Skip to main content
HonestMOS
●InvestigationsCongress made VA disability claims free to file. An entire industry charges veterans anyway — and nobody can stop them.→
←Back to MC Mass Communication Specialist — overview, pay, training, civilian translation, reviews
MCE8-E9

Mass Communication Specialist

E-8 to E-9 (Senior NCO) · Navy

E1–E3E-4E-5E-6E-7E8–E9
HEADS UP

MCCS and MCCM are the rating's senior enlisted leaders — the handful of MCs who carry the professional standards, the career health, and the institutional memory of the Navy's journalism community at the highest level. The products still matter. The people matter more.

The Honest MOS Read
MCCS (E-8) and MCCM (E-9) represent the apex of the enlisted MC career — a small cohort of senior leaders who are simultaneously PA professionals, enlisted force advisors, and institutional stewards of the Navy's public communication mission. At this tier the daily work is no longer primarily about producing journalism. It is about building the conditions — through mentoring, policy advising, program oversight, and enlisted force development — that allow the MCC, MC1, MC2, and MC3 levels to produce journalism that serves the Navy's mission and the American public's right to information about its military. The MCCS at a major command is the Department or Division Senior Enlisted Leader (SEL). The PA section is your professional domain, but the enlisted leadership accountability covers every petty officer and seaman in the command's communications enterprise. You sit at the CO's morning brief when the enlisted readiness picture requires it. You attend the command's officer professional development events as the senior enlisted perspective. The CMC (Command Master Chief) calls you when a command-climate issue involves the PA or communications community. You are not a program manager at this tier — you are a force developer who happens to have built the program that is running well behind you. The MCCM (E-9) is the MC rating's most senior voice. There are very few MCCMs in the Navy at any given time — the selection rate is the most competitive in the enlisted community. The MCCM advises the Chief of Naval Information (CHINFO) on enlisted MC force structure, career health, and professional standards. The MCCM reviews the rating's advancement statistics, the NEC pipeline health, the DINFOS curriculum alignment with fleet PA requirements, and the community's representation in joint and combined PA assignments. The MCCM who can articulate why the MC rating's force structure is undersized for the current PA mission demand — with data, with recommendations, and with the historical context that comes from 20-plus years of lived experience — is the MCCM who changes how the Navy trains and employs its journalists. The PA program's legacy at the MCCS/MCCM level is measured in cohorts of developed professionals, not in individual bylines. The MCCS whose three MCC mentorees each built strong SCPO records, whose MC1s advanced to Chief at above-average rates, and whose command's PA program maintained a clean OPSEC and release-authority record across a two-year tour has left the program demonstrably better than they found it. The MCCM who served as the rating's principal advocate for DINFOS curriculum modernization, for joint-PA billet expansion, and for the MC rating's inclusion in high-priority DoD strategic communication assignments has shaped the career of every MC who comes after. That is the measure.
Career Arc
  • 01MCCS selection board — competitive records review, same model as the MCC board, emphasis on full MCC tour leadership outcomes, billet diversity, SEA completion, and senior leadership scope.
  • 02First MCCS billet: Department or Division Senior Enlisted Leader (SEL) at a major command, PA section program oversight at the strategic level.
  • 03Fleet MC rating career advisor engagement — the MCCS who knows the fleet's MC billet health, the DINFOS pipeline, and the NEC sub-specialty market advises junior MCs from a position of current institutional data.
  • 04Senior Enlisted Academy or Joint Senior Enlisted Academy (JSEA) completion if not done at MCC — the PME credential for the MCPO board.
  • 05MCCM selection board — the most competitive enlisted selection in the Navy; the candidate's complete career record is the packet.
  • 06MCCM billet: CHINFO enlisted advisor, Type Commander SEL for PA-centric commands, or major command CMC (Command Master Chief) at a PA-intensive installation.
Common Screwups
  • ×Taking the MCCS billet as an opportunity to return to production and 'do good work again' instead of executing the senior enlisted leadership role. The MCCS who is still the section's best broadcaster at E-8 is the MCCS who has not built the section that can outlast their tenure. The PA program that collapses when the MCCS PCSs was never really led — it was staffed by the MCCS and supervised by the chief.
  • ×Losing touch with the junior MC community — spending the MCCS tour at the senior-leader level and never walking the PA shop floor to understand what the MC3 and MC2 experience actually looks like in the current operating environment. The MCCS who gives advancement and career counseling based on their own MC2 experience from a decade ago is giving outdated counsel.
  • ×Failing to submit the MCPO packet or delaying the senior enlisted leadership development actions (JSEA, billet diversity, CMC qualification) until HYT pressure arrives. The MCCM board reads whether the candidate has been building toward the top of the rating or drifting toward it.
  • ×Allowing a high-profile PA failure — major OPSEC violation, unauthorized media release, publication error in a command product read at the SECNAV level — under the MCCS's program watch. At E-8 the program is yours. The investigation names the program owner.

