123rd Weather Flight Mission Oregon Air National Guard's 123rd Weather Flight (WF), located at the Portland Air National Guard Base, Portland, Oregon. The Unit is comprised of more than 12 Battlefield Weather Team personnel. The mission of the 123rd WF is to support the Army's 41st and 116th Brigade Combat Teams (BCT) and the State of Oregon. This involves activities such as performing climate analysis, gathering weather observations, preparing and delivering weather forecasts, issuing weather warnings and advisories, and transmitting and communicating data to other DOD agencies worldwide. Also, due to the unique nature of Army support, the 123rd WF maintains proficiency in field skills, able to sustain operations in an austere and sometimes hostile environment. Organization The 123rd Weather Flight was formed in early 1956 within the Oregon Air National Guard and began operations at Portland International Airport. Weather support for the 142nd Fighter Interceptor Squadron was the unit's first assignment. The aircraft supported by the 123rd WF included the F-94 Starfire, F-89 Scorpian, T-33, F-102 Delta Dart, F-101 Voodoo and the F-4. The unit has also supported various Army aircraft and helicopters. Beginning in 1979, the unit began training to support the 116th Armored Cavalry Regiment headquartered in Twin Falls, ID. Army support became the primary customer for the 123rd WF. In 1985 the unit was reassigned to support the 41st Separate Infantry Brigade, Tigard, Ore. Annual training with the Army consisted of field deployments to Camp Rilea, Ore., Fort Lewis, Wash., Yakima training center, Wash., and JRTC at Fort Polk, La. In 2002, two Air Force missions were added, the 153rd ALW (Cheyenne, Wyo.) and the 151st ARW, Salt Lake City, Utah. During a brief two year period of support to these air missions, the unit sent several members on Operational Readiness Exercises to Utah and Colorado to help ensure these air components accomplished inspection tasking. During Air Force Transformation in 2003, the unit was once again reassigned to its current customers: the 41st BCT, 116th BCT, and 142nd Fighter Wing. Since then, Unit members have deployed in support of countless worldwide federal missions to include: Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, New Dawn, Joint Forge, Noble Eagle, and Unified Response (Haiti). In addition, Unit members have deployed in support of national and state domestic response operations to support for flood relief and counter drug efforts in Oregon. Training Battlefield Weather team members are trained to integrate environmental information and its effects into all aspects of planning, execution, assessment and sustainment of Army Brigade and State response operations. This is accomplished by executing five core processes--collection, analysis, prediction, tailoring, and integration--to characterize the environment and exploit weather information.