Sir, Please Fasten Your Sit Belt!

“Covering a night surveillance and reconnaissance mission was a life changing, eye opening experience” – Daniel Massamba Meboya The voice of the German Pilot, Captain Schutz, serving in the United Nations peacekeeping operations in Mali is still ringing in my ears. “Sir, Please Fast Your Sit Belt” as I took place aboard the Franco-German Tiger combat helicopter that had to conduct a night military surveillance and reconnaissance mission at the Mali-Algeria borders. That was my first time to provide a coverage of a night patrol as I just joined the Mission in January 2014. To be honest, I did not really enjoy the ride. It was Wednesday at 6pm where my iPhone rang. I just got home after a busy day in the office. “Mr. Meboya, this is the Commander of the United Nations peacekeeping Forces. Please be at the Mixed Operational Command Office at 9pm sharp. You are taking part in a night patrol.” My blood boils and my pulse races and I imagine myself in the sky at night in a very risky zone known as a safe-haven jihadists’ positions used to strike out against any government or its allies in the showiest possible way. At 8.50pm, I was already in the conference room of the Operational Command Office. Men and women of the army know how to keep and manage time. The 10-minute briefing session started as scheduled. The Commander of the UN peacekeeping forces informed of the purpose of the surveillance and reconnaissance mission: “gather intelligence about terrorist operations in the area” he said. “Mr. Meboya, you are expected to provide a comprehensive coverage of our first-ever night surveillance and reconnaissance patrol,” the Commander told his team. “The story has to be published using all the channels possible so that the host Government and the wider public in the country appreciate our work which consists of protecting civilian populations.” The Military as well as the civilians use many different types of communication strategies to convey a message. However, the most common categorization is to: internal communication strategy and external communication strategy. Internal communication – information and ideas exchange within the organization itself. In internal communication, messages can be exchanged via personal contact, telephone, e-mail, intranet, or modern employee communication platforms. The message was clear. A message is one of the three crucial factors that directly impact the success of every proper communication plan. These include the audience, the message, and the channels via which the message should be delivered. At 10pm, Captain Shultz ordered me to follow him to the helicopter pad. I was given an appropriate military clothing and protective vest. The Eurocopter Tiger is a four-blade, twin-engine attack helicopter which first entered service in 2003. It is manufactured by Airbus Helicopters (formerly Eurocopter), which arose from the merger of Aerospatiale’s and DASA’s respective helicopter divisions. The helicopter can only take two people: a pilot and one passenger. I was the passenger. My work was to document the night patrol that would lead me to write a story that will be made public. “But will I be able to see what is really happening on the earth while we will be flying at a higher attitude?” I wondered. After checking the engine instruments and noting that everything was normal, Captain Shultz invited on board. I was equipped with all my multimedia equipment to shoot both images and still photos. The pilot was able to communicate by radio with the operating base and aboard, we used headphones to communicate. I could ask questions while flying. We left the base at 10.30pm. The mission was planned to take 5 hours. While flying, I could only see the pilot in front of me and of course the multiple reflections of the dark sky with its shooting stars. The route was already discussed and agreed upon with the operating base. “A good source of more information for me,” I said to myself. We toured the northern part of Mali, including the regions of Gao, Menaka, and Kidal bordering Algeria many times without me realizing. The 5-hour night flight was just a real nightmare for me as it was a life changing, eye opening experience. Then I could hear through the headphones that our mission was coming to an end and it was a successful one. Finally, we landed at the operating base at exactly 3.30am. We immediately went to the conference room of the Operational Command Office where the Commander and all his team were expecting us to give them a detailed debriefing of our mission. That session helped me to collect the necessary and useful information I needed to put my story together. Then I was given the floor to share my experience, which I did as if I had already taken part in such an endeavor. The most interesting part of my participation were still photos and images I shot while flying. “So amazing and professional,” the Commander said. “Thank you, Mr. Meboya, for this incredible job. We can wait to see the story published.” I reached my home located in the UN residential camp at about 4.15am. I could hardly sleep as I was thinking how to better package that invaluable information in form of a media story that could catch the wider public’s eye. I wrote the story in my room; a story I shared with my colleagues within the Communication Team and of course with Captain Shultz and the Commander. “Gather intelligence about terrorist operations in the area” was removed. “This is a military-only language,” the Commander said. The sentence was replaced by “Night Air Patrol.” I learned my lesson. The text was cleared for immediate publication by the UN Forces Commander targeting at an external or broad internal audience. While corporate workers may be easier to reach, most common citizens depend on mobile means of communication. Hence, understanding various audiences is the first and most important step when creating a communication strategy. The story including pictures and images were shared with all the mainstream media as well as digital media both in the country and beyond. “With the Communication Team I was leading, we could monitor and evaluate the impact of external communication, which is exchange of information both within the organization itself and outside the organization. The main goal of external communication is to inform the outside world of an important message about the work and quality of the organization. Communication is one of the crucial factors that can either make or break a project. Working in a team requires much more than hard work, team spirit, and readiness to work alongside a bunch of people. The most important yet most ignored thing that is responsible for a team’s success is effective communication. Communication is a vital part of any business environment because it facilitates the flow of information.