COMACC checks the weather

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Joshua Green
  • 23rd Wing Public Affairs
CAMP BLANDING, Fla. (ACCNS) --  Gen. William M. Fraser III, commander of Air Combat Command, recently got a taste of battlefield weather Airmen training operations after visiting the Battlefield Weather Mission Qualification Training course at Camp Blanding, Fla.

This was the general's first visit since the 93rd Air Ground Operations Wing created memorandum nearly a year ago that consolidated and standardized the training in one central location.

The ACC commander was given a tour of Camp Blanding and had an opportunity to interact with 18 battlefield weather students. General Fraser was given proper protective equipment so he could walk the course alongside those Airmen in training.

"We try and make the course as realistic as possible as if we're in a deployed location," said Army Sgt. 1st Class Edward Stokes, 211st Regiment, Regional Training Institute infantry instructor. "Putting individuals in stressed situations could help them deal with these situations downrange."

The course is designed to train battlefield weather Airmen to live and work alongside the Army and get ground combat training.

"The concept is to standardize the training received for Airmen who live, work and fight alongside the U.S. Army to help keep them mission ready," said Tech. Sgt. Joel Decker, 93rd AGOW noncommissioned officer in charge of training.

Each BWMQT course trains 18 students per class, 13 classes each year, lasting 11 weeks. The instructors are a mix of Army and Air Force servicemembers.

"This training is a once in a lifetime opportunity that is vital to our mission success and highly important," said Maj. Ken Burton, 18th Weather Squadron director of operations at Fort Bragg, N.C.

Although the instructors were from a different service, the battlefield weather Airmen feels as if they were one team.

"The cohesion between us and the Army instructors is amazing," said Staff Sgt. Ben Clark, 3rd Weather Squadron battlefield weather Airman at Fort Hood, Texas. "They greeted us with open arms and were eager to give us the hands-on training we needed."

Combat weathermen gather and interpret weather data and provide intelligence from deployed locations while serving as members of Air Force Special Tactics teams with U.S. Army Special Operations Forces.