Army News Updates

[The Anchorman]

To all those interested, we had a busy summer in Army News. We have successfully hooked up Valcartier, Montreal, Gagetown, Petawawa, and Edmonton to the Army News Channel Via Multicast. We are planning to add all the Reserve HQ's this fall, and seven other Regular Force Bases to be determined. For those soldiers on these bases, keep an eye out for a TV in your common area or mess hall, gym, canex, canteen, or other areas like the dental office, hospitals ect... that will be playing Army News. You can also access our stories thru the internet under the army website under the news icon, and browse video stories. You will only get individual stories here, and not the whole newscast.
Also, for everyone not in these areas, you will be soon able to access this on the intranet as well in the next month or so. We are also working on expanding to Canadian Forces TV in the future, and are welcome to comments. I will field any questions you may have, and will check this post often.

Your now up to date, and with that your good to go, for Army News I'm........... Have a good one

 

[Gunner98]

Those TVs will last a long time because very few of them are actually turned on.

 

[GDawg]

Don't forget to add HMCS Tecumseh/ 746 Comm Sqn to the list,
I can show that to indoctrinate potential recruits  >

 

[Armymedic]

Those TVs will last a long time because very few of them are actually turned on.

That must because there is nobody in the building...cause where the troops are there, they definately are not too busy to watch the news.

 

[Gunner98]

Actually, the tvs are in the coolest room in the building but the tv volume disturbs all of the card games and war stories.

ArmyMedic have you hit home soil?

 

[The Anchorman]

Those TVs will last a long time because very few of them are actually turned on.

That is ashame. A lot of money(millions) and resources went into a TV network for the troops, and if they are turning it off, they obviously are not intelligent enough to appreciate the hard work and individual efforts put toward their own welfare. This is a very informative newscast that affects our troops, and it is up to all soldiers to tune in and find out what is happening to their army.
Most of these TV's were placed in areas where someone thought they would be usefull, but if a specific set is wrongly placed and not being used, please tell me the location of the sets, and I will make arrangements to place them in one of the other 1450(or so) buildings across Canada that are not plugged in yet. Thanks for your comments and I would appreciate any further info you could provide me with the above problem.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

That is ashame. A lot of money(millions) and resources went into a TV network for the troops, and if they are turning it off, they obviously are not intelligent enough to appreciate the hard work and individual efforts put toward their own welfare. This is a very informative newscast that affects our troops, and it is up to all soldiers to tune in and find out what is happening to their army.

So what kind of survey or market study was done? Were the troops even consulted as to what they wanted to see, or be informed about? What was the cross section and amount of people consulted? Saying their not intelligent enough to tune in to something that seems to have been put together, behind closed doors, by a few individuals with pocket protectors and $10.00 pens isn't the way to endear yourself to your perspective audience. It starting to sound like nothing more than some puprle trades' idea of a military CBC.

The idea has merit. Your Public Relations don't.

 

[the 48th regulator]

they obviously are not intelligent enough to appreciate the hard work and individual efforts put toward their own welfare

Very nice comment. . .

Hope you are personally helping to educate those heathens.

dileas

tess

 

[Gunner98]

Army Bases have Lodger units who are CSS in nature, just because soldiers wear CADPAT does not mean that their interests and attention during every workday downtime moment is focused on the latest Army News.  Perhaps if you surveyed the units or unit PAffO's I think you might find a lot of tv sets that are underutilized.  That's your line of work not mine - the TV networks use Neilson-type rating perhaps you guys have better find out if anyone is watching. I don't recall hearing the average soldier begging for Army News.  If the Unit Info/PAffO are failing you then that too is your responsibility to know not mine.

I would suggest it is not wise to question anyone's (especially soldiers') intelligence in such a public forum based on their viewing habits during lunch and coffee breaks. If am making you feel that you aren't appreciated maybe you will be reminded of how a lot CSS-support trades/units feel most days on Army bases.

This would not be the first effort by someone in the CF/Army to miss the target on getting soldiers' attention and wasting millions.  Let's remember garrison dress and permeable rain gear as a few examples.

 

[GO!!!]

Anchorman,

Here's another thought that just flashed in my otherwise numbed brain - you said millions - MILLIONS???

