Fig. 1 — Indo-Pacific Defense Forum placement for the kick off to Exercise Sea Dragon

Military-to-Military Multinational Operations

Commander, Task Force (CTF) 72, CTF 74, Patrol Squadron (VP) 47, VP-16, and Submarine Squadron (CSS) 15 Exercise Media Campaign alongside the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF)

Kevin Flinn, Public Affairs Officer and Team Lead

Overview

  • During Exercise Sea Dragon 2019, I led and supported public affairs coverage and distribution efforts that documented a multinational anti-submarine warfare exercise involving U.S., Australian, and Republic of Korea forces in Guam and the broader Indo-Pacific. The work combined operational journalism, imagery, and targeted distribution to shape the exercise narrative around allied cooperation, maritime security, interoperability, and readiness.

    Exercise Sea Dragon was a multinational anti-submarine warfare exercise designed to strengthen joint proficiency, lethality, and interoperability among participating forces. In support of that mission, public affairs had to do more than capture images and publish stories. The job was to frame the exercise clearly for internal leadership, military audiences, local communities, and broader public audiences in a way that reinforced the operational value of the training and the diplomatic value of partner integration in the Indo-Pacific. The snapshot of resulting coverage shows publication pickup across official Navy channels, military outlets, local Guam media, Tier 1 national and international outlets, and social media.

    • Senior military leadership and command stakeholders

    • U.S. and allied service members and their families

    • Defense and maritime readerships

    • Guam and regional local communities

    • National and international news audiences

    • Observers of Indo-Pacific security and allied defense cooperation

  • My approach centered on pairing credible operational reporting with broad distribution. That meant producing coverage that could perform in two directions at once: first, as clear official reporting for command and service-level channels; and second, as media-ready material capable of being picked up, cited, or amplified by outside publications and platforms. The messaging emphasized four themes: stronger allied relationships, maritime security, safe sea lanes, and improved anti-submarine warfare interoperability and lethality. Those themes were reflected directly in the leadership report following the exercise.

Clients

  • Department of Defense

    DoD

  • U.S. Navy

    USN

  • Commander, Task Force 72

    CTF-72

  • Patrol Squadron 47

    VP-47

  • Patrol Squadron 16

    VP-16

  • Submarine Squadron 16

    CSS-16

  • Royal Australian Air Force

    RAAF

  • Republic of Korea Air Force

    ROKAF

Select coverage and pickup

Fig. 2 — AP News placement for the kick off to Exercise Sea Dragon

The exercise generated official and external coverage that spanned military, local Guam, and Tier 1 national and international outlets, to help extend the story across multiple audiences. Examples include:

Coverage and downstream pickup spanned Navy channels, military trade outlets, local Guam media, Tier 1 national media, international outlets, and various social platforms.

Methodologies

Operational journalism • Photojournalism • Media distribution • Message framing • Cross-channel amplification • Performance reporting

Tools

DVIDS / DVIDS 360 • Navy.mil distribution channels • Photography and multimedia capture tools • Command media reporting workflows

Process Model

Process Model

🔗RPIE

RPIE is the official Defense Information School (DINFOS) communication planning process.

Research, planning, implementation, and evaluation (RPIE) are the core pieces of the communication planning process. the RPIE process is built into all military planning processes from the Joint Planning Process to the Military Decision Making Process.

IMPLEMENTATION

IMPLEMENTATION

Reporting and content production

Coverage focused on turning a complex operational exercise into accessible, publishable journalism. That included documenting aircraft, crews, partner participation, and exercise milestones in a way that served both official reporting requirements and broader audience understanding. The coverage snapshot shows multiple official Navy story placements and a substantial library of Navy imagery associated with the exercise.

Distribution

Distribution extended well beyond owned military channels. The coverage snapshot shows exposure across:
  • Official Navy channels
  • Military outlets, including military-focused trade and defense publications
  • Local Guam media
  • National media
  • International media
  • Social media platforms

Distribution reporting

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📁 PDF download

Following the exercise, I compiled and submitted a post-exercise public affairs report to command leadership documenting production volume, external release volume, and aggregate distribution results.

Media Snapshot

The following links reflect publication placements across military, local, national, and international outlets, as well as social media. Beyond Navy.mil and local Guam news coverage, national Tier 1 pickup included The Washington Post, Fox News, and the Chicago Tribune, while Tier 1 international pickup included the Daily Mail and The Telegraph. If any links have expired, archived versions may still be accessible through the Wayback Machine.

