JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C.- The 1st Combat Camera Squadron (1CTCS) has over 100 members in its ranks. The majority of those can be called upon at any time to deploy or go on a temporary duty overseas or stateside. Readiness is a key component of day to day activities for 1CTCS Airmen, and operation of government owned vehicles (GOV) is not an exception to that readiness.
Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2020 U. S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Aaron Overstreet a unit deployment manager at the 1CTCS gathered four different Combat Camera Airmen for GOV licensing training. “Every Public Affairs Airman here needs a GOV license. It’s imperative they are able to operate government machinery in order to complete their mission,” he said.
Sgt. Overstreet is one of the two 1CTCS Vehicle Control Officers (VCO) certified to qualify Airmen on the GOV’s owned by the squadron. “A lot of times we drive 15 passenger busses in order to transport our people to and from the Airport. Other times we might have to take our [High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMVEE)] across state lines to participate in an exercise,” He said. Whatever GOV needs to be driven it’s the VCO’s who can enable the airman to drive them.
The 1CTCS is always traveling. Without annual trainings like the one Sgt. Overstreet provided, Combat Camera airmen would be unable to perform their required duties. “I was notified we had 4 of our people who were not licensed for GOV’s. I grabbed them and decided to host this training out of cycle to ensure we maintained a 100% availability of government vehicle drivers in the squadron,” said Overstreet.
In order for Combat Camera to function properly journalists need to be completely cleared to leave within hours of a notification. Airmen like Sgt. Overstreet directly affect the output of Combat Camera by enabling others to complete the mission. “I think a lot of people take us for granted. Without mission support personnel the journalists wouldn’t be able to do their job. My job is to literally ensure they can do theirs, and I take a lot of pride in that,” he said.
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