You are in the privileged position of communicating the life, times and achievements of a singularly dynamic worldwide organization; the United States Military. Few professions would whisk you around the globe to be an official witness to history in the making. There is one price to pay--bringing it home in quality pictures and accurate captions. A cheap price I would think. Yet, sadly too many make light of this responsibility.

Laziness, complacency or "burnout," is something to be faced, reckoned with and rooted out. The photojournalism program must be built upon a foundation of quality products. Photos that inform, enthrall and entertain guarantee customer satisfaction, an appreciative audience and strong management support.

Now that we're moving into the year 2000, it is a good time to reflect that graduating from a school does not make one a photojournalist. Completing a quality training course gives you a fine start, but only that. You must then build a reputation based on quality photography, enthusiasm for the mission and customer service.

Unfortunately, too many photojournalists and supervisors assume that school graduation is all that it takes to be a success. Yet, the new graduate is a neophyte. You need to gain practical experience. No school is going to teach you how to coordinate jobs and communicate with all levels of your branch of service. Only experience will teach you how to slug it out with all kinds of weather and terrain to cover exercises, fly in supersonic fighters and light industrial work areas. The list of skills to be mastered goes on and on.

There is a need for a strong on the job training program supervised by PJs who have track records of success. The new comer or poor performer would learn sound approaches on how jobs are coordinated, exercises covered, captions written and products marketed.

Furthermore, it is incumbent upon commanders, supervisors and photojournalists to be setting goals to energize the abundance of talent that is available. No one should be comfortable with the status quo and safety of inertia. Better to shape the products and create markets rather than merely take work requests.

Finally, quality control is paramount to success. Products need to be monitored and critiqued. Critiques need to be timely and on a regular basis. There should be a folder maintained on every photojournalist to keep a record of jobs performed, a portfolio of recent photos and tear sheets from publications. Progress, performance and productivity should be monitored and reviewed.

Opportunities for exciting assignments, coverage of historic events and aerial chases of the newest planes should go to those who are reliable and productive. When it is time to move, those who have performed well should be  considered for positions of increasing responsibility. Those who have not met the standards should be sent to non-photojournalist positions.

Competition based on performance is stimulating and brings out the best in each of us. The acceptance of mediocrity sinks everyone down to a common level. No one should be allowed to travel the world on assignment or maneuver million dollar aircraft into position for photos unless they can perform. Any other policy is a great disservice to those who consistently produce and the military that pays the bills.

Let us dedicate ourselves anew to the impact that photography can bring to the military community.-DS-

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