Combat Camera marches 3.5 miles for deployers

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Keith Baxter
  • 4th Combat Camera Squadron
MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, CALIF. --  For personnel of the 4th Combat Camera Squadron (4 CTCS), Sunday of the B Unit Training Assembly (UTA) in August began as it always does with a 6 a.m. show time for physical training. For the nine squadron personnel deploying to Afghanistan, it marked the last time they will perform physical training with the unit until sometime next year. 

To mark the occasion, and show solidarity with their departing squadron members, the unit commander, Lt. Col. Kimberly Garcia, decided that the entire unit would conduct a road march with flak vests on instead of meeting at the gym. 

"We did it to demonstrate our support and admiration for those nine individuals who answered the call to deploy," said, Lt. Col. Garcia. "They will be in our thoughts every day." 

Airmen from the 4 CTCS will soon deploy to support the imagery management mission in Afghanistan. They will first attend combat skills training stateside. 

The squadron members were highly motivated during the 3.5 mile route which took them along the perimeter road bordering Heacock Avenue and on to the fire department before returning to their starting point. 
The squadron marched with their guidon, which was periodically rotated through the group. Once an Airman held the guidon for about a quarter mile, they were required to run around the formation in a spirited manner before handing it off to another squadron member. 

"We are a family," said one deployer. "Marching and singing cadence together really demonstrated our esprit de corps. It reminds me why I joined this unit"