UPAR--Assisting eyes and ears

by Senior Airman Shandresha Mitchell
6th Air Mobility Wing public affairs

10/29/2014 - MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- As a member of public affairs, we strive to be in every place, documenting every event at once; but with manning limitations, it just isn't physically possible...

Until now.

This October, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, kicked off its Unit Public Affairs Representative program. The program allows a designated member of each unit or squadron to be the assisting eyes and ears for the MacDill public affairs office.

"This program allows PA to have a direct connection with every organization on base," commented Tech. Sgt. George Maddon, 6th Air Mobility Wing public affairs broadcaster. "It permits us to actively engage with the various units to ensure ideal news coverage."

The primary goal of the UPAR program is to assure optimum news coverage of the 6th Air Mobility Wing's mission and units.

UPARs will aid in the identification of newsworthy information for publication and the dissemination of information of wing-wide relevance to unit members.

The 6th Air Mobility Wing commanders selected unit members to perform the additional duty of primary and alternate UPAR. The individuals needed to possess adequate knowledge of Air Force operations and the experience, aptitude, and interest in participating in the commander's communication program.

"I volunteered for the program because it is a great way to meet new people and learn new things about my squadron," commented Staff Sgt. Merrianne Donley, 6th Civil Engineer Squadron Airman Dormitory Leader.

The unit representatives are required to attend an annual training informing them of their roles and responsibilities. The annual training describes UPAR responsibilities, types of newsworthy stories, basic guidelines for writing these stories, types of photos needed, guidelines for taking photos, the submission process, editorial process and the guidelines of the Associated Press Stylebook.

"Before, I was unsure of what PA was involved in. I knew they wrote the base paper and attended base events but that was it," said Donley. "I now understand they do much more; PA stays very busy conducting interviews and maintaining various resources for the base, such as, the base web page, official Facebook page, off-base events, marquee board and more."

Each representative's responsibilities will include: being a source of information; providing photographs and articles; and documenting events the PA office is unable to cover.

"I love having the opportunity to share what is going on in the 6 CES with the rest of the MacDill family," commented Donley. "It's a great chance to meet people and get their story, as well as for others to get to know neighboring squadrons better."