1/C Chimiak: 2013 SWIFT overview
The SWIFT internship has been one of the most challenging
yet extremely rewarding evolution's I have done during my three years at the
Academy. I applied for SWIFT 3/C year and did not receive a spot on the team.
This year I applied again and was granted the opportunity to be part of the
team along with being chosen as one of the team leaders.
I got a lot more out of SWIFT than I could have ever
imagined. Before departing Annapolis on May 10, 2013 I envisioned a trip to
simply "view" weather. A major part of SWIFT was viewing weather
however getting the hands on experiences with the weather models like SPC and
HRRR allowed for myself and the other midshipmen to learn how to predict severe
weather and understand the complications that go into forecasting. Learning how
to use these models allowed myself and the other midshipmen to accurately pick
target cities to chase in. Once arriving to these target cities with the help
of radar and visuals within the clouds I learned a great deal about where
tornadoes form, hail occurs and where the "core" of the storm is
located. With that being said, I also
learned that models are not always correct. When chasing for tornadoes I found
the models looked far more promising than what the atmosphere showed. This led
to frustration at times but I had to keep an optimistic outlook and remind
myself I was dealing with nature.
A major part of the SWIFT trip was logistics. Logistics
included tasks such as packing the van, gassing up the van, finding hotels,
finding food and navigating to storm locations. This was a stressful task at
times especially when a chase ended late at night. Logistics taught me how to
delegate my work to my team members. There was not a chance of me completing
every task alone. I had four other midshipmen on my team. I tasked two of them
with food and hotels, one with multimedia uploads and the other with
van/equipment maintenance. This allowed me to focus on navigating us to target
locations and it left me as a "filter" between midshipmen and
officer/professor.
SWIFT also taught me about keeping my team motivated while
accomplishing the mission at hand. Lucky for me, the other firstie and the
eight 2/C with me all got along and no one had negative attitudes. Sometimes
one of us including myself would become flustered and therefore have sarcastic
comments but we kept each other in check. The rising 2/C were motivated midshipman and they stepped up to the plate without hesitating. Many willingly took on task without being asked. For example, 2/C Borrego took on the responsibility of the Go-pro's. He charged them, moved them into position and made awesome videos that the SWIFT team and STEAM program will now have for the future. Having 1/C Whitt working with me was
a blessing. Not being a tech savvy individual (I was the only one on the trip
without a smart phone), Whitt helped me out tremendously with van prep and
computer trouble shooting. It was nice having another firstie on board to
bounce ideas off of as well.
Overall SWIFT was the best internship and military training
I have ever experienced at the Academy. I was able to practice my leadership
skills along with doing in field work with my major. I was given the
opportunity to work with LCDR Woods and Dr. Barrett who are well educated
oceanography faculty members. LCDR Woods military background and Dr. Barrett
created an efficient work environment. Every evening Whitt and myself did
debriefs with the two faculty members. Some day we received praise about a job
well done while other were more serious. Either way, there advice went along
way and I can carry these lessons with me out into the fleet.
-Jackie Chimiak
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