(Series 1 Post 6)
Silent professionals. Maybe you know one. They don’t seek accolades. They do their job, do it well, inspire others along the way, and sometimes, unwittingly, kind of become legends in their career field without a lot of fanfare.
I’m Mikie P, and in this edition of Take 5, you’ll meet Dee McNutt, Garrison Public Affairs Officer at Fort Carson, Colorado; someone who made her mark in the PA world with hard work and genuine humility. So, buckle-up and settle in as I share her story.
“I’m originally from Sturgis, South Dakota,” said Dee, “and the reason I wanted to join the Army in 1984 is because I’m from Sturgis,” she said, chuckling.
If you’re confused, I’ll explain. The annual 10-day Sturgis Motorcycle Rally typically draws a half million partying bikers. When that’s not happening though, there’s not much else going on. At all. It’s safe to say Sturgis is not exactly a hotbed for budding journalists.
“When I was a junior in high school, I edited the school newspaper and yearbook,” she said. “A recruiter showed up one day, and I asked if I could do this in the Army, and he said, “Absolutely. We have Army Public Affairs!”
Unfortunately for Dee though, there was a two-year waiting list for the basic journalism course at the Defense Information School (DINFOS) located then, at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana. So, the day after she graduated high school, she joined the National Guard as a 76 Victor (Army Logistician) and shipped-off to Fort Jackson for basic training. Then she went on to logistics school and back to Sturgis.
“I worked a couple odd jobs at home and decided nah, I want to do this Army thing full time,” she said, “so I transferred over to active-duty status.”
Her first assignment at Fort Cavazos (formally Hood) kept her busy, but the urge to write never left her. That urge was so strong she stopped by the III Corps Public Affairs Office and persuaded them to let her write stories for the base newspaper as a side gig. She submitted a weekly article, but let’s just say her passion for writing didn’t initially equate to being a good journalist.
“I had no idea how to write in the Army style, and the editor completely ripped my stories apart,” said Dee. “It was just miserable!”
Back in the day, Army editors used red, felt-tipped pens to hack up your stories. They were like little bayonets that cut so badly, you’d contemplate bringing a tourniquet with you just to stop the hemorrhaging. Yes. It really was that bad.
“I kept writing though, and after a few months my stories were publishable,” she said. “My command saw my work and released me to the PA shop fulltime, but I still couldn’t get to DINFOS so, in the interim,” she said, “I went to Germany, then back to Hood and prepped for assignment with the 13th COSCOM or Corps Support Command and deployed to Somalia.
“I was the senior person the first four months there and created everything we’d need to get our shop up and running,” she said. “I took a 50-gallon drum and hooked it up to the wall with PVC piping to drain the chemicals needed to process film. I literally built us a darkroom,” she said.
Yes. We actually used to develop film with chemicals and water baths. We’d cross our fingers while our prints processed and anxiously wait to see if our pictures were even useable. Yeah. Good times!
In Somalia, Dee wrote stories, took photos, and escorted national media reps around the area. Her deployment wasn’t without incident though, and there were a couple of nail-biter moments that could have gone very badly.
“We had some hairy times where guys with machetes would surround our food truck convoys,” she said, “but thankfully, we got out of there with no injuries.”
After her tour, Dee returned to Texas, and finally, after her third packet submission, she got a slot in the Basic Journalism Course. Two months later she received her diploma certifying her as a “DINFOS Trained Killer,” and inevitably ended-up permanently stationed at Fort Meade, Maryland, where she became an instructor for both the Basic Journalism and Editors Course.
If all that didn’t keep her busy enough though, she also added, “mother” to her resume, too. Carson ended-up being her last assignment in uniform, and after 22 years she retired and started immediately working as the Media Relations Chief there.
With the transition from Soldier to Civilian, Dee recognized the valuable skills she’d learned by serving. She also realized just how many people were instrumental to her success her entire career. One Soldier in particular stood out, though.
“Kiki Bryant Schad is a retired sergeant major now, but she was the first NCO I ever worked with that had the biggest impact on me,” said Dee. “Not only did she affect how I approached story writing, but she was probably the best NCO I’d ever come across in my career,” she said. “She shaped how I led people, how I handled working with officers and navigated leadership.”
In addition to those who inspired her along the way though, Dee said the primary motivation for her was her deep love for public affairs.
“If you have that drive and passion-regardless of the mistakes you make along the way, you’ll be successful in this field,” she said. “If you want to continue to support Soldiers and their families after you retire from the Army, come into the PA field as a civilian because you will know and understand exactly how to tell the story of our Army’s Soldiers.”
Thank you for your service to FORSCOM, Dee. You're so appreciated, and you're swell.
Readers wanting to learn more about a career in Army Public Affairs should visit an Army recruiting station or just strike-up a conversation with an Army Public Affairs Specialist. Visit the FORSCOM main page and visit us on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/us-army-forces-command-fedeforscom/.
Join me next month for another conversation with a FORSCOM team member who loves what they do. Till then, take care, Be All You Can Be At FORSCOM, and don’t forget to “Take 5.”
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