What’s is like to be a 46R, 46Q, or 46S? Active and Reserves?

SPC(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 25 Jun 2020 12:26:21 -0400

I’m considering reclassing to the Public Affairs Mass Communication Specialist (46S), which is the new MOS 46Q and 46S combined. I’m either staying active duty or going reserves while attending school full-time.

What did your daily work schedule consist of? What were the hours/workdays/weekends? What did your duties consist of at different units? Was the MOS what you expected it to be?

Any other positive/negative experiences or advice, please share!

Response by SGM Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 25 at 2020 12:31 PM

SGM Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 25 Jun 2020 12:31:49 -0400

I have many friends who have those MOSs, they enjoy it a lot. But I am also curious to hear from some 46 series

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 25 at 2020 1:04 PM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 25 Jun 2020 13:04:16 -0400

I was a 46R with the Idaho National Guard from 2012 til 2016. I technically have the 46S as a secondary MOS now, but as a signal officer I don’t have any public affairs duties. I can’t speak to the Active workday, but reserve component will largely depend on whether you are assigned to a public affairs office for say a brigade, vs being assigned to an MPAD.

First let me say I’ve always been a proponent for the idea that public affairs is the best and coolest job in the military. I had the opportunity to do more things than any junior enlisted soldier had any business to do, from sitting on a tank turret during live fire exercises, to following brigade leadership around the AO on black hawks, to spending a day with combat engineers, or mortar teams, or sniper teams, or Field Artillery Paladins.

I was assigned to a brigade public affairs shop so my work was centered around the units under my brigade. My average drill usually comprised of catching up on events from units across the brigade, coordinating with UPARs in those units and occasionally working with brigade leadership to produce and publish messages to the troops. (Think holiday messages).

Annual training was usually a sprint rotating between different units to capture the events and back to the brigade TOC to churn out reporter packages and produce a brigade newsletter. This changed slightly for AT that involved some sort of exercise like NTC as we had a “game” mission to actually coordinate press releases to the role playing media, and other duties typically assigned to PAO in a deployed environment.

I’m kind of word vomiting here so I’d invite you to connect with me or another 46 series offline and ask any questions you might have. All I can say is I loved every second of my time as a 46. The people I worked with were incredible, quirky, hilarious, and I would absolutely do it all over again if given the choice.

Response by SGT Philip Klein made Jun 25 at 2020 3:02 PM

SGT Philip Klein — Thu, 25 Jun 2020 15:02:36 -0400

You get to do everything everyone else does, but you don’t have to clean up afterwards

Response by SGT Philip Klein made Jun 26 at 2020 10:42 AM

SGT Philip Klein — Fri, 26 Jun 2020 10:42:03 -0400

Who are you downvoting, you stupid fucking specialist?

Response by SGT(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 6 at 2020 1:11 AM

SGT(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 06 Jul 2020 01:11:19 -0400

I've done both sides. I was 8th Army PAO in Korea and now DC Guard M-day. Active side you still PT and have motor motorpool and all that good stuff. You get asked out the mundane like promotion ceremonies to the extreme like DMZ exercises or best warrior competition. It is fun, but I worked a lot of weekends and long days. We coverage the event, then gotta go back and edit photos and video, review that stuff, post it.

The Guard is a lot the same...46S I think do more on a drill than other units...we do pretty much what I did on active.

It is fun because you see every job, you experience every job, and you make your fellow soldiers feel good by highlighting them. It can be a lot of work...we definitely work long hours if you do the job right.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 10 at 2021 12:21 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 12:21:53 -0500

I think the work schedule will depend on unit of assignment, but I absolutely love getting to be a public affairs professional. I re-classed from being an MP-- takes a type, you know. The difference is night and day when you do something you truly enjoy.
Nothing in the world is perfect, and nothing in the Army is without that extra-extra set of hassles, but this career path makes me finally feel like my service has given me something to move forward with personally and professionally.
With many MOSs, as you know, you get college credits for training, so consider carefully what field you want those additional credits to be in. They start to stack up but can be kind of useless toward a specific degree if they can't be applied.
I think it will really come down to what you enjoy or don't, though. My fiance is also public affairs and struggles because it's not what she would want most to do.
So, the training/work involves journalism, graphic design, photography, and videography for the initial 46S qualification. Then there are advanced courses you can take. If any of those things interest you, or you could really get into it then I suggest going for it!

In my own opinion, it's the best job out there!