SOUTH POLE
McMurdo Station
ANTARCTICA
(clockwise from above left) Flags of the 12 original signatory nations of the Antarctic Treaty fly at McMurdo Station, Antarctica. A heater hose keeps this C-17 Globemaster III from freezing in Ant- arctica’s extreme temperatures. NSF researchers deplane at McMurdo Station. This photo from the 1990s shows what McMurdo Station looked like from the air on a clear day. On the Pegasus White Ice Runway, an aircraft maintenance officer watches as personnel and supplies arrive. (facing page) NSF and U.S. military personnel relax en route to McMurdo Station.
put them out into the field for 90 or 100 days and get them back in time to be teaching the next semester — and that’s not something that a lot of other programs can do.” Joint Task Force Support Forces
Antarctica, led by the 13th Air Force, steps up with the leadership and lo- gistical support that make a dazzling array of scientific breakthroughs pos- sible. The commander of U.S. Trans- portation Command coordinates aircraft and ships. Galaxy aircraft from the 105th Airlift Wing, Stewart
Air National Guard Base, N.Y., are used to get everyone and everything moved as far as Christchurch, New Zealand, the staging point for deploy- ment to McMurdo Station. McMurdo also is one of three permanent U.S. research stations in Antarctica and the key operations facility for U.S. ef- forts “on the ice.” Tanker ships from the Navy’s Military Sealift Command deliver tons of cargo and fuel to Mc- Murdo each season. C-17s from the 62nd and 446th airlift wings, Joint- Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., do their
PHOTOS: CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE LEFT, ROB JONES/NSF/GETTY IMAGES; TECH. SGT. SHANE A. CUOMO, USAF; COURTESY USAF; ANN HAWTHORNE/CORBIS; STAFF SGT. BENN BARR, USMC
share of heavy lifting between New Zealand and Antarctica as well. “The program itself is sort of this
interesting hybrid of high-end sci- ence and hard-core logistics, yet it all comes together and works amazingly well,” he says. From research on ocean currents
DIGITAL EXCLUSIVE
Click here to watch a video that shows what it’s like to live in Antarc- tica — from some servicemembers who temporarily call it home.
J A N UA RY 2012 MILITARY OFFICER 59
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