A Day in the Life

  • 0500-0600Personal PT — the MCCS sets the physical readiness standard by example. Running, swimming, or strength training before quarters.
  • 0630-0700CMC morning sync if applicable — command-level readiness brief, any overnight command climate items requiring the MCCS's awareness.
  • 0700-0800PA program morning brief with the PAO — MCCS presents the week's section readiness, any CHINFO-coordination items, upcoming high-visibility coverage requirements, and any command climate notes relevant to the PA program.
  • 0800-1000Program oversight block — review of MC1 LPO's section management, eEVAL cycle status, career counseling preparation for scheduled sessions, MCCM packet work if applicable.
  • 1000-1200Senior enlisted leadership engagement — deckplate walk through the section, one-on-one mentoring sessions with MCC or MC1 candidates, Chief's Mess advisory engagement, any CO-requested briefing preparation.
  • 1200-1300Senior Enlisted Mess lunch (at commands with active E-8/E-9 Mess structure) or working lunch on professional reading.
  • 1300-1530Strategic advisory block — CO debrief or CO brief preparation, CHINFO coordination on any pending high-sensitivity PA items, retention counseling sessions, program metrics review.
  • 1530-1700End-of-day sync with MC1 LPO — section status close, any unresolved items that require MCCS awareness before next morning, CMC advisory if command climate item arose during the day.
  • 1700-2200Personal and professional time — MCCM packet development, JSEA coursework, professional reading on strategic communication and PA program management, community mentoring if available.

Weekly Cadence

The MCCS week is structured around the command battle rhythm and the PA program oversight cycle. Monday is the CO's readiness brief preparation day — the MCCS reviews the previous week's PA program metrics, the current week's high-visibility coverage calendar, and any command climate items relevant to the enlisted PA community before the PAO's weekly sync with the CO. The MCCS who arrives at the Monday PAO sync with a prepared program brief that anticipates the CO's questions is the MCCS whose judgment the CO and PAO rely on. Tuesday through Thursday are the senior leadership and program oversight core. Mentoring sessions with MCCs and MC1s are scheduled (not ad hoc) and documented. The Chief's Mess mid-week meeting is a MCCS calendar anchor — command climate review, advancement and retention data presentation, and any Mess-level action items from the previous week are the standing MCCS contributions. The PA section's production output is reviewed by the MC1 LPO and visible to the MCCS through the daily brief summary, not through direct supervision. The MCCS who is still attending the MC3's daily standup is the MCCS who has not delegated the section management. Friday is the program close and next-week planning day. The MCCS reviews the week's retention and career counseling completion against the schedule, confirms the next week's PAO sync agenda, and completes any MCCM packet or SEA coursework documentation for the week. At sea the weekly rhythm collapses into the operational cycle, and the MCCS's program oversight runs through the MC1 LPO's daily brief — the senior leader who has built a resilient section organization is the senior leader who can focus on the command-level leadership responsibilities that define the E-8 and E-9 tour rather than the production floor that the MC1 LPO should be running.

