1:30 P.M. EST 
MR. STRIKE: Hello, and welcome to the Washington Foreign Press Center. Thank you for coming. Please turn off your cell phones and electronic devices at this time. I'd like to welcome you. I'm Andrew Strike. I'm the Defense Press Liaison here at the Foreign Press Center and today we have retired Colonel Rick Kiernan, who was formerly the press officer for General Schwarzkopf during the first Gulf War.
Today we're going to talk informally about how to cover the Pentagon and the Defense Department. This is not meant to be a policy or a news briefing. Neither the Colonel nor myself are U.S. government spokespersons, but we're happy to explain how to cover the Pentagon and share all of our experiences and insights, and the Colonel is happy to do interviews with anyone who interested afterwards as time permits. Here is Colonel Kiernan.
COL KIERNAN: Thank you very much, Andy. I'm very happy to be with you today. As Andy mentioned, I used to be the Pentagon spokesman and so during that period of the first Gulf War I would frequently come over here to the Foreign Press Center. So I want to say thank you for everything that you do.
I quickly realized, working in the Pentagon, how important the Foreign Press Center was as far as reaching out, getting the word out, if you will around the world. And more importantly as a Public Affairs Officer, I always felt that any time I could interact with the media like we are today that provides valuable feedback to me as a spokesperson. So I think anytime you're going to have media relationships it's important to be both on the dissemination as well as on the receive.
I wanted to talk a few moments today about methodology about process, because when you are stationed here in Washington sometimes it can be a cacophony, and you wonder who the spokespeople are, and you wonder how you're going to get the most important information for your various countries back home, and so I thought I would describe for you a little bit the process, at least within the Pentagon, and how we interface with the State Department and also the other agencies within the government.
For those of you that may have been in the Pentagon for a visit, you will find it is a very transparent and a very accessible venue. We have probably the largest office building in the world. About 27,000 people go to work each day at the Pentagon, and if you're inside you know it just has hallways and hallways and there's about 17 miles of hallways. But you will also notice if you go down the 7th corridor we have a special portion of the building, which is devoted to the press, and we call that the correspondents' corner, and so you will find there the different agencies that are represented as they call the Pentagon correspondents, and they are very accessible to almost anybody in the building.
So while it is often the policy to go through a spokesperson for access, you will find that those correspondents who are credited to the building have access to almost everybody, whether it's a person in uniform, or a person who works for the government. So I think the accessibility is very, very important, at least here in the United States, and I think it says a lot about how hard and how vital we hold up the First Amendment and the freedom of the press and freedom of speech.
And I think that accuracy goes along with transparency, and I think it's important to remember that one of the principles upon which Department of Defense Public Affairs operates is maximum disclosure and minimum delay. And I think that's an important principle. It's an important tenant because it says several things.
Maximum disclosure means that within certain rules of propriety, or policy, or security you are going to get the information that you have requested in the most expeditious way. I think also it shows that we are very, very cognizant and very sensitive to your deadlines. We are also very cognizant of the fact that you work and have bureaus and home stations in different time zones, and so it's very, very important for us to do that.
And I know during the time that I was in the building from 1989 to 1992, it was a very exciting time. We had the situation in Panama in December of '89, and then as we got into 1990 and the summer of '90 we began to get into the situation in the Middle East with the line in the sand, Desert Shield, Desert Storm, and then in '91 actually the first Gulf War and then back, so it was an exciting time to be there.
Also during that time that I was in the building, it was a very exciting time for Eastern Europe and there were a lot of changes in government, and one of the most momentous occasions I had was in October of '91 where I had occasion to go over and visit Russia, the former Soviet Union, and I had an opportunity to visit with the editors of Tass and Pravda and Izvestia. So all in all I came away from the assignment with a tremendous appreciation for the international media and the importance of what you do.
Following the time I did spend in the Pentagon I had the opportunity to work in Atlanta for the Olympics from '93 to '96 and once again, had a good appreciation for the media from about 193 countries that came down to cover the Olympics and I know you're anticipating another one now over in Beijing.
So all in all I think that if you step back and look at what a Public Affairs Officer can do in order to facilitate your job, I would mention two or three things.
First of all the Public Affairs Officer (PAO) is not a barrier to information. He or she facilitates access to it. I always saw my job, when I was on active duty, as being a bridge; a bridge between the media and between the military that I served, whether I was at an installation like Ft. Bragg, or Ft. Jackson, or even up in Alaska at Ft. Wainwright, or here in the Pentagon, I always saw my role as to be the bridge builder.
Very often the Public Affairs Officer takes your request for an interview, a story that you want to cover; he then has to go to his boss and present your story and say, here is why I think this is a good story; here is why I saw this is significant; here is why I think this is newsworthy.
And so a lot of times the Public Affairs Officer has to, as we say in America, carry the water for the reporter. Conversely, I think we are able to be sensitive to your deadline by quickly finding for you the subject matter expert, and I think that is the most important role that a Public Affairs Officer does.
You can be the person who has a very, very general knowledge of something as big as the Pentagon or, in my case, the United States Army, but if you want to do a particular story about training then it's my job to find that person within the Pentagon organization who is the person who can handle the aspect of training that you would like to describe. Maybe you're doing a story on technology and you want to see how much simulation has affected training in the Army; or maybe you want to do a story about vehicles and you want to see the transition of HUMVEEs or Bradley Fighting Vehicles; or perhaps the impact of IEDs, et cetera.
Once the Public Affairs Officer has a good discussion with you, has a good appreciation for where you're going as far as your story goes, and really what your theme is going to be, what is the intended message that you would like to carry to your audience, whether it's a visual audience in television or there's going to be a published piece, it's going to be in a newspaper or even radio, which is a very, very hot medium as you know.
So when you come with a request the more detail that you can give the Public Affairs Officer, I think that will really help facilitate what you're trying to get to very quickly. I would also share that if we shifted from the Pentagon and we went overseas, for example when I left the Pentagon to go over to Riyadh to Saudi Arabia, it was important for me as I worked with the media to talk about three things.
First of all there was the accreditation. You had to be accredited in order to cover the Desert Shield or the Desert Storm, and that accreditation was done in cooperation and coordination with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. And I think for the American media at times they had to understand that, that in our country, our form of government, which is a republic, is a little different than a kingdom or a monarchy. And so if you are accredited for a 30, or a 60, or a 90 day visa in order to do work over in Saudi Arabia as was the case, you have to be sensitive to where you are, to the venue and to the host nation as we say.
And so as the director of the Joint Information Bureau in Saudi Arabia at that particular time I had the benefit of working not only with the American media, but with a lot of media representatives from the countries that you represent right here today. And so we had to make sure that we also followed the rules of the host nation as far as accessibility and providing access to the story.