NAVY.MIL

1.https://www.c7f.navy.mil/Media/News/Display/Article/1730836/us-australia-set-to-kick-off-2019-exercise-sea-dragon/

2.https://www.cpf.navy.mil/news.aspx/110641

3.https://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=108379

4.http://navylive.dodlive.mil/2019/01/21/faces-of-the-fleet-289/republic-of-korea-navy-flies-with-u-s-navy/

MILITARY

1.https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2019/01/14/us-australia-begin-anti-submarine-exercise-in-guam/

2.https://navaltoday.com/2019/01/15/australia-us-kick-off-anti-submarine-warfare-exercise-sea-dragon-in-guam/

3.https://www.naval-technology.com/news/us-australia-anti-submarine-warfare/

4.http://alert5.com/2019/01/14/australia-and-u-s-to-kick-off-exercise-sea-dragon-in-guam-today/

5.https://www.realcleardefense.com/2019/01/19/us_australia_begin_pacific_039sea_dragon039_asw_exercise_306201.html

6.https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-navy/2019/01/14/us-australia-begin-anti-submarine-exercise-in-guam/

LOCAL

1.https://www.postguam.com/news/local/us-australia-kick-off-exercise-sea-dragon/article_6e638020-178b-11e9-8bf8-cf3d938b7ce1.html

2.http://www.kuam.com/story/39788892/2019/01/Monday/royal-australian-air-force-participates-in-exercise-sea-dragon

3.https://www.guampdn.com/media/cinematic/gallery/2635238002/exercise-sea-dragon-at-andersen-air-force-base/

4.http://gm5-lkweb.newscyclecloud.com/news/20190123/vp-16-participates-in-exercise-sea-dragon

5.http://guam.stripes.com/spotlight/vp-47-flight-operations-during-exercise-sea-dragon

NATIONAL

1.https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/recent-developments-surrounding-the-south-china-sea/2019/01/20/68e75726-1d34-11e9-a759-2b8541bbbe20_story.html

2.https://www.ajc.com/news/world/recent-developments-surrounding-the-south-china-sea/5bwpcFhYa5hkH6agnw3h0N/

3.https://www.fox23.com/news/world/recent-developments-surrounding-the-south-china-sea-4/904001637

4.https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-bc-as--south-china-sea-watch-20190114-story.html

5.https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/world/article/Recent-developments-surrounding-the-South-China-13531013.php

6.https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/jan/14/recent-developments-surrounding-the-south-china-se/

7.https://www.stltoday.com/news/world/recent-developments-surrounding-the-south-china-sea/article_a9fe8c41-7c9d-56af-b5b9-1d33540e1a89.html

INTERNATIONAL

1.https://www.defenceconnect.com.au/air-sea-lift/3413-australia-kick-off-involvement-in-2019-exercise-sea-dragon

2.https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-6588597/Recent-developments-surrounding-South-China-Sea.html

3.https://chinapost.nownews.com/20190114-494048

4.https://www.thetelegraph.com/news/world/article/Recent-developments-surrounding-the-South-China-13531013.php

5.https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3616688

SOCIAL MEDIA

1. https://www.flickr.com/photos/us-pacific-command/46768052181

2. https://twitter.com/USPacificFleet/status/1084890571628437504

3. https://www.facebook.com/54808967401/posts/10156977930347402/

4. https://www.facebook.com/61575637587/posts/10158347902147588/

5. https://www.facebook.com/135146179829936/posts/2277923105552222/

6. https://www.facebook.com/postguam/posts/exercise-sea-dragon-focuses-on-coordinated-anti-submarine-warfare-against-simula/10156810012952850/

 

Impact

 

ꗝ Created ➜

1,662 media products

 

✣ Released ➜

61 external products

 
 

☍ Impressions ➜

1.11 global impressions

 
 
 

✗ Distribution

Coverage distributed across official, military, local, national, international, and social channels

Outcomes

(Evaluation in RPIE)

Exercise Sea Dragon 2019 work did not stop at documenting an exercise. It translated multinational training into a broader public narrative about allied readiness, regional stability, and joint maritime capability. The result was a communications effort that supported visibility, informed leadership, and expanded the reach of a single exercise across military, public, and international audiences.