2nd Combat Camera Director of Operations

Commentary: ‘Guns, Camera, Action!’

You may have heard our morale cheer in the gym or at Team Hill events. We haven’t been afraid to shout it: “Guns, Camera, Action!” Now I’d like to introduce you to the people behind the cheer, the 2nd Combat Camera Squadron (2nd CTCS). The 2nd CTCS is an associate unit here at Hill Air Force Base and this is our mission: Tell the Air Force Story through Documentation and Media Production.

2nd CTCS is one of three active duty combat camera squadrons under the Air Force Public Affairs Agency (AFPAA). AFPAA, located in San Antonio, is a direct reporting unit to SAF/PA. The three combat camera squadrons assigned to AFPAA are similar but not identical. The 2nd CTCS has three flights; Documentation, Production and Logistics. Each flight brings some standard combat camera capabilities and some unique competencies.

The documentation flight trains for rapid, worldwide deployments to acquire still and motion imagery of air and ground military and humanitarian operations. Getting ready for deployment and getting deployed is a way of life for combat camera. If you are at the Hess Fitness Center in the morning you can recognize 2nd CTCS as the ones wearing flak vests. Combat cameramen produce official visual records that provide senior leaders with imagery of conditions and challenges at the tactical level and support the decision-making process. One of our Airman tells the story of documenting the apprehension of three Taliban insurgents. Video of the arrest and search helped in their conviction for terrorist acts against a U.S. military post. Earlier in the day the same cameraman documented a rocket attack and that video was used to recognize the heroic efforts of two soldiers. Military imagery is also used to counter enemy propaganda and build morale. Five of our still photographers are presently featured on the Pioneers in Blue website at: http://www.af.mil/specials/pioneers/index.html

Hill is host to the largest most extensive video production facility in the Air Force which includes six edit bays, well over a million dollars in production equipment, a graphics animation suite, 800 square-foot studio, audio room and a 38 foot mobile production truck. Our media production flight produces information, motivational and training programs that serve the Air Force at large and in some cases DoD. When the Chief of Staff wanted to communicate an Air Force message at a Washington, D.C., event last November, the 2nd CTCS was tasked with the job. “America’s Airmen in Today’s Fight” was created and can be seen on Air Force Blue Tube at http://www.youtube.com/AFBlueTube. Research suggests that visual images communicate 60,000 times faster than text and go directly into long-term memory. Done properly, video is a powerful communication tool. Traveling all over the country, United States Army Forces – Far East and Pacific Air Forces our personnel create productions that communicate Air Force messages.

The fuel that keeps the 2nd CTCS engine running is our logistics flight. These are our engineers, supply, knowledge ops and resource personnel. The logistic flight maintains and keeps our HD cameras, AVID editing systems and in-house TV network operational so we can produce award winning products. The supply and resource personnel ensure combat readiness for a continuous flow of deployments. In addition we rely on the logistic flight to support live productions from our mobile production truck and to set up satellite feeds and webcasts. Last month the logistic flight sent an engineering specialist and a broadcaster to France to facilitate a live satellite feed back to Joint Forces Command as part of a real-time globally integrated training product. The expertise of 2nd CTCS was integral to the success of the mission.

Collectively all three flights play an invaluable part in telling the Air Force story to internal and external audiences. Shortly after the earthquake in Haiti we were assigned by Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs to produce a story about the Air Force’s initial role to Operation Unified Response. Working as a team, the entire squadron jumped into action. Orders were cut and in less than 24 hours we had a crew on their way to Florida. While the 2nd CTCS crew was in-flight other members of the team coordinated interviews with Air Force personnel returning from Haiti. Contact was made with combat cameramen already in theater requesting video and still images. Less than a week after the SAF/PA request and only 10 days after the earthquake, while relief efforts were still mounting, the 2nd CTCS posted “Crisis Haiti – The U.S. Air Force Responds” on AF.mil, YouTube, BlueTube and the Pentagon channel. Take a look at: http://www.youtube.com/AFBlueTube.

As a new squadron Team Hill has been important to our success as we move toward complete operational capability. The 75th Air Base Wing, especially, has been vital to our access to key resources such as finance, contracting and logistics readiness. Each one of these resources has allowed us to grow as a squadron and move to fulfilling our mission: Tell the Air Force Story through Documentation and Media Production. Find us on facebook @ 2d Combat Camera Squadron.