Photo by Mass Communication Specialist Senior Chief Gary Ward
NORFOLK, Va. – A 2005 Washington and Lee High School graduate and Arlington, Virginia, native is serving at Expeditionary Combat Camera, as a member of the Navy’s last Combat Camera Unit in Norfolk, Virginia.
Navy Chief Petty Officer Natalie Camden served as a personnel specialist. “What I enjoyed most about my job was being able to take care of the mass communication specialists deployed to various places around the world,” Camden said. “From advancements, special pays being processed on time and helping them in executing missions, I ensured their family were taken care of back home.”
Camden’s most memorable combat camera moment was being told that she made the rank of chief petty officer and having the opportunity to lead and serve with highly talented and motivated mass communication specialists.
Navy combat photography began its roots during World War I when the Navy organized its first photographic division to capture aerial reconnaissance photographs. During World War II, the Navy added Combat Photographic Units and sent them to the Pacific and European theaters of war to document major campaigns including Normandy and Iwo Jima.
After the onset of the Korean War, the Navy established the Pacific Fleet Combat Camera unit, and subsequently established the Atlantic Fleet Motion Picture Unit, which would become Atlantic Fleet Combat Camera Group in 1966 and deployed teams to document the war in Vietnam.
The unit became Expeditionary Combat Camera in 2010 and continued documenting all branches of the military during major U.S. conflicts, operations and exercises.
Camden credits success in the Navy to many of the lessons learned in Arlington.
“Growing up in a military family you have a sense of pride and discipline,” Camden said. “Where I went to high school we were considered a United Nations school so there were many students from all walks of life. Bringing this experience with me into my Naval service, has enabled me and my sailors to work well together and be very successful.”
Camden has military ties with family members who have previously served and is honored to carry on the family tradition.
“I am the daughter of a retired Navy captain and a senior chief personnelman,” Camden said.
Members of Combat Camera perform unique and highly specialized missions with visual information documentation capabilities supporting all phases of a military operation. Personnel maintain qualifications enabling them to operate with air crew, special operations forces and military divers. Combat Camera teams have the technological capability to rapidly transmit imagery during fast-moving operations around the globe.
Expeditionary Combat Camera held a disestablishment ceremony Sept. 21 on Naval Station Norfolk. The ceremony honored the history, heritage and legacy of the command. Navy's combat camera units officially disestablish on Oct. 1, 2018, ending 67 years of service to the Navy and Department of Defense.
“All of those who have served at combat camera, have conveyed everything they’ve had to give; creative vision, a drive to excel, and a willingness to sacrifice,” said ECC’s final officer in charge Lt. Michael Larson, during the Norfolk ceremony. “Many have done the best work of their careers here, and that imagery has made a legacy that will live on, and inspires us to carry on.”
Camden represents thousands of U.S. Navy combat photographers who have recorded historical events from the land, air and sea spanning from World War II to Operation Enduring Freedom.
As a member of the Navy’s last combat camera unit, Camden and other sailors know they are part of a legacy that will last beyond their lifetimes providing the Navy the nation needs.
“To me it means the end of an era and a legacy but combat cameraman will be called upon again and again, because this job will never stop,” Camden said.