Weather

You are the apprentice Weather Airman. You just came through tech school at Keesler knowing how to read a METAR and calculate a dewpoint spread — now you are sitting next to a journeyman forecaster who makes decisions pilots trust their lives to, and your job is to close the 5-skill upgrade without ever putting a bad number in a weather product.

You graduated the Weather Apprentice Course at Keesler AFB (81st Training Wing) and now you are sitting in a weather flight at an operational wing — producing and decoding meteorological observations, reading AFWA model guidance, plotting upper-air data, and doing the quality-control checks on the observation equipment before the flight-met window opens. You support aviation operations by processing Meteorological Aerodrome Reports (METARs), TAFs, PIREPs, SIGMETs, and AIRMETs under direct supervision. Your primary job is building the foundational skills the journeyman will delegate to you over the next 18 months: running the ASOS equipment, coding and filing hourly observations, generating weather graphics for the daily ops brief, and understanding what a low-ceiling, low-visibility, or icing product means to the aircrew who will fly in it. You are also burning through the CDCs for the 1W051 upgrade and working your CFETP task list against the SSgt's timeline. At some units you will start CWT familiarization — understanding what it means to pack a meteorological kit into a ruck and brief a ground-force commander without a power outlet or a radar feed.

• 01Decode and encode a METAR and SPECI to current WMO / FAA format — sky condition, visibility, weather phenomena, altimeter, temperature/dewpoint, wind — no errors that make it through QC.
• 02Operate and maintain the Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) sensor suite: run the hourly observation cycle, recognize a sensor fault before it produces a bad obs, and document the discrepancy.
• 03Read the products coming off Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA) — TAFs, area forecasts, turbulence and icing charts, significant weather prognostics — and brief the basic hazard to a non-meteorologist.
• 04Plot upper-air soundings and identify the lifted index, tropopause height, and wind shear layers a forecaster is going to use to assess thunderstorm or icing threat.
• 05Support the daily aviation weather brief — pull the products, build the graphics, organize the situation summary — so the journeyman forecaster can focus on the analysis, not the slideware.
• 06Maintain basic radiosonde / rawinsonde equipment readiness at stations that launch weather balloons — prep, fill, launch, and track to the current FM-35 standard.

• —CFETP 1W0X1 — Career Field Education and Training Plan: the line-item task list the SSgt signs off against; read it before every shift rotation.
• —AFH 15-101 — Airfield Operations and Local Flying Procedures (weather section): the airfield weather minimum framework your products support.
• —AFI 15-157 — Weather Support to the United States Army: the joint-doctrine reference for non-aviation weather support you will encounter on any deployed billet.
• —WMO No. 306 — Manual on Codes (FM-15 METAR / FM-16 SPECI): the international coding standard your observations must meet.
• —Your CDC volumes for the 1W051 upgrade — do the work, do not just answer the End-of-Course test. The SKT draws from the CDCs, and a bad weather product draws from gaps you left in the fundamentals.
• —DAFMAN 36-2905 — Air Force Physical Fitness Program: the PT standard that does not care how good your TAF skill is.

• —CDC volumes complete and the End-of-Course exam passed inside the AETC timeline — late CDCs are the first counseling entry in the career.
• —5-skill level (1W051) upgrade signed off by the CFETP suspense — every task evaluated, no open line items.
• —Zero quality-control failures on filed observations during your initial upgrade period — one bad METAR with your initials on it gets a phone call from the adjacent wing.
• —PT test passing under current DAFMAN 36-2905; no body composition program entry as an A1C.
• —CCAF transcript started — Meteorology / Atmospheric Sciences AAS path; at minimum the first AFSC-related course in motion before you pin SrA.

• —Filing an observation without running the QC checks because the window is tight. A bad METAR goes out over the national aviation weather network and every aircraft planning in that airspace reads it.
• —Treating the ASOS sensor discrepancy as the next shift's problem. Sensor faults compound — an icing detector that is out of tolerance during an ice storm produces clean data the forecaster trusts.
• —Interpolating a ceiling height because the automated sensor threw a questionable read and you did not want to flag a special observation. An aircrew on an instrument approach is using your ceiling call.
• —Briefing a weather hazard in ambiguous language because you are not sure of the terminology. "Kind of cloudy with some stuff" is not a forecast — learn the coded language before you brief anything.
• —Leaving the upper-air plot incomplete because the sounding equipment had a partial failure. A missing wind-shear layer in the brief is the gap the flight surgeon or the wing safety officer finds at the mishap review.

