Making change with YouTube
Thursday, May 1st, 2008 by AaronI got two questions. Ed Frawley had 10 minutes of photographs and narration.
The father of an 82nd Airborne Division soldier woke up the military to the horrors of some soldiers barracks with a amateur video, a couple of photos thrown together with a plea to anyone who watched to call Senators, Reps, the local newspaper and demand change. People watched, 142,455 on one You Tube iteration, and the Army responded.
The problems at Fort Bragg, N.C., where the photos were taken, were remedied. Every barrack worldwide was inspected, and the Army began discussing fixing the barrack problem.
On Thursday, Secretary of the Army Peter Geren visited Fort Irwin. The visit had been planned months in advance, but the timing meant that barracks would be the issue at hand. I was allowed to ask Geren two questions about barracks and that was it.
Soldiers wanted me to ask more. After talking with 11th ACR soldiers in the box on Thursday, I had an idea of the questions they wanted answers to. They wanted to know how much it would cost to fix their barracks, and if the Army would be willing to spend that on them.
I asked Geren that question and he ducked.
So who really changed things here? The professional journalist with my pen, pad, fancy digital voice recorder and a photographer to tag along or a concerned father with a few snap-shots, a determined voice and YouTube.
Aaron Aupperlee | city editor
