A Framework for Collateral Duty Public Affairs Excellence

Story by Lieutenant (j.g.) W. Kirk Wolff USS Paul Hamilton (DDG 60)

A newly commissioned officer has to navigate difficult waters, whether that involves undergoing the qualification process for their community, figuring out how to live in a new city on their own, or literally navigating a ship for the first time. Many commands across the Navy do not have a Public Affairs Officer (PAO) assigned to them, thus the task routinely becomes a collateral duty for overwhelmed junior officers. Consequently, those commands’ public affairs missions often fall by the wayside as competing demands take their toll. This is not an indictment of unit public affairs representatives, as the number one and two priorities for junior officers should certainly be their Sailors and qualifications, respectively. Having been one of these intimidated, unqualified junior officers myself, I know what it is like to feel buried by unfamiliar responsibilities, collateral duties, and new tasks, all while standing at the heel of a mountain of PQS. However, there are resources, tips, and habits that can ensure public affairs excellence without the task overtaking an officer’s focus. Some of those are listed below, but first I want to clarify why I am writing about an oft-overlooked area of responsibility.

Why Public Affairs? In the age of social media and hyper-connectivity, the public affairs mission has taken on a level of importance never before seen. Additionally, every ship, squadron, and shore command has stories that need to be told, and work that should be highlighted. I truly believe public affairs empowers Sailors, and increases job satisfaction, pride, and buy-in to the mission. I have personally witnessed these results after the implementation of an aggressive public affairs program on my ship (USS Paul Hamilton DDG 60). As a result of our command’s efforts, individuals could often be heard in the passageways congratulating each other on their accomplishments, discussing who was featured on the Facebook page or website that day, and generally feeling proud of the ship. The Ombudsman reported family pride was greatly increased as well. The efforts and stories of our Sailors matter, and they deserve to feel proud of their command while having their accomplishments shared. Not only is it important for commands to have competent and efficient public affairs programs for these reasons, the collateral duty presents a golden opportunity for junior officers to “break out” among their peers and demonstrate their ability to effectively plan and execute. Though not all inclusive, some keys to success I have found are as follows:

Tip 1: Create a Battle Rhythm

A battle rhythm is critical to establishing any good program, including an effective public affairs initiative. Humans are creatures of habit, and a stable battle rhythm will allow you to get in the habit of maintaining your public affairs program. This seems intuitive, but few commands establish consistent public affairs battle rhythms. In addition to the benefits you will reap as the unit public affairs representative, your battle rhythm will provide your audiences with an expectation of content, leading them to make a routine of checking your command’s website and social media platforms. Rather than expecting sporadic posting or no content on your sites, your audience will come to see your command’s public affairs initiatives as resources for valuable information, and they will loyally check back for more content. This will improve engagement numbers and the amount of people you reach, the main determinants for effective public affairs. In port, my goal was to post at least three photos per week on our social media and one article per month for our website. While this sounds modest, for most small to medium sized commands this would represent a significant increase in public affairs activity. While underway with an embarked Mass Communication Specialist (only sometimes available to smaller commands) I attempt one post per day and one article per month, as operational requirements permit. These can be documentation of operations, history posts, or “family gram” style posts of awards and ceremonies. Both in port and underway I aim to write at least one off ship hometown news story feature for a Sailor each month too, and I am sure to forward any opportunities to the crew via email and Plan of the Day notes for radio shout outs from NAVCO as soon as they are received.

Tip 2: Build an Identity

For your command’s public presence, you want to cultivate an identity. This can be accomplished by having themes for your posts, such as #ThrowbackThursday or #WarriorWednesday. I enjoyed posting “throwback” photos of our ship, and of the other ships that have shared the name Paul Hamilton. In doing so, the public’s knowledge of our ship’s impressive history and of the important histories of previous ships sharing our namesake were vastly improved. This also helped Sailors to feel they were a “link in the chain” in the long history of Paul Hamilton named ships, and in the Navy’s history at large. This doubly served to bring in new audiences of history buffs and the families of Sailors who served on the decommissioned ships as well as at least one relative of Paul Hamilton. Your command identity is also built by the nature of your photos and captions. Some commands prefer to have a lighthearted public posture, characterized by puns, funnier captions, or other less serious posts. This has served the goals of many commands well by engaging families and driving up engagement with the public. However, for my command I wanted to cultivate an identity of professionalism while showcasing our Sailors’ accomplishments and the ship’s capabilities. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with utilizing the first strategy, I sensed that as a ship coming out of the yards, many Sailors onboard were not yet convinced of our ship’s abilities, a problem compounded by the fact that she is a quarter century old. When contemplating this mentality onboard and how it could be changed into pride, I realized the main audience of public affairs efforts is often not the general public; rather, it is your own people. We introduced the motto #SuperSixty into our regular narrative and public affairs lines of effort while also showcasing the ship’s capability and history. This, along with our progression through the Basic and Advanced Phases, built up confidence and pride in our ship’s warfighting ability. Each successive post highlighting individual achievements or renewed capabilities, along with the team wins experienced by the crew while certifying warfare areas, created momentum for our command and helped change the mentality of the crew.