The good A1C 1W0X1 is the apprentice the journeyman sends to open the observation suite alone by month nine because the obs come out clean, the sensor logs are current, and the QC discrepancy gets flagged before it ships. By the BTZ window the SSgt is making the case for early SrA; the CDCs are done before suspense, the 5-skill task list is closing cleanly, and the flight chief has already asked whether they want to attend the first CWT familiarization block.

You are the journeyman forecaster apprentice. The 5-skill upgrade is done and the SSgt is starting to sign off on weather products with your initials on the distribution line — which means a bad call is no longer a training event, it is an operational failure.

You run weather products under reduced supervision — TAFs, PIREPs, ceiling and visibility forecasts, icing and turbulence advisories, winds-aloft products — depending on the flight's operational customer (fighter, mobility, special operations, or Army support). You are the primary observer on the observation cycle, you sit the ops-support window alongside the journeyman forecaster or SSgt, and you are starting to deliver the pre-mission weather brief to aircrew directly rather than just building the slides. You also train the new A1C the way you were trained — CFETP sign-offs, observation technique, equipment troubleshooting — and you are studying for the SSgt WAPS cycle: PFE and the 1W0X1 SKT. At units with a Combat Weather Team billet, the conversation about whether you qualify and want the training pipeline is happening now; CWT screening happens at the SrA-to-SSgt window.

• 01Issue a Terminal Aerodrome Forecast (TAF) that survives the post-mission verification — ceiling, visibility, wind, and weather phenomena within the amendment thresholds.
• 02Brief a pre-mission weather package to aircrew — significant weather en route, destination conditions, alternate minimums, icing/turbulence/thunderstorm threat — in the time the ops schedule allows, with the confidence that comes from knowing the analysis, not just reading the slides.
• 03Run an upper-air analysis from rawinsonde and model data: identify tropopause height, wind-shear layers, lifted index, and the instability signature that precedes convection.
• 04Operate and interpret outputs from AFWA NWP model guidance — the Global Forecast System, mesoscale models, and ensemble products — at the level a journeyman forecaster is expected to blend with observations.
• 05Train and sign off CFETP apprentice-level task items for the A1C — demonstrate the task, supervise the execution, document in the training record — with the same rigor the SSgt applied to yours.
• 06Begin Combat Weather Team-level meteorological kit awareness: portable AWS sensor setup, METWATCH procedures, hand-held observation techniques for the tactical environment.

• —CFETP 1W0X1 — you sign at the apprentice level when delegated; your own 7-skill line items are next.
• —AFH 15-101 — the airfield operations and weather minimums framework your TAFs are written against.
• —AFI 15-157 — Weather Support to the United States Army: the joint support doctrine relevant to any deployed or JSOTF-attached billet.
• —Joint Publication 3-59 — Meteorological and Oceanographic Operations: the joint doctrine document that governs what you do when you are not supporting a USAF wing.
• —DAFMAN 36-2406 — Officer and Enlisted Evaluation Systems: the EPB / Stratification inputs your SSgt is writing about you, using the bullets you give them.
• —DAFI 36-2502 — Enlisted Promotions: WAPS mechanics — pull the current AFPC promotion message, know your sequence number, start the SKT study 90 days out.

• —5-skill level complete; 7-skill CDCs in motion and on track against the CFETP timeline.
• —TAF amendment rate within the wing weather flight's operational standard — if your forecasts are being amended on every shift, the SSgt is writing it.
• —ALS slot held and graduated — ALS in residence is required before SSgt pin; do not let the slot pass because the ops schedule conflicted.
• —WAPS first attempt for SSgt taken inside the window — PFE and 1W0X1 SKT, current AFPC message followed exactly.
• —CCAF Meteorology / Atmospheric Sciences AAS in striking distance — two-thirds complete is the visible-on-paper standard at the SrA-to-SSgt window.

