7 airmen enter spec ops weather pipeline

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Staff Sgt. Jody Ball, 10th Combat Weather Squadron, inflates a weather balloon during an exercise held near Hurlburt Field, Fla. The Air Force is now instructing airmen out of basic training to be special operations weather technicians.


7 airmen enter spec ops weather pipeline
By Michael Hoffman - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Nov 14, 2009 8:46:48 EST

Flipping to The Weather Channel isn’t an option for airmen deployed to austere locales such as Kandahar, Afghanistan, or the Philippines.

That’s why the Air Force has started instructing airmen right out of basic training to be special operations weather technicians. Seven airmen have entered a new 61-week training program as part of the guaranteed training enlistment program.

The idea is to get more weather technicians to special operations forces, faster.

Airmen previously had to serve as Air Force weathermen before earning the gray beret worn by special ops weather forecasters. But in May 2008, the Air Force created a new specialty code, 1W0X2, and streamlined the training to end long waits between courses that sometimes stretched over four or five years.

There are fewer than 100 special operations weather technicians assigned to the 10th Combat Weather Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Fla. Most are stationed at different special operations detachments around the world.


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2009/11/airforce_spec_ops_weather_111409w/