Key Skills — How to Drill Each

  1. 01
    Advise the commanding officer directly on the command's PA program alignment with the CHINFO strategic communication framework — not as a briefer but as a trusted advisor.
    The CO who calls the MCCS before a sensitive media event is the CO who trusts the MCCS's judgment. Build that relationship across the tour: be present in the CO's battle rhythm for the PA-relevant events, provide brief and accurate assessments rather than lengthy presentations, and never waste the CO's time with information the CO does not need to make a decision. The CO who trusts the MCCS's PA judgment extends that trust to the MCCS's enlisted advisory role. Both compound.
  2. 02
    Manage the MC rating's career health at the command level — advancement statistics, NEC pipeline, reenlistment rates, billet fill — and present the data with recommendations to the CMC.
    The MCCS who knows that three of the command's MC2s are within 12 months of their HYT and none have been counseled on reenlistment options is the MCCS who is ahead of a retention problem. Pull the section's career data quarterly: advancement cycle results against the fleet MC average, pending reenlistment windows with options researched, NEC pipeline status for each sailor on the development track. Present the data to the CMC as a readiness picture with a plan, not as a status report with no action.
  3. 03
    Mentor an MCC through the SCPO board process — from record audit to packet submission — and serve as the board packet counselor for the junior MC community.
    The MCCS who has been through the SCPO selection process knows exactly what the board is looking for and where the gaps are likely to be. The MCC who comes to the MCCS for counseling should leave with a specific action plan tied to specific gaps in a specific timeline — not with encouragement. The MCCMs and MCCSs who built the Navy's PA community to its current state were built by senior chiefs who told them hard truths about their records early enough to do something about it.
  4. 04
    Lead the command's PA section through a major crisis communication event — unauthorized media leak, serious mishap, command misconduct allegation — maintaining PA discipline under pressure.
    Crisis communication at the command level tests everything: the release authority protocol, the CHINFO coordination chain, the CO's media brief, and the section's ability to produce accurate information quickly under public scrutiny. The MCCS who has rehearsed the crisis communication protocol with the PAO before the crisis is the MCCS whose section does not break during it. Brief the CO on the protocol before the crisis — not during. Know who at CHINFO answers the phone at 0200 for an urgent media request. The section that has practiced the protocol in training does not invent it on the day it matters.

Manuals & References — What Chapters Matter

  • SECNAVINST 5720.44 — at the program governance and policy advisory level
    At MCCS the instruction is the basis for the CO's and PAO's trust in your program oversight. The MCCS who can advise the PAO on policy intent, not just policy compliance, is the MCCS who earns the CO's confidence in crisis communication situations.
  • MILPERSMAN 1160.12 — High Year Tenure (HYT) policy
    The MCCS is the career advisor for every MC in the command. Knowing the current HYT limits — verified against the current MILPERSMAN, as these change — for E-4 through E-7 is the foundation for honest retention counseling. The sailor who hits HYT without having had an honest counseling session is the sailor who blames the institution. The MCCS who has the conversation 24 months out gives the sailor options.
  • NAVADMIN — current enlisted advancement cycle messages for the MC rating, all paygrades
    The MCCS who reads the advancement NAVADMIN for every MC paygrade — not just their own — knows the advancement health of the entire rating community. Advancement statistics by paygrade and NEC tell the story of where the community is healthy and where it is at risk. The MCCS who presents this data to the CMC with an analysis is the MCCS who is functioning as a rating advisor, not just a section leader.
  • DoD Principles of Information — published under DoDD 5122.5
    The MCCS is the most senior enlisted custodian of the Navy's commitment to the DoD Principles of Information — maximum disclosure with minimum delay. Understanding the philosophical and legal foundation of military public affairs, not just its procedural rules, is what separates the MCCS program advisor from the MCCS policy enforcer.

