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7 airmen enter spec ops weather pipeline

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.

Training starts with a two-week Special Operations Weather Selection Course at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. Then airmen must complete the 30-week Special Operations Weather Initial Skills Course at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss.; the three-week Army Airborne School at Fort Benning, Ga.; the 2½-week Air Force Basic Survival School at Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash.; the one-day Air Force Underwater Egress Training course at Fairchild; the 13-week Special Operations Weather Apprentice Course at Pope Air Force Base, N.C.; and the 12- to 15-month Special Tactics Advanced Skill Training program at Hurlburt.