Some of the media chose to receive regular briefings as they do in the Pentagon on Tuesdays or Thursday afternoons, or, in some cases overseas, they prefer to go by vehicle, military vehicle sometimes, actually to go out and visit with the units themselves. There are pros and cons to both sides.
If you decide to be embedded, if you decide to be attached to a particular unit, Army, or Navy, or Air Force, or Marine, and there's nothing going on in that particular sector or in that particular part of the war that day, there may be nothing for you to report. On the other hand if you are back at the cantonment area and you're receiving a regular scheduled briefing you might get more context. You might be able to then get the big picture as to what happened within the last 12 or 24 hours, and then, armed with that information, you can go to the Public Affairs Officer and say, in addition to the normal combat activity, I see an aspect or I see a particular piece of this story that I would like to pursue.
Maybe it's logistics. Maybe it's how many thousands of gallons of gasoline does it take for all of these tanks to go across the desert; or how do you feed as many as a half a million people; how do you provide for their security.
So some aspect of it you can take because covering a war is a very complex situation, but I think once again one of the more valuable contributions that a Public Affairs Officer can make for you is to help you get to the subject matter expert who can provide that information for you.
One of the things I think is very important to note also is the contrast between the first Gulf War and the situation we have now for the last four years. So I think embedding and having the journalist experience the daily life of the soldiers and the airmen and the marines that are over there gives yet another perspective to the reader or to the viewing audience back home. And I think that particularly expands the story. So rather than hearing it through a third party or through an instrument, you're actually getting the sights and the sounds and it's more of a visceral approach as you go into that.
I think it's important to remember also if you're overseas and you're covering a particular story, the Public Affairs Officer can be your friend in that they will provide security for you, they will provide transportation for you, they will provide in many cases lodging or even rations. So I think the Public Affairs Officer takes very, very good care of the media.
I have always seen it as a symbiotic relationship where we depend on each other. I have always respected the media of all outlets and all nations because you have the most vital role of carrying information back to the families, back to the relatives, and back to all of the audiences who could be affected by what you're covering. So it's very, very important that that relationship and that dialogue be open and candid and frank. And it's important for the Public Affairs Officer to appreciate that and to have respect for the media as they cover their stories.
I think conversely, a Public Affairs Officer is someone you can trust as an ally because he is the one, or she is the one, who can open the door and provide the access and for a journalist there's nothing more important than access. You can be sitting outside but not invited to the party and it's very hard to report on the party.
I'll give you an example. When I was director of press operations in Atlanta, for those of you that might have an occasion to an Olympics it is a tremendous opportunity, and you have a very limited number of accredited media that attend the media. And those that are accredited is about 5,000 of them, will go, of course, to the sports venues and there's usually about 25 or 30 sports. However, there's a lot of media who are not accredited to go to the stadium, or go to the equestrian, or the aquatic events but they will still cover the games and so it is very, very important that they have access to the particular piece of the story that they may want to tell within the Olympiad. So there are some contrasts between special event planning and coverage and actually covering the Pentagon.
Here in Washington I think it's important to know that you are very, very fortunate to have the Foreign Press Center here. It is a vital, vital piece of the puzzle and I mean that sincerely. I've known a lot of the directors before Andy and I know how hard they work in order to give you not only the immediacy of what's in the news picture today and what's in the news hold tomorrow, but they also try during your tenure here to give you an appreciation for what America's all about. [Editor's Note: Mr. Strike is the FPC's Defense Press Liaison, not its Director].
I was born in Brooklyn and in the Army for 26 six years, traveled around to many of your countries. I was in Alaska, I was in Hawaii, I was in the former Soviet Union, I was in Germany, my very first assignment, and so I've had an opportunity to see the world. That being said I know that America is not all I-495, it's not all within the Beltway, and I know you do have through the auspices of the Foreign Press Center the opportunities to go out and see America and to see some of the states and to see some of the regions in our country and I hope that you enjoy those opportunities to that.
I would like to pause and take a few questions so that I can cover one of the things that would be of interest to you, whether it's coverage of the military here in the Pentagon, how you go about it through the desk officers, or if you had a particular installation that you wanted to visit.
As I mentioned before, you might want to go to North Carolina to Ft. Bragg where the special ops are and the paratroopers, you might want to go to Ft. Jackson and do story on basic training, you know what's it like to be indoctrinated and come into the service, or you may want to go to Ft. Hood or the National Training Center or whatever it may be.
Most places the Public Affairs Officer is going to be the portal. That's going to be the office that's going to get you in the door. They're going to provide escort for you and they're going to facilitate your visit. Try not to consider that somebody is watching you. Try not to consider that they're listening to the questions or whatever. Believe me, it's access, because I can tell you as a former Army Colonel the military is very, very proud of the Soldiers, just as the Navy and the Marines and the Air Force are of the people that serve in their forces; and I think when you are very proud of the people who do so very, very much for our country and our nation, you're very proud to tell the story. And so if anything you want to throw the doors open and let all of you wonderful reporters come in and visit with us.
So I'll be happy to take some questions and perhaps they can more specific than to some of the things I've mentioned in a general way.
MR. STRIKE: I would add, please, wait for the microphone, which could be coming from either side of you as is most convenient, and state your name and publication; and also we have folks in New York so we may call on them via digital video if they have questions.
Finally, I may want to add additional information because I know all of the techie little details about how to apply for base visits or how to get embedded and all this stuff, so I may want to follow up on some of Rick's answers, but please ask your questions. Take it away.
QUESTION: Hi. Gonzalo Espariz Nieto, from the German newswire, Deutsche Press Agentur. Thanks for the opportunity. I want to take advantage of your experience in your contact with the press and obviously in the military. I moved very recently and I notice there's a completely different sensitivity towards the military in this country to what I'm used to. So one of my worries when I try to contact to the Pentagon is what are the topics, what are the questions that you shouldn't be asking? Not the question, but what are the topics so that I can know those topics and try to formulate the question the proper way because obviously the goal is to get an answer. What are the topics really annoying, the really, the military in this country especially from your experience with foreign press.
COL KIERNAN: Yes. First of all, and I mean this sincerely, I can't think of any topic that would be annoying. I always, as a reporter, I have also been on your side of the room. I've been the editor of three newspapers. I've been the editor of a magazine, and I've had a public television show, so I know what's it's like to sit out there. I think it's how you craft your question. For example, you said you were from Germany.
QUESTION: I'm actually from Spain.
COL KIERNAN: Oh, Spain, but you're working for a German outlet?
