Dear Sir: In the September-October 2001 issue of ARMOR, I read your interesting article on India’s tank fleet. I think it is very positive that ARMOR reports about foreign tanks on a regular basis. However, I believe there was a mistake concerning the power pack of the Arjun tank (page 31). The production batch of 124 MBTs is equipped with a diesel engine mtu MB 838 Ka-501 and a fully automatic transmission of RENK AG RK 304 S with four forward, two reverse gears and a mechanical 4-speed steering system. For your information, I enclose an article from the company magazine mtu Report, edition 1/2001 of mtu Friedrichshafen GmbH, 88038 Friedrichshaf-en, Germany. Unfortunately, I only have the article in German language.

Correction to Unit Listing

On page 42, we erroneously listed the 1-14 RSTA Sqdn of I Corps, 2 ID, as 1-14 RECCA Sqdn. The unit is equipped with IAVs and HMMWVs. Also, 1-33 Armor was listed as part of I Corps, 2 ID, but is now part of 1st Bde, 25 ID.

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