• —Issuing a TAF that outsmarts the model guidance without documenting the reasoning. When it verifies badly the SSgt needs to know what you were looking at — "I had a feeling" is not a forecast methodology.
• —Amending a TAF late because you wanted to see if conditions would recover. Aircrew planning a divert are using the amendment time-stamp, not your optimism.
• —Signing off an A1C's CFETP task because the task "looked good enough." That signature says the Airman is qualified — if they produce a bad obs six months from now, the task sign-off is Exhibit A.
• —Skipping the EPB self-input and letting the SSgt reconstruct your contributions from memory. The bullets you do not write are the ones the WAPS board never sees.
• —Briefing a hazard below your confidence threshold without flagging the uncertainty to the aircrew. "There is a 40% chance of embedded thunderstorms along the route and I am not confident in the tops" is a complete brief — "conditions look okay" is not.

The good SrA 1W0X1 is the journeyman the ops scheduler puts on the weather brief slot for the Wednesday CAS event because the brief comes back clean, the aircrew has questions answered before they ask them, and the TAFs verify within amendment thresholds. ALS is done or scheduled; the SKT study started at 90 days, not 30; the A1C training record is current; and the CWT screening conversation with the flight chief is on the calendar.

You are the new NCO in the weather flight and the first name the flight chief reaches for when a supported unit commander calls at 0200 to ask whether the mission weather is flyable. Every weather product that goes out under your name is a decision someone is making with it.

You are the journeyman-to-craftsman NCO in a weather flight — producing and supervising terminal, en route, and support-area forecasts for aviation operations, ground operations, or joint task force support. You run a section of 3-5 SrAs and Amn, you sign CFETP line items at the journeyman level, and you own the quality of the products that go out under your flight's name. You conduct pre-mission weather briefs directly to aircrews, mission commanders, and Army ground-force commanders — the brief is yours, not the SrA's slides with you standing next to them. You are also working the 7-skill upgrade (1W071) CDCs and studying for the TSgt WAPS cycle simultaneously. If you have not yet gone through the Combat Weather Team pipeline, this is the tier where the decision becomes permanent: CWT-coded SSgts and TSgts serve as the weather operator embedded with special operations forces (SOF) — Army Special Forces, Rangers, JSOC-level units — and the selection and training pipeline (Combat Weather Team training, free-fall qualification, combat dive, SERE) is competitive and multi-year.

• 01Deliver a command-level weather brief — surface analysis, upper-air pattern, hazard summary, decision-point timing, alternate options — to a wing commander, a battalion commander, or a JSOTF J3 without notes.
• 02Supervise and QC weather products issued by SrAs and Amn — TAFs, METARs, Area Forecasts, METWATCHes — before they go on distribution, and write the correction entry when one fails verification.
• 03Run a Meteorological Watch (METWATCH) operation for a combat mission set: track the weather system in real time, call the go/no-go window, brief the update on the commander's timeline.
• 04Operate and interpret portable meteorological equipment for field/deployed operations: portable automated weather stations (PAWS), hand-held wind/temperature/moisture sensors, and SATCOM weather data reception in austere environments.
• 05Write defensible EPB / Stratification inputs under DAFMAN 36-2406 — measurable bullets built from real product verification data, not adjectives.
• 06Mentor SrAs through the SKT study cycle and the ALS prerequisite, the same way the good SSgts mentored you.

• —CFETP 1W0X1 — you sign at the journeyman level and own the section's CFETP currency against the craftsman timeline.
• —AFI 15-157 — Weather Support to the United States Army: the governing document for joint weather support you will use on every Army-support or deployed billet.
• —Joint Publication 3-59 — Meteorological and Oceanographic Operations: joint doctrine — know it well enough to brief the Army S2 / J3 on your role in their planning process.
• —AFH 15-101 — Airfield operations framework, TAF amendment standards, and the weather minimum structure your products are written against.
• —DAFMAN 36-2406 — Officer and Enlisted Evaluation Systems: you write EPBs now — verify the current revision on e-Publishing before you build a bullet.
• —DAFI 36-2502 — Enlisted Promotions: WAPS/TSgt mechanics — pull the current AFPC promotion message; check your sequence number; the SKT is broad for 1W0X1 at the craftsman level.

• —ALS graduate; 7-skill level (1W071) CDCs in progress and on track against the CFETP craftsman timeline.
• —NCOA packet in motion — required before TSgt pin; do not treat the slot as guaranteed.
• —Section product QC rate defensible to the flight chief: TAF verification scores, METWATCH call accuracy, zero late-filed observations attributable to your section.
• —WAPS for TSgt taken on first attempt inside the window — PFE and 1W0X1 SKT, current AFPC message followed.
• —PT test passing with the visible-on-paper score; CCAF Meteorology / Atmospheric Sciences AAS completed or within two courses.

