[Heie]

There has been some very active interest in my military career here since I started my year long Deployment to Afghanistan photo series (which is currently being reviewed!) and my announcement that I am no longer going to have the same position (Afghan Army Liaison and Embedded Training Team Leader) upon my return from Afghanistan. I had been in a limbo status for the past several months because of no vacancies available and just working on random projects for different offices to help lighten the load, but that had come to an end. I just wanted to share that because of my photography, which has gotten around to my superiors in my unit, I am now officially the 54th Engineer Battalion Public Affairs Officer (PAO)!

Aside from the obvious (taking pictures and writing PR articles on behalf of the unit, etc), another duty of mine, because we are a unit stationed in Germany, is the Partnership Officer-in-Charge (OIC). What that means is that I coordinate and facillitate any and all partnerships with host nation (Germany) and other European military units. Prior to my taking the position, my unit just returned from Poland for an exchange with their engineers. Out-of-the-blue-plug: if you or someone you know is part of the European military, please contact me and I would love to see if we can work out some sort of partnership event

It's a fantastic opportunity for me (both personally and professionally), and I've found that my documentary work in Afghanistan has prepared me for an incredibly seamless transition into this position.

For those that are curious as to how this affects my photography: when I am not on duty and photographing for work, I am a private, non-governmental entity, as are my photographs. When I am photographing in a capacity that is on behalf of the Army, the photographs are still mine and I own the copyrights to them, however once they become published, either on the Battalion Facebook Page, press releases, etc, those photographs become public domain (Credit: Photo by U.S. Army). If I take a gallery-esque shot that I want to display, I am still able to put them on my personal photography website (Alex Jansen Photography, see the signature), even with my watermark, however I would only do so to comply with my website format (watermark on each image), but there will be no watermarks on images for the unit facebook page, press releases, etc as those are not private publications. If later on, I desire to sell images, I was told that this would not affect that, however I am not sure about that and would right now err on the side of "no." I will have to inquire about that more in-depth. Honestly to avoid all legal issues I probably will just not sell those specific "double-dipped" images.

Should you be interested, here is the 54th's Facebook Page, of which I am the webmaster as of Wednesday 3 July with the following post: "The 54th Engineer Battalion has a new Public Affairs Officer (S-5)! If you need anything with regard to the content on this page, please do not hesitate to contact 1LT Alexander Jansen by email at alexander.h.jansen.mil@mail.mil or DSN 314-469-7619 (0951-300-7619 from a commercial phone)." I have been a bit busy the last few days (as you can see from the volume of posts since 3 July). I know some of you have expressed an interest as to a more intimate view of military life/affairs, so "liking" following that page may be of interest to you, especially since it's my mission to express and convince to all the families of the soldiers within the unit what great things they are doing

Thanks again for all the support. I'm absolutely enthralled about this opportunity.

-Heie

Edit to Add: I forgot to add this in the initial post, but I've already noticed a benefit of the position - access. I've had to do a few official shoots, but with my rank (First Lieutenant) combined with "I'm the Public Affairs Officer," I have been having far less issues pointing my cameras at what I want

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Last edited by Heie; 07-05-2013 at 08:49 AM.

[JinDesu]

Congrats! Hope to see your next set of photos, especially now that you have a bit more leeway in your work!

[Tom S.]

Wow - congratulations on the new job! I hope it leads to great things!

[civano]

Congratulations! What a wonderful opportunity for someone who without a doubt deserves it!

[Parallax]

As evidenced by your postings here, they've clearly made a wise choice for the position.

Congratulations.

[Kerrowdown]

Great news, I'm pleased it's all panned out for you in a way your obviously happy with, way to go.

[RoxnDox]

Very good news, I'm delighted that someone screwed up and made the right choice!

Jim

[ve2vfd]

It's great news and I am really glad for you. I'm so happy to see your awesome work has led to a well deserved position.

Pat

[Kozlok]

Great! Thanks for your (slightly safer) continued service.

[magkelly]

That's awesome news. Totally thrilled for you.

[EarlVonTapia]

Good job!

[Blue]

Congrats. They have a good photog in that position as well.

[Rupert]

Congratulations!!, and it is good to see you back on safer soil! If it had been a couple of years ago you could have met with my youngest son, he spent the last 6 of his 22 Army years assigned to the top NATO Command in Germany. He did Afghanistan a couple of times, damn near got blown up once.
Germany is his favorite place, he was there for near 12 years off and on, and learned to love it. Plenty to see, plenty to do, lots of interesting nearby nations to visit when off duty. I hope you get to do all you desire.

Best Regards!

BTW....He got hooked on those "Volksmarches"...you familiar with those? In his new home in San Antonio, he has over 200 of those fancy beer steins from all the marches he went on. Must be a worthwhile venture? Never sounded all that good to my old legs!

[Docrwm]

Congratulations. One duty that I did not see listed for a PAO is dealing with media requests and coordinating with visiting VIPs. That can be a good experience too. Best wishes.

BTW - it's weird to see the Army actually put a round peg in a round hole for once

[crewl1]

Way to go Heie. I look forward to your work - going to the FB page now.