Combined Press Information Center, Multi-National Force-Iraq
Baghdad Iraq 2005 –Jan 2008
Media Officer, Iraqi Media Engagement Team (Under Titan Contract)
* Provides cultural counseling to leaders such as high ranking government officials, high ranking Military officers and Western Media (see list below) on many occasions in efforts to assist in the understanding of the Iraqi Culture.
* Provided Media support for two Iraqi elections (2005) and the Constitutional Referendum of 2006. Coordinated all media events such as press conferences such as Multi-national forces spokes person, high ranking multi-national forces officers, Iraqi government officials, high ranking officers and high ranking ministers.
* Coordinated all media trips and attendance throughout Iraq and outside of the country such as Turkey to cover the news, operations and activities of the war during multiple high level media events. This includes rebuilding projects with the Army Corp of Engineers, and the state of the Iraqi people and forces occupying the country. This also included organization of media events involving high American governmental officials such as Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, and many others.
* Trained over 260 Iraqi Public Affairs Specialists in Media Relations. This job involves how to organize press releases and conferences, how to respond to media questions, how to deal with propaganda, how to monitor media and filter accurate media information, how to write a media query and media photography
* Responded to counterpropaganda with extreme measures that were quick and delicate. This directly effected terrorism by immediately combating it and taking control of situations that get out of control within the Arab media quickly.
* Superb written communication skills; assisted in publishing hundreds of press releases over a three year period which included the Saddam Hussein trail.
Chrystal Oliver, Major ACPA 703-717-0249
Crystal.Oliver@hqda.army.mil
C. Donald Alston, Brigadier General USAF
Multi-National Forces-Iraq
ABC News Baghdad, Iraq 2003-2005
Correspondent and Cameraman
* Lead fast action coverage and on the street interviews including hotspots (clash areas, car bombs and other high incidences)
* Covered the War in Iraq during the initial stages
* Assisted ABC correspondents in coordinating interviews and understanding communication from the Iraqi public and government. This was done by translations, direct interviews and by providing cultural counseling to ABC Bureau Chiefs, producers, correspondents, reporters and the security involved. This provided a more complete coverage of the stories.
Baghdad University Baghdad, Iraq 2002-2004
Employee for the Ministry of Higher Education
* Manager of the Internet center.
* Taught classes on how to properly use the Internet for research
* Provided technical support of all computers in the computer lab.
Ministry of Information, Media Center Baghdad, Iraq 2002-2003
Translator and Guide
* Responsible for the media groups who wanted to cover media before and during the initial start of the war.
* Provided cultural counseling Western Media (see list below) on many occasions in efforts to assist in the understanding of the Iraqi Culture.
* Coordinated all media trips and attendance throughout Iraq to cover the news before the war while the United Nations were doing inspections. This included some of the following; Guide and Translator, Mega TV (Greece) (2002)
Guide and Translator, TT News Agency (Sweden) (2002)
Guide and Translator, Fuji TV (2002)
Guide and Translator, May Walsh (USA Free Lens) (2003)
Translator, Asahi (Japan TV) (2004