CHAPTER 5 COMMUNITY RELATIONS AND SPECIAL EVENTS A  community  relations  (COMREL)  program  is defined as a planned series of events and activities that fosters understanding between military and civilian communities.  It  encompasses  all  official  or  private contact  between  the  command  and  all  of  its  personnel and local communities. While the Navy may concern itself with national policy and public affairs on a national level, real public relations takes place in the community. People live, work form opinions on issues that concern them and vote in local communities. Thus, national opinions and the  ground  swells  that  eventually  become  the  policies and  actions  of  national  government  are  formed  at  the local  level. The  civilian  populace  surrounding  a  Navy installation is not as affected or concerned by national Navy news as they are by Navy news items affecting them  directly  or  more  personally.  Because  of  this,  the news  element  of  proximity  has  a  special  value  in community relations. A scheduled base closure or an employee  force  reduction  will  have  a  much  more profound   impact   than   something   happening   in Washington that may have little local influence. The  Navy  depends  on  the  public  understanding  of sea  power.  This  is  both  an  important  concept  and national issue, and Navy news often takes the form of “national”  publicity.  However,  any  story  is  national  only in  that  it  appears  in  newspapers  and  on  radio  and television newscasts all over the country. To the extent that  it  informs  people,  every  story,  every  contact  with the Navy, is a local one. Public opinion is the opinion of people-the  opinion  of  private  individuals.  National public opinion is nothing but the sum of these local opinions. And while public opinion can be tallied and measured  on  the  national  level,  it  is  made  in  local communities  by  the  people. A command has to be “good” before it can have good public relations. In planning community relations, good behavior includes establishing a policy in which the  command  will  not  do  anything  harmful  to  its neighbors  and  will  go  out  of  its  way  to  build  good relations  with  them. Establishing such a policy, of course, is the skipper’s job. Unless you are a public affairs assistant acting as the  command  PAO,  you  will  not  formulate  community relations policy. However, it is essential that you under- stand the importance of this type of policy and that you emphasize  the  importance  of  community  relations  every chance you get. Everything about the base, from the driving habits of official and unofficial Navy drivers and the liberty habits of the crew to the appearance of the gate sentries, pollution control and the flight patterns of low-flying  aircraft,  has  a  direct  bearing  on  community relations. These areas probably are more important than news releases and the parade unit your command may furnish on the Fourth of July. Every officer in command is responsible for inte- grating his command into the civic activity of the neigh- boring community. The days when military and civilian communities  were  insulated,  if  not  isolated,  from  each other by a distance of several miles are past. Each can no longer afford to operate as a “closed community” without  considering  mutual  effects.  Normally,  the military officer in command delegates the authority for planning  and  maintaining  an  effective  community relations program to his PAO, but he cannot delegate his responsibility for assuring that the program is sound and effective.  The  CO  must  exert  personal  interest  and participation  in  community  relations  matters. Community relations, internal relations and media relations are all inextricably intertwined. Each of these segments  supports  each  other.  For  example,  good community relations are very important to the morale of our  naval  personnel  (internal  relations).  A  hostile community,  or  one  where  liaison  is  not  very  good,  can make it hard for Navy people to get off-base housing, local credit and other amenities that are important morale considerations. The first part of this chapter is devoted to a survey of  some  techniques  that  can  be  used  to  develop  a positive, planned community relations program for a ship or station. The second part discusses the duties of the  senior  journalist  regarding  special  events. 5-1