4th Combat Camera Squadron

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4th Combat Camera Squadron
U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Rodolfo Castro a videographer assigned to the 4th Combat Camera Squadron, March Air Reserve Base 091105-F-AF679-089.jpg
The 4th Combat Camera Squadron maintains quick-response teams able to embed and operate with tactical units in austere environments for up to thirty days.
Active1943–1945; 1996–2015; 2017–present
CountryUnited States
Branch Flag of the United States Air Force.svg   U.S. Air Force
TypeSquadron
RoleCombat Photo and Video
Part of U.S. Air Force Reserves
Garrison/HQ Joint Base Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina
Motto(s)Eyes of the Eagle
Engagements
European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign ribbon.svg
Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary ribbon.svg Afghanistan Campaign Medal ribbon.svg Iraq Campaign Medal ribbon.svg
  • World War II
European Campaign (1943–1945)
  • Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003–2011)
  • Operation Enduring Freedom (2001–present)
Decorations Outstanding Unit ribbon.svg AFOUA
Commanders
Current Commander Lieutenant Colonel Michael R. Odle
Senior Enlisted Leader Chief Master Sergeant Michelle Harris
Insignia
4th Combat Camera Squadron Emblem (approved 30 June 1998) 4th Combat Camera Squadron Emblem.png
USAAF 4th Combat Camera Unit Emblem (World War II) 4 CCU Bugs Sweet Sixteen Emblem.png
The term "Sweet Sixteen" refers to the 16mm film used at the time. [1]

The 4th Combat Camera Squadron (4th CTCS) is a unit of the U.S. Air Force Reserve, 315th Airlift Wing, 315th Operations Group, located at Joint Base Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina.

Contents

Mission

The 4th CTCS mission is unique and highly specialized. The Airmen of the 4th CTCS are an operational asset designed to assist in shaping the information landscape, and to help senior Department of Defense officials, combatant commanders, and joint leaders understand, visualize, describe, and direct forces by providing high-quality battlefield video and still imagery. Additionally, the 4th CTCS manages the U.S. Air Force Reserve's only fully mission-qualified aircrew photographers, a unique asset providing aerial documentation from a variety of USAF and Department of Defense aircraft. [2] The unit supports wartime operations, worldwide crises, contingencies, joint exercises and humanitarian operations.

History

First Motion Picture Unit

The 4th CTCS, "Eyes of the Eagle," has been bestowed the Lineage and Honors history of the First Motion Picture Unit (1st FMPU), a primary film production unit of the U.S. Army Air Forces activated in Culver City, California in July 1942. It was the first military unit made up entirely of professionals from the film industry. Actors such as Clark Gable, William Holden and Alan Ladd, and directors including Richard L. Bare and John Sturges served with the unit. Future president Ronald Reagan, who transferred from the cavalry reserve, was a captain in the unit [3]

4th Combat Camera Unit

On 16 August 1943, six officers and 23 enlisted men were transferred from the 1st FMPU, to create the new 4th Combat Camera Unit (4th CCU) with Capt. William H. Clothier as the first commanding officer. [4]

4th Combat Camera Unit member Ron O'Neal makes ready to board his aircraft during WWII. Ron Oneil.jpg
4th Combat Camera Unit member Ron O'Neal makes ready to board his aircraft during WWII.

The 4th CCU was trained by the 1st FMPU at Page Military Academy, a multi-acre site in West Los Angeles. Training included intensive instruction in photography with a variety of motion picture and still cameras, camera maintenance, aerial photography and cinematography under true flight conditions, rigid physical training, ground combat and weapons training.

During World War II, fourteen US Army Air Force Combat Camera Units, including the 4th CCU, provided still and motion picture coverage of the war. Their visual record was used for operational analysis, training, public information, and as a permanent historical record.

In the final months of World War II, a unique team of motion picture professionals, which included members from the 4th CCU, loaded their cameras with color film, and fanned out across Europe to document the final struggle against Hitler's Nazi Germany. From the airways over Germany, to the crossing of the Rhine, the liberation of concentration camps and the fall of Berlin, the 4th CCU far exceeded their orders to photograph the impacts of airpower on the war. The Army Air Forces wanted the footage for a feature-length documentary "Chasing Hitler," that they planned to release to the public that showed how the Army Air Forces were winning the war in Europe. However, by war's end the $1 million price tag was too high and the 100,020 feet of 16mm colored film (a total of 55 hours), was labeled Top Secret and shelved in government archives. [5]

After the war, military photographic units, such as the 4th CCU, inactivated as the United States turned to peacetime duties.