• —Issuing a METWATCH without establishing clear go/no-go criteria with the supported commander before the mission launches. When the weather hits the threshold during the execution window and nobody agreed on what the threshold was, the mission abort is the flight chief's problem.
• —Signing off a SrA's TAF because the shift is busy and it "looked reasonable." A TAF signed by the supervising SSgt and later amended on every 3-hour period is a training record that asks whether supervision actually happened.
• —Hiding a product verification failure from the flight chief to "fix the process internally." One bad trend is a training conversation; a pattern the flight chief discovers from the adjacent wing is a leadership failure.
• —Waiting until 60 days out to build the TSgt WAPS study plan for yourself and your SrAs. The 1W0X1 SKT draws from the full CFETP breadth — the SSgt who starts at 90 days beats the one who starts at 30.
• —Treating the CWT pipeline decision as something to figure out after TSgt. CWT-coded billets compete at the SSgt-to-TSgt window; if the answer is yes, the conversation with the flight chief needs to happen now.

The good SSgt 1W0X1 is the one the flight chief puts on the wing stand-up weather brief on the morning of the large-force exercise because the brief is clean, the decision windows are laid out before the wing commander has to ask, and the SrAs in the section are writing SKT flashcards between missions. ALS is done; the TSgt WAPS is a first attempt; the NCOA packet is in; and the CWT conversation either produced a pipeline slot or a deliberate, documented choice not to pursue it.

You are the section NCOIC of a weather flight and the senior technical voice the wing operations center calls during the worst weather event of the year. The accuracy of your forecast brief is measured in sorties flown or aborted, not in metrics.

You are the NCOIC of a weather flight section — or, if CWT-coded, you are a senior combat weather operator embedded with a JSOTF, an Army Special Forces Group, or a Ranger battalion. In the flight NCOIC role, you supervise 5-12 Airmen across the SrA, SSgt, and Amn bench, you write 2-3 EPB / Stratification reports per cycle that decide the next SSgt slate, and you defend the section's product quality metrics to the flight chief and the wing operations center. You conduct and review all high-impact forecasts — thunderstorm, icing, low-visibility, wind-shear, tropical, or severe-weather events — and you are the Airman the on-call commander calls at 0300. In the CWT role, you are the weather operator on the ground with the ground force commander: austere environment, no ASOS network, limited comms, and a battalion or team that is going or not going based on your read of the next 6-hour weather window. Both roles are real; both require the full technical depth.

• 01Run a weather flight section's product quality program — TAF verification scores, METWATCH accuracy, observation timeliness — and brief the metrics to the operations group without being asked.
• 02Conduct a high-impact weather forecast for a complex meteorological event — convective system, icing-embedded route, low-visibility fog event — including model-blend reasoning and uncertainty communication to the supported commander.
• 03Write 2-3 EPB / Stratification inputs under DAFMAN 36-2406 that the flight chief can defend at the squadron roll-up — measurable bullets from real product verification data.
• 04Operate independently in the CWT / deployed environment: set up portable meteorological equipment, establish communication with the AFWA reach-back capability, and brief the ground force commander without access to the standard flight-level product suite.
• 05Mentor the section's WAPS cycle — PFE and the 1W0X1 SKT for SSgts testing for TSgt — using current AFPC promotion message timelines and starting at 90 days, not 30.
• 06Translate meteorological uncertainty to operational risk language: "I am 70% confident the ceiling remains below minimums until 1400; the 30% risk is an earlier break driven by the dry line — here is how I am tracking that signal."

• —CFETP 1W0X1 — you sign at the craftsman level and own the section's audit posture.
• —AFI 15-157 — Weather Support to the United States Army: you may be the senior U.S. weather operator in a joint environment; this document governs your role.
• —Joint Publication 3-59 — Meteorological and Oceanographic Operations: the joint doctrine document for all weather operations in the joint task force context.
• —AFH 15-101 — Airfield operations weather minimums and amendment standards you are now signing above.
• —DAFMAN 36-2406 — Officer and Enlisted Evaluation Systems (you write 2-3 EPB / Stratification per cycle; verify current revision on e-Publishing).
• —DAFI 36-2502 — Enlisted Promotions (MSgt board mechanics — verify current AFPC promotion message; PFE only at this level).

