Navy Expands Engagement With Discovery Channel

Following the success of the series Carrier, the Navy has announced a whole list of new projects with the Discovery Channel. The details are in the NAVADMIN:

RMKS/ 1. THE NAVY HAS APPROVED SUPPORT TO THE DISCOVERY NETWORK (INCLUDING DISCOVERY CHANNEL, MILITARY CHANNEL AND SCIENCE CHANNEL) TO
CREATE A SERIES OF PRODUCTIONS FOCUSING ON TODAY'S NAVY.
2. THE PROJECT INCLUDES:
A. A 3-PART DOCUMENTARY (3 HOURS TOTAL) FOCUSING ON VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE MARITIME STRATEGY IN ACTION. THE SERIES IS EXPECTED TO AIR IN THE LABOR DAY 2009 TIMEFRAME.
B. A 30-MINUTE PRODUCTION TO REPLACE THE CURRENT "AT SEA" FILM PLAYING AT THE NAVY MEMORIAL IN WASHINGTON. THIS NEW FILM WILL ALSO BE DISTRIBUTED TO MARITIME MUSEUMS AND CENTERS ACROSS THE COUNTRY.
C. 12 3-5 MINUTE VIDEOS FOCUSING ON THE NAVY'S PRIMARY COMMUNICATION PRIORITY, THE MARITIME STRATEGY, AND THE SECONDARY COMMUNICATION PRIORITY AS APPROVED BY THE CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS ON A MONTHLY BASIS. THE VIDEOS WILL BE POSTED TO WWW.CHINFO.NAVY.MIL FOR NAVY LEADERS AND SPEAKERS TO USE IN KICKING OFF PRESENTATIONS.
D. 12 ADVERTISING VIGNETTES FOR COMMANDER, NAVY RECRUITING COMMAND RECRUITING EFFORTS.
E. DISCOVERY WILL PRODUCE AN EPISODE OF THEIR TECHNOLOGY BASED SHOW CALLED "PROTOTYPE THIS", THAT WILL FOCUS ON THE LITTORAL COMBAT SHIP.
F. DISCOVERY WILL PRODUCE AN EPISODE OF THEIR ENGINEERING BASED SHOW CALLED "BUILD IT BIGGER", THAT WILL FOCUS ON VIRGINIA-CLASS SUBMARINES.
G. DISCOVERY WILL ALSO BE PRODUCING OTHER SHOWS BASED ON ONGOING EVENTS. ONE SUCH SHOW WHICH HAS BEEN APPROVED IS THE NAVY'S ROLE IN COUNTERING PIRACY.
3. THE INTENT OF THIS PROJECT IS TO PROVIDE THE AMERICAN PUBLIC WITH A COMPREHENSIVE VIEW OF OUR NAVY THROUGH INTERESTING AND COMPELLING TELEVISION. THIS CAN ONLY BE ACCOMPLISHED BY PROVIDING DISCOVERY WITH ACCESS TO OPERATIONS IN THE WEEKS AND MONTHS AHEAD.

This is a good thing.

For those of you that have followed my blog for a while, you know that I believe the Navy suffers from an "out of sight, out of mind" problem, in that we've had forces continuously deployed around the globe for the last half century, but the activities of those forces haven't gotten much attention in the media except during major operations and conflicts. The more we can do as a service to inform the public on what the security and stability threats are in the world and what their investment in their Navy buys, the more support we'll get in the long run.