22 ARMYMISSION
ANTARCTICA The New Zealand Army has been involved in Antarctica for more than 60 years, helping New Zealand play its part in the international effort to safeguard this pristine environment. Here two soldiers who have recently deployed there tell their stories. By Lance Corporal Daniel Pinkney, Plant Operator
I was sitting crammed into an Air Force C-130 Hercules southbound to Antarctica. As the time in the air neared three hours I anxiously checked the compass on my iPhone. Still headed south, I could breathe easy a little longer. One week earlier the main summer crew had been nearly four hours into the flight south in perfect flying conditions. We were about to set foot in Antarctica, we could feel it when suddenly the Air Force crew began flashing turn-around signals. We were boomeranged back home on a nine-hour flight made longer by the hour-long bus ride to our Covid isolation hotel in Methven. This time staring out the window we could make out a broad white expanse as far as the eye could see, criss-crossed with brown mountaintops and glaciers. The northern tip of Antarctica! When we stepped out of the Hercules onto the sea ice airfield it was like setting foot on a different planet. In our pre-deployment training we were shown photos but nothing prepares you for the vast size and raw beauty of Antarctica. Op Antarctica is a six-month deployment during the summer months. This year has had its challenges with Covid having a
major impact on this deployment. This has meant that all personnel going to the ice must isolate for fourteen days. Once at Scott Base, anytime new people arrive at the base the whole base has to wear masks and socially distance for three days until Covid tests return negative. In addition, there is to be no contact between Scott Base and the American base (McMurdo Station) for seven days. This has made the deployment tougher as there are less opportunities for rest and recreational activities. In mid-October we witnessed the last sunset, and it has been 24-hour daylight since... which takes some adjusting to when you wake up in the middle of the night and there’s bright sunlight coming in from the windows. I am one of two Army plant operators working at Scott Base, Ross Island to keep the base running as part of a civilian engineering team working under Antarctica NZ. Since Scott Base is minimally staffed we perform several different key roles. Waste Operator (processing and storing recycling and waste), fleet operator (driving heavy machinery to clear snow and move science containers), fuel operators (preparing fuel for science events), and assisting the Air Force cargo handlers to unload/ move cargo where required. I have found the work here relatively easy, with the challenges being working outside in up to -40 degrees temperatures and working in an
isolated team for six months. When it’s sunny outside it’s a dream deployment, when its cloudy and windy not so much especially when you jump on Facebook and see your friends and family at home enjoying a hot kiwi summer. When we were allowed to go over to McMurdo Station we made the most of it, with some cool activities unique to Antarctica. This included activities like the man-haul race, where teams of five harness up to a sled and take turns towing someone in a sled to race other teams. This year the Kiwi team took it out by a large margin. Unfortunately, I was in the men’s team that finished way back in fourth out of four teams. Another iconic event was the Ross Island ultra/marathon/ half marathon, a race across the Ross Ice Shelf notable for its long straights where you can see the finish line 11km away. I led the race in perfect conditions for the first 14km before running out of steam and being overtaken by a couple of Americans to finish 3rd (first Kiwi over the line) in the half marathon. One of the highlights of this deployment for me was playing a set on the violin at Ice stock, the world’s southernmost music festival to a receptive audience. Ice stock is comprised of musicians/bands from McMurdo Station and Scott Base and has a real party vibe with bands playing until close to midnight (in the daylight).
By Bombardier Harley Ward, Communications Operator
I applied for one of four Communications Operator (Comms Op) roles for the summer season 21/22. The comms op role at Scott Base is a 24/7 job, although the night shifts are not really night shifts with the 24 hours of daylight. The on-call comms op is a tri-service role shared between four NZDF staff. We enable numerous forms of communication for scientists working out in the field (some at camps for upwards of two months), helo and fixed winged operations, as well as being aware of the staff working off base and performing safety check ins. The comms op role allows the opportunity to interact with a range of people working in the most remote areas of the world. Each science team will have a scheduled daily call and this is when important messages can be passed on along with weather updates, resupply orders, news updates, a joke or even a riddle for some entertainment. Between the four comms ops this season, our roster has consisted of working six days on with two off. This has given us ample time to get out and explore this amazing place. In the five months that I have been
in Antarctica, I have done most of the Ross Island walking trails, abseiled down a 30m crevasse, competed in Tug of War with the Americans, man hauling race, and visited 100-year-old huts built by Captain Scott and Ernest Shackleton. However, the most memorable would have to be completing the Antarctica Marathon. That is something that I will never forget, what a special place to complete my first marathon. Christmas at Scott Base began in mid-December, with decorations going up and drawing of names from a hat to see who our secret Santa was going to be. Gifts had to be home made from resources found in and around base. Nothing was off limits to what you could make, most gifts were wooden crafts such as chopping boards and even a full chess set was made. The temperature during October was around -20 degrees with everything covered in snow. With the warming weather in December, the change in scenery is massive. The sea ice out the front of Scott Base is melting and slowly breaking away, and soon the resident seals will disappear. Before I depart back to New Zealand, I hope to see whales and penguins swimming in the open sea close to Scott Base.