QUESTION: Yes.
COL KIERNAN: Okay. I would think maybe a desk officer might think that if someone from Western Europe, as we say, was going to call with a question they might automatically think maybe it's NATO-related. They may try and give it that type of context. You, I think, would remember your audience, who you're writing for and so I think it's more important than worrying about the question to worry about your audience and the information you want to give to them. In other words, you become their ombudsman. What are the people who are in my readership, what is it they would like to know about the Pentagon and as I said at the outset, is there a particular aspect?
The more specific you can be for the desk officer the easier it is. And I'll tell you why. We all have human nature. In the Pentagon there is a constant turnover. Most of the officers are there for three years. Within that three years they may have three different jobs, so the hardest thing in Washington, whether you're working with an embassy or you're working with the Pentagon, or you're working with the State Department is to get the desk officer. You may develop a relationship with a particular desk officer at the Pentagon and then sure enough after three months, he or she has reassigned and then you have to build a new relationship with them.
Once you can be very specific, that helps them. If it's a very general question, while not annoying, it makes it more difficult for them to research.
QUESTION: How brave are the American soldiers compared to the soldiers who fought in Vietnam?
COL KIERNAN: That would be a hard question to research. It might have context, you know, which is historical, as compared with, if there are going to be budget reductions for 2008, as is very much in the news today, what would be the impact on the production of a new weapon or of a new tank or something, if that had particular interest to you, and that's just a theoretical example that I give you.
But the more specific you can be the desk officer can then go through his liaison and say, "Aha, this is a question about tanks. I need to go to the automotive person." Because remember in the building there is somebody who knows everything about barbed wire. There is someone else who knows everything about ammunition. There is somebody who knows everything about helicopters. Very, very smart men and women.
So the more specific I think helps them do it, and I think the second thing, sir, is I would say to them and I would phrase this, "Hello. Good morning. I am writing a story for my particular outlet," and you would, you know, whatever it is, the newspaper, "And I'm trying to focus on research and development. And although technology is important, I'm wondering if, within a restricted budget, any of the new weapons systems will be effected," and, this is the most important piece of information, "I am writing for a periodical so my deadline is next week," rather than "I am writing for a newspaper and my deadline is 3 o'clock." That makes it hard.
However, if you can give them the deadline, that helps them tremendously. I'll tell you why. I'll give you a piece of information from the desk officer's point of view and when I was a Colonel, how I instructed my desk officers. It would be foolish of me to receive a call from you and to hang it up and disregard it. You know why? If I don't respect your deadline, if I don't come back to you with the most accurate information that I'm permitted, you know, within the deadline ability to give you, you have an editor who is pressing you to get the story written. You're going to make your deadline because you're not going to have an empty hole. You're going to go to somebody else. You're going to go to another source of information to meet your deadline and it'll be published. The desk officer will then have to spend more time and burn more calories correcting the record and refuting what is incorrect. So Rick Kiernan's opinion is get the question, get the answer, get it right.
MR. STRIKE: I would say, as a follow up, that one of the service -- the FPC stands sort of as a middle ground in between foreign media and the Defense Department. At least that's my role. I work for State, but on any given day I'm lobbying for media, I'm lobbying for the Defense Department or I'm lobbying for State on a given issue and it changes moment by moment and I translate and I explain actually the different cultures, which is a large part of my role. I explain to the military what they're not getting or what's behind the language in which you phrase a question and I'm happy to do the same to explain what it is you're looking for from the Pentagon.
So please, if you think you've got a sensitive question, you're afraid of saying the wrong thing, or if you just don't know, you know, frankly, if you just don't know the acronyms to use to ask your question, because everything in the Pentagon has about four acronyms, come to me. I may not know myself, but I'll probably have a decent idea or at least I can pick up the phone and call people. So use me as much as you like to.
I'd also say that, in my absence, there's a page on the FPC website, www.fpc.state.gov, there's a link that says Department of Defense contact information and on that page, it's huge and has publicly available contact information for virtually every conceivable military command in this country and overseas. So if you don't get a hold of me and you want to research, you know, a medical issue or a Reserve Component issue or anything under the sun it's mostly on that page, the people you need to talk to. So first try me, get my explanation if you can and if not go to the Internet page and get your information there. So I think that's that question.
We have a journalist from New York so please go ahead, sir.
QUESTION: Yes, thank you. My name is Regis Le Sommier. I am the senior correspondent for Paris Match in the U.S. I have a question about embed program in Iraq. Over the course of the past two years I was embedded three times on three different occasions in Iraq, and the second time was back in November of '06. I had to go through the biometrics so that took me, the whole process of getting my biometrics and getting the information makes you lose three days.
I was wondering if it is taken into account that the fact for any reporter to go to Iraq actually takes you already three days at least if you get your -- you have to get your VISA in Amman and then you have to go to fly commercially to Baghdad, but that thing makes me lose three days plus the time also to get to a unit. Now, I mean, that time can be shorter if you know a commander or a Colonel who you've already been embedded with, which happened to me the last time, that eases the process, but the biometric, couldn't the biometrics be done before departure like in the U.S. so that we don't lose that time?
MR. STRIKE: I'm not an expert on embedding and at that level of technical detail, having been embedded three times you probably know more about it than I do, but I'm happy to take your question on board and I do -- it makes perfect sense that some of these things can be done in the United States. I know I regularly refer our correspondents when they're consider embedding to go first to a unit based in this country that is about to go over and start the process in this country where you already are. That way you're not doing what they call the 3,000-mile screwdriver, trying to arrange things in Baghdad or wherever while you're 3,000 miles away.
It's much easier to be in this country and to travel to, you know, the home unit or base and meet the commander and the soldiers before they deploy and then go over with them and it, you know, you can look at a unit over time and get a much more depth of understanding and much, you know, you can just drop in on that unit once you know them whenever it's convenient for you and them, and I think that's one of the better ways to work it. I don't know anything more about the biometrics aspect of this but if you send me an e-mail I'll be happy to look into it and see if that process isn't being expedited in some fashion.
[Editor's Note: The MNF-I Embed PAO adds: It only takes about an hour for most media to have their biometrics done, and once this process is complete media can return to Baghdad six month's or a year later and even get a new badge issued in about 15 minutes. Many media are able to begin their embed assignment while they wait for the biometrics process to be completed. Source: http://www.mnf-iraq.com/, mnfi.mediaembed@iraq.centcom.mil, (703) 270-0299/0320.]
QUESTION: Okay, thank you. I must say, however, that the embed program is really remarkable and once you're in the unit it's very, very well made, well done.
MR. STRIKE: We can't hear you, New York.
