top of page
Sincerely, Southern

GS Grad Finds Passion for Journalism in the Military







Before graduating Georgia Southern University in 2016, James Braswell University of North Georgia from 2010 to 2013 on the Georgia Military Scholarship. When he was high school senior,he enlisted in the Georgia Army National Guard.During his time there, Braswell discovered that he had a passion for writing and talking about sports, changing his major from physical education to English.


UNG offered journalism courses but not a degree, leading Braswell to change his major to general studies before ultimately dropping out.During his gap year, Braswell worked full-time as an administrative assistant for the 170th Military Police Battalion, a Georgia Army National Guard unit in Decatur, Georgia. He discovered that they too had public relations in the military.


Braswell applied for a drill-status position with the 124th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment in Marietta, Georgia as a public affairs broadcast specialist. He attended training at the Defense Information School in Fort Meade, Maryland. The program took place for four months, where Braswell learned how to make radio and video packages and how to announce and broadcast write.In 2014, Braswell attended Georgia Southern University and joined his now wife, Virginia, who was a business management major.


There, Braswell had more opportunities to work hands-on-doing interviews, shooting packages and interacting with people outside of the classroom. He also worked at the Multimedia Arts Center. as a student video producer. During his last semester, he was a sports director at 91.9 “The Buzz”alongside other students, including Danny Waugh. After graduating in 2016, Braswell worked full time at his unit, 124. He focused on doing public affair stories, producing videos, photos and stories.


Braswell also performed administrative work,making sure that the soldiers were well taken care of and on track to advance their careers.He later on moved to working for the 201st Regional Support Group, continuing to focus on reporting public affairs. Braswell even travelled to Cuba to cover for Joint Task Force Guantanamo, where he performed administrative, operational and logistical support.


The team was responsible for handling media relations with reporters who covered various military trials,including United States v. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, where five alleged Al-Qaeda members were involved in aiding the 9/11 attacks. The team also took photos and wrote news stories for social media and created video spots.


Braswell currently is a training administrator for the 277th Maintenance Company, out of Kennesaw, GA, focusing on training documentation, operations, orders, and sending qualified soldiers to military schools to advance their careers.He hopes to help others to lead and help grow, develop and mentor other people so they can be the best individuals they can be for their communities. Braswell plans to go to officer candidate school and later become the commander of the 124th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, the unit he deployed with to Cuba

7 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page