Of all the things we need - ammo, uniforms, diesel, airplanes, submarines etc, and you and your ilk decide to put limited CF funding towards an army TV station. What a breathtaking waste.

Who asked for a propaganda station? ANYONE? I doubt it.

Repeat after me - MY JOB SECURITY IS NOT AN OPERATIONAL REQUIREMENT.

Now choke yourself - on screen, so the two guys in Alert and the three in Eureka can watch.

Not with my hand!!!

 

[mover1]

OHHH I sure do hope ARMYNEWS has some really good feel nice stories like they print in the Maple Leaf.
I can't wait to se a story about a Female officer who is going to have "the change" who was given time off to persue running in her last marathon as a woman.
Or how some of the the ladies hockey team did in the finals in borden. AND VOLLEYBALL SCORES WOW
Or how an RMC student ran through an obstacle course and said it was challenging.

Thats great news. boy oh boy.
I hope the TV is placed by those canex fashons. The ones that have army written on them in two languages that look really crappy. Or with A big maple leaf on it with a Harrier Jump jet or and F-16 that say Canada on them. Those fashons ROCK.

Good thing we have enough money for this and not enough to go on TD. I would rather be at Canex watching crap on the TV rather than out training in new and exciting environments.
Thank you anchorman. I have mould in my walls at work. mice eat us out of house and home. The lighting is bad and I don't have the basics like proper washrooms in this building. But your T.V. set will make it better.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

The Anchorman,

Hope your getting this. It's what you asked for. What your getting is from the grass roots. This is your audience. If you can't, truthfully, answer their questions, I'd say your initiative is already dead in the water. Either let us know the scoop, or close down the transmission tower so we can buy another ship, plane, tank, ammo, whatever. Something that will ensure the survival of one more of us in a combat zone, as opposed to the employment survival of another journalist.

Sorry, I had to edit this. How are you going to reach all the Reservists out there? They are an increaseinly large part of the Forces tactical deployment plan, yet there's no way of reaching them, with your initiative. Oh yeah, it's on the web. Check the hits on the Forces web forum as oppose to this one. Where is your audience? I don't think you guys did a very good market reseach analysis before you launched. More Gov't $ wasted? Get a grip.

 

[The Anchorman]

So what kind of survey or market study was done? Were the troops even consulted as to what they wanted to see, or be informed about? What was the cross section and amount of people consulted? Saying their not intelligent enough to tune in to something that seems to have been put together, behind closed doors, by a few individuals with pocket protectors and $10.00 pens isn't the way to endear yourself to your perspective audience. It starting to sound like nothing more than some puprle trades' idea of a military CBC.

The idea has merit. Your Public Relations don't.

Very valid questions. First off, a company was hired in 2002-2003 to conduct an independany study of this before anything was actioned. I cannot oficially quote how many were involved in this study, but the mandate given was more than 2000 soldiers were required to be asked for this research. This programming is for all Army soldiers in the chain of command. It is a means for everyone to provide input to the programming and we ask for feedback on every news show we put on the air. Your comment about planning bhind closed doors could not be further from the truth. The entire senior chain of command helped put it together, and it was passed thru Army council in 2003 and this information was passed down to every commanding officer to relay to the soldiers at the Unit level. This was an army initiative, not a purple idea of anything. Anorated by saying something d finally I have to apologize of the wording I used in the initial reply regarding the tv turned off. Saying our soldiers are not intelligent is a bad choice of words, and I should have said something different like maybe- It is ashame that these TV's are off, and the troops are not recieving some very helpful information in regards to Army transformation, welfare, budget issues, and other things happening in todays army that they would find benificial to their career. Thank you for the comments, and if you have other useful comments, feel free to send them.

 

[The Anchorman]

Army Bases have Lodger units who are CSS in nature, just because soldiers wear CADPAT does not mean that their interests and attention during every workday downtime moment is focused on the latest Army News.   Perhaps if you surveyed the units or unit PAffO's I think you might find a lot of tv sets that are underutilized.   That's your line of work not mine - the TV networks use Neilson-type rating perhaps you guys have better find out if anyone is watching. I don't recall hearing the average soldier begging for Army News.   If the Unit Info/PAffO are failing you then that too is your responsibility to know not mine.