Standards — How to Hit Each

  • MCPO packet in development — every MCCS tour assignment, JSEA status, billet diversity, and mentoring outcome builds the MCCM record.
    The MCCM board reads the complete career. The MCCS who is building toward MCCM selection does not wait until the E-8 tour is closing to assess the record. Every billet decision, every mentoring outcome, every PME completion, and every program innovation the MCCS has led is a packet entry. The MCCS who approaches the E-8 tour as a building block in a 30-year record leaves every assignment with the record demonstrably stronger.
  • PA program PA section producing at or above the prior MCC-era standard throughout the MCCS tour.
    The measure of the MCCS's program stewardship is whether the section's production standard was maintained and improved under senior leadership oversight. The MCCS whose section had three OPSEC incidents, two missed publication deadlines, and a turnover-in-place gap is the MCCS who built a dependent section rather than a resilient one. The MCCS whose section ran well during two PCS turnovers because the systems and the people were built right is the program steward the CMC names in the post-tour debrief.
  • Retention counseling for every MC in the command completed with documented session notes, career options researched, and reenlistment decision recorded on the sailor's record.
    The retention counseling timeline: first session at 36 months before the SRB window, second session at 24 months, final session at 12 months. The sailor who has a documented counseling record at each interval has made an informed reenlistment decision. The sailor who reenlisted because no one talked to them about the options is the sailor who regrets it three years later and blames the institution. The MCCS who has that documentation for every MC in the command is the MCCS who can answer the CMC's retention brief with confidence.

Technical Mistakes — Concrete Consequences

  • Allowing the PA section's DVIDS account to lapse into disorganized metadata or incomplete release-authority documentation under the MCCS's program watch.
    An IG inspection finding on the PA archive documentation is a program quality failure at the MCCS level. The DVIDS account is both the archival record and the legal release-authority trail. The MCCS who built a clean archive management protocol with the MC1 LPO and audited it quarterly does not generate the finding.
  • Missing a major PA event — SECNAV visit, congressional delegation, joint exercise media pool — because the section's coverage calendar was not synchronized with the command's event schedule.
    An undocumented SECNAV visit or an uncovered congressional delegation is a PA program failure that the CO notices at the next staff meeting. The MCCS who has a standing calendar sync with the command's front-office schedule does not miss the major events. The MCCS who relies on the MC1 to catch everything in the weekly sync misses the events that the MC1 did not know were sensitive enough to flag.
  • Providing career counseling based on personal experience from a decade ago without verifying the current NAVADMIN, MILPERSMAN, and NEC billet availability data.
    The sailor who made a career decision based on outdated counsel — an SRB bonus that no longer exists, a C-school pipeline that was closed, a billet distribution that changed after the MCCS's last assignment in the community — made the decision without current data. The MCCS who verifies the data before every counseling session gives honest counsel. The MCCS who gives advice from memory gives a disservice.

Career Decisions at This Rank

  • MCCM selection board vs. retirement at the MCCS milestone
    MCCM selection is the most competitive enlisted selection in the Navy. The MCCS who has the record — billet diversity, SEA completion, mentoring outcomes, CO and CMC endorsements, eEVAL trajectory — and the desire to serve at the rating's highest advisory level should submit the packet. The MCCS who has an excellent record but has reached the 26-to-28-year service window should evaluate the MCCM path against a federal GS-13 or GS-14 PA civilian career and the financial math of full retirement. Neither path is wrong. The calculation is personal, financial, and professional simultaneously. The career counselor and the chief's financial advisor are both resources for this conversation — and the spouse's voice matters as much as any institutional calculation.
  • Federal civilian transition (GS-12 to GS-15 PA Specialist) vs. continued active-duty service
    The MCCS at 20-plus years of service has full retirement benefits and a service record that is competitive for GS-12 to GS-15 public affairs specialist positions at DoD components, VA, DHS, and joint commands. The Veterans' Preference system advantages the MCCS candidate significantly in federal hiring. The civilian PA market (agency, corporate communications, journalism) is also accessible — the MCCS who wants to leave the institution rather than pivot within the federal system has civilian-portable credentials. The financial modeling of O-6 equivalent GS salary plus military retirement versus continued active duty service is specific to the individual's situation and years of service — do the math honestly before the retirement decision is made.
  • DINFOS instructor or PA schoolhouse assignment vs. operational MCCS billet
    A DINFOS instructor tour or a PA schoolhouse assignment at the MCCS level is a high-impact institutional contribution — the MCCSs who teach at DINFOS are shaping the professional foundation of every MC who enters the rating. The operational billet gives the MCCS board record a different kind of diversity. Both are legitimate at the E-8 level. The MCCM board typically values both types of assignments in a senior record; the MCCS whose record shows only operational billets without any schoolhouse or instruction contribution has a narrower picture than the MCCS who has done both.