QUESTION: Can you hear me? I just wanted to add that the embed program is really remarkable and once you reach the units it's, you know, it's impeccable I think.
MR. STRIKE: I would; of course, I mean I think it's great. I would, you know, suggest any correspondent here can start the embed process today with me. Now I recognize that's not always necessarily possible because you've been stationed in Washington or New York and you're here because you're here and you can't always necessarily go off to Baghdad, but for any of you who can do so you're more than, you know, I'd love to set it up and I'd love to see you through the process. I think that's it for New York. Go ahead with the next question.
QUESTION: Hello, Colonel. I'm Hiroki Sugita with Kyoto News, Japan. I also was embedded, and I'd love to ask you of your experience in the first Gulf War, because we didn't see much of the embedding reporting in that war, but now this war you did, or the Pentagon did many times, and it's not only for the U.S. journalists but also open for the foreign journalists like us.
And first of all, why didn't you do the embed, having the journalists embedded in the unit or troops in the first Gulf War, and in your reflection was it a -- for your operation in the first Gulf War not having the journalist embedded is a -- for your operation in the first Gulf War, and you are now not with the Pentagon but what do you think, why this time the Pentagon or U.S. military did match up the -- having journalists embedded? Was it lessons learned from the first Gulf War? That's why this time they did embed in journalism?
COL KIERNAN: That's a very good question. One of my very good friends, Mr. Brian Whitman, who works over at Department of Defense Public Affairs worked very, very hard to establish the embed program for this current situation, and I think Brian has done a very good job along with the people that work over there. I would answer the question in two ways.
Number one, the first Gulf War lasted 96 hours. It was four days. This is four years. So you had a very short time, and so perhaps having the media as a group either in Riyadh or Dhahran, the two locations where they were in Saudi Arabia, was one reason to cover it because I think the military goal at that time was to liberate Kuwait. So you had a very specific goal and so you were able to measure it and contain it, if you will.
When you have a longer period of time and you have a larger area, whether it's Baghdad, outside of Baghdad and all the surrounding areas, and you have soldiers and units in different positions et cetera, it is hard to get that focus if you will on one operation, one particular aspect of combat. So having embedded, I think, helps give a broader coverage for the correspondent, so the good news is you can get many more correspondents into the units, and I think the benefit as the gentleman in New York said, is that once you're with the soldiers you get another whole assortment or story base. You can see the personalities. You can see the leadership. You can see the relationships. You can see the chain of command. You can see all of the things that go into what we call combat rather than just, you know, something on the outside where we're saying this is a battle.
That being said, as I said in the beginning of this briefing, if you are embedded with a particular unit outside of Fallujah you're going to be viewing the whole war through a straw. You're going to see a lot of Fallujah and you're going to go deep rather than broad, which is fine. It goes back to the coverage and it goes back to your objectives as a journalist. That is why very clearly in the first Gulf War, which was much shorter in duration, literally half preferred to stay and get the briefing in Dhahran each day while the others preferred to be assigned to units, to the 82nd Airborne, to the Army divisions, to the Marine divisions, or out even with the Navy on ships. So it's really the journalist, you know, where do you want to go. There are plusses and minuses.
When I was younger I was an infantry officer. I was in Vietnam, and so I can tell you when you are embedded with a unit you are living with the unit, in the heat, eating the same food, maybe enduring conditions that are a little different than being in a hotel. So it's the correspondent's decision.
Do I want to be embedded, live the life of a soldier and get the benefit of seeing the war through his or her eyes? On the other case, I can get both. I can travel out to see a particular aspect. I can have an interview with a colonel or a captain or a soldier and then I can come back to the hotel and file my story. So it's how you wan to package your coverage and get the most use of your time.
The gentleman in New York made a very good point. If there is one industry that focuses on time it's yours. That's why we call it a deadline. Time is very, very important to what you and I do as a spokesperson or a reporter. So I would say hindsight is very easy to say, four days versus four years. But remember it was a very short military objective and this has a different military objective and now of course it has that military objective buoying or leading to hopefully, you know, political situation as well.
QUESTION: Hi. My name is Sara Hussein. I work with the Saudi Press Agency.
COL KIERNAN: Yes. I've been in your country.
QUESTION: I'm actually not from Saudi Arabia. Amazingly, I haven't been to Saudi Arabia so --
COL KIERNAN: You'd like it.
QUESTION: -- I have a little bit of experience with the military from covering Guantanamo Bay but one of the things that I find very difficult is to get a sense of, you talked about it partly, like the different acronyms and the structure of the military and I'm wondering if there's a resource or a manual or something like that that you would recommend for our journalists particularly just somebody who doesn't have a lot of experience with the military to get a better sense of the different units and the different services.
COL KIERNAN: Yes, I do, and thank you. That's a very good question because every profession has its own vernacular if you will. The medical profession has it; the legal profession has it; the military has it. And so acronyms are just, you know, short cuts and abbreviations to do things very, very quickly.
I would say, as Andy has said, I would start with a home page. If you go to www.defenselink.mil that's going to help you. And then from the DefenseLink.mil that's going to break it down to Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine and you can almost build yourself by printing out some of those pages of primer for yourself.
Secondly, I would challenge whoever you're working with -- as a Public Affairs Officer I always felt was my job was to demilitarize the language and not have to talk in Pentagonese and even at my own staff meetings I would encourage my fellow colonels and generals who would start using acronyms I'd say, 'excuse me, I have to translate this for the reporter, what does that mean. Tell me what that this. I'm an infantryman. I don't understand short tons and long tons and ROPU units for reverse osmosis', you know, to take water and make it pure. So explain that to me so that I can then explain it to the reporter. And so once again I felt like a bridge.
But I would say use your Public Affairs Officer and that office if you will. They are very, very happy to give an orientation. They are very, very happy to have you visit with them and very, very happy to help you understand it.
The second thing I would suggest is that there's a plethora of publications. Army magazine is good. The Marine Corps Gazette is good. Army Aviation. Normally, and this is a good start for reporters, if you want to do a story on a particular aspect of leadership or a helicopter or a vehicle almost always in a periodical it will take those acronyms and break them down and give you an understanding of that topic, not just the knowledge of it. But these acronyms can be a barrier to communication but I would start with DefenseLink.mil, break that down, and then almost every installation explains its story. [Editor's Note: The FPC has free subscriptions to DoD's Early Bird news clips, Army, Navy, & Air Force Times, and Defense News newspapers, and professional publications like the Joint Forces Quarterly, Armed Forces Journal, Military Review, and Proceedings, all available for use in the FPC Library, and copies can be made under the terms of fair use.]
