Letter From Iraq #06

This week has proved to be interesting around here.  This weekend we turned our clocks back in observance of Daylight Saving Time.  There was a huge confusion caused by the time change as I’m sure will occur all over the planet.  Now I know that most of you are thinking, “We didn’t change our clock, did we?” No, Daylight Saving Time does not go into effect in the United States until November 4th. The reason that we start the time change so early is because that is when the Iraq government decided they wanted it.  After a little research I discovered that Iraq isn’t the only country that starts Daylight Saving Time on a different date than the U.S.  Actually, there are even states in the states that don’t observe Daylight Saving Time.  Instead they just change time zones and stay on the same time.  I like that idea.  I think that, instead of having Daylight Saving Time, everyone should change their clocks by one half hour in between Daylight Saving Time and Local Standard Time and then be done with the time changes.  Also, by now most of you have noticed that I’ve been spelling Saving without the letter S.  The reason for this is that the proper way of saying it is Daylight Saving Time instead of Daylight Savings Time.

Last week I got a couple of different emails from people that wanted to say that they enjoyed these letters.  I would like to thank them for taking the time to write and for keep America’s military members in their thoughts and prayers.  It’s nice to see that the Journal is read all over the country, even as far away as like Texas and Washington.  This week I would like to take some time to answer a question that I received from Jackie Slavick.  Jackie would like to know what I do as a weather person in Iraq.

When I joined the Air Force in 2001, after graduating high school, I told the recruiter that I wanted to go into weather.  The recruiter laughed a little and then realized that I was serious.  After I was finished with basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, TX I went to tech school, where I learned how to forecast the weather, at Keesler AFB, MS.  While I was there I learned a lot of really big words that sound good in a conversation and how to look at clouds know what type of rain they can produce.

After finishing 5 months of intense learning in Mississippi, I headed to Germany where I continued with training to learn the best techniques to figure out what direction the wind would be out of.  I was there for two years to hone my forecasting skills.  After my tour in Germany I went back to Keesler AFB, MS to take a course in Weather Observing.  Upon completing that course I was sent to Fort Lewis, WA which is my current duty station.

My job at Ft. Lewis is a lot like my job here in Iraq.  A big part of my job is to go outside and look up at the clouds, or lack of clouds for that matter.  I’m not looking at the clouds to see if I can make dogs or ponies out of them either.  Instead I have to figure out how much of the total sky they cover.  I also have to estimate how high they are.  I’m not so good that I can tell you exactly how high a cloud is, but I can give an approximate height, which is what we need.  While I’m outside I also check the visibility to ensure that our customers can see well enough to complete their missions.  We also use our visit outside to see if it’s raining or if fog is moving into the area. We gather all of our data and use it to send out a report that can usually be seen at any location around the world that has a computer and internet access.

The other big part of our job is to forecast the weather.  This part of the job is a lot more complicated than some would think.  After I had finished my tech school at Keesler AFB I came home for a visit and one of the first things that my dad asked me was whether or not it was going to rain.  After I told him that I didn’t really know what the weather was going to do in New Salem, he jokingly asked, “Can’t you lick your finger and forecast the weather?”  We get that a lot in this job and we try to explain that it isn’t that easy.

There are many elements to a forecast that we have to try to accurately forecast so that our customers can remain safe during the execution of their missions.  When we produce a Terminal Aerodrome Forecast or TAF we have to be more precise than the weather that you get on the local news.  We have to attempt to forecast what height clouds will be at, if there is going to be a restriction to the visibility and how low the visibility will go if there is.  We also have to say when any type of weather, whether it’s rain, snow, blowing dust, or fog, will affect the area with both a start and stop time.  As hard as all of that is, there is more to it than that.  We also have to be able to predict the speed of the wind and the direction that it will be coming from.  We also have to anticipate any significant changes in any of these criteria.

You would thing that all of this would be enough to keep a person busy for an entire shift, but there is more that is required of us.  We are also required to answer the many questions that can arise from our customers.  Now by customer I am referring to different military agencies that we provide this weather for.  Most times our customers are pilots who need the weather to fly.  Before a pilot is allowed to depart on a flight to anywhere in the world they are required to receive a briefing from their weather team to ensure that they will be able to complete their flight safely.  Our other customers are the men and woman who serve on the base that we are stationed at.  Our duty to them is to inform them when inclement weather is headed in the direction of their work areas.  It is our job to try and prevent injuries from weather conditions like thunderstorms, snow, and heavy rain.  Our forecasts are used by commanders to decide if a mission should occur or if the members of a base should report to work later because the roads are bad and more snow is on the way.

As I close for this week I hope that this answers your questions, Jackie, about what my job is here in Iraq.  There are days when my job can prevent a flight from taking off because the plane or helicopter won’t be able to land after their mission and then there are other days when there are no clouds in the sky, the visibility is unrestricted, the winds are light and the weather has very little effect to daily life.  We always hope for latter.

If you have a question for me or would just like to write to say Hi you can contact me through my email address at john.iraq@hotmail.com.

Until we meet again, Have A Great Air Force Day!