Commander Hal Pittman, public affairs officer for the United States Naval Air Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, is a busy man on any given day. Add September's terrorist attacks, the
war in Afghanistan and media coverage that varies from the harshly skeptical to the proudly patriotic, and his job has increased "about 30 to 40 percent since 9-11," he says.
PR NEWS spoke with Pittman about the challenges of military public affairs during wartime, including dealing with members of the media who want access the Navy can't allow,
troubleshooting a variety of crises and dealing with a geographically diverse fleet that includes six aircraft carriers, more than 1,200 aircraft, and thousands of Navy personnel
"willing to go into harm's way if need be to defend America and her interests."
PRN: You recently had the "Today" show broadcasting live from the U.S.S. Roosevelt for its homecoming after 159 straight days at sea. Tell us what that event was like.
H.P.: We started out at 3:00 a.m. in advance of the homecoming. We credentialed all the morning shows, CNN and Fox. We had "Today" broadcasting live from the ship, and we had
to have a lot of advance planning for that live broadcast. We on-loaded gear in Marseilles, France, so they could do the live production, and we had 10 or 11 techs on board. We
sent two escorts to Bermuda and embarked them with Matt Lauer, the rest of the "Today" show crew and [House] Speaker Hastert.
We had a number of reunion stories, and media followed family members until they were able to reunite with their sailor. It was cold and rainy, but it was a great day for the
ship and the Navy. It was a very heroic story, and you can't spin that. The Roosevelt's deployment was the first after 9-11, and their entire deployment focused on the war in
Afghanistan. They performed superbly. They didn't lose a single sailor.
PRN: Not every deployment is so positive, however. What's your primary goal in terms of communicating any crisis involving Naval equipment and personnel?
H.P.: We help to get the message right on the homefront so spouses and family aren't unduly upset over certain reporting. Our goal is to provide accuracy but also provide
continuity. It's easy for spouses to get excited over news reports, and that's an area that has really increased for us since 9-11. Even discussion of a delay or an extended
deployment can cause apprehension and frustration.
When you're dealing with a crisis or death, that's always a challenge. You have to be able to communicate with empathy. We don't provide a lot of information to the media;
we're restricted by the Privacy Act, and our focus is on the feelings of the families. We have to make sure that next of kin notification has already been done before we release
names of anyone involved in fatal crashes and accidents, we're fastidious about that.
PRN: Many members of the media think you should reveal more in certain situations. How do you deal with reporters who view the Navy, the Department of Defense and the
government at large with a great deal of skepticism, especially now that journalists have such restricted access to war zones?
H.P.: That's a very complex question, and it has a number of different answers. We have a very robust program in Navy public affairs and all of the DOD. We focus on one
philosophy: maximum exposure, minimum delay.
We can basically have a communications team on scene just about anywhere within a matter of hours if necessary to provide a story. There are things that are secret, but we try
to answer all the questions we can answer.
The best PR is being able to bring out America's sons and daughters. Our people are the faces of America. You'll hear some critics say the youth of America has gone soft. Well,
we have 18-year-olds working on the flight decks of aircraft carriers. If you want somebody to provide credible presence, what better people to bring out than the young people who
make up our armed forces? Their professionalism carries the day.
On Sept. 19, when the U.S.S. Roosevelt deployed, we provided sailors to talk to the media. Each event like this has gotten bigger. For the homecoming of the U.S.S. Enterprise,
we did a live broadcast embarking out of Spain and Bermuda with "Good Morning America." It was the first fully live broadcast from sea. We credentialed over 100 media who came out
for that homecoming. We credentialed more than 200 for the homecoming of the U.S.S. Roosevelt.
The Making of a Navy Public Affairs Officer
Communicating through a network of geographically diverse professionals is a challenge many PR NEWS readers face. How does the Navy manage it?
Ships and their crews undergo a rigorous training period of several months before being certified as ready to deploy. During that time, the ship's public affairs team is put
through an equally rigorous communications "obstacle course." The team receives visitors every day looking for a variety of stories, and various Naval officials, community groups
and government leaders are given tours to prepare officers for their role as hosts to VIPs onboard the aircraft carriers.
"The aircraft carrier is a very visible symbol of U.S. military might, even when there is not a war going on," Pittman says. "We have a very robust program in the Navy to show
off our ships, taking news media to sea and taking distinguished visitors to sea, and that includes communications outreach."