If you go to Ft. Benning you have infantry and airborne. If you go to Ft. Bragg you have special operations and green berets. If you go to Ft. Knox, they have a new general by the way, Ft. Knox, if you go there you get all about the tanks. If you go to Ft. Sill, Oklahoma it's all about artillery.
So if you know in your mind, I'm back to my first point, what you want to write about for your audience back home and maybe contrast it, you know, with SANG, there's one for you, right, SANG [Editor's Note: SANG is an acronym for Saudi Arabian National Guard.], and so you'd may be something going on for your Saudi audience that you want to contrast here, I would start, the periodicals are very, very helpful and there's so much on line now that you can with the click of a button get there. But don't let them scare -- I still have to go look up acronyms.
MR. STRIKE: I'll follow up with a few things and then I'll give you a little more ammunition. I think while official sources are best you're less likely to get things wrong by checking DefenseLink.mil or all the other websites that we've both referred you to. I would also say that there are lots -- there are places to get good information on the internet. Always take with a grain of salt, but I would go to Wikipedia.com can sometimes be good and there's a couple of other sites, I mean just Google and then talk to your Public Affairs Officer and confirm that you've gotten the understanding correct.
Also it may not help -- it may help on a day to day level if, you know, we have the Early Bird here, we have Army Times, we have all of these publications and if you have a chance to skim through that on a daily basis or just pick whichever one is the most useful to you, if you read, you know, news clips on a daily basis, some of the acronyms will sink in and the culture will sink in. And you'll find if you do that regularly, then you'll start to get it and it'll be easier to get your questions answered.
Now you have a follow-up.
QUESTION: No, I'm just curious. I'm just curious about how new recruits, when they join the military, learn about all of these things. That's why I sort of asked about whether there was some sort of manual --
COL KIERNAN: There is.
QUESTION: -- or resource that they give them.
COL KIERNAN: No, I'm glad you asked.
QUESTION: Thank you.
COL KIERNAN: Yeah, my daughter just finished Fort Jackson, so -- you know, and now she's a PFC, you know, going to be a PAO in training, you know, so she takes a picture of everything. And I'm very proud of her and she's over at Fort Myer with the Old Guard, so they have the Unknown Soldier and all those ceremonial.
But they do give the basic training to recruits, a primer or a Soldier's Handbook, if you will, and it has a description of the ranks and it has a description of the organizations of a squad and a platoon and the different organizational things as well. So I will see if I can locate one of those and I'll get it to Andy and maybe we could keep it here in the FPC research library. [Editor's Note: The Soldier's Handbook is available here:
http://www.tradoc.army.mil/tpubs/pams/p600-4.pdf ]
I did think of one other source for all of you, though. If you represent countries that have, of course, embassies here in town, one of the folks that I work with all the time are the defense attachés. They're wonderful folks to work with and you'll find in some of the cases, they'll have a Naval Attaché; they'll have an Army Attaché, an Air Marshal or whatever. And you have the benefit there of dealing with someone from your own nation. Secondly, they probably have a counterpart, people that they deal with in the allied section over at the Pentagon.
And so if you say to them, and you would have -- you would come from a common set of reference, "I want to do a story about this and that, can you refer me to somebody and I don't understand what ABC, XYZ stands for," and they would probably give you a good understanding. So don't dismiss your defense attachés from your respective embassies. They're great guys and girls.
MR. STRIKE: I would follow up also and say that whenever you send an email to the military, cc: me. It's not, again, because, as Rick was saying, that, we want to watch you and we want to know everything that you're doing. But if I can see something that hasn't been explained on either end of the conversation, I can come back to you and say, oh, this is what -- this is what your person -- what the person you're speaking to really means, or I can do the same thing for you to them and I could -- or I can just -- write a short note saying, don't be scared off by this foreign journalist who is writing you, he or she has been based in Washington for X number of years and has done this, that, and the other thing. So please, I encourage you to include me on any and all correspondence and I try and help in small ways like that.
Also, we have another question from New York.
QUESTION: Yeah, I'm Lalit Jha. I write for Pajhwok Afghan newswire service from Kabul. And Pentagon is very important for us. Being based in New York, how best I can cover Pentagon from here, who's with my contact person and how quickly I can get transcripts of the press conferences and (inaudible) things and also be my contact person at Pentagon for -- on issues related to Afghanistan?
COL KIERNAN: I can help you with that. The U.S. Army Public Affairs system has a liaison office in New York City and when this briefing is over, I will get with Andy and if you give him your contact information, probably about four or five blocks from where you are in Manhattan, there is an Army Public Affairs Liaison office and all of the services are represented. And their job is to be a liaison for you and to facilitate your getting information about the Army.
[Editor's Note: The U.S. Army office in New York City is here: US Army Media Relations Division- New York, 805 Third Avenue, 9th Floor, New York City, NY 10022-7513, (212) 784-0134. The New York FPC is one block away at 150 East 52nd Street, Fifth Floor, New York, NY 10022, 212-317-8325. The main Army PA office is here: U.S. Army Media Relations Division - Pentagon, http://www4.army.mil/ocpa/, PressDesk@hqda.army.mil, 703-692-2000.]
Also, you said you're with the Afghan outlets?
QUESTION: Pajhwok Afghan News. It's a wire service for Afghanistan.
COL KIERNAN: I understand. If you do have contact through your service back there too, within the Ministry of Defense for the ANA, the Afghan {National} Army, is a General {Mohammad Zahir} Azimi. And he understands very, very well how to get the information relative to some of the questions you (inaudible). He is a very, very good, knowledgeable Public Affairs Officer for the Afghan Army.
QUESTION: Thank you.
MR. STRIKE: I would follow up and say that that Army office, I believe, is right across -- it's less than a block away from where you are right now. And also, I mean, not just for Afghanistan, but for any country or any region of the world, I'm happy to share, the contact information for desk officers at the various services, the -- just -- the folks that I work with directly, I can put you in direct touch with them to the extent that I can. I have a whole rolodex and I'll give out as much information as I'm permitted to do and you can deal directly in many cases.
So if you have a specific -- if you want to know someone who works NATO issues or Afghan issues or whatever, let me know and I'll give you such information as I know and help you in any way that I can. Did you have a follow-up?
QUESTION: No. Thank you.
QUESTION: Hi, my name is Nadia Tsao, Washington correspondent for Liberty Times in Taiwan. I have a question. Maybe Andrew could, you know, better answer this. We -- I've been here for a few years and first of all, foreign correspondents was allowed to go to Pentagon to cover the stories and get the Pentagon credential, even thought they are not daily stationed there.