I would suggest it is not wise to question anyone's (especially soldiers') intelligence in such a public forum based on their viewing habits during lunch and coffee breaks. If am making you feel that you aren't appreciated maybe you will be reminded of how a lot CSS-support trades/units feel most days on Army bases.

This would not be the first effort by someone in the CF/Army to miss the target on getting soldiers' attention and wasting millions.   Let's remember garrison dress and permeable rain gear as a few examples.

Good comments. First I would like to say that our programming is looped on a weekly schedule, and any soldier can watch it during any day of the week and see the same show. Not asking troops to watch everyday, but if they could find 20 minutes during the week to catch the show, it would be very informative to them. Also, we will not conduct a survey until late this year, as most TV's were only hooked up recently. But we will relocate any sets that are not being used at that time.
In the previous reply I wrote on this fourm, I did mention that I should not have said that Intelligence comment, and I apologize for that.
I do not want to be appreciated for any efforts I put towards this program. I enjoy this job, and I get paid, appreciation is not required for something that takes dozens of people to conduct. My nly satisfaction is knowing someone is watching and sends comments on what to improve on, or what story to get.
This project is new to the military, and with that, risks have to be taken in order to achieve success. We all know that the miltary has made mistakes in the past, but I hope this is not one of them. Thanks for the comments.

 

[The Anchorman]

Anchorman,

Here's another thought that just flashed in my otherwise numbed brain - you said millions - MILLIONS???

Of all the things we need - ammo, uniforms, diesel, airplanes, submarines etc, and you and your ilk decide to put limited CF funding towards an army TV station. What a breathtaking waste.

Who asked for a propaganda station? ANYONE? I doubt it.

Repeat after me - MY JOB SECURITY IS NOT AN OPERATIONAL REQUIREMENT.

Now choke yourself - on screen, so the two guys in Alert and the three in Eureka can watch.

Not with my hand!!!

Well aside from having a hard time answering comments like yours when very little thought went into them, and the fact that you are not aware of the power of television, I will still take a moment to fill you in on something that may help educate you a little. First off, I didn't think this was an open forum for comments like you posted at the end of your post. Although choking yourself would be funny, it was directed in a very profane manner towards me, and I do not apreciate it. If you want to make fun of me, I am sure we can make arrangements to meet personally, and joke around.
The next loose comment you made regarding funding is very generic and sounds like a general complaint from someone whom thinks we are still an army that requires more ammo, and uniforms. The simple fact is, that we do have an overall lack of funding for our military, and the reason for this is very political. If this TV propaganda (as you called it) is effective, we will only see increases in funding in the future generated by our news programming.
This TV News concept has already started paying for itself already, we have taken on large projects in recruiting, military funerals, and public affairs products and with those alone we did not have to pay other civilian TV Companies the big dollors to come in as in years past. And in a long term plan, will also save millions of dollars that can be applied towards more equipment as you mentioned above. I hope this helps you in your reasoning process, an as I mentioned earlier, try torefrain for the negative comments towards myself. Thanks for posting.

 

[The Anchorman]

OHHH I sure do hope ARMYNEWS has some really good feel nice stories like they print in the Maple Leaf.
I can't wait to se a story about a Female officer who is going to have "the change" who was given time off to persue running in her last marathon as a woman.
Or how some of the the ladies hockey team did in the finals in borden. AND VOLLEYBALL SCORES WOW
Or how an RMC student ran through an obstacle course and said it was challenging.

Thats great news. boy oh boy.
I hope the TV is placed by those canex fashons. The ones that have army written on them in two languages that look really crappy. Or with A big maple leaf on it with a Harrier Jump jet or and F-16 that say Canada on them. Those fashons ROCK.

Good thing we have enough money for this and not enough to go on TD. I would rather be at Canex watching crap on the TV rather than out training in new and exciting environments.
Thank you anchorman. I have mould in my walls at work. mice eat us out of house and home. The lighting is bad and I don't have the basics like proper washrooms in this building. But your T.V. set will make it better.

