Air Antarctica: New York Guard unit delivers for scientific mission on the South Pole

National Guard, Apr 1999 by Bullock, Bob

In the early years, the 109th's flying in Antarctica was relatively limited, consisting of only two aircraft and a few dozen men and women. Back then, the deployment was measured in weeks. This year, the Guard is in sole possession of the mission, which required five aircraft and 120 Guardsmen per week.

Being a part of all this is not as easy as simply signing up; it takes a rugged person. Guardsmen must be prepared to confront not only the cold, but the "White Nights" when the sun doesn't set for months at a time. And then there is the sun's intensity -- exacerbated by the thinness of the ozone layer over the poles. It forces visitors to glob 50 SPF sunscreen on skin not covered by several layers of clothing.

But polar survival always begins with learning to endure the cold, which one Guard photographer said can be so extreme at the South Pole it "locks up" his cameras. To prepare for the harsh conditions, flight crews and maintenance personnel must attend a one-week "Kool School" in Greenland. The course's highlight is a three-day field exercise in the elements. Students spend two nights on an Arctic Sea ice sheet with only a sleeping bag, pad and what they can carry. The survivalists must build a shelter with whatever they can find.

Minimum deployments for the 109th are two weeks for traditional Guardsmen. Of that, about a week is required for air travel from Schenectady to Christchurch, New Zealand, the base of operations for the Antarctic program, then on to McMurdo and back.

For more than 210 Active Guard and Reserve members - full-time Guardsmen hired to support the program - the total deployment time to Antarctica each season lasts longer. In some cases, they stay more than 10 weeks.

Several members of the 109th were selected to make up the initial staff of Air National Guard Detachment 13, a group of Air Guard operations, maintenance and administrative specialists who stay in Christchurch permanently to assist the Antarctica program.

Many AGRs were hired from the 109th's traditional Guard force because of their polar experience. But nearly as many came from outside the unit, intrigued by the opportunity to operate in perhaps the most extreme flying environment on Earth.

It can be a siren, calling pilots to the south.

"Polar flying gets in your blood," said Maj. Joel Mayron, who flew with the Navy's Antarctic operation for three years. "Before the 109th, 1 couldn't have imagined a career at the poles. But I am so glad to be here. I know polar flying. I feel valuable because I have this skill. When I get down to Antarctica or now up to Greenland, I feel like I am coming home."

Eight-year polar veteran and pilot, Maj. Dave Koltermann, came to the Guard after leaving a special operations background in the Air Force.

"The flying is fantastic," he said. "And I feel special that we are contributing not only to science in America but to the international scientific community."

For the aircraft maintenance personnel, working in extreme cold offers unique challenges. For safety, they cannot expose their fingers for more than few seconds. There is also the pressure of working in temperatures so cold hydraulic fluid begins to freeze. But complaints are few.