Guardsman Helps Pentagon Channel Reflect Total Force

Courtesy Photo | Army National Guard Sgt. Daisy Bueno brings a total force presence to the Pentagon Channel. Photo by Samantha L. Quigley  

WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES

07.19.2004

Courtesy Story

Defense.gov         

There's a new face at the Pentagon Channel.

Born in New York City and raised in Daytona Beach, Fla., Bueno, 31, earned a degree in psychology from the University of South Florida in Tampa. Throughout school she said, she really had no thoughts of entering military service. Upon graduation, though, she hadn't quite figured out her post-college path and was wondering how to pay school loans, wanting to travel and trying to figure out her next step.

"So I joined the military to kind of help me figure all of this out, and I became a broadcaster," Bueno said. When her enlistment ended in 2001, she chose not to remain on active duty, but realized "you can get out of the Army, but you really can't get the Army out of you." Her answer was in the Army National Guard. Bueno's current obligation is up in December 2005.

Now a member of the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 29th Infantry Division (Light) based at Fort Belvoir, Va., Bueno began her four-year active duty military career in December 1997. During those four years she worked in broadcast journalism while stationed at Fort Gordon, Ga., and with the 117th Public Affairs Detachment at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. While there, she said, she started the "Hawaii Army Report" to supplement existing news segments.

Through a public affairs symposium in March 2003, Bueno learned of an effort to recruit National Guardsmen and reservists to work with the Pentagon Channel. The goal was to work toward a staff that represents the total force, officials said.

Bueno said she will help out with whatever she can, including on-camera appearances, voiceovers and writing. When her tenure ends in December, Bueno will head to Fort Meade, Md., for the Public Affairs Officer Qualification Course at the Defense Information School, she said.

The sergeant said she sees her one-day-a-week participation with the Pentagon Channel as a great opportunity to work on her broadcasting skills, which she admitted can perish if not exercised. And she thinks this is a pretty worthwhile way to keep them alive.

"(Public Affairs officers) have the best job in the Army. We get to tell the soldiers' stories," she said.

Bueno is working toward her master's degree in management/public relations at the University of Maryland University College.

The Pentagon Channel broadcasts military news and information for the U.S. armed forces, and is available to all stateside cable and satellite providers, through the American Forces Radio and Television Service overseas, and through the channel's Web site. It operates 24 hours per day, seven days a week.

Story by Samantha L. Quigley, American Forces Press Service

• Date Taken: 07.19.2004
• Date Posted: 07.04.2025 03:11
• Story ID: 534990
• Location: WASHINGTON, US