Because for many foreign correspondent, it just hard to be there every day because we cover more than just Pentagon. After 9/11, they tighten the security. Many of times, you know, we have to wait there for escort and Pentagon's briefing all -- sometimes, always came to the last-minute notification. It makes very difficult for us just -- go to the gate and waiting for the escort. Sometime we miss the briefing time. I wonder, is it possible, to improve this and maybe like the State Department, we can present our, you know, Foreign Press Center credential and get a temporary credential to go to the Pentagon?
MR. STRIKE: We are working on -- your concerns are our concerns and we're working on these issues to the extent that we can. The Pentagon access, as I understand it, and Rick may have some follow-ups here, but you can go at any time to DefenseLink.mil and apply for a Pentagon press pass, but there are -- some of the rules for that, they are somewhat restricting in that you have to agree to spend X number of hours in the Pentagon and there are security requirements, et cetera.
And so, you know, some of you may be unable to -- to take the pass because you can't spend the time in -- at the desk in the Pentagon and -- this is a point that we have raised and we will continue to raise with our military colleagues. But what you can do, you can attend any Pentagon event by going 45 minutes before to the North parking lot and meet an escort officer who will take you to the event and then take you back to the parking lot afterwards. That's the general practice.
[Editor's note: Journalists without a Pentagon building pass will be picked up at the North Parking Entrance only. Plan to arrive no later than 45 minutes prior to the event; have proof of affiliation and two forms of photo identification. Please call (703) 697-5131 for escort into the building.]
And if there's something really important, if there's something -- you know, please come to me and ask if you need anything, anything more or if you need -- you know, if you really want to go to an event and there's something special and you -- you know, you'd like the FPC to take a group, you know, this we can do. You know, we're always happy to get involved when you tell us that there's a need to get involved. So, you know, I have taken reporters to the Pentagon many times and will gladly do it more if, you know, there are specific issues and I -- yeah, and I don't know what -- I don't know what to do about the short time of some announcements.
I guess when news breaks for you or for the military, it breaks and everyone has to scramble to -- you know, to react to it. So you know, I'll raise the concerns that you've mentioned but I don't know if there's anything to do -- you know, that we can change the current state of the 24/7 news cycle.
Did you have a --
COL KIERNAN: Yeah, two thoughts. Number one, have you ever been there {to the Pentagon}?
QUESTION: (Inaudible.)
COL KIERNAN: Okay. Well, you know, then. I was going to say make a recon, go one time, specific request, "I represent this news agency in Taiwan, I want to do a story on this and I'd like to set an interview." What that does is it gives you a sense of the time. When I visit the Pentagon now, probably there are no more at any time -- if I have to hop a train and go over, I've never had to wait more than five or six people in line, so it does move very quickly, better than it did, let's say, a year or two ago when they were still working out the queue.
MR. STRIKE: Vastly better.
COL KIERNAN: Vastly better, vastly quicker. Secondly, what I would do, as Andy has suggested, there are regular briefings. They used to be Tuesday and Thursday at 1300 or 1 o'clock. Now if something breaks on an emergency, they can be any day of the week at any time. But I would say if you go as a group, that number one, it gives you a good feel for the building for those that have not been there before. The drive time, the logistics, waiting, et cetera, how to go from point A to point B, it's a big building, it's a big place.
But if you have a specific story that you want to pursue, once again, as I said at the beginning, get your story, get your point, I want to speak to this person about that topic and my deadline is, boom, then they can work that as an individual request. You'll have a Public Affairs Officer to meet you, escort you, and take you to it. I would do that. In other words, you kind of play chicken and egg; you know, I want to be there when the news breaks and I don't want to miss the opportunity, but it's like a relationship. If you've already gone through one or two times on a story, then all of a sudden, you get to know them, they get to know you, and you get to know when is the -- it's like driving in Washington; when is the best time to get on the Beltway, when is the best time to wait, 20 minutes later and I get home half as fast. I would just do a couple of recons.
QUESTION: Actually, I did. I was once even granted a credential, but because, as you said, people rotated every, you know --
COL KIERNAN: Yep, that's it.
QUESTION: -- several years, the people you know, they will, you know, leave soon and you have the new people you have to be acquainted with. So I'm just thinking about, you know, you have to go through the whole process again and again and -- because the requirement is just sometime very difficult for foreign, you know, correspondent to be there with so -- you know, the amount of time they request. Thanks.
MR. STRIKE: I understand and we've passed on -- and, we agree with --, with your concerns there and we've passed that on to the Pentagon and we're still in discussions with them. I don't know that anything can be changed, but, we've let them know how their procedures -- how -- that they can sometimes make things difficult for foreign media.
Go on.
QUESTION: Ms. Sara Hussein, Saudi Press Agency. I was just going to ask whether it would be possible, in the circumstance that she's talking about, because I've certainly also been frustrated by discovering that a briefing is happening, you know, 45 minutes after I get an email, to broadcast the briefing here in the Foreign Press Center? I know that you often do simultaneous broadcasts of briefings or of addresses and I wondered whether that would be something that you could arrange to get around that problem.
MR. STRIKE: We can do that anytime, pretty much. You can also watch all of their events on Pentagon Channel TV, which you can watch on the Internet anytime. So that's another option.
[Editor's Note: The Pentagon Channel is available at the FPC and online here: http://www.pentagonchannel.mil/.]
QUESTION: Ms. Tomoko Ohji, Mainichi Shimbun, Japan. First, I would like to thank for this opportunity and I would like to thank Andy and other military PAO people who help me a lot to reach out to the appropriate people who are interested -- who are familiar with the issue that I was interested in. And just one thing I always wonder, the time for interview -- usually, time for interview is set within an hour and sometimes, I'm also interested in touring facility and also like to take photos and so sometimes, it's too short. And I always wonder if there is kind of an internal route to finish the -- this kind of interview within an hour or maybe for just foreign press?
COL KIERNAN: Would that be at the Pentagon, ma'am? The time -- is that the Pentagon?
QUESTION: I have been to several --
COL KIERNAN: Installations?
QUESTION: -- military bases.
COL KIERNAN: Okay.
QUESTION: Yes.
COL KIERNAN: Okay. I would say a couple of things. I know when I was at Fort Bragg, it was a very popular spot for the media to visit because of all the activity. We never had a set time unless it was driven by the number of reporters. You know, if we had these many reporters in this room who wanted to come cover a court marshal, it is probably hard during that same event to give the update on the court marshal to do the stand-up that you might require and then to go ahead and have a short tour of the base. So I would say in those cases, if it's a news-driven story, I would do that first.
