We went to Scott Base last night. Scott Base is about 4 km from MacTown and is the New Zealand base. A visit to Scott Base is by invitation only. Our invitation came from “Muppet” who is the NZ medic. Muppet wintered over and is due to leave in 3 days. This was his going away celebration with his American medical counterparts. Muppet picked us up from the “Derelict Junction”…it’s a small bus shelter just outside of our dorms. I’m not sure why it’s called that…maybe you’d be a derelict to stand out there for too long! Scott Base is neat; the view is better but of course the same white expanse that you see from everywhere else. All of the buildings are the same green color. Muppet took us for a small tour and showed us his medical clinic which was about the size of a closet (roughly 6 ft x 12 ft), but neatly kept and he wasn’t complaining. I’m sure Scott Base’s population is much smaller than McMurdo. We sat around in the bar; told jokes, talked medical humor and current events over a nice bottle of Pinot Noir from New Zealand.
On our return to Mac Town we saw what is called a “fata morgana” mirage. You can see exactly what this is at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fata_Morgana_(mirage). I will try to get a picture of it up. I wish I could say it was my photo but it’s not. It is taken from McMurdo Station though and is exactly what we saw last night. The mirage in the photo is actually the line at the base of the mountain. It appears that there is a drop off and then the mountain is there. In all actuality, there is no drop…it is only an illusion.
Weather Conditions changed to Condition “2” at Williams Field and Pegasus Field & the roads that lead to both. McMurdo has three weather condition categories. Condition 3 is good, condition 2 more severe and condition 1 confines us to our dorms. It was back to Condition 3 by the end of the day.
During lunch there was an accident on McMurdo. We sat with Mark who has a fire radio and listened as they dispatched crews to the scene which was directly in front of the fire station. Greg, Jennifer and I reported to the clinic and assisted the medical team. The patient has given me permission to discuss some of the details. He was backing in one of the vehicles in front of the fire station. The vehicle is one of the track vehicles we see on McMurdo. Basically, instead of 4 wheels they have 4 tracks (like a tank). Well, a sequence of events occurred which in turn caught his legs under the track. The report on the radio was that he had been “ran over” by a track vehicle. We were expecting worst case scenario and it was a relief to see him when he arrived in the clinic. His only injury was a fractured leg. The patient will be medevac’d to Christchurch as soon as possible. Our clinic has the capability of caring for patients in a pseudo-inpatient facility. We’ll provide 24 hour care until a C-17 arrives from Christchurch. Jennifer will go with Tara this time; this insures that we continue to have coverage on McMurdo. I always thought dealing with all the agencies to get an AE mission off the ground was a pain in the drain. Here at McMurdo it’s twice the challenge! Not only do we have to coordinate with all of our agencies…we also have to deal with Raytheon (the contractor that employs the majority of McMurdo Station). They’ve got a good system established. Greg takes care of the military side. Harry (the clinic director) takes care of the Raytheon side. There were small glitches today with patient movement precedence but now we’ve got it all ironed out (hopefully). Greg walked me thru the process today…all pretty familiar as I deal with similar issues back at home station. It’s much like being the Director of Operations (DO) dealing with all the correct agencies to ensure the mission is executed without complications.
We found out today that our Frequency Converter is actually in New York. It is due to arrive when the first LC-130’s land at McMurdo. I have formulated a back up plan from Kadena so that we are covered from all angles. We really need a Frequency Converter once the LC-130’s arrive. It is our only source of electricity when taking patients on LC-130s.
One of my observations on this trip is the difference in the people. It is different that I am used to. I am used to the military where the men are clean cut and have no beards; the women have their hair up in a tight bun or have short cuts. Everyone has a uniform and everyone looks basically the same. This is definitely not the case here. The men are manly men, I feel like I’m at a deer hunting convention! The style most stylish clothing here that separates people from the crowd is the stocking caps. All other clothing consists of Carhart overalls and snow suits for both men and women. This is definitely not a style competition…it’s about staying warm. We have been wearing our civilian clothes every day. Jon does this because this allows this predominantly civilian community to feel more comfortable around him. I think it is an ingenious idea and wish this would venture over to the medical personnel here at McMurdo. We have been doing it since our arrival just because we are the only military on the base right now and people have really warmed up to us. I remember the first day we arrived. We showed up in uniform and people tended to stay away from us. A few of the returnees would talk to us because they know Greg and Jon from last year. But for the most part, I felt a bit out of place. The clinic staff has made several comments about our civilian attire. They prefer it and wish we could do this more. It would be nice for the military to consider it. I am proud to wear my uniform but wish we could be our “MacTown Camo” while we are here.
Greg and I went over to the fire department to arrange transport of the patient tomorrow. The fire trucks look like any normal fire truck. I guess I was expecting something a little more “cool”. They do have one of those monster truck vans with Missouri personalized plates though! A little piece of Missouri in Antarctica. They are the old black and gold plates with “DREDED”…that takes me a back a few years to my ‘loopin’ days.
