REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. (June 17, 2024) - For Jose Mejia-Betancourth, an average day at work can take him into the skies, literally.
As a U. S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center Visual Information Specialist, Mejia-Betancourth wears many hats: photographer, videographer, high-speed camera operator, video streamer and editor, just to name a few. Often, he puts on his flight suit to go up in a helicopter with experimental test pilots conducting a test while he leans his camera out of the door of the helicopter recording.
“I’m a one-man-band,” he shared with a laugh. “But I really, really love it!”
With experience in radio and broadcast television, Mejia-Betancourth’s background set him up for success to document and produce the essential visuals required for research and development. It’s now become a necessary job for future growth of programs and capabilities within the Center’s Technology Development Directorate.
The content he gathers is impressive and essential. It’s the type of professional photography you see when missiles launch in perfect clarity or when a helicopter takes a dive in the air.
“I enjoy everything that I do,” he shared. “It’s hard to describe because it’s something different every day. One day I’m working on a project on the ground, the next day I could be working that same project from the air in a helicopter. I could even be on the range documenting on another day.”
Working with products and assets in the field doesn’t come without their own challenges, it takes a lot of preparation, foresight and organization to execute a mission, let alone document it. There is often one—maybe two—opportunities to get a good shot, especially during flight.
“I feel like my job is similar to a chef: you grab all the ingredients and put them into the dish -- they’re all different ingredients that make the dish but without one of those ingredients the dish would be wrong. I set up the shot, compose the shot, set up more angles for different shots, capture the photos and videos, take those videos and photos back, edit and turn the shot into something usable for a presentation.”
Mejia-Betancourth hopes his role helps pave the way for future opportunity for visual information gathering, due to the high demand he faces within his working-sphere.
“There’s this huge misconception when new people meet me at a test range: ‘oh, you’re just the guy with a camera.’ No. My role is to document a test or demonstration in its entirety, completely. That involves photography, multiple angles for videography, high speed photography to capture fast moving elements and sometimes requires putting on a flight suit and going up in a helicopter. I can’t just be ‘a guy with a camera’ because this role requires much more than that.”
What does he attribute to his success? His passion to do a great job, provide great results and the simple fact that he loves what he does.
“Sometimes we have to fly regardless of the weather. In December or January, it can be really, really cold, freezing even, but I choose to love my job in the freezing cold, rainy winter weather as much as I choose to love my job when we are out in the desert in the summer in the heat. Why? Because if I don’t choose to love my job everyday my final product won’t be as good, and I don’t want that to ever happen.”
His work ethic and positive personality do not go unnoticed. At every test and at every location you hear teammates call him over to chat.
“I always enjoy working with Jose, he is one of the most passionate people I know,” shares John Redinger, an AvMC operations, management and program analyst. “He always wants his work to be of the highest quality and to represent our organization in the most professional way possible.”
But in his own opinion, Mejia-Betancourth is just being himself everywhere he goes, and encourages anyone to find what brings them joy, and when they do, do that job to the absolute best of your ability.
“Have passion,” Mejia-Betancourth advised. “Never stop dreaming, and take every single task to the next level, regardless of it’s a small or big task. There are always going to be challenges with work and in life. Many, many challenges, and sometimes those challenges are people telling you that you can’t do it. Don’t give up, just keep dreaming and pursuing opportunities.”
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The DEVCOM Aviation & Missile Center, headquartered at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the Army’s research and development focal point for advanced technology in aviation and missile systems. It is part of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM), a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Futures Command. AvMC is responsible for delivering collaborative and innovative aviation and missile capabilities for responsive and cost-effective research, development and life cycle engineering solutions, as required by the Army’s strategic priorities and support to its Cross-Functional Teams.
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