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MILITARY NEWS
Air Force Tech. Sgt. M.J. Torrence, daughter of Sally Tinson of Blakely, is a noncommissioned officer in charge of the command support squadron with the U.S. Air Force weather agency, at Offutt Air Force Base, in Omaha, Neb., a team of more than 800 men and women who have become the premier agency for Department of Defense climatology forecasting. "My office maintains records on more than 800 active duty, civilians and reservists," said Torrence, a 1983 graduate of Early County High School. She went on to earn a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland in 2006. "We process evaluations, decorations, leave requests and duty updates." Because of the agency's global operations, they house one of the largest data operations centers in the world. The Air Force Weather Agency has three major missions that are as diverse as the Air Force itself. The American Forces Network Weather Center is just one of those operations that provides 11 separate weather broadcasts, forecasting weather for close to 120 cities, 400 daily forecasts that reach 2.5 million viewers by way of direct satellite and the Pentagon Channel. The weather specialists also affect operations in space, where technicians monitor our solar system for solar interference or atmospheric disturbances that can wreak havoc with satellite and radio communications. But even more important, the Weather Agency forecasts also affect the combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, giving ground commanders vital forecasting information. Combat weather specialists accompany combat teams to keep up-to-date on by-the-minute changes to weather conditions. The information produced by the Weather Agency team is used not only to inform, but in some cases, to save lives as well. "Our mission helps make sure that others can concentrate on weather matters and not worry about their records, getting paid correctly or other administrative concerns." Since World War I, weather has played an important role in combat operations and since the invasion of Normandy on D-Day in June of 1944, weather forecasting has been a factor in virtually every operation. But science and technology has changed dramatically since the days of sending up balloons to gauge weather conditions. "We have a new building with a lot of state-of-the-art equipment and that goes a long way to enhancing weather operations," said Torrence.
Torrence and her weather teammates may not tell you whether or not you'll need an umbrella for this weekend's outing, but they do make sure our space missions go off without a hitch and can help save the lives of our men and women put in harms way around the globe.
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