New training pipeline set for combat weathermen Published Aug. 19, 2008 By Staff Sgt. Tanya Holditch Keesler New editor KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, MISS. -- A new Air Force specialty code will soon be available in the weather career field. However, even though the AFSC 1W032 is new, the career field for special operations weathermen isn't, according to Senior Master Sgt. Robert Silvernail, 335th Training Squadron. Creating a training pipeline for the combat weathermen was an effort to formalize and standardize training, according to Sergeant Silvernail. Furthermore, the Air Force can begin recruiting Airmen from the moment they enter a recruiter's office beginning Oct. 1. "Before this pipeline was created, Airmen were recruited from the weather career field as a whole," said Lt. Col. Mark Mesenbrink, 335th TRS commander. "Airmen wouldn't become combat weathermen until three or four years into their careers." Previously, to become a combat weatherman, Airmen attended the weather apprentice course at Keesler; survival, escape, rescue and evasion training at Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash. and then jump school. "We'd jump with the 82nd (Army Airborne) or the 101st (Army Airborne)," said Sergeant Silvernail. "We'd do our own training, but this was an effort to standardize it." Combat weathermen belong to a combined battlefield Airmen structure, or a group of AFSCs who spend more time in combat than other jobs in the Air Force. Currently 25 percent of all Air Force weather personnel are attached to Army units around the globe, many in direct support of combat operations, according to Sergeant Silvernail. Thus the need for a greater emphasis on physical training existed. "We looked at what we wanted for training, and combat controllers had the most robust physical training," said Sergeant Silvernail. "This was our response to get our Airmen trained for ground battlefield operations." Combat controllers train five days per week biking, running, swimming and with free weights, according to Master Sgt. John Wylie, 334th TRS combat controller instructor supervisor. "It's pretty broad-based," he said. Physical training could include 13-mile marches with rucksacks, in which the trainees are required to jog and march intermittently. After basic military training, combat weathermen must pass a two-week physical training selection course with combat controllers before moving on to Keesler for a 30-week special operations weather course. Then they head to Fort Benning, Ga., for the airborne portion of their training and to Fairchild for SERE training. Finally, they attend their final weather course at Pope AFB, N.C. Upon completion of the 43-week long training pipeline, they are awarded their 3-level. The program has a projected wash-out rate of 77 percent, based on the combined wash-out rates of all the courses through which they will progress. "Our initial allocation is to produce 12 (combat weathermen), so we will have to recruit 53 to meet our goal," said Sergeant Silvernail. Before, recruiting combat weathermen from the career field was hit or miss, said Colonel Mesenbrink. "Now we can recruit from the very beginning, and I think it will be a more efficient method with filling billets," he said. Keesler is slated to begin its first training class March 23.