• —NCOA graduate; SNCOA packet in motion — resident vs correspondence, verify current eligibility on MyFSS.
• —7-skill level (1W071) complete; section CFETP currency defensible at the Functional Manager review.
• —Section TAF verification and METWATCH accuracy metrics at or above the wing weather standard — the operations group tracks these, even if they do not tell you.
• —Zero safety-of-flight product failures attributable to your section during your tenure as NCOIC — one contributes to a Class A mishap board finding.
• —MSgt WAPS taken inside the window — PFE only at this level; pull the current AFPC promotion message and check vMPF for sequence number.

• —Issuing a high-impact forecast without documenting the model-blend decision rationale. When the forecast busts and the mishap board convenes, "the GFS showed it breaking earlier" needs to be in the product record, not in your memory.
• —Letting a section SSgt carry the high-impact forecast load because they are technically stronger. The day that SSgt deploys or PCSes, the section is exposed — and the wing operations center calls you, not the SSgt.
• —Hiding a safety-of-flight product quality issue from the flight chief to "work it internally." One flight that aborts when conditions were actually VMC, or one sortie that launches into conditions that were actually IMC, ends careers.
• —Treating the MSgt WAPS / SNCOA / career-broadening conversation as sequential problems. The TSgt who runs them in parallel pins MSgt earlier; the one who runs them in series is explaining to the Functional Manager why the career arc stalled.
• —Confusing technical depth with operational authority. The wing commander makes the go/no-go call. Your job is to give the commander the weather picture with honest uncertainty — not to make the decision for them or to soften the call to the answer you think they want.

The good TSgt 1W0X1 is the section NCOIC the wing operations center calls by name when the 72-hour large-force exercise forecast is due and the model guidance is diverging. The section's TAF verification numbers are in the wing slide, the SSgt bench is studying for WAPS, the SNCOA packet is in, and the flight chief has already had the "MSgt assignment that broadens" conversation — whether that broadening is a joint billet, an AFWA operational duty, a CWT team lead, or an instructor tour at Keesler.

You are the weather flight superintendent or the senior enlisted leader at a wing, MAJCOM weather staff, AFWA operational division, or a JSOTF weather cell. The operations group commander and the wing safety officer know your name before you introduce yourself.

You are the flight superintendent in a weather flight at an operational wing, a MAJCOM or NAF weather staff, an Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA) operational division, a joint billet at a JSOTF or a combatant command, or a career-broadening assignment (instructor at Keesler, AFRC Functional Area Manager, recruiter). You run 15-40 Airmen and NCOs across the SSgt and TSgt bench, you write four-to-five EPB / Stratification reports per cycle that shape the next TSgt and MSgt slates, and you defend the flight's product quality and readiness posture to the operations group, the wing safety office, and the MDG when the medical readiness question surfaces. You own the flight's safety-of-flight product quality program — every Class A mishap board that involves a weather question will include a brief from you. You sit on the ops group stan/eval and weather standardization board. You mentor the TSgt bench toward SNCOA, the MSgt broadening assignments, and the SMSgt board — being honest about which TSgts are on track and which ones need a different conversation.

• 01Run a weather flight superintendent's portfolio — product quality, CFETP currency, EPB / Stratification slate, readiness metrics, flight safety program — and defend it to the operations group without notes.
• 02Brief the operations group commander, wing commander, or combatant command J3 on the weather picture for a multi-day operation — model uncertainty, high-impact weather threats, and the decision window timeline.
• 03Own the flight's safety-of-flight product quality program: review the high-impact forecast record, identify systematic biases in the section's model-blend decisions, and brief the trend to the wing safety officer before the IG asks.
• 04Mentor TSgts through SNCOA, the MSgt broadening slate, and the SMSgt board case — including the CWT pipeline decision for those who qualify and have not yet committed.
• 05Run the wing's weather stan/eval standardization program: written evaluations, in-flight evaluations of forecasters, remediation criteria, and the Aircrew Standardization and Evaluation program interface.
• 06Translate operational meteorology risk to the wing commander and safety officer in language they carry unchanged into the next higher headquarters weather brief.