I totally support all of your comments regarding the Maple Leaf newspaper. Civilians run it, edit it, and feed it, I shouldnt have to explain why that is. I think it is a bad politicial paper, and it is a waste of time, bravo on the honest feedback.
I am sorry to hear the you think the TD budget in your Unit is insufficient, and that you think Army News contributed to it's demise, but the fact is, things are crappy all over, and the political tightwads in the house of commons, and the leaders of this great country failed us to often.
Maybe you should be at the Canex watching our show and not in the field, maybe then you would learn what is changing in the military, and how these changes affect you personally.
If your work enviornment is what you say it is, please tell us where you are and what building you work in, and I will do everything possible to relay this message to General Hillier to see if something can be done about it. No soldier should work in those conditions on a regular basis, and if you send me the info, someone here will expose the potential problems and help improve the situation for you and your troops. That I promise.
Thanks for the post, and sarcasm, and hope to hear from you soon.

 

[mdh]

Anchorman,

This is encouraging news and I applaud the move toward the eventual creation of a CF network.  Will there be additional information for UIOs/PAFFOs at reserve units?

Cheers
mdh

 

[The Anchorman]

The Anchorman,

Hope your getting this. It's what you asked for. What your getting is from the grass roots. This is your audience. If you can't, truthfully, answer their questions, I'd say your initiative is already dead in the water. Either let us know the scoop, or close down the transmission tower so we can buy another ship, plane, tank, ammo, whatever. Something that will ensure the survival of one more of us in a combat zone, as opposed to the employment survival of another journalist.

Sorry, I had to edit this. How are you going to reach all the Reservists out there? They are an increaseinly large part of the Forces tactical deployment plan, yet there's no way of reaching them, with your initiative. Oh yeah, it's on the web. Check the hits on the Forces web forum as oppose to this one. Where is your audience? I don't think you guys did a very good market reseach analysis before you launched. More Gov't $ wasted? Get a grip.

I inded do love it. Any comments good or bad are worth posting and answering, if it helps the Army. I will try to answer all questions as best as I can, and I will welcome phone discussions from those whom need the more lengthy answers. I type slow, so I will keep these answers short.
As for your question regarding reservists, we will be hooking them up this fall. We are currently sending the show out to them via DVD or VHS, and will continue to do this until they get hooked up. We are also putting our stories on the internet so they can see them from home if they wish. If any Unit requires more copies of the show, the can call any Public Affairs office to order more. This is an interim soloution. Eventually we will be launching Canadian Forces Television, and this will include a satellite channel. This is another option for them to watch the show from home.
As for the web comments, although the discussion forum is weak, we are consistantly getting over 600,000 hits on the website itself every month. I think that is a pretty high number, and although I don't want to compare it to this site, I think thet are holding their own. I am using this forum as a means of converging this excellnt site coupled with the army one, to reach more soldiers to achieve my aims.
I don't support your coment that it was wasted money, but that is your opinion. And trust me, I have a grip. Thanks for your interest and comments. If you have more, please send them and I will do my best to answer them. Have a good one.

 

[The Anchorman]

Anchorman,

This is encouraging news and I applaud the move toward the eventual creation of a CF network.   Will there be additional information for UIOs/PAFFOs at reserve units?

Cheers
mdh

We have passed the updates to all the regular force PAFFO's and UIO's present in the last year, but we never had the opportunity to do this intimately with the reserves. We did hold some information sessions at the reserve Bde levels, and some were there, and we also attended the last 2 major public affairs conferences and made presentations as well. I was also involved last year in presenting updates to all of the Ontairo Reserve Public affairs staff in Toronto.
As for future information, all Public Affairs Officers will be updated thru their Regular Force officers in their Areas. They will also be notified by someone in NDHQ in the upcomming months via email of the latest and greatest, and will have the opportunity to ask questions to our senior staff this fall. I hope this helps.
As for UIO's, we have always had problems relaying information to them due to the fact that many are untrained, and most change so frequently, we decided to go thru the local Public Affairs Offices to help relay to the Units.
Keep the questions comming, and thanks for the interest.

 

[Roy Harding]

...
If your work enviornment is what you say it is, please tell us where you are and what building you work in, and I will do everything possible to relay this message to General Hillier to see if something can be done about it. No soldier should work in those conditions on a regular basis, and if you send me the info, someone here will expose the potential problems and help improve the situation for you and your troops. That I promise.
...

Are you the Anchorman, or the Ombudsman??