Page 40 - South Mississippi Living - July, 2016

KEESLER AFB perfect storm
WEATHER RECONNAISSANCE
Hurricane Hunters are waging war on the weather
story by Maj. Marnee A.C. Losurdo, 403rd Wing Public Affairs
pAhotos courtesy of KAFB
t 1:15 a.m. on a June
morning, Lt. Col. Jeff Ragusa shuts off his alarm, rolls out of bed, gets ready quietly and leaves for work. The
pilot and aircraft commander meets his crew at 2:15 a.m. to prepare for a 4:30 a.m. departure to fly a low-level investigation mission at 500 feet above the Gulf of Mexico into a tropical disturbance which may become a tropical storm or hurricane. As Ragusa and his crew depart, Maj. Steven Burton, a navigator, repeats the same ritual to make it to work at 5:45 a.m., meets with his fellow crew members, and prepares for a 7:45 a.m. departure to fly a mission at 10,000 feet into a
tropical storm in the Pacific. Ragusa and Burton are two of
120 reservists in the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron (WRS) assigned to the 403rd Wing at Keesler Air Force Base. As the only Defense Department unit flying weather reconnaissance missions into severe tropical weather June 1 to Nov. 30, these citizen Airmen must be ready to go within 16 hours. The information they gather is sent to the National Hurricane Center, which improves forecasts and storm warnings. The majority of the reservists live on the Gulf Coast but reservists come from 30 states to serve.
“As a member of this squadron, you realize you are going to live out of a
suitcase from the first of June until the end of the season,” said Ragusa, who was enjoying the day with his family when he got the call notifying him to fly.
While this is just one weather mission for Ragusa and Burton, this ritual is expected to be repeated numerous times by squadron members during
a busy hurricane season. The unit’s “war on weather” is unique for several reasons, said Col. Frank L. Amodeo, 403rd Wing commander. He is responsible for the 53rd WRS, which is one of three special missions in the Air Force Reserve. “We ask people to deploy for shorter lengths of time but on a much more frequent basis,” he said.
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