• —CFETP 1W0X1 — you audit at the flight superintendent level; 9-skill (1W091) upgrade documentation in motion.
• —AFI 15-157 and Joint Publication 3-59 — the governing joint-doctrine pair you enforce at the flight level and brief at the wing level.
• —DAFMAN 36-2406 — Officer and Enlisted Evaluation Systems (four-to-five EPB / Stratification per cycle; verify current revision).
• —DAFI 36-2502 — Enlisted Promotions (SMSgt board mechanics — board reads the package; no WAPS test).
• —AFPC-published Functional Manager guidance for 1W0X1 enlisted workforce: accession, training, retention, deployment posture, CWT pipeline billets.
• —AFI 91-202 and AFI 91-204 — The Air Force Mishap Prevention Program and Safety Investigations: the framework the wing safety office uses when a safety-of-flight weather call is reviewed.

• —SNCOA graduate (resident or correspondence — verify current Senior NCO PME requirements on MyFSS).
• —CCAF Meteorology / Atmospheric Sciences AAS complete; bachelor's in active progress if SMSgt/CMSgt-track.
• —Flight product quality metrics — TAF verification, METWATCH accuracy, safety-of-flight record — defensible at the operations group monthly and the wing semi-annual.
• —EPB / Stratification slate producing TSgt selectees at or above the wing weather flight average.
• —Career-broadening assignment completed or on the SMSgt board case slate — Keesler instructor, AFWA operational, AFRC FAM, joint billet, CWT team superintendent.

• —Discovering a systematic product quality gap — recurring TAF verification failures in a specific weather regime — and fixing it quietly without briefing the operations group. The wing safety office eventually finds the pattern and asks why the flight superintendent did not.
• —Letting the senior TSgt carry the high-impact forecast desk while you focus on the SMSgt package. The flight is the package — the SMSgt board reads the flight's safety record before the bullets.
• —Building EPB / Stratification reports without measurable input from the TSgts you rate. The senior rater quietly downgrades bullets that cannot be backed with verification numbers.
• —Treating the CWT pipeline as someone else's program to run. At MSgt, you are either building the next CWT operator cadre or explaining to the Functional Manager why the flight's pipeline is dry.
• —Confusing meteorological authority with command authority. The wing commander makes the go/no-go. Your job is to give the honest picture — including uncertainty that makes the call harder — and then execute the decision without revisionism.

The good MSgt 1W0X1 is the flight superintendent the operations group commander names when the wing inspector general asks who runs the safety-of-flight weather program — and whose name also appears on the list of TSgts who pinned MSgt on first or second looks. The product quality metrics are in the wing slide with no asterisks, SNCOA is done, the AAS is on the wall, and the Functional Manager has the SMSgt case half-built two cycles before the board slate is published.

You are the squadron superintendent, the group senior enlisted leader, the AFSC Functional Manager at AFPC, or the senior weather operator at a combatant command or JSOTF. The wing commander, the operations group commander, and the Surgeon General's weather program office know your name and call it before they call anyone else.

As a SMSgt you are the superintendent of a weather flight group, a MAJCOM weather staff senior enlisted leader, an AFWA operational division superintendent, or a senior CWT team superintendent at a JSOC or TSOC. As a CMSgt you are the AFSC Functional Manager at AFPC, the senior enlisted advisor at AFWA, a NAF or MAJCOM command chief with weather as a core responsibility, or the senior weather operator in a combatant command joint weather cell. You set the standard for the 1W0X1 enlisted workforce: accession targets, CWT pipeline throughput, CFETP currency, career-broadening sequence, the SMSgt and CMSgt board slate, and the cross-flow posture when the AFSC faces a force-structure change. You sit alongside O-5s, O-6s, and the wing or combatant command operations staff in the weather integration conversation. You write SMSgt and CMSgt board endorsements that determine who sits the next CMSgt slate. You walk the line during the wing or MAJCOM IG cycle at the weather program scope. And — two to three years before you separate — you are building the post-AF transition runway: the master's in atmospheric science or meteorology, the National Weather Service conversion path (NOAA employs significant numbers of retired 1W0X1 CMSgts), the defense contractor or intelligence community weather billet, or the emergency management / state climatologist track.

