A public affairs operations center is one of the four types of public affairs units in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

. In function and size, the closest equivalent is a

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...

headquarters. Informally known as press camp headquarters, PAOCs are corps- or theater-level public affairs units tasked with providing press camp services and facilities to accredited members of the media in support of

combined operations In current military use, combined operations are operations conducted by forces of two or more allied nations acting together for the accomplishment of a common strategy, a strategic and operational and sometimes tactical cooperation. Interactio ...

and joint operations. In addition to providing workspace and services, the PAOC provides command and control staff, planning and supervision of operations performed by subordinate public affairs units. The PAOC is also responsible for registering and escorting news media representatives, assisting in deploying media pools and coordinating logistical support for a media operations center. In 2005, the

stood up its first active duty component PAOC, the 10th Public Affairs Operations Center 10th Press Camp Headquarters, in Atlanta, Georgia. The unit is now stationed at

Fort Bragg (North Carolina) Fort Bragg is a military installation of the United States Army in North Carolina, and is one of the largest military installations in the world by population, with around 54,000 military personnel. The military reservation is located within Cu ...

. There are seven reserve component public affairs operations centers.

References

{{Reflist United States Army doctrine