Tip 3: Use your resources

It is often said that the number one resource the Navy has is its Sailors, and that statement rings true for small to medium sized public affairs programs. Seeking out and empowering your Sailors who are interested in photography, videography, and writing is critical to building a solid program. You cannot do it alone, and leveraging the talents of your Sailors is the best route to success. On my ship, the most outstanding content we had while in port was created by a Hospital Corpsman, Operations Specialist, and Culinary Specialist. Such Sailors will make your job infinitely easier, and you are allowing them to grow and display their talents for the good of the command.

The Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) website has a wealth of photos and information, including historical write ups on your ship/squadron and its predecessors. The NHHC also offers “toolkits” that include graphics, information, and PoD notes for various events, like the Navy’s Birthday. As a unit level public affairs officer, the task of documenting your ship’s history will likely also fall to you, the bulk of which is accomplished by creating the “command operations report” submitted yearly by March to the NHHC. This is an opportunity to forever enshrine the accomplishments of your crew into the annals of the Navy’s history, as each command operations report is permanently archived by NHHC, and is referenced in future research and histories.

In each major fleet concentration area there is a Naval Public Affairs Support Element. These often host training and can provide Mass Communication Specialists to film, photograph, or otherwise document events on your ship. The same is true for the larger shore commands that represent your chain of command, such as Commander, Naval Surface Forces Pacific (CNSP) in my case. For example, my ship held a September 11th memorial service, and I wanted professional level documentation of the event. I reached out to the first PAO in my public affairs chain of command, and they provided two MCs to photograph and film the event. I additionally volunteered to attend training at both NPASE and CNSP, and I built relationships with the PAOs assigned to each. As a result, I learned of even more resources, such as the Navy’s hometown news program, which will distribute photographs and stories to all media outlets in Sailors’ hometowns. One cannot overstate the willingness of the PAOs to help their unit level representatives, so be sure to reach out to them! But first, it is best have your plan and goals ready to present so they can help you to their fullest abilities.

Tip 4: Change the Game

Utilize new platforms to expand your audience. If your command only has a Facebook, consider creating a command Twitter or Instagram page (with your Commanding Officer’s permission and with the blessing of the first Public Affairs Officer in your unit’s chain of command, of course). We expanded our outreach onboard Paul Hamilton by creating a command newsletter, which we emailed directly to the families of our Sailors through the Ombudsman’s email list. This provided a way for the Captain to speak directly to the Sailors and their loved ones and allowed us to recognize even more Sailors, all while shaping the command’s narrative. We also expanded into new fields of media, such as video, by volunteering our ship to participate in a documentary filmed by All Hands Magazine. Similarly, we posted regular B-roll videos and photographs to the Defense Visual Information Data Site (DVIDS) which allowed media outlets across the country to access and use our products, referencing the command and further increasing our footprint. In the same vein, I implemented an aggressive hometown article program, where I highlighted at least one Sailor per month with an article and photograph, which I directly sent to their hometown paper. I later discovered the aforementioned Navy hometown news program, but I was able to effectively distribute such articles on my own, reaching audiences in more than 15 states and 5 countries. By building relationships with off ship PAOs, as mentioned before, you can open up new avenues for your command. For instance, in 2019 a speaking engagement opened up for a commanding officer to speak at the 75th (and final) reunion for the vaunted Taffy 3 veterans of the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Since I remained in contact with the CNSP public affairs officers, they reached out to me and offered the spot to my captain, which was excitedly accepted. This speaking engagement was a great honor for my captain as a speaker and for me as an attendee, and it garnered national media attention.

While this list is not exhaustive, my hope is that it can provide some inspiration for new collateral duty public affairs representatives or current public affairs representatives to expand and improve their programs. If you

put in the effort and create an effective program, you are sure to reap the rewards of professional satisfaction and accomplishment, while also knowing you are improving your command and positively impacting the lives of your Sailors and their families. *