TechNet Augusta 2026

Ron Watrous
Chief of Public Affairs Concepts
Army Proponent Office-Public Affairs (APO-PA)


Ronald K. Watrous is a senior U.S. Army public affairs officer with almost thirty-five years of experience. He is currently the Chief of Public Affairs Concepts for the Army Proponent Office-Public Affairs (APO-PA), Fort Meade, Maryland, ensuring the integration of Public Affairs (PA) and Visual Information (VI) into the Army’s future force. Watrous has served as a DA Civilian since 2015 at headquarters Training and Doctrine Command as a PA plans officer, and the Army Public Affairs Center as the Capabilities Team Lead. He developed the Public Affairs Concept white paper for 2030, posturing PA for multi-domain and large-scale combat operations and integration of PA into the Army Warfighting Concept Framework. He led the proponent’s efforts to accomplish the most comprehensive modernization of public affairs in forty years, leading to the redesigning of Army deployable PA capabilities for Army and Joint Force warfighters. The SRC 45 Public Affairs bottom-up Force Design Update is currently in HQDA Force Integration Functional Analysis. Watrous served as an Air Force Public Affairs Officer for 22 years before serving as a DA Civilian, holding positions as a staff PAO at echelon, Wing to Major Command and the Air Staff. He also served as deputy director of PA plans and programs for the SECAF, deputy commandant for the Defense Information School and the lead architect integrating Air Force Public Affairs and Visual Information branches. He led the establishment of the Air Force Public Affairs Agency as the operational command for all PA and Combat Camera forces and was integral to establishing the Air Force Information Operations specialty, Air Force and Joint Military Intelligence College IO qualification courses and red- and blue-force IO Tactics, Techniques and Procedures volumes. As the AFCENT PAO, he defined PA operations in the block one Air Operations Center weapon system which became the baseline PA capability for Air Component Commands across the service. He has contributed to Air Force, Joint Force, and DoW doctrine and policy development throughout his career, serving as a senior O/C/T for Tier 1 and 2 exercises across multiple combatant commands and Joint Task Forces and functional trainer for J7s Capstone and Pinnacle courses. In his private capacity, he is an active member of Calvary Chapel Newport News (CCNN) serving as a church elder and school board president of the Calvary Chapel Christian Academy, serving 200 children with before and after school and academic programs. He is a 1991 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and holds a Master of Science degree in Business Leadership from Troy University, Troy, Alabama. He is an Air War College, senior service school graduate, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, and currently resides in Virginia with his wife, Michelle, their two children and three grandchildren.

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