Military Review English Edition January-February 2015 | Page 118

Operation Atlantic
Resolve
A Case Study in Effective
Communication Strategy
Jesse Granger

W

hen Lt. Gen. Donald Campbell, then
commanding general of U.S. Army
Europe (USAREUR), finished speaking
at the Maritime Museum in Tallinn, Estonia on 22
April 2014, the reaction of those in attendance was
one that neither he, nor anyone in the room, would
likely forget.1 The event, a charity dinner for the
Carolin Illenzeer Foundation, brought together a
mix of elites from Tallinn and the Estonian military
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to support the children of those killed or seriously
injured while in service of the Estonian Defense
Forces.2 Campbell’s presence came at the request of
Maj. Gen. Riho Terras, the Estonian Defense Forces
commander, and the president of Estonia, Toomas
Hendrik Ilves, ahead of a deployment of U.S. paratroopers to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland.
The operation was not yet announced publicly, so
only a few in the room were privy to the ongoing
January-February 2015  MILITARY REVIEW