Unit Leaves Its Mark on Public Affairs Mission

Photo By Capt. Sarah Cleveland | Members of the 241st Mobile Public Affairs Detachment as seen last September. Navy photojournalists augment the unit in support of the Joint Task Force - Guantanamo public affairs mission. JTF-GTMO conducts safe and humane care and custody of detained enemy combatants. The JTF conducts interrogation operations to collect strategic intelligence in support of the Global War on Terror and supports law enforcement and war crimes investigations. JTF-GTMO is committed to the safety and security of American service members and civilians working inside its detention facilities.  

05.02.2008

Story by Sgt. 1st Class Vaughn Larson 

Joint Task Force Guantanamo Public Affairs

By Vaughn Larson
Joint Task Force Guantanamo Public Affairs

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba – When Navy Cmdr. Richard Haupt boarded the ferry at the end of his tour of duty a few weeks ago, members of the 241st Mobile Public Affairs Detachment – in keeping with local tradition – jumped into the bay.

That may have been the most fitting way to mark the end of their yearlong deployment as well, considering that their tour began much like a plunge into the unknown.

"We came here without one job-qualified person," conceded Army 1st Sgt. Patrick Sellen, "and we did what we said we'd do."

Specifically, that meant standing up a new public affairs unit made of Soldiers from different Army National Guard and Army Reserve units across Louisiana, creating a new web page for the Joint Task Force at Guantanamo, and improving The Wire.

"And all this was done without the media relations team missing a beat," Sellen continued.

The media relations team had the important – and sometimes difficult – task of escorting a skeptical civilian media covering the military commissions and detainee operations here.

Army Spc. Daniel Welch finished his deployment as a member of the media relations team – also known as med-rel – but also worked for The Wire for a time. He said he gained a good sense of the unit's overall mission.

"When you work on The Wire, you don't see the interaction with the media," Welch explained. "When you do med-rel you see that. It was nice to get both perspectives."

He added that it wasn't until he accompanied a media tour into Camp Delta that he truly began to grasp the mission of the Joint Task Force.

Army Lt. Col. Edward Bush echoed that sentiment.

"I was most surprised by the largeness of Gitmo," he said. "The international appeal is much bigger than I thought."

Bush said he gained an understanding of how far reaching the Joint Task Force mission is, and how many people are affected by that mission.

"It's not as simple as people think," he observed.

Army Sgt. 1st Class Carlos Sanchez agreed. Part of his job in the unit's Public Information section involved taking raw information and putting it into a format that people would understand. His section also marketed stories produced by the unit, updated the Joint Task Force Guantanamo website, sent out hometown news releases, and took photos of visitors or ceremonies.

"You always learn something new," he said, noting that his biggest learning experience was understanding how a true joint task force functions with all armed services.

Army Staff Sgt. Paul Meeker was expecting to attend the Defense Information School after joining the unit. The deployment prevented that, so he combined his ability to write with his non-commissioned officer experience to head up The Wire staff.

"I think I was aware that there was an awful lot I didn't know and couldn't anticipate," Meeker said. "As I began to understand the operations and what a satisfactory product looked like – and developing expectations for that – the squad moved from needing to be told what to do to anticipating what the needs were, anticipating the direction of the story and the type of supporting photo needed, and moving from there."

His section – Command Information – generated articles and photos for The Wire, designed the pages and distributed the finished product.

"The coolest thing about this mission was the opportunity to work with a very interesting, bright and energetic group of people," Meeker continued. "I can't think of one person I would have wanted to trade away or who I thought was a liability to the mission. It was a blessing."

According to Sanchez, everyone in the unit was able to do something new or expand on existing skills.

"We were free to do our jobs," he said. "In other jobs you are restricted, but here it was an open door."

Points of pride varied from member to member. Sanchez pointed out the Joint Detention Group staff for the difficult job they do. Bush said he was proud of the website his unit made that provides "a video tour of Gitmo."

Army Sgt. Michael Owens, who worked on the media relations team, was proud of the job the unit did over the past year. He noted that the unit received accolades during a farewell dinner with Navy Capt. Peter Husta.

"While you're here you don't get that much praise," he said. "When you leave, that's when people tell you what a great job you did. It's great to know what kind of impact we had."

Sellen's moments of pride were more nuts-and-bolts variety – unit members improving physical fitness test events, watching the civilian media depart after the last commissions hearings knowing that his troopers did their job, and how the unit came together over the past year.

"To take all the people from all the walks of life and make a unit – Navy guys included – that's pretty special," Sellen said.

• Date Taken: 05.02.2008
• Date Posted: 05.08.2008 08:42
• Story ID: 19205