But when there is no news, once again, I would do the recon, if you happen to be going to Fort Jackson, just to get an overall tour. They have, within every public affairs office, three types of mission. First is to do community relations, which is tours, orientations for the media, as well as for outreach, you know, for people in the community that want to learn more about that particular base, what they do. The second is what we're doing right now: media relations, answering questions, responding to query, putting out news releases.
And then the third aspect is more internal and that's where someone in the office puts out the base newspaper, whether it's online or a hard copy. But I would say build the relationship; I'm very, very big on relationships. Get to know the people, they get to know you. So when there's nothing hot going on and you have discretionary time and they have some time -- Christmas is a good time. Between now and the 1st of January is a wonderful time to visit anywhere because usually, things have quieted down, you have time to sit, have a cup of coffee or tea or whatever and you get to know them, they get to know you.
You'll find public affairs people are very gregarious. They love to talk. They love to visit. They love to meet new people. That's why we're in the business we're in. So I would build the relationship first so that when something urgent does come and you dial the phone, they go "Oh, it's my friend," and they know you already instead of you having to introduce yourself, sell yourself, give them why it's significant that you be there. I'm always big on building relationships first when things are quiet so when they're not so quiet, you're there.
MR. STRIKE: I would follow up to say, to the extent -- I know that you're constantly being tasked by your editors and you don't always know what you need. But to the extent that you know that you're going to want background on something, or -- ask all of your questions with as much lead time as you possibly can and give as much information. So if you want an interview plus a tour of the base, you know, be sure you -- you make sure that everyone you talk to knows that you want the tour along with the interview and not just the interview.
And then I would also follow up -- we who work in big bureaucratic organizations know some of the challenges of them and recognize that, you know, you're dealing with a big bureaucracy and you're going to be passed through many different hands. You're going to work with a Public Affairs Officer; you're going to work with their staff. If you go to a base, you're going to -- you might go out to a training range. For every person in that chain, make sure that they understand what you're there for on every single part of your request.
And watch your Public Affairs Officer and everyone -- you know, when they're talking amongst themselves and saying what you're going to get on a particular visit, make sure that everything you want to be conveyed is conveyed and before you leave, -- the Public Affairs Officer will hand you off to someone or arrange -- or some such thing. And make sure that everything that you understand you're going to get is understood by the person that you're going to. And just treat -- every time you move from one box in the organization to another, go through that process and make sure that where you're going to understands what you're going to get and that there's no confusion. It's very tedious, but it's a lifesaver for getting the story.
COL KIERNAN: Let me add one thing I think may be helpful. Going back to the gentleman's question on is there anything annoying, if you can, in the front, in the beginning of the process, send the e-mail to -- I'll use Fort Bragg again, Colonel Buckner, Billy Buckner -- he's in my old chair where I used to be. "Colonel Buckner, I represent this agency. I would like to visit and I would like to do an interview on these topics: special operations, paratroopers, the medical facility. I am available in the following window of time: 10 December through 14 December. I will travel on my own, I will come visit with you, and I have already done some research. Please let me know if this is convenient."
That tells him everything he needs to know. He has a window of time he knows which you want to come. If possible, send it on letterhead, you know, from your organization so that they know it's a legitimate request. Then he will come right back toy you and say, "We have some training on the 10th and 11th, 12th and 13th is good." You begin to narrow it down. "I have identified a subject matter expert for you who can answer your questions. If you will come to Gate 3 on Bragg Boulevard, I will have somebody meet you at 10 o'clock."
The more you can give in that very first e-mail, as Andy has said, that helps them tremendously, rather than a phone call which is, "Who are you, what would you like," then there's five more phone calls. And each time, because of familiarity, whatever, the story begins to finally crystallize. If you have in your mind what you want, it is very easy to process.
MR. STRIKE: Yeah, I would follow up and I would say it's -- use both the phone and e-mail and use them thoughtfully and strategically. There are times where, you know, e-mail isn't read and a phone call breaks through and makes a human connection. There are other times when, you know, the government, again, is a big bureaucracy and it moves on whether e-mails and attachments and photos and all that stuff have been received and in a legible format and all nonsense. So use both and be strategic.
And again, you know, I'll say it for maybe the fifth time today, you know, cc: me on everything and that -- you know, I really do for about 90-plus percent of your e-mails, as I see them go by, I write a little one- or two-liner to the installation PAO letting them know that, you know, you're not some foreign stranger, you're someone who's known. And I see some people nodding heads in agreement. So yeah.
Okay, next question.
QUESTION: Unidentified correspondent. Yeah, I was wondering, you were talking -- you almost started telling us not to be scared, to think that somebody's watching you all the time. And I was wondering, mostly out of curiosity because I guess there's nothing we can do, but how does it work in the clearance and in terms of I assign a question to a desk officer that I want to -- I want an answer by some high official or a high -- yeah, a high official, and how does it work? Where does my question go to -- I mean through?
COL KIERNAN: The way it works is the desk officers -- I like to use metaphor, very easy for me. The metaphor I would use would be a reference librarian. When I was the Pentagon spokesman, I had four desk officers. I was a Colonel; they were Majors or Lieutenant Colonels. They have accounts, A-B, C-F, whatever. So if the question was on personnel, anything to do with people, the Army's greatest resource is people, so I had one person and all she did, Lieutenant Colonel, was people questions -- awards, promotions, discharges, hardship, health, anything to do with the person, the soldier, the uniform, what rank, what insignia, what beret. So by coming to me with a general question, you immediately go to Barbara.
The next question might be on tanks. Maybe the tank is going to be modified with protection on the sides for IEDs. That was the man next to her. He had all of the vehicle questions.
The next person might have questions about operations or tactics or units or which reserve unit is called up from Fort Drum to go to Baghdad, to go to Afghanistan, whatever. So just by coming to work every day, you could not imagine a normal day, normal day, average, nothing happening for me, 300 e-mails easy, 300 easy every day. That's a normal day. Busy day, more.
So you have a system established where you get it to the person quickly, just like you go to the library. I want to know where's a book about Goethe. You go over there to German literature. I need something over here about, you know, rivers and Amazon. Go over here to rivers. So they become reference librarians.
The other thing is that you may change and turn over, but they may have heard the same question on the same topic ten times that day. When that occurs, we go to what we call FAQs, Frequently Asked Questions. And the reason we do that is that if it affects the policy, Army policy, we don't shoot from the hip. We don't just come up with an answer and say what about this, well, I think three is a good number. There are certain things that are very specific. We have so many divisions in the Army, we have so many soldiers -- 480,000, whatever it may be. The recruiting goal for November was 12,000, whatever. So those things take time to research. But each month, if you are the recruiting person, you know that you're going to get a question from the media about did the Army make its recruiting goal. The Marines did. Did you? You may answer that question 12 times this morning.
