Saturday, September 04, 2010

Saturday, September 04, 2010

The Woodlands, TX 

Dad mentioned that I should keep a journal about my journey to Antarctica. It sounded like a good idea, so here it is. I will maintain a hand-written journal and use this method to post on the Internet for all to see.

I suppose I should start with a little background on what goes on in Antarctica. Antarctica (the "ICE") is a heavily researched continent and any country wishing to conduct research down there has to agree to the terms set forth by the Antarctic Treaty.
For the United States, the National Science Foundation (NSF) is responsible for our contry's research. the NSF sends out bids to provide all support services to their efforts (custodians, construction workers, firefighters, radio operators, etc.). The current company task with this service is Raytheon, a military contractor. Bids are for ten-year lengths and another company should have taken over this last year; but for whatever reason, Raytheon was granted a one-year extention while NSF completes the bid process (of which Raytheon entered but did not make the last 3.)
I say all this just to provide a background on how itt works down there. The division of Raytheon I'll be working for is the Raytheon Polar Service Company. I don't anticipate the current status of Raytheon basically filling a lame-duck role will negate my experience in any way.

Now to the three important questions:

1. What convinced me to do this;
2. What am I going out there to do;
3. What's involved?

I actually applied for a few positions during last year's Austral summer and got as far as being sent the specific applications for those positions (none of which I remember, now). Nothing happened. That year, though, one of my cowerkers went down there too work at the South Pole station (US has 3: McMurdo, Palmer, and Amuundsen Scott South Pole), and that's where I initially got the idea.
I applied for this Austral summer season on a whim, with no real expectation. In addition to the other jobs, I also applied for a Dispatcher position with the McMurdo Fire Department since I've been dispatching EMS and Fire for 3 years. I also applied for a Communication's Operator at MacOps. I received the application for those specific positions, submitted them, then sat back and waited.
About a week after my birthday, I got a ccall in the morning from Capt. Neel Pah with the Antarctica Fire Deparment asking if I would be interested in an interview. I told him I was and asked when he'd like to do it. It ended up with him calling me back 10 minutes later with the dispatch supervisor conferenced inand we had the interview.
In my tshirt and shorts.
I received an email from Capt Pahl the following day requesting some NIMS certificates that he had negllected to mention during the interview as being mandatory for hiring. He also stated that they would like to offer me a possition, but needed that paperwork first.


Okay.....I have to