United We Roll at Stardust Radio

The following article highlights one of our United We Roll Guests on our show to air Tuesday, September 22nd. We all know how weather can delay or cancel a flight or change many other plans we have here at home. Just imagine how weather can impact military planning and strategies! With trained experts like SrA Daniel Jamison and the equipment he has to work with, hopefully that impact from Mother Nature can be lessened or even used to an advantage.

Airmen reign, shine over weather operations in Iraq
http://www.afweather.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123166180

by Senior Airman Alyssa C. Miles
U.S. Air Forces Central Public Affairs

9/3/2009 - CAMP VICTORY, Iraq -- Two weather Airmen used their weather equipment and knowledge to provide on-the-job training to seven Iraqi air force weather lieutenants here Aug. 16.

The training's focus revolved around the set-up, up-keep and function of a tactical meteorological observation system, a portable device which allows its user to obtain weather data used in taking several different weather observations, including wind speed and direction, cloud height, rain, temperature and humidity.

The training instructors, Tech. Sgt. Terry Hutton, Weather Systems Support team leader, and Senior Airman Daniel Jamison, WSS technician, serve day-to-day as the only weather system team in Iraq and perform maintenance on devices when they are not functioning properly.

"Our mission is to have 100 percent fully mission capable weather systems throughout the area of responsibility," said Airman Jamison. "Basically, getting our system up and going allows for safe travel of troops, special operations missions, medevac, cargo and any transportation needed throughout the AOR."

While there are more than four different devices the pair, both deployed from Hurlburt Field, Fla., can use throughout the AOR for an accurate weather reading, the TMOS is used most frequently, and was the foundation of the Iraqi's training.

"This system makes for quick set-up in a tactical environment," Airman Jamison said. "Obviously you wouldn't have time to set up a fixed weather system. It would take a lot of time for it to be set up, calibrated and get it up and ready to go. The TMOS is just in a box -- you grab the box, pull it out, set it up and you're done."

"This system has been used since the beginning of the war," he continued. "We have multiple systems out at multiple sites - it's used constantly."

According to Iraqi air force Director of the Meteorological Department, Colonel Salman, his airmen spent time reading about the equipment in preparation for on-the-job training.
This training is very important for Iraqi weather airmen because this is the first time we were able to work on this kind of machine, the colonel said.

The colonel added that he and his team are training on the equipment now so they can use it on the Iraqi side. They plan to put this device on every base in Iraq - army and air force - sometime in the future.

"It was important to Colonel Salman that each one of them had a hands-on experience setting up the TMOS, so I believe they all learned quite a bit from the experience," said Lt. Col. Marvin Treu, Multi-National Force-Iraq Joint Meteorological and Oceanographic officer, deployed from Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. "The lieutenants are hard working and motivated. They are already providing weather briefings for exercise and operational Iraqi air force missions, as well as learning how to set up and operate the latest tactical weather observing equipment."

"I am confident the Iraqi air force weather officers are going to develop the skills to be able to confidently and successfully support all the future missions of the Iraqi air force," the Murrysville, Penn., native continued.

With the training complete, Troy, Mich., native Airman Jamison says the Iraqis may now get constant weather updates around the local area.

"Today's training felt pretty good," Airman Jamison said. "This was the first step in the scheme of getting the Iraqis to take over their weather forecasting. It will help them out a lot in the future."

Iraqi air force weather advisor Maj. Barry Hunte, deployed from Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., says the OJT the weather airmen received is not the only lesson they have learned.

"The training is very important in not just helping the Iraqi weather department become better at their jobs," the Momence, Ill., native said, "but it is also showing that working together and learning about each other is very important to both fellow Americans and Iraqis, so that we can be viable partners. I'm looking forward to the next eight months of advising Colonel Salman and working with the Iraqi weather lieutenants and watching them grow."

United We Roll World Tour Show
Stardust Radio www.stardustradio.com
Tuesday 9/22/09 2pm-4pm Central(live)
Wednesday 9/23/09 6:30pm Central(repeat)

We have four great visits with 6 deployed Heroes of Freedom to share with you all today. Remember, if you are not able to stay with us through the show this afternoon, it will repeat again tomorrow evening, Wednesday, Sept 23rd at 6:30pm Central. In addition, an MP3 copy will be placed on our show archive site for listening and downloading. You can reach our archive site at www.stardustradio.info or through our full website at www.stardustradio.com.

Our first guest for today is 3 months into his deployment with the 772nd Expeditionary Airlift Squadron in Afghanistan. SrA Kyle Jefferson is a Loadmaster, which is a job of great responsibility, as the Loadmaster controls how much and where cargo and people are placed in an aircraft to keep it balanced for take-off and landing. The Loadmaster is also a part of the inflight crew and, like all deployed members, sees some pretty long duty days.

Coming up next is an unusual treat for us as we visit with a married couple who are deployed to the same base, though in separate duty areas. SSG Terence and TSG Nichole Williams currently live in separate quarters and share Saturday night “date night” through internet connection with their kids. SSG Terence serves in the security force with the 332nd ESFS (Expeditionary Security Force squadron) and TSG Nichole Williams is in the Protocol Office with the 332nd AEW (Air Expeditionary Wing).

This is our day for unusual treats as our next visit is not only with two deployed members from the 376th ESFS, but also with two celebrities! Well – kinda, sorta. Manas Air Base recently held their own version of American Idol – appropriately called “Manas Idol”. We are joined today by SSgt Erica Still who won the title of Manas Idol. Also joining us is SrA Dominika Taylor who played the part of Paula Abdul as one of the judges in the Manas Idol contest. This visit combines fun and inspiration.

Our final visit for today is with SrA Daniel Jamison of the Air Force Combat Weather Center and Weather Systems Support Cadre. I am sure we all remember times where the weather has prevented planes from taking off and interfered in other ways with our plans at home. That is no different overseas – in fact, weather has been a major consideration in military planning & strategy for decades. SrA Jamison is one of very few specialists in this area and is frequently traveling to assist at another location or is busy working on equipment at his home base. This is a fascinating visit and I have placed an article in our blog which also discusses SrA Jamison’s mission.

As always, we are extremely honored to bring you these visits with our Heroes of Freedom. And, we are very honored to have you, our listeners, join us each week.

May God Bless You All & May God Bless America!