Photo By Maj. Eva Weatherley | 2nd Lt. Matthew Marlow, staff weather officer for Task Force Oso, provides live...... read more read more
ZACAPA, Guatemala - Second Lt. Matthew Marlow, Staff Weather Officer of Task Force Oso arrived here March 27, 2014 to provide aviation weather support during Operation Beyond the Horizon 2014.
Operation Beyond the Horizon 2014 is a humanitarian and civic assistance mission deploying U.S. military engineers and medical professionals to Guatemala for training and to provide humanitarian services in various locations throughout Zacapa, Chiquimula, and Jutiapa.
Stateside, as an active duty airman, Marlow is assigned to the intelligence planning operations, which encompasses both climatology as well as country briefings, and operation order development. He states that he has always been interested in weather related operations, and has been in the Air Force for 9 years.
When asked what he enjoyed the most about participating in the mission, Marlow stated, “I really enjoyed the constant interaction with the Army Aviation guys as well as getting to do an aerial orientation of the terrain features of the area of operations.”
In support of the current mission, Marlow is responsible for providing five-day planning forecasts for Task Force Oso, but also provides live weather updates and daily mission execution forecasts for the aviators at both the current location as well as all BTH worksites. In addition, the Staff Weather Officer is also responsible for flight weather briefings outside of the local flying area when needed.
Marlow stated the he is able to provide most of his information from data collected from his tactical meteorological observing system (TMQ-53), which he set up near the aviation flight line shortly after his arrival.
“The mission here has been very rewarding,” stated Marlow, “and supporting the casualty evacuation training, which requires a very rapid response, was a really unique part of this mission for me.” Although Marlow will be returning to the U.S. before the operation is complete, he is confident that the Task Force Oso aviation team will be able to successfully continue the mission. He established a remote support weather system to ensure the continuity of operations. Marlow also stated that the TMQ-53 will remain in place and continue to provide all required data until the end of the operation.
| Date Taken: | 04.24.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 04.29.2014 14:38 |
| Story ID: | 128068 |
| Location: | ZACAPA, GT |
| Hometown: | FORT SAM HOUSTON, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 253 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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