By Staff Sgt. Keith Anderson, U.S. Army North PAO
FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas — Public affairs leaders from throughout Fort Sam Houston joined forces June 10 at the Sam Houston Club during a public affairs conference designed to ensure unity of effort.
The highlight of the event featured a briefing by Lt. Gen. Guy Swan III, the commanding general of U.S. Army North and Fort Sam Houston, who discussed his vision and leadership philosophy with the attendees and expressed his thoughts on the important roles public affairs professionals play under the Joint Base San Antonio concept.
"I'm a collaborative, cooperative, unity-of-effort type of commander," said Swan. "We are all in this together. Each of us is deputized to be a representative of the entire Fort Sam Houston community."
The conference, hosted by the U.S. Army North Public Affairs Office, included break-out sessions on crisis communications, community relations and command information.
“What we are trying to do is to harness the talent of all of the communities, recognizing that Fort Sam Houston has many voices,” said Lt. Col. Randy Martin, chief, public affairs, Army North. “It’s about unity of effort more so than unity of command.”
With more than 60 tenant units at the fort, defining “who does what” and “who is responsible for what” is complex, Swan said, adding that it is important for the assembled PAOs to be able to work together.
"Our job is to bridge the chains of command so that we have unity of effort," Swan said. "It's up to us to reach out and engage the public."
Public Affairs leaders from U.S. Army North, the 502nd Air Base Wing, AMEDD Center and School, U.S Army Medical Command, Brooks Army Medical Center, 5th Recruiting Brigade, U.S. Army South, U.S. Medical Information Technology Center, West Region – Installation Management Command, the Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command, the Mission and Contracting Command, 470th Military Intelligence Brigade and others weighed in on topics of joint concern and shared ideas for improving public affairs efforts.
In the crisis communication working group, participants used a mass-casualty scenario on post to create a framework for updating crisis communications plans.
"We worked through a crisis scenario that involved a mass casualty incident," said Don Manuszewski, chief of public information, Army North. "The scenario was designed to make our group think through the many tasks needed to successfully communicate during such an event."
The break-out group was productive, Manuszewski said.
"The biggest thing that came out of the group was the dialogue we established and the rapport we developed with each other," Manuszewski said.
After the break-out groups, participants came back together and discussed the results of their collaborative efforts.
"I think the conference provided an opportunity for public affairs folks to get together and discuss how operations within various commands on Fort Sam Houston can be synchronized and to look at opportunities to share information," said Phillip Reidinger, public affairs officer, AMEDD Center and School and Fort Sam Houston.
The conference provided an opportunity for the public affairs representatives to establish communication amongst the various organizations and afforded the assembled leaders an opportunity to hear from the fort’s senior mission commander.
“Public affairs is commander’s business,” said Martin. “The time for building partnerships is before a crisis. Having the commanding general express his views is rewarding on many levels.”
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LTG Swan.
FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas — Lt. Gen. Guy Swan III, commanding general, U.S. Army North and Fort Sam Houston, lays out his vision for public affairs leaders from throughout the installation during a public affairs conference June 10 at the Sam Houston Club. With more than 60 tenant units at the fort, defining “who does what” and “who is responsible for what” is complex, said Swan, adding that it is important for the assembled PAOs to be able to work together. "Our job is to bridge the chains of command so that we have some unity of effort," he said. "It's up to us to reach out and engage the public." The Army North Public Affairs Office hosted the conference.
(U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Keith Anderson, Army North PAO)
Discuss.
FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas — Don Manuszewski, chief of public information, U.S. Army North public affairs office, leads a crisis communications working group through a mass-casualty scenario June 10 at the Sam Houston Club. The Army North PAO hosted public affairs leaders from throughout Fort Sam Houston during a conference designed to discuss unit of effort on the installation. "The biggest thing that came out of the group was the dialogue we established and the rapport we developed with each other," said Manuszewski.
(U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Keith Anderson, Army North PAO)
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