The Power of a Pen

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Tory C. Groschick
  • 2nd Bomb Wing Public Affairs
BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. --  

Journalists are the eyes and ears for their readers. They write to inform and enlighten the community and base population about what Airmen do and why it's important to Barksdale's mission.

Public affairs is notorious for being short on journalists, so everyone pitches in to contribute pieces to the base website and newspaper.

"The benefit of having a newspaper is being able to share Airmen's accomplishments with their families and the local community," said 1st Lt. Victoria Lalich, 2nd Bomb Wing Public Affairs deputy chief.

It is a journalist's job to seek out and publish interesting and informative stories about their installation.

"There are several aspects to our day-to-day job, which include community relations, doing tours, writing stories for the Barksdale Warrior and covering any avenue available to us so we can convey the wing commander's priorities to different audiences," said Tech Sgt. Michael Andriacco, 2 BW/PA NCO in charge of internal information.

Journalists tie their stories into the Chief of Staff of the Air Force communication priorities such as accomplishing and supporting both the Air Force and Barksdale mission, as well as, caring for the Airmen and their families.

They also write personality features about individual Airmen who deserve recognition to inform the local community and base population about upcoming events, volunteer opportunities and much more.

"There's no limit on what we're able to write about. Where there are people, there's a story," said Andriacco.

Barksdale and the outside community share a mutually beneficial relationship, because the journalists keep them informed on what they don't see inside the gates.

"Journalists' main priority is getting as many facts and information out to the public as quickly as possible," said Staff Sgt. Jason McCasland, 2 BW/PA Journalist.

Barksdale is fortunate to be able to have the base paper, because many bases don't have one anymore.

"As a whole, without military journalists we wouldn't get the full story," said Lalich. "Military journalists share the details of an event or a featured unit for people to better understand."

Every job in the Air Force has a unique role in supporting the Air Force mission and the 2 BW.

"I firmly believe we have the best job in the Air Force," said Andriacco. "We get the chance to see what each Airman's role is in the Air Force mission and also tell the Airmen who only know their jobs about others that support them for the bigger picture."

To view some of 2 BW/PA's stories, videos and photos visit