• 01Run a squadron or group superintendent's portfolio — product quality culture, CFETP training pipeline, EPB / Stratification slate, CWT pipeline throughput, retention, and climate — and brief it to the operations group or MAJCOM without notes.
• 02Brief the wing CC, combatant command J3, or AFPC Functional Manager on the enlisted weather workforce posture: accession trends, CWT pipeline health, deployment rotation stress, career broadening gaps.
• 03Write SMSgt and CMSgt board endorsements that the board can defend at AFPC — unit-impact-driven bullets, honest assessment of board readiness, no boilerplate.
• 04Mentor the next MSgt and SMSgt bench: career-broadening sequence, AAS / bachelor's timing, CMSgt board posture, and the post-AF transition runway — including the NWS conversion path, the defense contractor landscape, and the federal civil service GS meteorologist track.
• 05Set the standard for the 1W0X1 CWT pipeline: identify the SSgts and TSgts who qualify, build the timeline to CWT selection and training, and brief the throughput to the AFPC Functional Manager and the special operations weather community.
• 06Represent the 1W0X1 enlisted workforce at AFPC functional conferences, MAJCOM weather staff reviews, and AFWA workforce planning sessions — carrying the field's input into the policy decisions that affect the 20-year Airman who does not have a seat at the table.

• —CFETP 1W0X1 — you own the field-level audit posture and provide Functional Manager input on CFETP revisions.
• —AFI 15-157 and Joint Publication 3-59 — the joint-doctrine pair you enforce and teach at the senior enlisted scope.
• —DAFMAN 36-2406 — Officer and Enlisted Evaluation Systems (SMSgt / CMSgt-level endorsements; verify current revision).
• —DAFI 36-2502 — Enlisted Promotions (SMSgt / CMSgt board mechanics; Functional Manager nomination weight).
• —AFPC Functional Manager guidance for 1W0X1; AFWA workforce planning products; special operations weather community manning documents.
• —Chief Leadership Course reading list for CMSgt selectees; AFI 91-202 and AFI 91-204 for the safety-of-flight program ownership you carry at the senior enlisted scope.

• —Chief Leadership Course complete for CMSgt selectees before pin-on; SNCOA completed earlier in the timeline.
• —CCAF AAS complete; bachelor's complete; master's in atmospheric science, meteorology, emergency management, or a related field in motion or complete if CMSgt / Functional Manager track.
• —Squadron or group product quality and safety-of-flight record clean during your tenure — zero Class A mishap board findings attributable to weather forecast failure under your watch.
• —EPB / Stratification slate producing MSgt and SMSgt selectees at rates the Functional Manager cites in workforce planning briefs.
• —Zero senior-NCO-level integrity, OPSEC, or safety-of-flight product-falsification incidents. One ends the career permanently — and at this level it ends it publicly, with an entry in the unit history.

• —Pretending to be the senior technical forecaster in a room full of journeymen. Senior enlisted weather leaders who stopped being current forecasters 10 years ago lose credibility the moment the journeyman asks about the current model suite. Know what you know; know what the TSgt next to you knows better.
• —Letting the squadron or group safety-of-flight product quality drift because "the QA process owns it." You own it at the senior enlisted scope; the wing safety officer reads the climate before the chart.
• —Treating the CWT pipeline as a downstream problem for the AFPC Functional Manager to solve. If the SMSgt weather superintendent is not actively identifying, mentoring, and routing qualified SSgts toward CWT selection, the special operations weather community runs dry.
• —Building SMSgt or CMSgt board endorsements from memory or from the subordinate's own self-input. The endorsement you write is the most consequential document in the career of the person it covers — it deserves three drafts and a honest conversation about readiness.
• —Going public with disagreement over a wing CC or combatant command J3 weather-driven operational decision. Take it in the office. Walk out aligned. The CMSgt who does not is a CMSgt who does not get the next assignment — and the community is small enough that everyone in the field knows within 48 hours.

The good SMSgt / CMSgt 1W0X1 is the senior enlisted voice the wing CC names when the MAJCOM inspector general asks who runs the weather program — and whose name is also on the list of MSgts and SMSgts who pinned on first looks for the last three cycles. The CWT pipeline is producing operators, the product quality record is clean, the AAS and bachelor's are on the wall, and the post-AF transition runway is already running: the master's is finishing, the NWS GS-1340 application is drafted, or the defense contractor billet is in the queue. The AFSC Functional Manager has the CMSgt board case half-built before the package suspense lands.