Becoming a Stormbreaker at Cape Canaveral: A First-Hand Look at the U.S. Air Force's Early Career Program for Civilian Meteorologists

The US Air Force’s PALACE Acquire Program “offers permanent full-time civilian positions in a wide range of occupations following a 2 to 4-year period with a formal training plan designed for both personal and professional growth”. The program is designed for recent college graduates, within 2 years of graduation (4 years for veterans). Promotions and yearly salary increases are granted based upon performance and supervisory approval. Upon successful completion of the formal training plan, the PALACE Acquire Program offers a permanent position in the Air Force Civilian Service. In addition, the program gives the interns Tuition Assistance and Student Loan Repayment opportunities.

The Air Force Weather career field, within the last 2 years, has just recently started hiring Palace Acquire meteorologists. I am just the second person to go through the program in Air Force Weather. In my particular program, I am stationed at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) with the 45^thWeather Squadron (45 WS). The 45 WS provides the tailored weather support and forecasts for the entire Eastern Range, which includes Kennedy Space Center (KSC), CCAFS, and Patrick AFB. Meteorologists at the 45 WS give the weather go/no-go call for every single launch that takes place at KSC and CCAFS. Customers include NASA, DoD, SpaceX, United Launch Alliance, and Blue Origin. My 3-year program start date was in August 2018, where I entered as a GS-07. In year two I will become a GS-09, and in year three I will become a GS-11. Currently, I am certified as a Range Weather Forecaster, helping to provide 24/7/365 weather support and resource protection to the $20 billion worth of assets and safety to the 25,000 personnel on the Eastern Range. In November, I will then transition to the Spacelift operations side of our squadron, where I will begin Launch Weather Officer (LWO) training. The goal at the completion of the program is for me to be hired as a permanent LWO at the 45 WS as either a GS-12 or GS-13.

My program has offered an incredible combination of on the job training (OJT) and formal Air Force Weather courses. Reflecting on almost one year as a Palace Acquire intern meteorologist, it is amazing how much that I have learned and gotten out of this program. Starting off with no prior military experience, I was quickly humbled by how little I knew about almost everything we did. However, everyone at the 45 WS was extremely welcoming and eager to help me as I assimilated into the squadron and tried to absorb as much information as I could. During the first month or so with the 45 WS, I learned about some basic military and air force structure, organization, and terminology. I also learned about how weather affects military operations across all of the branches. Then, I started training with the range weather forecasters, where I began learning all about our mission, products, and forecasting techniques at our location. We also have a lot of unique systems and equipment here, so I started the process of getting comfortable using our tools effectively. Being at the world’s premiere spaceport here at Cape Canaveral, I also learned an immense amount about spaceflight and launch operations here. I was amazed at all of the incredible history and current operations during my first tour of CCAFS and KSC.

After about 4 months of OJT with the 45 WS, I then had the opportunity to attend the Weather Officer Course (WOC) at Keesler AFB. I definitely got a lot out of this course, and was able to apply many of the scientific meteorological concepts that I learned at Penn State to operational forecasting. At WOC, was able add to my prior knowledge and learn the operational significance of observing, METSAT, radar, forecasting techniques, and space weather. I also learned a lot about Air Force Weather structure, organization, and operations. Additionally, I was trained how to apply this new knowledge towards Air Force weather products, such as TAFs and 175-1s. In addition to the material, the best part of WOC was the great group of students and instructors with whom I attended class with every day. Shortly after returning to CCAFS from WOC, I went right into the Tropical Meteorology online class. Coming from the Northeastern US, I did not have as much knowledge in tropical meteorology as I did in the midlatitudes. Here, I learned all about how the weather works in the tropics, which is especially relevant to Florida weather in the summer. This course definitely helped me in day to day forecasting, as well as my overall knowledge base as a meteorologist.

In addition to formal and OJT training, I also have had the opportunity to attend some fantastic immersion trips to see other aspects of Air Force weather. My first of these trips was to Scott AFB to visit the 15 Operation Weather Squadron to see a “hub”. I was able to shadow each of the position on the ops floor, and learn all about their mission, including SPC and AWC backup. I have also had a chance to visit other AF weather squadrons, including the 2^ndCombat Weather Support Squadron and the 23^rdSpecial Operations Weather Squadron at Hurlburt Field, and the 557^thWeather Wing at Offutt AFB. I look forward to future trips where I will learn about other aspects of Air Force Weather.

Overall, I could not be more pleased with my first year in the PALACE Acquire program. In just under a year I have learned an incredible amount, and I feel like I have had a huge amount of growth both professionally and personally. I am excited to come to work every day for both the mission and the people. I have had great mentorship from so many people here, from the officers, to the enlistees, to the civilians. I am extremely excited about what the next two years in the program will bring.