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Hometown Engagement
LTC Paul Hayes
J oint Public Affairs Support Element
1 APR 2013

The overall classification is
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Agenda
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The Problem
Where PRTs fit
Make hometowns your niche
Leverage hometown connections
Develop an engagement strategy
Build a distribution plan
Track your successes
Challenges

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The Problem
In Farah we receive zero interest from media.

No interest at all with the PRT. The brigade was a different story only
because of the 9/11 10-year anniversary media blitz. All they wanted to
see were kinetics. They didn't care about anything else.

Additionally, media aren't interested in the PRT because my province
has so much kinetic activity.

Most news agencies and even RC East don't care about every patrol
your PRT goes on.
Not many folks in the media want to talk about AFG. Even fewer want to talk about
non-kinetics. But it is funny every mom, dad, spouse, neighbor, and Veteran wants
to hear about what their Soldiers are doing.

How do we harness that need to tell the important stories of our command and
accomplish informational tasks given to us by higher headquarters?
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Where PRTs fit in the plan
Released internal RC CI Pub only
Released external, DVIDS, RC release, CORE
-BCT
-PRT
-RC
-MPAD
-ISAF
-IJC
Released external ISAF / IJC Release, Direct pitch, Embed pitch
1. Hometowns
2. Army news
3. Installations
4. Med. Markets
5. Specialty
Released external unit release, direct pitch,
hometown releases, webpages, Newsletters
1. Big Leaders
2. Big media
3. AFG media
4. Big web
1. Hometowns
2. Specialty
PRT
BCT
PRT
PRT
PRT
PRT
Insight from current PRT PAO:
I could hide out here for 9 months and no one would know and higher headquarters wouldn't
care! That said, we've made our focus the local/hometown media back home and have gained
some traction with photos, stories, phone calls & emails to newspaper editors and even HTNRs.
So, I'd ask that you stress "pitching" stories/photos to media back home... it's less glamorous
than CNN or one of the big boys coming to visit, but in some ways, it's equally important.
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Make hometowns your niche
Embeds
Partnerships
Press conference
Radio phoner
Taped interview
B-roll placement
Live talk back
Pentagon
press briefing
AFG media event
Pan-Arab media
interview
Op-Ed
Blog placement
Host TV crew
Town Halls
Build partnerships (media, communities, organizations)
Focus on the hometown audience (unit and individual)
Pitch where you can win and seal the deal
Low-tech coupled with determination and high energy wins
out every time
Do the simple stuff like releases really well
Have a press desk to track everything
Focus on the low-hanging fruit
Use hometown heroes to get your message out
Use influencers back home to drive command information
messages (safety, sexual assault, suicide)
The most powerful words spoken every day are, Hi, my
name is Sgt ________ calling from Kabul, Afghanistan
how are you doing today?
Find some way to improve your foxhole daily
Methods and Tactics
Insight: Theres a growing disconnect
between the American people and the
military. The public knows generically that
their troops are at war, but the day to day
connections are less than they used to
be, the depth and breadth of who we are
and what were doing, isnt there.
Source: Adm Mullen, Feb 2011
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Leverage Hometown Connections
Hometown phoners
Hometown releases
DVIDS Website
Town Halls
Op-Ed
Embeds
DVIDS Interviews
Speakers Bureau
Shouts Out
Educational programs
Conference
Participation
Partnerships
TV Partnerships
Radio Partnerships
Special Partners
-Weekly interviews
-Flexible booking
-Participation in family events
-Channel for 70
th
RRC
-American Legion, VFW
-Schools
-Sports Teams
-AUSA convention
-Weekly interviews
-Link to community functions
-Sustainer Minute 2x per week
How do we stay linked to our communities
and their organizations -
from half way around the world?
KIRO Seattle
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Develop a strategy
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Build a distribution plan
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Track your success
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Samples
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Samples
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Samples
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Challenges
Additional duties

Connectivity

Seems overwhelming

Command support

Sustaining the effort
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Key takeaways
Its our mission and the need is there
Start small
Have a plan
Know the hometowns of all your people
Weekly goals become monthly successes
which lead to a tour legacy