The Weatherman They Didn’t Expect to See in the Desert

My journey from TV duty in Korea to combat operations with the 101st Airborne showed me that weather intelligence is as much about people and decisions as it is about data

In 1989, I found myself in an unusual dual role on the Korean Peninsula.

By day, I served as the Assistant Chief of Weather Operations supporting the Eighth Army and the 17th Aviation Brigade, where I was responsible for forecasting and briefing weather to support the American defense of South Korea.

By night, I was something else entirely: the (appropriately stiff) television weatherman on the American Forces Korea Network (AFKN).