Paul Smyth
Paul Smyth is founder of River PR and works as a Major in a Territorial Army role in media operation for the British Army, having served in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. Smyth deployed with 11 Light Brigade to Helmand on a six month tour of duty between October 2009 and April 2010[1] where he was the media ops centre director for the British Army at Camp Bastion, Helmand province, Afghanistan. According to PR Week 'Smyth's main role is to chaperone journalists... However, if it is deemed too dangerous, he takes out a combat camera team to gather information and report back on the action.'[2]
Contents
Background
According to PR Week:
- Smyth decided to become a soldier relatively late in his life, after seven years spent in various PR roles in the UK. He recalls that it was a childhood ambition, but it was not until he realised he could transfer the skills he had achieved in his PR career to the Army that he decided to enlist. He has now completed tours in Iraq, Kosovo and Afghanistan. Despite telling his wife, with whom he has two children, that he 'just needed to get it out of his system', he is still loving the role seven years later: 'In terms of experiences, the things that I'm doing at the moment are once in a lifetime.'[2]
Among his roles Smyth was involved in the British retreat from Basra:
- Smyth was heavily involved with the comms planning for the withdrawal of troops in Iraq, which is one of his proudest achievements from his Army career.
- 'To have the honour of orchestrating events in our British history like that is absolutely amazing. Deep down, although I'm a tiny cog in a massive team here, I am hoping that I'm making a valuable contribution and a bit of difference.'[2]
Biographical Information
History
- Owner River PR August 2003 – Present (8 years 5 months)
- Consultant Bell Pottinger Special Projects March 2011 – December 2011 (10 months)
- Media Ops Specialist and Advisor UK Ministry of Defence April 2010 – April 2011 (1 year 1 month)
- Media Ops Centre Director, Camp Bastion, Helmand, Afghanistan UK Ministry of Defence September 2009 – April 2010 (8 months)
- Media Ops Director for UK Forces withdrawal from Iraq Ministry of Defence March 2009 – May 2009 (3 months)
- Head of Media & Coalition Spokesman, Iraq Ministry of Defence August 2008 – October 2008 (3 months)
- Head of Influence & UK spokesman, Kosovo UK Ministry of Defence May 2008 – August 2008 (4 months)
- General Manager – Communications & PR Konami April 2001 – January 2003 (1 year 10 months)
- Communications & PR Manager Gameloft June 2000 – March 2001 (10 months)
- Divisional Marketing & PR Manager Dennis Publishing January 1996 – June 2000 (4 years 6 months)[3]
Current activities
Paul Smyth has created a raft of WEB2.0 projects including Blog and online projects for the Ministry of Defence:
- http://basrablog.blogspot.com/
- http://helmandblog.blogspot.com/
- http://www.youtube.com/Basrablog
- http://www.youtube.com/helmandblog
- http://www.youtube.com/2RIFLES[4]
Views
Affiliations
Publications, Contact, Resources and Notes
Publications
Contact
- Address:
- Phone:
- Email:
- Website:
- Blog:http://helmandblog.blogspot.com
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/MajorPaulSmyth
Resources
Notes
- ↑ River and Rowing Museum Shooting on the Front Line: One Soldier’s War in Afghanistan - A New Photographic Exhibition at the River & Rowing Museum, accessed 19 December 2011.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Gemma O'Reilly, Profile: Major Paul Smyth, media ops centre director, British Army PR Week UK, 03 March 2010, 6:00am
- ↑ LinkedIn Paul Smyth, accessed 19 December 2011
- ↑ River PR Video, accessed 5 June 2009
