Communications and the Marines

Military public relations has advanced remarkably since Douglas McArthur discovered what a little newsprint and film could do.

Wednesday, April 23, the Marines at Tustin’s air station mounted a unique frontal assault. In face-to-face communication with the community, the Marines demonstrated that the explosive situations they’re capable of defusing aren’t only in combat zones. They can definitely hold their ground in their own neighborhood.

With their second “flight operations seminar,” Col. David McEvoy and staff demonstrated that eyeball-to-eyeball communication improves relations with citizens unnerved by the noise of helicopter operations. Opening the base to the community, the Marines briefed citizens on flight patterns and base operations. And they encouraged questions and suggestions.

Strategically scheduled at the beginning of summer--the peak noise-complaint season--the seminar was a smart communications tactic in anybody’s book.

In some respects the briefing was a lesson in semantics. What the military calls “encroachment”--housing developments moving in on the base--the real estate developers term “progress.” And there was a history lesson thrown in, too, as we were reminded that when the base was established its nearest neighbors were orange trees. But all the perspectives were valuable.

Undoubtedly, the seminars won’t stop all the complaints, but they’re surprisingly soft-sell and progressive for an organization most widely depicted as having a confrontational communications approach. For those of us locked into images formed from old war movies, at least one stereotype fell. The Marines can talk softly and still carry a big stick. Way to go, Marines.

J.M. COLLIER

Mission Viejo