It's hard to provide concrete samples of my knowledge, skills and abilities of video systems and equipment. 

     How do you document the time and money 'saved' because I cleaned the video heads or adjusted the tape transport tension or replaced a transport belt in a video tape recorder that had started malfunctioning in the middle of a critical project, rather than throw my hands up and say "The system's broken, and we have to get it repaired"?  Or field-repaired a faulty camera with a few basic tools while on TDY in a remote part of the world?  I have done both.  Numerous times.

    But there's little or no documentation.  Once the equipment was working again, I carried on with the mission.

    The below project -- to design and build a professional broadcast-quality transportable editing system -- will illustrate my knowledge, skills and abilities with video systems and equipment.

     In fall of 1998 I was tasked with designing a transportable non-linear video editing system that was fully broadcast quality and could be broken down to be transported in, say, a series of mini-vans or mini-pickups, as well as via more conventional commercial trucking, or via Air Force MAC flights.

     The system had to be able to accept the following videotape formats:
--Betacam-SP professional broadcast;
--U-Matic-SP (the old 3/4-inch cassettes -- lots of those around with valuable historical footage);
--HI-8/8mm (the previous Army 'professional' standard);
--S-VHS/VHS (the 'common denominator' format);
The broadcast industry had not sorted itself out on which of the several competing Digital videotape standards would replace Betacam-SP as the industry standard, so the system had to be designed to accept a digital VTR when the time was ready.

     The system had to also be able to play and record VHS tapes in either European PAL or Middle Eastern SECAM video systems (which are completely incompatible and unplayable in the North American NTSC television system.)

     Lastly, the system had to be capable of operating on worldwide voltages between 85V and 267V, as well as 'dirty' sources of power, such as standard-issue generators.

     There was a software Computer Aided Design (CAD) package available that would ease designing the system. It would aid choosing the placement of each piece of gear in the equipment-rack boxes, and would figure the length each cable needed to be.  It would then produce a 'buy' list -- for example; 55 10-foot video cords, 12 20-foot cords, etc. as well as all the other miscellaneous hardware and equipment needed to make the system operational without making a dozen trips to the hardware and electrical store during the assembly of the system.  It would produce all the drawings necessary to specify and assemble the system.  The software cost $6,000.00 per 'seat.'  It was out of the question.

     I used drafting paper, mechanical pencils (Skilcraft red 0.5mm), equipment templates and erasers to produce the below schematic.  It helped me 'prove' to the procurement officer that I knew what I was doing, and that I wasn't wasting taxpayer funds.

     Click for the full sized (huge) version of the above schematic

     I also created 1/4-scale templates of the equipment racks and the front panels of each piece of equipment in order to determine where to place each video tape deck, monitor, processor and the all-important non-linear editing computer.  It also helped me get a rough idea of the various lengths of audio, video and power cables I'd need.

     I was given the green-light to shop for bids on the system.  In order to manage and analyze the bids from the various vendors, I created this Excel spreadsheet.  It automatically compared the various vendors' bids and allowed the procurement officer to make an informed decision on which vendors to purchase the equipment from.

     I generated the four DA Form 3953 procurement documents and submitted them to the procurement officer.

     As professional video equipment is not in the standard military supply inventory, I produced this document to describe the various pieces of equipment to logistics personnel who wouldn't know a Betacam-SP deck from an XLR-XLR cable.

     In Spring 1999, my unit was notified that we were to be sent to Bosnia that fall to support the peacekeeping mission.  I was sent to the Defense Information School for further training, not to return to home station until a month before our deployment date.

     When I returned from school, I faced a mountain of equipment still in the shipping cardboard boxes.  The 'ship date' for our units' equipment was in less than two weeks.

     I assembled and adjusted the system. 

     The hardest part was running the cables so that power cables, video cables and audio cables were kept apart to lessen interference between these three types of signals, and 'bundling' the cables so that all the audio cables that went between two boxes were tied together.  Each end of a cable, and the place on the equipment it was attached to, had to be labeled so that it was easy for anyone to re-wire the system by simply "following the numbers".  There was also color-coding of the boxes and the cable bundles, so that the green end of a cable bundle went with the green box, red to red, yellow to yellow, etc.

     There were almost 500 different connections in this system.

     I finished assembling and testing the system three days before the equipment ship-date (much to the relief of the Commander and Executive Officer,) and used two intensive days to train other unit broadcasters on the assembly, operation and use of the system.

     The below picture is a photo-stitch of the pictures I took to 'document' the system prior to shipment to Bosnia.  Yes, it's "ugly as sin"...

     Click for the full-sized version of the above picture, with list of equipment in each case.

     One of the units' missions in Bosnia was to support and escort professional news media from the United States and other countries.  The cameramen always had Betacam-SP footage that they needed to review using a professional video system.  These professional videographers never failed to comment on the sophistication and usefulness of this system.   Some half-joked that they wanted to take the system back with them when they finished their assignments in Bosnia.

     Here is the system in place at Eagle Base in Bosnia.  The system operated 24/7 for the eight months we were there.  There was a day-shift and a night shift.  Aside from total power outages (common at Eagle base then,) the system kept working 'round the clock.  Because of the working bauxite mine near the base that coated everything with an abrasive dust, we had to clean all the video tape deck heads and tape transports at least once a week, if not more often.

     A year later the Press Camp HQ deployed to Korea for Operation Ulchi Focus Lens.  The Republic of Korea soldiers were impressed with the system and took detailed notes on it.  Some of the equipment was damaged during the deployment.  I repaired the system and had it fully operational in less than a day.