The Public Affairs Officer (PAO)
Today I got to meet the Brigade PAO (Public Affairs Officer). I went to warn him that he needed to have his affairs in private. Ha ha ha. Actually, his name is CPT Mark Lappegaard, and he explained to me what the PAO does. He is responsible for managing all of the brigade's dealings with reporters! He arranges for soldiers to do interviews with newspapers and radio stations back home, he publishes the brigade's newsletter, he makes the content for the brigade's website, he makes arrangements for embedded reporters - wow, he's a pretty busy guy!
Here I am with SFC Wood, the Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) who works with CPT Lappegaard. He helps CPT Lappegaard with all of his duties:
SFC Wood has a lot of photography equipment! He explained to me that the Army has a lot of enlisted soldiers who work in media relations, and also a lot of soldiers who are like reporters themselves. They take pictures for brigade and division newsletters, they write articles, they manage radio stations - some soldiers even get to be DJs on Army radio stations! I asked how I could get involved, and he said he would look into it. I've always wanted to have my own "growl radio" show (that's like talk radio, for bears).