How the Seat Varies by Unit Type

  • Major afloat command (carrier or amphibious group, MCCS as SEL or division senior leader)
    The highest-operational-tempo MCCS assignment. The PA section is running a deployment production cycle; the Chief's Mess is large and the command climate leadership is real weight. The MCCS who survives a carrier deployment at E-8 with the PA program performing and the enlisted force in good readiness shape has the strongest MCCM board entry in the rating.
  • CHINFO or NAVSUP PA staff (MCCS as senior enlisted PA advisor)
    Products go to the highest-visibility channels in the Navy PA enterprise — national media, congressional support, SECNAV communication staff. The MCCS at CHINFO is the most senior enlisted PA professional in the Navy PA chain of command and is visible to the CHINFO flag officer and the civilian leadership of OPNAV PA daily. The impact on PA policy and strategic communication is unmatched in the rating.
  • Joint command PA staff (MCCS as senior enlisted representative in a multi-service PA environment)
    Joint experience at E-8 is a valued credential on the MCCM board. The MCCS who has served in a joint PA environment — CJCS PA, CCMD PA, or joint task force PA — has demonstrated the capacity to operate across service-specific PA cultures and standards. The joint credential distinguishes the MCCM packet in a field of strong MC-only records.
  • DINFOS instructor or curriculum developer (MCCS shaping the MC schoolhouse)
    The MCCS who teaches at DINFOS is shaping the professional foundation of every MC who enters the rating. The classroom impact is invisible in the DVIDS publication record but visible in the cohorts of junior MCs who arrive at the fleet with better AP Style, better photojournalism instincts, and a clearer understanding of the PA program's legal framework than the cohorts who preceded them. The MCCM board values schoolhouse contribution as institutional investment, not as operational gap.

What Good Looks Like at This Rank

The high-performing MCCS is the senior chief the CMC calls when a command climate issue touches the PA community, the MC1 community, or any enlisted sailor who has been impacted by a public communication failure. Not because the MCCS micromanages — because the MCCS has spent the tour building the kind of trust with the deckplate that means people tell the senior chief things before they escalate. The sailor who walks into the MCCS's office with a concern about an unreported OPSEC issue has done so because the MCCS's door has been consistently open and the conversations have consistently been honest. That culture is not installed on day one. It is built over months of deckplate presence and consistent follow-through. In the PA program, the good MCCS's legacy is visible in the cohort of MCs who passed through the command's section during the tour. Three years later two of them have advanced, one is in an MCC leadership billet, and the section they came from has the highest DVIDS publication record in the type command. The MCCS's name is in none of those bylines. The MCCS built the people who earned the bylines. The MCCM at the apex of the career is the MC who can stand in front of a CHINFO briefing and speak honestly about the gap between what the MC rating produces and what the Navy's strategic communication mission requires — not as a complaint but as a program analysis with specific recommendations. The MCCM who has that conversation with data, with the humility that comes from 25 years of understanding how hard the work is, and with the clarity that comes from knowing the DoD Principles of Information are worth defending — that MCCM is the reason the Navy PA community has professional standards worth defending. Every byline, every clean release, every sailor who chose to tell the Navy's story truthfully because a senior chief told them it mattered — that is the MCCM's legacy.