So some of the questions are quantifiable or factual. Others are qualified: type of training, stress on training, hardship discharges, medical things, whatever. When you get into people things, then individuals. So it is very -- it's not who asked the question, but the process is the question comes in, it goes to the appropriate person in the Pentagon. And the way I did it is I kept a liaison. So remember, and this is, I think, pretty good. For the whole Army to answer all of the questions, I had four people. That's a big Army. So I then had a big org chart, and so within it there's a whole section that does personnel, another one that does logistics, another one that does training, another one that does aviation. In those boxes, on the org chart, I would have a liaison. And once a month, I would bring my liaison officers in and I would say to them here are the trends, this is going on in the real world, I think the media will have interest in these four things, so get ready. So when I call you, you're not just beginning the race, you're already on the way.
So it's constantly -- and I said this at the beginning of this briefing -- one of the reasons I love to come visit with Andy in the Foreign Press Center and you folks is it's feedback. So the more you talk with the media, the media is a source for information. See, many times you see the public affairs person as the source. Not so. When that phone rings, you're giving me information by the question you ask.
MR. STRIKE: I would follow up by -- you are asking, "Who answers my question," and I would come back with, "Who are you asking your question to," which is an important consideration. You know, you should ask the person that's most appropriate to answer, or you're not going to get an answer. If you ask the Navy about an Army issue, your e-mail or phone call will be ignored. And obviously, it's far more complicated than that, usually. You know, I'm here to translate and to explain how, how the military thinks about things, but you know, it's helpful if you can learn, what is a policy question that goes to a civilian Pentagon official versus what is a military question that goes to someone in a uniform. You know, what is a question that's better answered by someone in Baghdad? If you ask it in the Pentagon, you're not going to -- all they're going to do is refer you to Baghdad. So think and strategize in this fashion in consultation with me, and you'll get much more of a response out of the military if you don't ask the wrong people the wrong kind of questions.
QUESTION: Thank you. Roselea Barker, Scoop Media, New Zealand. Hi. Actually, it's a question. Can you do soft stories about the military; like for example, if I wanted to do a story about Admiral Mullen and here he is in his office and this is his background?
COL KIERNAN: Features, sure, sure. You'll find with the higher-ranking people -- the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, the Chief of Staff of the Army General Casey or whoever it may be -- they have their own personal public affairs staff for them. And so General Casey, his interest -- he's in office for four years -- his interest might be on family, Army family. He may have an interest in that. There's a lot of stress and strain because the soldiers will go to Afghanistan, go home, then go to Iraq. What are some of the programs that the Army has and should have in order to maintain the strength and the resilience of families? That might be an issue for him. So to do a feature on Admiral Mullen or to do one on the Chief of Staff of the Air Force or whatever, they're happy to do that. Then it becomes a matter of time, just scheduling, because they're like a chief executive at General Motors or, you know, any large company. It's just a matter of time. But normally, their public affairs person is happy to arrange that for you.
Yes, sir.
QUESTION: My name is Klaus Scherer. I'm with ARD Television, Germany. I want to come back to the embedded colleagues and to the annoying question that we sometimes like most. During the last Gulf War, there was a German colleague; he was in the country, he was not embedded, he was accredited. And he had a question -- I guess it was about radioactive ammunition, if it was used or not. And he came to an answer of a press officer who told him you get as much information as you have troops on the ground. Of course, he reported that and this was -- I'm sure you have -- you would have given a better answer, but this was considered to be an accident. But it happened.
And the question I have, since you were mentioning that you had first Gulf War, the second, and we had no embedded in the first time, we had embedded ones in the second, is there a tendency maybe as a side effect, not planned, that the embedded correspondents are considered to be the preferred ones because they might be the friendlier ones compared to others? Is that a tendency that might happen or might happen as a side effect?
COL KIERNAN: No. And I don't mean to be too humorous on this, but the embed, I think, does a few things. Number one, it removes completely the perception that a journalist can only have access to the story if there is a Public Affairs Officer hovering over to watch. It gets rid of that immediately.
Secondly, whether we admit it or not, they are going to establish a relationship with the soldier, the squad, the platoon, no less than if they were out with the Bundeswehr at Grafenwoehr. They're going to just -- they're going to -- they have a shared experience. Boy, it was hot last night, it rained, that was quite a mortar attack. So once you've gone through a shared experience with anybody, even if it's getting stuck in an airport, that's your friend. So that little bit does it.
The thing that's hard for the reporter, though, is objectivity. See, your guys and ladies, your job is to maintain objectivity to tell the story to your readers back home or your viewers back home. So there is no preference to say I want to go to Mr. So and So because he is embedded with that unit, as opposed to someone who is back in Baghdad in the Green Zone who wants to travel out for one day to interview the captain. They're both processed the same way.
As I say, the plus and the minuses, you get a lot of human interest stories by being embedded, but you also begin to realize the monotony of combat. Four years is a long time. I mean, I was in Vietnam for one year. Every day -- you're not in battle every day. The hardest challenge for leadership is to maintain the focus for the soldiers not to be -- you know, back down, because then you worry about an IED, then you worry about a sniper because you're not focused.
Plus you're only seeing it through a straw. You are seeing what unit you are with. You are then going to report that, but you are drawing a conclusion that your experience with that squad and that platoon and that company on that day in Fallujah represents that day in Iraq. It doesn't. So there's back and forth on that, back and forth.
But you do get a feel, more than anything you could read, just by living with the soldiers. World War II had one man, Ernie Pyle. He used to live with the soldiers. And if you want to read good literature, Ernie Pyle, he's better than television. If you read his reports to the New York World, I believe was who he wrote for, very, very poignant writer during Normandy, World War II. And he died with the soldiers in the Pacific, but very, very good.
And you're with a German newspaper?
QUESTION: (Inaudible.)
COL KIERNAN: TV, okay, yeah. My oldest was born in Munchen, so there it is.
MR. STRIKE: I would ask if there are any questions from someone who hasn't asked a question. I'm hoping to wind up the briefing portion of this, but Rick and I are both going to be here as long as you'd want to keep talking, but -- so are there any questions for someone who's not yet asked a question or any final questions in general? Raise your hand. Raise your hand if you want.
COL KIERNAN: I just want to say thank you and to acknowledge Andy's invitation today. I've known the Foreign Press Center many, many years and you have a fine, fine Director {Defense Press Liaison} here who really, really, really looks out for your interests. And I'm just delighted to be with you, Andy, and your friends.
MR. STRIKE: Thank you.
