By Jamie Titus University of Nebraska-Lincoln At age 18, David Carbajal enlisted into the U.S. Air Force with the hopes of a career as an explosive ordinance disposal technician, but when he failed the color blindness test on the physical, the Air Force gave him different career path. While waiting to go to basic military training, Carbajal signed a contract that allowed the Air Force to choose his career. After failing the color blindness test, he couldn’t be an explosive ordinance disposal technician so the Air Force made him a journalist. “I truly just lucked into this job,” said Tech. Sgt. David Carbajal, the 4th Fighter Wing Public Affairs Command Information Non-Commissioned Officer In-Charge. “The ironic thing was I was able to join because I was journalist but now I color correct photos instead.” Carbajal, 31, is stationed at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina where he is the editor and assistant manager of the base’s Public Affairs office, but it was a long journey of career changes that put him in the position that he is now. Joining the military is a long tradition in Carbajal’s family. Both of his grandfathers served in the Air Force and his father and step-father were both in the U.S. Army. “Honestly, this has been my career path since I was about 10 years old,” Carbajal said. “I truly felt like I could learn something about myself and serve my nation at the same time.” Before the Air Force merged photographers and journalists into one career in 2007, Carbajal was trained to be a journalist at the Defense Information School at Ft. George G. Meade, Maryland. He said that he when he began training at the Defense Information School, he failed the English diagnostic test. “I was not the best writer; I was probably one of the worst in the class, to be honest, but it’s not where you start, it’s where you finish,” Carbajal said. “I worked through it and my instructors pushed me to continue to learn and I continued to get better.” With a camera, the only experience he had was learning the basics of photography within two weeks of his four-month training. Now, he enjoys both the photography and journalism aspects of his job. “I’ve gotten to a point now where I’m probably more confident in my photography ability than I am in my journalism abilities,” Carbajal said. Carbajal thought photography was something hippies did and that it was only black and white photos of tree stumps, but soon he began to see photography differently. “It’s no longer a picture, it’s a storytelling photo,” Carbajal said. “I appreciate photography on a whole other level compared to what I was before.” As a photographer and writer, Carbajal gets to see the military and its people in a different way than most. “I get a chance to learn about people, what makes them tick, what motivates them, why did they join; everyone has a story about why they joined,” Carbajal said. “I get a chance to tell that story and I get a chance to see all these other jobs, all these other things that contribute to the defense of America, and I just think that’s truly remarkable.” Some of Carbajal’s most rewarding work came from his six-month deployment to Afghanistan, where he would sometimes work up to 18 hours a day. “I was able to practice my journalism and photography craft unlike anything I’ve ever had stateside,” Carbajal said. One story that Carbajal wrote while deployed left a lasting impression with him. He wrote about three explosive ordinance disposal technicians who were killed in action in Afghanistan. He said that any story about fallen brethren is tough to write, but the overwhelming part of this story was that not only did airmen come to the ceremony but there were also soldiers, sailors, and Marines there. All of them agreed that if it weren’t for those three explosive ordinance disposal technicians, countless other men and women would have been killed. “Everybody came together and they all showed appreciation for, not only America’s Air Force, but (explosive ordinance disposal) technicians as a whole,” Carbajal said. “I think that was the toughest and still one of the best stories I’ve ever had the chance to write.” The Battle Cross for Tech. Sgt. Matthew S. Schwartz is decorated with final tokens of honor and appreciation during a memorial ceremony at Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan Jan. 24, 2012. The memorial ceremony honored three explosive ordnance disposal airmen killed by an improvised explosive device in Shir ghazi, Helmand province, Afghanistan. Schwartz, a Traverse City, Mich., native, was assigned to the 90th Civil Engineer Squadron, F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo. Photo courtesy of Tech. Sgt. David Carbajal. Now 11 years later, he’s editing other photojournalists stories and photos as the 4th Fighter Wing Public Affairs Command Information Non-Commissioned Officer In-Charge at Seymour Johnson air force base, North Carolina. As the Command Information Non-Commissioned Officer In-Charge, Carbajal does anything from editing stories, captions, or social media posts to drafting base-wide emails that go to over 4,000 airmen and civilians who work at Seymour Johnson air force base. He also manages the base website, their Defense Visual Information Distribution Service page, their Facebook page and their official studio. When editing stories, Carbajal knows to approach every one of his journalists in a different way when it comes to giving feedback. Some airmen like feedback harsh and to the point, while others in his office need a gentler approach. “I do remember when I first started writing and I would get back this bloody, red mess and it sucks, because it feels like people are personally attacking you or maybe you don’t feel like this is a job that you should have,” said Carbajal. “It’s all part of our development as photojournalists.” By being an instructor at the Defense Information School, where he taught airmen how to be photojournalists, he learned that each airman has their own unique structure and style of writing and they need that. Before teaching at the Defense Information School, he thought that editing was just being able to know what The Associated Press Style was and what was the preferred usage of a word. Now editing is more of a mentoring role to him, giving them tips on how to improve their writing, not just for their current story, but for their future writing. “We can kind of put our heads together to figure out how we can improve it or get down to the nitty-gritty with it,” said Carbajal. The most challenging part of being an editor for Carbajal is that they are restricted to the information they are given by the subject matter experts they interview. They trust that their subject matter experts will give them factual and accurate information but at the end of the day, it’s his name or one of his journalist's name tied to the story. “It’s not only the journalist’s credibility on the line, but it’s overall the Air Force’s,” Carbajal said. “It makes me very anxious to know that the Air Force’s reputation is literally in my hands and just a slight slip of that could completely damage the Air Force as a whole.” That pressure doesn’t change that fact that Carbajal loves his job, the people he works with and that he looks forward to going to work every day. Carbajal said, “There are days when I don’t feel like I’m doing work just because I’m surrounded by such great people." Photos courtesy of Tech. Sgt. David Carbajal.
You can see more of Carbajal's photos on his Defense Visual Information Distribution Service portfolio or on his flikr page.
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A note about the content: This site showcases the final projects of University of Nebraska-Lincoln editing students. Each semester, students pick a journalist or communications professional to profile. This is their work.
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