Maj Gen. Keith L. Ware Communications Awards Competition, Army Communicator of the Year entrant: David Poe, USAG Fort Bliss

Photo By David Poe | David Poe serves as a public affairs specialist with the Fort Bliss Garrison command and served as the interim editor of the Fort Bliss Bugle in 2019, the installation’s command newspaper that was voted the Army’s best for 2018. The 2018 U.S. Army Moss-Holland Civilian Writer of the year and Civilian Photographer of the Year is a weekly content producer that enjoys people-driven imagery and products. Poe hails from Newton, Massachusetts, and is a third-generation Navy veteran. His older brother Christopher is a retired combat arms senior noncommissioned officer. He has a bachelor’s in communications from New Mexico State University at Las Cruces, New Mexico. He is an avid photographer and rugby player.  

FORT BLISS, TX, UNITED STATES

12.31.2019

Story by David Poe  

Fort Bliss Public Affairs Office

David Poe serves as a public affairs specialist with the Fort Bliss Garrison command and served as the interim editor of the Fort Bliss Bugle in 2019, the installation’s command newspaper that was voted the Army’s best for 2018. The 2018 U.S. Army Moss-Holland Civilian Writer of the year and Civilian Photographer of the Year is an award-winning, weekly content producer that enjoys people-driven imagery and products.

Prior to coming back to Fort Bliss for his second stint in the Borderland in late 2017, Poe served as a PA specialist with the 71st Flying Training Wing at Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma, a joint specialized undergraduate pilot training unit. There he spurred a golden age of new media concepts for the base, including live casting across the base’s social media channels — an experimental approach for a Department of Defense element at the time. The Air Education and Training Command recognized Poe with several news product awards and represented the Air Force command at the DOD level in many categories. Locally his products promoted command messages for Vance’s pilot training audience, as well as surrounding northwest Oklahoma communities and beyond.

Before heading west to Oklahoma, during a hiatus from federal service, Poe received specialized digital photography training at the New England Institute of Art in Boston. There he was able to focus on the technical nuances of digital photography and learn from instructors that provided a departure from his news background, offering time for particulars like color analysis, digital printing experience and documentary photography opportunities in a classroom setting.

His departure into the private sector followed a promotion when he joined the editorial staff of the Northwest Guardian, the official publication of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, in 2011.

During his time at JBLM, Poe managed a team of contract photojournalists from the Tacoma (Washington) News-Tribune, whose abilities were so impressive, they inspired Poe to become a better photojournalist, which is what encouraged him to seek more training.

Prior to his entry into civilian service, as well as some news writing coursework at Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Poe served as an enlisted Navy journalist, and later, after the rating conversion, a Mass Communication Specialist, with commands at sea and on shore.

His crisis communication experience includes theater operations during operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, as well as humanitarian responses following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, as well as the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake tsunami, among other events.

He left college and enlisted in the Navy after the attacks on America on Sept. 11, 2001, and earned several expeditionary decorations, as well as a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal at the conclusion of his service in 2008.

Poe hails from Newton, Massachusetts, and is a third-generation Navy veteran. His older brother Christopher is a retired Army Reserve senior noncommissioned officer. He has a bachelor’s in communications from New Mexico State University at Las Cruces, New Mexico. He is an avid photographer and rugby player.

• Date Taken: 12.31.2019
• Date Posted: 01.03.2020 12:48
• Story ID: 358201
• Location: FORT BLISS, TX, US
• Hometown: EL PASO, TX, US
• Hometown: LAS CRUCES, NM, US
• Hometown: NEWTON, MA, US