Subscribe
VOLK FIELD AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, Wis. – Before aircrafts took to the skies during Patriot 26, weather professionals were already working to determine how conditions could affect flight operations. While Patriot 26, which ran from Aug. 24-28, 2026, brought together service members and civilian partners from across the nation to Wisconsin for a joint exercise, weather specialists continuously monitored environmental conditions, identified potential hazards and provided decision-makers with the information needed to safely and effectively conduct operations.
“Weather is always occurring. Even when it's a nice, clear day, weather people are always at the desk, making sure that nothing significant is going to pop up and affect operations,” stated 1st Lt. Cole Rademacher, 105th Combat Weather Flight, Tennessee National Guard, and officer in charge of the weather support team for Patriot 26. “Weather is always looking out.”
The weather support team consists of Air Guardsmen from multiple states dedicated to gathering data, creating forecast products, and briefing the players and command teams. The team also worked with the National Weather Service and conducted a meteorological conference.
“Our job is to identify the weather hazards and then properly present those hazards to decision-makers so that we can most efficiently plan our contingency responses,” said Rademacher.
Weather is monitored daily to ensure that conditions are agreeable for ground and air exercises and training. This is to understand limitations and mitigate risks and factors that could lead to delays, unforeseen circumstances, and overall potential mission failure.
Weather and environmental considerations may be small details, but are absolutely important. Regardless of the situation, outdoor conditions can affect how entities train, travel, work, or fight.
“Environmental intelligence being integrated into the planning process provides an advantage in combat operations and also can increase the safety of first responders,” stated Rademacher. “Weather has a role in absolutely any type of military or domestic operation.”
Patriot 26 is just one example of interoperability throughout the force and spanning to civilian agencies. The Air Force weather teams continue to support Army and civilian partners across the nation and overseas.
“A lot of people think that Air Force weather is focused on just producing forecasts. But the reality of it is that a forecast means nothing if it doesn't get to the right people and if it doesn't tell the right story,” said Rademacher. “My job is to make sure that the right people have the correct understanding of what the weather is going to do to the operation, not just telling people whether it's going to rain.”
| Date Taken: | 08.28.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 08.28.2026 17:14 |
| Story ID: | 573498 |
| Location: | VOLK FIELD AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 21 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Weather Watch: Forecasting for Mission Success, by SGT Chasity Williams, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
