Photo By Maj. Stephen Von Jett | The former U.S. Ambassador to Suriname, Dennis Hays (center), provides guidance to a...... read more read more
HOFFMAN, N.C. - A former U.S. ambassador provided realistic training and advice to psychological operations Paratroopers of 7th Military Information Support Battalion, 4th Military Information Support Group, at Hoffman Elementary School, July 8, 2016.
Dennis Hays, former U.S. Ambassador to Suriname, along with other role players, simulated typical embassy interactions for Soldiers scheduled to deploy to various countries in Africa. The Soldiers, who serve on regional military information support operations teams, conducted team briefings and worked through challenges likely to be encountered in country during the scenarios with the ambassador.
“I come away from these events very encouraged,” Hays said between sessions. “I get great satisfaction from working with these teams that are very competent, dedicated and eager to learn.”
The teams were at the end of their mission readiness exercise, a final validation by the battalion command team before deployment. In addition to the ambassador, teams were evaluated by former CIA, public affairs and senior embassy personnel to gauge their ability to navigate the swift currents of foreign affairs.
Hays compared working in an embassy to being in a family, but cautioned those with multiple deployments that the embassy they return to is not necessarily the embassy they left. His final advice was about clarity and specificity. He offered two simple rules to ensure smooth sailing – don’t embarrass the ambassador and don’t surprise the ambassador.
Command Sgt. Maj. Daniel Callahan, senior enlisted advisor for 7th MISB, explained the diplomatic rank system of department of state personnel to the teams. He impressed upon them the importance of what they are doing and who they are working with, as U.S. ambassadors carry four-star general equivalency. Despite the rank gap between ambassadors and team members, Callahan urged them to be comfortable in their roles as advisors.
“Go in with confidence and be able to articulate your mission,” Callahan said to the teams during the final wrap-up. “Be the subject matter expert.”
Lt. Col. Patrick McCarthy, commander of 7th MISB, challenged his teams to constantly define themselves, to be effective communicators and speak in headlines.
“First impressions are last impressions,” McCarthy counseled before asking everyone in the room to define what they do before offering his own. “I amplify African solutions to African problems.”
Learning to make those impressions and distill that knowledge into memorable chunks doesn’t happen overnight, and didn’t happen at the MRX, McCarthy commented. This process started long before, when hopeful candidates assessed into psychological operations. It is a process that the operators build upon and refine with each successive deployment.
McCarthy further highlighted the difficulty in creating a tangible means by which to measure and explain intangible concepts. This challenge manifests in measuring the success of influence campaigns created by psychological operators. Operators must trust the psychological operations process and strive to be an expert in the process, he said.
The 7th MISB teams will soon to deploy into Africa and work through the human dimension as confident members of embassy teams amplifying African solutions to African problems.
-#4MISG-
| Date Taken: | 07.25.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 07.25.2016 11:31 |
| Story ID: | 204930 |
| Location: | HOFFMAN, NC, US |
| Web Views: | 115 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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