Steven M. Savageau
Era: Persian Gulf
Military Branch: Air Force
Major Steven M. Savageau, USAF-Ret., began Air Force Officer Training School at Medina Annex of Lackland AFB, Texas on September 12, 1978.
Commissioned on December 11, 1978. Weather training at St. Louis University January - December, 1979. Officer-in-Charge of Tropical and Southern Hemisphere Forecast Unit, Air Force Global Weather Central, Offutt AFB, Nebraska, 1980-1983.
Instructor/Supervisor, Weather Forecaster Course, Chanute Technical Training Center, Chanute AFB, Illinois, 1983-1986. Officer-in-Charge, Operating Location-A, Detachment 21, 5th Weather Squadron, Wright Army Airfield, Georgia, 1986-1987. Commander, Detachment 21, 5th Weather Squadron and Staff Weather Officer to the 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized), Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia, 1987-1989. Chief of Current Operations, 11th Weather Squadron, Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, 1989-1992. Commander, Weather Flight, K.I. Sawyer AFB, Michigan, 1992-1994. Staff Weather Officer, HQ Joint Task Force-Southwest Asia, 1993.
Retired at the rank of major in 1994 with a rating of Master Meteorologist. Awards and Decorations: Meritorious Service Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal (1OLC), Army Commendation Medal, Joint Service Achievement Medal, Air Force Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Southwest Asia Service Medal, Kuwait Liberation Medal (Kuwait), Joint Meritorious Unit Award, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award (3OLC), Air Force Longevity Ribbon (3OLC), Air Force Training Ribbon.
Highlights of my career included serving as Staff Weather Officer to Headquarters, Joint Task Force-Southwest Asia (HQ, JTF-SWA) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 1993. We were a vestige of Operation Desert Storm operating as a command and control center for Operation Southern Watch which consisted of the coalition forces enforcing United Nations Security Council Resolution 688 establishing a "no-fly zone" over southern Iraq.
I provided staff weather support, briefings, and other environmental services to the senior officers of the United States, Great Britain, France, and Saudi Arabia, which made up the coalition headquarters staff. We lived in a place called Eskan Village, which was about 20 miles outside of Riyadh. It was a village supposedly built for Saudi nomads to stay when they came to Riyadh to conduct business. However, they wouldn't stay there, because the government supposedly wouldn't let them keep their livestock (mainly camels and sheep) there. So, the Saudi's let the American forces stay there.
A unique experience I had when serving as Chief of Current Operations of the 11th Weather Squadron and Weather Briefer for the Alaskan Command was to provide weather briefings to the Alaskan Command staff when it was convened to alleviate the aviation crisis caused by the eruption of the Mt. Redoubt volcano just before Christmas of 1989. Anchorage was the refueling stop for many transcontinental flights. The eruption of Mt. Redoubt prevented planes from flying up Cook Inlet to land at Anchorage.
