1. Public Affairs Community Brief
This community brief has been generated by the community leaders, including detailers and community managers.

2. Public Affairs Career Progression PAO BILLETS BY LOCATION
Misc Conus: CO, CT, GA, IL, KS, MD, NE, NY, RI, TX, WA
YCS
APAO
CVN, ESG,
Numbered Fleet (sea duty)
TYCOM
Numbered FLT
CHINFO
Redesig
& Appren-tice tour
Train in
URL
This slide represents the PAO career paths.
The vast majority of URL enter as ENS, thereby having a common starting point making career gates easier to plan out. However, the PAO community relies heavily on assessing at 3-7 YCS so common career gates are more difficult to achieve.
Associate PAO tours for new accessions are designed to provide mentoring from experienced senior PAOs. These billets typically include Carrier Strike Groups division officers , Navy Public Affairs Centers, CHINFO, Navy Offices of Information and the Defense Media Activity Washington, DC.
- Defense information School is our community’s initial school, at the senior LT/junior 0-4 we send our officers to SDSU to get their masters in Communications. We also have two seats at the War College that we fill annually.
MAJOR STAFF
UNIFIED CMD
JOINT
2nd & 3rd Tour: Independent Duty
Value Warfare
Qualified Officers
Examples
USFFC
C3F
USS Carl Vinson
ESG2
Dep C7F/C6F
SURFLANT
Dep PACFLT
EUCOM
PACOM
JCS
CSG/ESG
NPASE
CHINFO
CNI Naples
NAVCENT Staff
Professional
Education
War College Graduate Education
DC / JOINT
Defense
Information
School
San Diego
State University

3. Public Affairs CATEGORY O-3 O-4 Lieutenant Commander OFFICER INVENTORY84 63
INDEPENDENT DUTY
30/36%
42/66%
OVERSEAS DUTY
29/35%
21/33%
JOINT DUTY
1/2%
8/13%
CVN/SEA FLEET/ESG
13/15%
37/58%
Success in challenging fleet jobs reporting directly to the Flag/Commanding Officers as well as outstanding performance when competing with their peers at Chief of Information (CHINFO) and CHINFO Field Activities is noteworthy.
Many PAO assignments are in small or single person shops, it is not uncommon to see multiple non-competitive, 1 of 1 reports. "Soft" breakouts when compared with peers in "all designators" may be the only basis for relative comparison of performance.
Gaining experience is a key factor in developing a successful career-oriented PAO.
Special consideration should be given to ensure that senior O-3 lateral transfers receive the opportunity through training and assignment to challenging billets to maintain positive career progression.

4. Public Affairs CATEGORY O-4 O-5 Commander OFFICER INVENTORY 63 43
INDEPENDENT DUTY
42/66%
38/100%
OVERSEAS DUTY
21/33%
26/64%
JOINT DUTY
8/13%
17/45%
CVN/SEA FLEET/ESG
37/58%
37/97%
WAR COLLEGE
3/6%
13/34%
Emphasis should also be given to assignments of increasing responsibility. While an assignment to a Public Affairs Staff is useful for career development, successful tours as the Public Affairs Officer reporting directly to the Commander are most notable. It is not the number of tours as a PAO that is critical…it is the best performance in the most demanding jobs.
Successful tours with a Carrier Strike Group, Expeditionary Strike Group or deputy numbered Fleet are critical to gain the knowledge and experience to serve successfully in our most demanding senior public affairs billets. These are milestones for O-5s.
Commander PAOs should have a variety of challenging operational and headquarters-level assignments. Continued exceptional service is an indicator of future success in the senior ranks.

5. Public Affairs CATEGORY O-5 O-6 Captain OFFICER INVENTORY 43 21
INDEPENDENT DUTY
38/100%
21/100%
OVERSEAS DUTY
26/68%
14/82%
JOINT DUTY
17/44%
CVN/SEA FLEET/ESG
37/97%
15/89%
WAR COLLEGE
17/39%
17/76%
O-6 Public Affairs Officers are expected to provide strategic communication counsel at the four-star and above level.
This requires broad and geographically varied operational experience at the three-star level, such as senior HQ staffs, OPNAV, OLA, and OCONUS staffs where opportunities exist to collaborate with other government staffs and personnel.
Graduate education is desired for selection to O-6, but lack of a funded graduate degree in itself should not be a distraction from sustained superior performance in a variety of challenging operational assignments. The small size of the public affairs community and the fact that most 1650’s provide direct support to Flag Officers and Commanders often requires higher than normal assignment turnover and more limited opportunities to participate in post-graduate programs whether Navy funded or at personal expense.
Foreign language proficiency is not a requisite skill though the ability to learn and understand regional culture is critically important as most overseas senior PAO billets have regional responsibility.
Joint experience is desired. However, PAOs are not required to have the Joint Qualified Officer (JQO) designation for selection to flag officer, falling into the DoD technical waiver category. Because of the waiver, the PAO community is provided limited JPME opportunities.

6. Public Affairs Assistant PAO tour Initial independent duty tour
Community Values
Valuable achievements prior to LIEUTENANT COMMANDER
Assistant PAO tour
Initial independent duty tour
Valuable achievements prior to COMMANDER
CVN/Fleet Deputy/ESG PAO
Valuable achievements prior to CAPTAIN
Numbered Fleet, TYCOM
Major staff (CFFC, Washington DC, CPF, CHINFO)
JPME (many get JPME after selected for O-6)