David Poe serves as a public affairs specialist with the Fort Bliss Garrison command and is a driving force behind documenting the IMCOM mission through his award-winning imagery and media products. Last year, Poe continued to serve as a valuable commodity for his command by providing insightful and eye-catching media products for a growing audience. While maintaining an active news-gathering workload, he also has multiplied his office’s capabilities by embracing video production -- different from his imagery and news writing background. In 2021, in the face of budget constraints, he managed to expand the media offerings from the Command Information section, including producing, voicing, and editing a full year of the Fort Report, the official video news magazine of Fort Bliss, Texas. Also, his contributions to the garrison social media program have been critical to the growth of the audience, making it a valuable commander’s messaging tool. Poe, the 2019 Army Communicator of the Year and 2019 and 2020 Army Materiel Command Communicator of the Year, augmented Task Force-Bliss Public Affairs in 2021 during his installation’s role in supporting the Department of Homeland Security’s Operations Allies Refuge and later Allies Welcome, which saw the largest successful airlift mission in U.S. history transporting vulnerable Afghans. Since his start at Bliss in late 2017, as a release authority with more than 500 published products, Poe has served beyond his pay grade in terms of responsibility, while also delivering the class of Army garrison media products worldwide, making him a multi-talented resource for his command. Before coming to El Paso, Poe served as a PA specialist with the 71st Flying Training Wing at Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma, a joint specialized undergraduate pilot training unit. There he spurred a golden age of new media concepts for the base, including live casting across the base’s social media platforms — an experimental approach for a Department of Defense element at the time. The Air Education and Training Command recognized Poe with several news product awards, and he represented the Air Force command at the DOD level in many categories. Locally, his products promoted command messages for Vance’s pilot training audience, as well as northwest Oklahoma communities and beyond. Before heading west to Oklahoma, during a hiatus from federal service, Poe received digital photography training at the New England Institute of Art in Boston, Massachusetts. There he was able to focus on the technical nuances of digital photography and learn from instructors that provided a departure from his news background, offering time for particulars like color analysis, digital printing experience, and documentary photography opportunities in a classroom setting. Poe hails from Newton, Massachusetts, and is a third-generation Navy veteran. He has a bachelor’s degree from New Mexico State University at Las Cruces, New Mexico.