Welcome to the Weather AFSC discussion blog. The purpose of this blog is to foster discussion between future Air Force officers interested in Weather and current officers in the Weather career field. The views expressed in this blog are solely the opinions of the individual authors and not of the United States Air Force nor the Department of Defense.
What do I like best about Weather? Definitely the people. The AF only allows the smartest of the enlisted force to be a part of weather and it shows. You'll work with some amazing Airmen and learn everything you need to know from them.
What do I like the least? Probably the fact that weather is such a gray science. As you know, there's no black and white answer as to whether a drop zone will have less than or greater than 13kts of wind two days from now. Most decision makers (commanders) realize that forecasts are based on an infinite amount of variables and understand when forecasts 'bust' but some expect perfection and will hold your feet to the fire.
What is the coolest thing I've done? As an SOWT guy a few years ago I was lucky enough to go to Military Freefall School and jump from 25K feet at night, with oxygen and a rucksack. We've got many memorable jumps like that. While deployed my team worked 16+ hour days, 90+ days straight, setting up a weather network (SOWT observers and sensors) in Afghanistan back in 2002. That was very rewarding but also very tough on family life.
What was the worst day/thing? THere have been plenty of bad days. As SOWT, you're pretty much the "red-headed stepchild" of SOF because there's no formal pipeline of training set up (yet) like there is for CCT, Army SF, Navy SEALS, etc. So you're often fighting stereotypes. I battle that by keeping a positive attitude and staying in better shape than all of them.
The real tough times are when you're guys get injured in combat though. We've had three SOWT members injured in Iraq & Afghanistan and that's very difficult to deal with. That makes all the other bad days seem... well, not so bad.
Realize though, I'm not the average weather officer. Regular weather officers are going to have very different answers to the above questions. Most all have been deployed though, at sometime or another, with a staff or with some aircraft, working long hours. You'd probably find that both their best and their worst times come from those deployments.
3 comments:
What is the coolest thing you've gotten to do so far?
What about the worst day/thing?
What do I like best about Weather?
Definitely the people. The AF only allows the smartest of the enlisted force to be a part of weather and it shows. You'll work with some amazing Airmen and learn everything you need to know from them.
What do I like the least?
Probably the fact that weather is such a gray science. As you know, there's no black and white answer as to whether a drop zone will have less than or greater than 13kts of wind two days from now. Most decision makers (commanders) realize that forecasts are based on an infinite amount of variables and understand when forecasts 'bust' but some expect perfection and will hold your feet to the fire.
What is the coolest thing I've done?
As an SOWT guy a few years ago I was lucky enough to go to Military Freefall School and jump from 25K feet at night, with oxygen and a rucksack. We've got many memorable jumps like that. While deployed my team worked 16+ hour days, 90+ days straight, setting up a weather network (SOWT observers and sensors) in Afghanistan back in 2002. That was very rewarding but also very tough on family life.
What was the worst day/thing?
THere have been plenty of bad days. As SOWT, you're pretty much the "red-headed stepchild" of SOF because there's no formal pipeline of training set up (yet) like there is for CCT, Army SF, Navy SEALS, etc. So you're often fighting stereotypes. I battle that by keeping a positive attitude and staying in better shape than all of them.
The real tough times are when you're guys get injured in combat though. We've had three SOWT members injured in Iraq & Afghanistan and that's very difficult to deal with. That makes all the other bad days seem... well, not so bad.
Realize though, I'm not the average weather officer. Regular weather officers are going to have very different answers to the above questions. Most all have been deployed though, at sometime or another, with a staff or with some aircraft, working long hours. You'd probably find that both their best and their worst times come from those deployments.
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