Weather team acclimates to mission in southern Baghdad

Tech. Sgt. Andrea Patterson monitors multiple weather tracking systems in the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Combat aviation Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, tactical operations center June 23 at Forward Operating Base Kalsu, Iraq. Sergeant Patterson and two other Air Force weather forecasters provide 24-hour-a-day weather updates to the Army 3rd Infantry Division's operations occurring in the Triangle of Death area. The instantaneous weather information the battlefield weathermen are able to provide are critical to the success, and to the safety of the 3rd ID's ground and aviation operations. Though Sergeant Patterson is attached to the 3rd ID, she officially falls under the recently formed 3rd Expeditionary Weather Squadron headquartered on Camp Victory in Iraq. She is deployed from Detachment 6 of the 7th Weather Squadron from Wiesbaden, Germany. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Jim Varhegyi)