Tenants are part of Belvoir story

Jan. 23 was a big day for Fort Belvoir. It’s the day we had our first Installation Senior Leadership Conference.

Sure it wasn’t the State of the Union Address, even though my boss did tell me to hold down the fort while he was gone, but it was a big deal because it gave Installation Commander Col. Brian Lauritzen an opportunity to update more than 65 installation tenant organizations on what’s happening on Fort Belvoir.

In the long run, this kind of face-to-face coordination is important because it lets everyone know we are part of the Fort Belvoir community with common goals and common issues.

The Belvoir Eagle is another way the command team communicates with Fort Belvoir’s total workforce, which includes more than 22,000 Soldiers and civilain employees from 120 tenant organizations.

The Belvoir Eagle’s mission is to cover each tenant to help keep the public informed of what’s happening on the installation, and also to recognize the great work our community members are doing.

With such a broad audience, it’s easy to see that no matter how hard the Eagle tries; it’s impossible for my three-member staff to cover every newsworthy event on and around the installation.

Fortunately, tenant organizations can help by supplying the paper with fresh material such as newspaper articles and photographs.

Tenant support for the newspaper is not a new concept. In fact, I regularly edit articles from places like Army Materiel Command and the Army Management Staff College. However, it’s safe to say I don’t receive stories, photos or even ideas from a majority of the tenants.

One reason for this could be that organizations do not know what the Eagle is looking for.

The first thing you should look for when you are thinking about writing an article for the Eagle is what impact that event has outside of your organizations.

By impact, I’m not talking about something that’s necessarily earth shaking, but instead things that people outside of your organization might find interesting.

For example, maybe an individual is starting a walking program that is helping the organization shape up or a group of people donate time to a school, homeless shelter or some other volunteer agency. People love reading about that. Plus stories like those go a long way in influencing other people to perform similar acts.

Beyond that, our sports editor, Jennifer Small, is always looking for interesting feature stories that highlight our installation’s athletes and involvement in athletics.

Another thing that probably has kept people from submitting articles is they don’t know how to write for a newspaper.

Trust me when I say, writing is not rocket science, but like anything else there are some rules and guidelines you have to learn.

That’s where the Public Affairs Office comes into play. If anyone wants to learn how to write something for the newspaper, PAO is willing to train him (One rule you will learn is that we don’t use him or her, just him. I know it’s sexist, but blame it on The Associated Pres style). In the past, we have conducted several training events for new writers and will train individuals on the basics of newspaper writing, AP style and what makes a good photo.

A few important things to remember when submitting stories are deadlines, attribution and to be accurate:

Deadlines: Our newspaper comes out every Thursday, so if you want an article to show up in the upcoming paper, I need your copy on the Friday before the publication. For example, if you wanted something in the Feb. 8 edition, I’d need your copy by Friday Feb. 2.

Attribution: Whenever you mention people in the newspaper you need to include their first and last name, along with their rank as well as what they do, and who they do it for. (Please don’t use any acronyms or Mission Occupational Specialty numbers because nobody knows what a 46 Q is, unless you are a 46Q - Public Affairs Specialist). Ex: Staff Sgt. John Johnson, patrolman, 212th Military Police Battalion.

Be accurate: I’m pretty smart, at least that’s what I tell myself, but when you give me something, I’m going to assume it is right, so please double check your facts, then check it again before you send it out.

Submitting articles and photos to the Belvoir Eagle is a great way for tenants to integrate themselves into the Fort Belvoir community. More importantly, tenant-produced material helps provide Soldiers, family members and civilian employees the necessary information and motivation to be competent and successful warriors in the Global War on Terror.

So I’m asking to please take the time and send the Belvoir Eagle your stories, because the more we know about each other, the stronger Fort Belvoir will be.