Today’s article (below) is something I found on the McMurdo Intranet. It’s a story of 2 guys that made a motorcycle looking snow mobile out of recycled parts. Pretty cool!
Today’s McMurdo Trivia: Antarctica covers roughly 10% of the surface area of the globe.
Today’s McMurdo Weather: High 3◦F, Low -8◦F, Wind chill -33◦F. Visibility is at 5 miles with light snow and fog.
Today’s Article: http://antarcticsun.usap.gov/features/contentHandler.cfm?id=1341
On our return to Mac Town we saw what is called a “fata morgana” mirage. You can see exactly what this is at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fata_Morgana_(mirage). I will try to get a picture of it up. I wish I could say it was my photo but it’s not. It is taken from McMurdo Station though and is exactly what we saw last night. The mirage in the photo is actually the line at the base of the mountain. It appears that there is a drop off and then the mountain is there. In all actuality, there is no drop…it is only an illusion.
Weather Conditions changed to Condition “2” at Williams Field and Pegasus Field & the roads that lead to both. McMurdo has three weather condition categories. Condition 3 is good, condition 2 more severe and condition 1 confines us to our dorms. It was back to Condition 3 by the end of the day.
During lunch there was an accident on McMurdo. We sat with Mark who has a fire radio and listened as they dispatched crews to the scene which was directly in front of the fire station. Greg, Jennifer and I reported to the clinic and assisted the medical team. The patient has given me permission to discuss some of the details. He was backing in one of the vehicles in front of the fire station. The vehicle is one of the track vehicles we see on McMurdo. Basically, instead of 4 wheels they have 4 tracks (like a tank). Well, a sequence of events occurred which in turn caught his legs under the track. The report on the radio was that he had been “ran over” by a track vehicle. We were expecting worst case scenario and it was a relief to see him when he arrived in the clinic. His only injury was a fractured leg. The patient will be medevac’d to Christchurch as soon as possible. Our clinic has the capability of caring for patients in a pseudo-inpatient facility. We’ll provide 24 hour care until a C-17 arrives from Christchurch. Jennifer will go with Tara this time; this insures that we continue to have coverage on McMurdo. I always thought dealing with all the agencies to get an AE mission off the ground was a pain in the drain. Here at McMurdo it’s twice the challenge! Not only do we have to coordinate with all of our agencies…we also have to deal with Raytheon (the contractor that employs the majority of McMurdo Station). They’ve got a good system established. Greg takes care of the military side. Harry (the clinic director) takes care of the Raytheon side. There were small glitches today with patient movement precedence but now we’ve got it all ironed out (hopefully). Greg walked me thru the process today…all pretty familiar as I deal with similar issues back at home station. It’s much like being the Director of Operations (DO) dealing with all the correct agencies to ensure the mission is executed without complications.
We found out today that our Frequency Converter is actually in New York. It is due to arrive when the first LC-130’s land at McMurdo. I have formulated a back up plan from Kadena so that we are covered from all angles. We really need a Frequency Converter once the LC-130’s arrive. It is our only source of electricity when taking patients on LC-130s.
One of my observations on this trip is the difference in the people. It is different that I am used to. I am used to the military where the men are clean cut and have no beards; the women have their hair up in a tight bun or have short cuts. Everyone has a uniform and everyone looks basically the same. This is definitely not the case here. The men are manly men, I feel like I’m at a deer hunting convention! The style most stylish clothing here that separates people from the crowd is the stocking caps. All other clothing consists of Carhart overalls and snow suits for both men and women. This is definitely not a style competition…it’s about staying warm. We have been wearing our civilian clothes every day. Jon does this because this allows this predominantly civilian community to feel more comfortable around him. I think it is an ingenious idea and wish this would venture over to the medical personnel here at McMurdo. We have been doing it since our arrival just because we are the only military on the base right now and people have really warmed up to us. I remember the first day we arrived. We showed up in uniform and people tended to stay away from us. A few of the returnees would talk to us because they know Greg and Jon from last year. But for the most part, I felt a bit out of place. The clinic staff has made several comments about our civilian attire. They prefer it and wish we could do this more. It would be nice for the military to consider it. I am proud to wear my uniform but wish we could be our “MacTown Camo” while we are here.
Greg and I went over to the fire department to arrange transport of the patient tomorrow. The fire trucks look like any normal fire truck. I guess I was expecting something a little more “cool”. They do have one of those monster truck vans with Missouri personalized plates though! A little piece of Missouri in Antarctica. They are the old black and gold plates with “DREDED”…that takes me a back a few years to my ‘loopin’ days.
Today’s article (below) is something I found on the McMurdo Intranet. It’s a story of 2 guys that made a motorcycle looking snow mobile out of recycled parts. Pretty cool!
Today’s McMurdo Trivia: Antarctica covers roughly 10% of the surface area of the globe.
Today’s McMurdo Weather: High 3◦F, Low -8◦F, Wind chill -33◦F. Visibility is at 5 miles with light snow and fog.
Today’s Article: http://antarcticsun.usap.gov/features/contentHandler.cfm?id=1341
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