Afghan public affairs personnel partake in 3-day seminar Published Oct. 4, 2011 By Master Sgt. Paul Hughes Regional Support Command-South/NTM-A KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Air Force Recruiting Service national marketing photographer, Tech. Sgt. Jeffrey Wolfe, helps train the Afghan National Army basic public affairs communication skills here. While destroying enemy weapons caches and eliminating insurgents are vital to achieving victory in Afghanistan, so is gaining and maintaining the support of the Afghan people. "The best way to increase public support is through effective public affairs operations that gain the trust of the Afghan people is by communicating the effectiveness of the [Afghan National Army] to protect their people," said Air Force Maj. Kallie Quinn, officer- in-charge of the Mobile Public Affairs Training Team at Forward Operating Base Lindsey in Kandahar. Quinn leads a three-person team that spends every day working to train public affairs representatives from the ANA's 205th Corps. "If the Afghan people can see the positive things the ANA are accomplishing, they will support them, and make the inevitable transition process much easier," said Wolfe. Quinn and her team spend most of their time training ANA public affairs soldiers at the corps level, but saw a need for training that focused on laying a foundation for public affairs knowledge at the brigade level. So they designed, organized and scheduled a three-day seminar, focused on information gathering and visual storytelling. "This seminar laid the foundation for an effective PA mission in the 205th Corps," said Quinn. "The ability of the ANA to effectively communicate with their fellow soldiers and the public is critical to their future success." Eight ANA 205th Corps public affairs representatives took part in the training, in which they studied the concepts of everything from news release writing to shooting quality photos and video. "Bringing in the representatives from the brigades and the corps [public affairs] shops allows them to share ideas, learn from each other and enable the MPAAT to provide standardized training," said Quinn. Members of the MPAAT served as instructors for the seminar with the help of translators. "I had to figure out a way of teaching that made sense to the [soldiers]," said Air Force Staff Sgt. Katerina Slivinske, an MPAAT broadcaster and videographer. "However, I found using visual examples along with explanation worked really well." In addition to classroom instruction, the soldiers performed hands-on practical exercises, where they demonstrated their skills with still and video cameras. "I thought the practical training was very useful and my favorite part of the seminar," said Sgt. Abdul Donish, public affairs noncommissioned officer, ANA's 205th Corps. "The training we received was very good and now it is on us to practice. If we don't practice these skills the training will be wasted." The MPAAT members are already planning for an advanced level seminar which is slated for late November. "By giving the ANA the PA tools to efficiently convey their accomplishments and contributions to the community, we are helping them gain the support of the Afghan people, which is invaluable to the transition process," said Quinn.