Another 48 hours

We woke up 0430 Friday morning only to leave for the Antarctic Center at 0500. After checking our luggage, more briefings, and breakfast, we boarded our C-17 and began our flight to Antarctica. While in line for our boarding passes we were given ear plugs for the flight. I came to find out that while in flight, they were definitely needed. The flight was one of the smoothest flights I had ever experienced. The only thing that really sucked was that the only windows in the cargo belly of the plane where on the troop doors however it did force us to get up and stretch our legs if we wanted to get a look outside. We really started getting excited when we started seeing ice flows, icebergs, and finally the continent. I can honestly say without having any windows to look out from the longest part of the flight was the time after we were told we were descending. Even when I was sitting in the middle rows of the 747 we took from L.A. to Auckland I could still see land and city lights out of the closest windows. In a 17, there was no looking out of a window to guage when we'd hit the ground. All of a sudden ...we were on the ground. I was expecting cold. I was expecting bone ringing cold. It was actually quite comfortable in our cold weather gear. The one thing I'm still getting use to is breathing sub-zero air. As customary by now, we were driven into town for another briefing. We got our room assignemtns, learned a little more about living on base before we went to meet our supervisors. For us (the firefighters), we met our chief and walked 400 feet to the firehouse where we went on a tour of the firehouse. I didn't spend much time elsewhere on the base last night. We got dinner, went to the bar for a bit and then I headed back to my room. I was so tired after waking up at 0430 after 4 hours of sleep, I went straight to sleep before only unpacking my uniform.

Today, I was up at about 0630. After a shower and breakfast, I went to the firehouse early before the beginning of my shift at 0800. At the beginning of the shift, I received my turnout gear and began to go over the apparatus at the station. We had a flight to stand-by for at 12. I had always wanted to know how things were run at station 2 so today was my first lesson in ice-runway operations. We hopped into Ambulance 2 which was parked outside of the hospital (which is next door to the firehouse) and drove 10 minutes out to Station 2, a small double-wide on the runway. Every building out there was a small building on skis. The air traffic control tower, the firehouse, the support buildings...everything. It didn't dawn on me how different the weather was going to be on the runway considering that the runway is over an ocean. I think the weather in town was -15. Out on the runway the temp was around -20 or -30. Today, to me, was the moment of truth for I had wondered how my turnout gear would fair in sub zero weather. To my surprise the only part of me that was remotely cold were the small parts of my face that were exposed for a long period of time. Even the part of me underneath my nomex hood was moderately comfortable. It's amazing how beautiful it is out on the ice, staring out across the Ross Sea. The land is flat enought where you can see across McMurdo Sound 70 miles to the other side. We spent the first hour doing apparatus checks. I definitely have a lot to learn about the vehicles on the runway and I can't wait. I got word that this Monday I've been signed up for some type of airfield driving and operations class which I'm pretty excited about. After our checkouts we came inside to hang out until the C-17 touched down. Now, on top of Station 2, there is a thick plastic bubble that gives you a 360 degree view of the world around the Runway and the station from an elevated position. We spent a lot of time up there and got an excelllent show of the 17 landing. It definitely looks a lot more dramatic from the outside. We came back shortly after the 17 took off around 1600.

So far this job has been great. I'm having a lot of personal issues at home that have been leaving me severely depressed but being at work and being around my coworkers has been helping. Now, I can't wait for the next day or days to come...