Andersen Air Force Base, Guam-- U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. James Lindamood, a 36th Operations Support Squadron weather craftsman, was recognized as the 36th Wing’s Team Andersen Linebacker of the Week, at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, June 7, 2023.
The Team Andersen Linebacker of the Week recognizes outstanding enlisted, officer, civilian and total force personnel who have had an impact on achieving Team Andersen’s mission, vision and priorities.
As a weather craftsman, Lindamood provides the 36 Wing 24/7 weather watch while managing airfield observations, forecasts and resource protection alerts for the base. He collaborates tropical cyclone support with the 17th Operational Weather Squadron, National Weather Service and Joint Typhoon Weather Center. He is a subject matter expert on daily weather reports, enabling combat power generation for Pacific Air Force’s largest weapon system. Lindamood establishes weather flight services for temporary duty and deployed units, and he streamlines dissemination of weather alerts, mission planning and area forecasts.
Since arriving at Andersen AFB in November 2022, Lindamood taught a professional development course to the Agile Combat Support flight on the science of icing, focusing on attention to detail and enhancing overall forecasting skills. He educated the entire 36 OSS by teaching multiple tactical combat casualty care courses, bringing the unit up to 100%, ensuring squadron combat deploying capabilities. Lindamood also completed a four-week tropical weather analysis and forecasting course, which provided him key insights into the physics of tropical weather and typhoon forecasting.
“I’ve been into weather all my life,” said Lindamood. “Even as a kid, I was outside staring at the clouds and watching the forecast on the news and learning as much as I can at a young age. When I found out there were weather jobs in the Air Force, that was immediately what I wanted to do and I got lucky.”
As the weather training lead, Lindamood collaborated with the Agile Combat Support flight commander and constructed and vetted a comprehensive training plan for three incoming weather apprentices. He supervised the dissemination of Typhoon Mawar updates to key leadership and volunteered to stay back and ride out the storm, providing 24 hour support to the wing. Lindamood assisted with the clean up of the airfield, which enabled it to be back operational in less than 24 hours of a natural disaster. The United States Coast Guard HC-130J was able to safely land on Andersen Air Force Base as a result of his and the team’s effort.
“If you don’t work hard, you’re not setting an example,” said Lindamood. “It’s really important to show the people around you that this is not a little job. You’re having direct impacts on people’s way of life in the big scheme of things.”
The term Linebacker is rooted deep within Team Andersen’s history. Operation Linebacker II took place on Dec. 18, 1972, and was the largest number of heavy bomber strikes launched by the U.S. Air Force since the end of World War II. During the operation, B-52s from Andersen flew round-the-clock bombing missions over North Vietnam to destroy major targets in Hanoi and Haiphong in an effort to bring the Democratic Republic of Vietnam back to negotiations.
The recipient will have the opportunity to sign a “Linebacker” football jersey that will be displayed in the Wing Headquarters building.
Way to go, Lindamood!