SAN ANTONIO –
Loaded down like a pack mule, Senior Airman Michelle Emery was ready for another early morning rendezvous with the Soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division. Today the combat videographer would document them doing a cordon search.
The 1st Combat Camera Squadron Airman based out of Charleston AFB knew it would be a long day. Already the videotapes, two pounds of batteries, Kevlar helmet, body armor, 9 mm pistol and 40-pound rucksack she carried were getting heavy.
But it's her high-definition video camera - not her pistol - that is her most vital piece of equipment.
In this type of mission, Soldiers cordon off an entire village and do a house-to-house search looking for weapons caches. It's a dangerous job. But the combat camera videographer's job is to provide a visual record.
So when Soldiers kick in a door, Airman Emery said, "I follow right behind them."
But on this mission, her team was going to the Zaytoun Chay River area, where coalition forces had not searched for insurgents or weapons in four years. It's a desolate and hard-to-reach place, so Black Hawk helicopters flew the team into the area. The mission is old hat for Soldiers. But it would be Airman Emery's first air assault mission.
"These missions are the meat and potatoes of our job," she said. "We want to go outside the wire."
The team walked for more than 10 miles and past four villages to reach their goal. After conducting a search, the Soldiers photographed each villager, recorded their thumbprints and put information about their irises in an iris recognition system. Airman Emery recorded it all on tape.
Before the march, some Soldiers bet the Airman wouldn't have the stamina or training to last the mission. They were wrong. Instead, a few Soldiers vomited and fell out.
"The toughest part of this job is the physical aspect," the 24-year-old said. "We train in combat camera but nothing prepares you for a 19-hour march up muscle-tearing hills."
The Airman knows that working in combat camera means adapting to the environment and proving no job is too hard to accomplish. It's just what she did on the march to the village.
On the mission, the team walked a few miles each day, sweating in the afternoon heat, as they approached the village. Then the team would hunker down for the night, and each member would curl up in their sleeping bags to fend off the cold.
That night, while sleeping diagonally with only a rucksack tucked under her feet to keep her from slipping down a steep hill, Airman Emery knew she was truly a part of combat camera. And she knew her decision to re-enlist in the Air Force was the best choice she had ever made.
The long march and mission were a success. She proved she could do the job and managed to earn the respect of the Soldiers she worked with. Better still, she was now a war-tested combat camera videographer.
"I earned my (10th Mountain Division) patch that day," Airman Emery said.
Back at her deployed base - Balad AB, Iraq - she turned in her videotapes and put up her gear. Mission complete.
And although being deployed about 200 days in 18 months doesn't appeal to most, Airman Emery loves her job - dangers and all.
"My job is important because we're putting a face on the war without twisting it or expressing an opinion," she said. "Whatever we see is what goes on film. What you see is what you get."
(Courtesy of Airman Magazine)