Preview — The Next Rank

For the MCCS on the MCCM track, the Master Chief Petty Officer selection board is the final selection event. The MCCM rate in the MC community is vanishingly small — there may be only one or two MCCMs in the Navy at any given time. The selection board for MCCM reads the complete career record with the lens of: has this MCCS demonstrated the leadership capacity, the institutional commitment, and the professional excellence to be the Navy's most senior MC? The eEVAL narrative, the billet diversity, the mentoring outcomes, the PME record, the CO and CMC endorsements across multiple tours — all of it contributes to the answer. For the MCCS who reaches the MCCM rank, the job is the rating's conscience and voice. The MCCM who sits with the CHINFO flag and says 'the fleet's MC force structure is undersized for the INDOPACOM PA demand by approximately this many billets, and here is the data' is the MCCM who is doing the job. The MCCM who mentors the next generation of Chiefs and Senior Chiefs — who builds the pipeline that builds the pipeline — is the MCCM whose legacy outlasts the service record. For the MCCS who does not pursue MCCM or does not reach selection, the transition to civilian PA is the career's final chapter — and it is a strong one. The MCCS who brings 22-plus years of military journalism experience, a warfare qualification, a strong eEVAL record, and a clearance to a federal PA position is the candidate every DoD component PA office wants. The work continues after the uniform comes off. The Navy's story still needs telling, and the journalist who spent a career telling it honestly has more to offer than most.
FAQ

MC E8-E9 — Frequently Asked Questions

Q01What does a E8-E9 MC (Mass Communication Specialist) actually do?
As MCCS or MCCM you run the senior enlisted PA posture for a fleet PA office, a CHINFO regional detachment, a combatant command public affairs staff, a numbered fleet or TYCOM communications directorate, or sit as a Command Master Chief (CMC) where the path opens.
Q02What's the most important thing to know as a E8-E9 MC?
MCCS and MCCM are the rating's senior enlisted leaders — the handful of MCs who carry the professional standards, the career health, and the institutional memory of the Navy's journalism community at the highest level.
Q03What does a typical day look like for a E8-E9 MC?
Time-blocked day at the E8-E9 MC rank tier: 0500-0600 Personal PT — the MCCS sets the physical readiness standard by example. Running, swimming, or strength training before quarters, 0630-0700 CMC morning sync if applicable — command-level readiness brief, any overnight command climate items requiring the MCCS's awareness, 0700-0800 PA program morning brief with the PAO — MCCS presents the week's section readiness, any CHINFO-coordination items, upcoming high-visibility coverage requirements, and any command climate notes relevant to the PA program,…
Q04What mistakes get E8-E9 MC soldiers fired or relieved?
Taking the MCCS billet as an opportunity to return to production and 'do good work again' instead of executing the senior enlisted leadership role. The MCCS who is still the section's best broadcaster at E-8 is the MCCS who has not built the section that can outlast their tenure. The PA program that collapses when the MCCS PCSs was never really led — it was staffed by the MCCS and supervised by the chief;…
Q05What career decisions matter most at the E8-E9 MC rank tier?
MCCM selection board vs. retirement at the MCCS milestone — MCCM selection is the most competitive enlisted selection in the Navy. The MCCS who has the record — billet diversity, SEA completion, mentoring outcomes, CO and CMC endorsements, eEVAL trajectory — and the desire to serve at the rating's highest advisory level should submit the packet. The MCCS who has an excellent record but has reached the 26-to-28-year service window should evaluate the MCCM path against a federal GS-13 or GS-14 PA civilian career and the financial math of full retirement. Neither path is wrong.…
Q06What's next after E8-E9 for a MC (Mass Communication Specialist) in the Navy?
For the MCCS on the MCCM track, the Master Chief Petty Officer selection board is the final selection event.
Q07What manuals and regulations does a E8-E9 MC need to know cold?
SECNAVINST 5720.44C — full library; you are quoted from it more often than you quote it.; DoDD 5122.5 — joint PA policy; you brief it to flag officers at joint billets.; JP 3-61 — Joint Public Affairs — doctrine level you operate at for JTF and combatant command assignments.

This playbook has no tips yet. Be the first to share what you know.

Published by the Honest MOS Editorial DeskVerified against DoD/.gov sourcesUpdated May 2026Editorial standards