4th Combat Camera Squadron

An airman with the 4th Combat Camera Squadron, shows his video recording to a student at the Wazi Muhammad Khan School in Hutal, Afghanistan, 7 January 2010. U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Robert Carreon, with the 4th Combat Camera Squadron, shows his video recording to a student at the Wazi Muhammad Khan School in Hutal, Afghanistan, Jan. 7, 2010 100107-F-PU334-121.jpg
An airman with the 4th Combat Camera Squadron, shows his video recording to a student at the Wazi Muhammad Khan School in Hutal, Afghanistan, 7 January 2010.

In March 1996, the 4th CCU was re-designated the 4th Combat Camera Squadron (4th CTCS) and activated in the U.S. Air Force Reserve at March Air Force Base on 31 March 1996, as the only combat camera squadron in the Air Force Reserve.

On 1 October 2007, the visual information career fields and functions, including combat camera, were merged with the public affairs function under the single umbrella of the Secretary of the Air Force Office of Public Affairs. The following year, on 1 October 2008, four combat camera squadrons, including the 4th CTCS, were aligned under the Air Force Public Affairs Agency (AFPAA).

As a result of the challenging fiscal environment, the 4th CTCS was inactivated on 31 July 2015. During the squadron's 19 years, Airmen documented more than 250 [6] worldwide combat, humanitarian, expeditionary and training missions with still photography and video, including humanitarian aid in Somalia; Desert Storm/Desert Shield in Kuwait, Iraq and Saudi Arabia; peacekeeping efforts in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Kosovo; Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom in Iraq, Afghanistan, Southwest Asia, and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. [7]

Today

A broadcast journalist with the 4th Combat Camera Squadron interviews an aeromedical service journeyman with the 86th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron. U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Callie McNary, right, a broadcast journalist with the 4th Combat Camera Squadron, interviews Staff Sgt. Michael Stevens, an aeromedical service journeyman with the 86th Aeromedical 140313-F-RW714-209.jpg
A broadcast journalist with the 4th Combat Camera Squadron interviews an aeromedical service journeyman with the 86th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron.
A U.S. Air Force F-35A conducting aerial refueling as documented by a 4th Combat Camera Squadron aerial photographer. 180215-F-BU402-0104.jpg
A U.S. Air Force F-35A conducting aerial refueling as documented by a 4th Combat Camera Squadron aerial photographer.

In 2017, the Air Force announced the 4th CTCS would again be activated. However, instead of being located at March Air Reserve Base, California, the unit would be co-located with the active duty's 1st Combat Camera Squadron at Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina and aligned under the U.S. Air Force Reserve, marking the 4th CTCS as the only Reserve combat camera unit in the Air Force. [8] On 5 May 2017, U.S. Air Force Major Hamilton Underwood assumed command of the newly activated 4th CTCS during an activation and assumption of command ceremony. [9]

Today, whenever, wherever there is a worldwide crisis or disaster, a contingency or wartime operation or a military exercise involving Air Force, joint or multinational services, the highly skilled professional Airmen of the 4th CTCS are capturing the imagery necessary to support operational needs, combat misinformation and disinformation, and provide invaluable visual historical records. [10]

Lineage

Components

Stations

Awards and Campaign Streamers

Award streamerAwardDatesNotes
AFOUA Streamer.JPG Outstanding Unit Award 1 Sep 1997 – 31 Aug 19994th Combat Camera Squadron
AFOUA Streamer.JPG Outstanding Unit Award2 Sep 2003 – 1 Sep 20054th Combat Camera Squadron
AFOUA Streamer.JPG Outstanding Unit Award2 Sep 2006 – 1 Sep 20084th Combat Camera Squadron
AFOUA Streamer.JPG Outstanding Unit Award1 Jan 2017 – 31 Dec 20184th Combat Camera Squadron
Campaign StreamerCampaignDatesNotes
Streamer EAMEC.PNG Air Offensive, Europe2 November 1943 – 5 June 19444th Combat Camera Unit
Streamer EAMEC.PNG Normandy6 June 1944 – 24 July 19444th Combat Camera Unit
Streamer EAMEC.PNG Northern France25 July 1944 – 14 September 19444th Combat Camera Unit
Streamer EAMEC.PNG Rhineland15 September 1944 – 21 March 19454th Combat Camera Unit
Streamer EAMEC.PNG Ardennes-Alsace16 December 1944 – 25 January 19454th Combat Camera Unit
Streamer EAMEC.PNG Central Europe22 March 1944 – 21 May 19454th Combat Camera Unit

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References

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