Missouri National Guard's 70th MPAD completes annual training in Egypt

By: Sgt. 1st Class Craig Collins
70th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, Missouri National Guard Public Affairs
A Landing Craft, Air Cushioned, or LCAC from the U.S.S. Bataan prepares to come ashore at El-Alamein beach west of Alexandria, Egypt during preparations for Operation Bright Star 2009/10.
Sgt. Christopher Robertson, Spc. Joshua Breig, and Sgt. Ty Stafford, all from the 70th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, Missouri Army National Guard, stand in the pre-dawn desert, waiting to move into position to cover a strategic parachute jump conducted by the 82nd Airborne Division along with paratroopers from Egypt, Germany, Pakistan, and Kuwait. The jump was one of many multinational training activities conducted during Operation Bright Star 2009/10, the largest training exercise conducted in the United States Central Command area of operations.
Spc. Joshua Breig, 70th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, Missouri Army National Guard, shoots video of preparations for a strategic parachute jump in the Egyptian desert in the early morning hours on the first day of field training exercises for Operation Bright Star 2009/10.
Paratroopers from the 1-325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division jump from a C-17 aircraft during a strategic jump as part of Operation Bright Star 2009, a combined exercise including 11 countries and hosted by Egypt.
Pvt. 1st Class Joshua Hendricks and Cpl. Ian Dalton, 1-325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, and Staff Sgt. Rodney Medley, 11th Quartermaster Company, all of the 82nd Airborne Division watch as members of the 82nd Airborne Division along with Egyptian, German, Kuwaiti and Pakistani paratroopers perform a strategic airborne jump during Operation Bright Star 2009.
Soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines from a wide variety of units representing 11 countries participated in numerous training events during Operation Bright Star 2009 today including a high altitude low opening parachute jump, a strategic airborne jump, and an amphibious assault demonstration at El-Amein beach on the Mediterranean Sea.
Soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines from a wide variety of units representing 11 countries participated in numerous training events during Operation Bright Star 2009 today including a high altitude low opening parachute jump, a strategic airborne jump, and an amphibious assault demonstration at El-Alamein beach on the Mediterranean Sea.
IMAGE+LINK > Detachment, Missouri Army National Guard, shoots video during the amphibious operations demonstration conducted during Operation Bright Star 2009/10 at El-Alamein Beach located west of Alexandria, Egypt.
CAIRO, Egpyt - Nine members of the 70th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment recently traveled to Egypt for their annual training to support Operation Bright Star 2009/10, a biennial training exercise hosted by the Egyptian government and Third Army/U.S. Army Central Command.

The mission consisted of two phases.

"Initially, we went to Alexandria to produce print and broadcast news products along with stand-alone photos and B-roll," said Capt. Michelle Matthews, the unit's commander. "In the second phase we moved down to Cairo to support the command post exercise at Cairo-West."

Most of the events the unit covered took place on or near Mubarak Military City in northern Egypt. They covered events such as the 82nd Airborne Division's strategic airborne jump, an amphibious assault exercise and a combined-arms exercise. Primary participants in these events were units from the Egyptian, German, Kuwaiti, Turkish and U.S. Armies, along with the U.S. Navy and Marines.

Phase one consisted of five days of intense field work, collecting information and images, and transforming them into products that would tell the troops story. The B-roll video clips the Soldier's collected were edited for civilian media use and military command and public information purposes.

"We had different events every day, such as strategic airborne jumps and amphibious landing operations, that we wouldn't normally get to see unless we were in a real world deployment situation," said Spc. Joshua Breig, a broadcast journalist for the unit. "It was a great opportunity to work on my abilities and become more proficient at shooting video and producing news products in an operational environment."

The broadcast section, led by Sgt. Christopher Robertson, produced six news stories, approximately 400 minutes of B-roll, one documentary and six press releases.

"My team of broadcasters is the most resilient group of people I have ever worked with," said Robertson. "My focus with them was helping everybody to stay cool and keep their priorities straight in the face of the huge challenges we had to overcome and keep their vision on the big picture."

One of the bigger challenges the broadcast team faced was the lack of a Digital Video and Image Distribution System, which is used to send video back to the U.S. Robertson and his team had to use the Internet to send products out. This process significantly increased the length of time it took to distribute video products.

Meanwhile, the print section wrote seven stories, produced approximately 45 photographs for release, published the Operation Bright Star magazine, the Desert Star, and wrote a press release announcing the start of Operation Bright Star 2009/10.

When the unit moved to the primary training site for the command post exercise, or CPX, at Cairo-West Air Force Base, the Soldiers took on a documentary role, by photographing and videotaping briefings, documenting property damage and even making an impromptu portrait of Maj. Gen. Ibrahim, the commanding general of Egyptian forces for Operation Bright Star 2009, for use in the Desert Star.

Several Soldiers also assisted the Third Army Public Affairs office during a mini-CPX for two days to work out any systemic issues before the main exercise began.

Everything produced by the 70th MPAD was sent to the Third Army Public Affairs office for final edits and approval.

"The 70th MPAD's work ethic and products were better than any public affairs unit I have worked with in my 27 years," said Col. Jerry O'hara, the Third Army Public Affairs Officer. "And I have worked with many reserve, guard and active duty PA units in that time."

The opportunities presented during both phases of the exercise provided a well-rounded training environment and real-world mission experience. Both print and video products have been used on the Third Army web page, the United States Central Command web page, the Army Knowledge Online (AKO) web page and the Desert Star magazine.

Video stories produced by the 70th MPAD for Bright Star 2009/10 can be viewed by visiting www.dvidshub.net and typing 'Bright Star' in the search box.

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