JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Reporting from the sidelines of an NFL preseason game is not typical duty for military journalists, but for 15 members of the Florida Army National Guard it was good training for their upcoming deployment.
Members of the 107th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment honed their skills as professional sports reporters and photographers during the Jacksonville Jaguars' preseason opener against the Atlanta Falcons Aug. 9. They stood shoulder-to-shoulder with civilian journalists on the sidelines at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium throughout the televised game.
The detachment is scheduled to deploy in early 2009 to support Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, and it is currently completing its pre-mobilization requirements during drill weekends.
When unit leaders saw one of the requirements of their journalists was to write or produce a sports news story, they sought a creative way to accomplish the task.
"We wanted to provide realistic and challenging training," said Maj. Diana Haynie, the 107th commander. "By taking the unit to the Jaguars game, we would give them more realistic training than if they just tried to write a story from a television sports program."
Prior to the game, the Soldiers were issued press passes and given unrestricted access to the perimeter of the football field. The challenge throughout the evening was to capture professional-grade photos and video during the fast-paced game and then package the images into either a short video story or a print article.
The commander said the unit typically completes their training at their armory or in the field, so this venue in front of thousands of cheering football fans was much more glamorous and exciting.
"It's also a good morale booster. It gives them something different to do outside of an everyday environment," Haynie explained. "And it gives them an opportunity to have some of their work published outside of regular military outlets."
She said all of the articles and broadcast spots completed by unit members will be submitted to the Jacksonville Jaguars for publication in civilian and NFL outlets. The digital photos submitted by the detachment may also be used for future publication and distribution to the players, said Haynie.
Like their civilian counterparts, the military reporters must meet certain guidelines when filing a sports news story, including using correct writing styles and accompanying the story with photos or video. But most importantly the goal is to produce an interesting, accurate and visually exciting feature story that highlights the sporting event.
And that turned out to be easy for the Soldiers, because the Jaguars scored a 20-17 victory over the Falcons. Sgt. Michael Baltz, a print journalist who has been in the Florida National Guard for the past three years, even joined civilian press during the post-game briefing with the players and coaches.
"Being a sports fan, training like this is really exciting for me," Baltz said. "It makes me more motivated to do my job. Not all of my fellow Soldiers have been able to go to a football game, and I personally think it's a great experience."
Baltz said the excitement of the game and the ability to capture action sports photos was quite a change from the usual military stories he covers for the Florida National Guard.
"Most of the time in the military you're doing ceremonies and training, but (here) you've got football players out there running 40-yard dashes right in front of you," he said.
The 107th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment is based in St. Augustine, Fla., and provides both print and broadcast journalism support to the Soldiers and Airmen of the Florida National Guard.