Down to McMurdo Station

Inside C-17, helicopter in background

The trip down to Antarctica went smoothly.  We all showed up at the Antarctica Center at Christchurch airport early in the morning.  The commander and I had a quick breakfast and coffee before we boarded the giant C-17 US Air Force aircraft.

Interestingly on this tour, I will not wear a USAF Chaplain uniform.  This is because I am to support the civilian population here too, and they want me to seem more accessible to all the people.  So the New Zealander’s made me a special shirt for us chaplains to wear here.

Most of the passengers were civilians going down for the season (the Spring and Summer of Antarctica) and work for a company called Raytheon.

It was a fully packed flight.  Full of people and cargo, even a helicopter!!   I wondered if the people would want a prayer before we took off, but did not want to force it on them.  I asked the commander, he said it usually was not done.  So, as usual when I fly, I prayed silently before take off.

We could not see out, as the cargo bay has no windows.  In the middle of the cargo bay were seats, like an airline plane has, and people also sat on the side along the fuselage. 

The flight down was about 5 hours.  About 30 minutes before we landed everyone started putting on their extreme cold weather gear. We landed on an ice runway called Pegasus, about 20 miles out to sea, frozen sea that is!  

I put on all my gear and braced for landing and the cold air as I exited the plane.  When I walked down the stairs,  a cold blast wave hit my face.  The hairs in my nostrils promptly froze.   I lugged my bags across the ice to a giant bus with wheels larger than you have ever seen, and we were taken to McMurdo and in processed. 

McMurdo Station looks like a little town on a hillside.  It actually reminds me of a mining town, but has a college feel to it.  There are dorm buildings, a dining facility, a small store, a couple of bars, labs for research, a small hospital, three gyms, a chapel, many buildings....  I still have yet to explore it all. 

The Erebus Chalice Ceremony, Christchurch, New Zealand

Dean Beck, Fr. Dan and me with the Erebus Chalice

A few days ago I flew to New Zealand.  This morning (Sunday) was the big Antarctica service at the Anglican Cathedral in Christchurch, NZ. 

The Cathedral is absolutely beautiful, very old and gothic looking.  It stands in the middle of a large traffic circle.  I was met by Fr. Dan, a Roman Catholic priest who has been down to the Ice many times.  We then met Dean Beck, and the ceremony / service began.  The Mayor of Christchurch was there, the American Ambassador, many military people, many New Zealanders who were also about to head down to the Ice, many who have been there, and a host of others.   

In the middle of the service, during a scripture reading we were jolted by an earthquake tremor, it was quite noticeable!  These tremors have been happening all through the day and night since the big earthquake here a few weeks ago. 

I was then called up by the Dean and he handed me the Erebus Chalice.  I said a few words.  This is a paraphrase of what I said....

“It is a great honor and privilege to be here today and receive the famous Erebus Chalice!
Now, this is no ordinary chalice!  It has been going back and forth from the Cathedral here in Christchurch, New Zealand and Antarctica for many years.  There are many wonderful stories and legends surrounding the history of this Chalice.
The chalice is a symbol of sharing, it is the common cup that we share in the Eucharist.  It is also a symbol of unity, for all the people who have served in Antarctica.  
For over 50 years now, New Zealand has supplied the Roman Catholic Priests, and the US military has always supplied the Protestant Chaplains to minister to the people of Antarctica.
I am from Phoenix, Arizona…..and there is a bit of a temperature differential!!  This Tuesday at zero dark thirty I fly down to McMurdo Station, my first time going down there, and I will post this chalice in the Chapel of the Snows…where it will stay all season, and then return here end of summer. 
What a privilege it is to serve God in this way, and all God’s people ….to the ends of the earth!”  
 
After the service, we processed out, and the people came by and wanted to see the Chalice, as well, many wished me well.  

New Zealanders are a very friendly people!!  And the city, a very beautiful place on our planet earth.


Next stop....Antarctica!

The Comfort of My Own Time Zone

Just drove across two states (one very large state, Texas) to get back home.  It took 2 days of driving.    Yes, a very long drive!

Whenever I come home from a trip, it always feels so good not only to come home, (in place) but be back in my own time zone.  

At least for now.  A few days.   For in a few days...I am off to New Zealand and then Antarctica.

Have you ever felt the comfort of your own time zone?  Traveling is great.  But it is always so great to come home.

Whenever I go east, 2 or 3 time zones ahead, I have to adapt quickly, because I lose 2 or 3 hours of time.  It is difficult, to get up at my time 2 or 3 am!

When I deployed last year, it was 11 time zones ahead, that was 11 hours ahead of my home time zone.  I called it, "the place where tomorrow is today”.  For as we were about to go to dinner, everyone back home was just beginning their day.  At about 6 pm in the evening our time, I would see my emails beginning to be answered , as back home it was morning for them, and they were just waking up!

Time changing all those time zones was hard to adjust.  But I did it.  It took about a week to ten days to adapt. 

New Zealand and McMurdo Station, Antarctica are 19 hours ahead of my home time zone. 

I have never traveled that far before, in time or place!  What I am about to do?   What am I getting into?   It will be 20 degrees below down there!  Uh!

Every time I have traveled overseas, it is like going into an alternate state of consciousness. 

We enter this tube of time travel that flies for many many hours.    Crammed in our seats we sit, enduring the hours sitting there.  After awhile, is it day or is it night?  

Time travel is quite hard on the body.    Sleep deprivation, uncomfortable sitting for way too many hours in that plane.  And than you land in this place that is so different than home and way off your usual time.

But you do it.    You do it because there is no other choice!  And...it is a new adventure!

Whenever I am about to leave and step into the unknown, and travel to a new far away place and time, I brace for it. I am excited, but I brace for what I am about to endure to get there.    The pain, the wait, the time change.   The tube of time travel. 

And before I leave for this deployment in a couple of days...I rest and enjoy the comfort...of my own time zone.

Operation Deep Freeze! Ahhh, Springtime in Antarctica!

Ok, so it has begun!  The reason I started this blog last July, was that I knew I was being deployed to Antarctica.    A chaplain friend of mine said, ‘wow, you are going to the ends of the earth!!’   And this blog was born...except I titled it “edge of the earth”. 

No one country owns Antarctica, and no human is from there.  It is the coldest, most pristine and remote place on earth. 

I thought I was deploying in December....but yesterday...I received a phone call.   And now, I am “spinning up” as the military calls it  (getting ready)  to deploy (head out) very, very soon!!


When things change, they REALLY change!!  And fast!

So how does one “get ready” to deploy?  Well, each deployment is different.  Last year I deployed to SW Asia, and that as we all know is a war mission.  This  deployment is not a war mission. 

There is much information on the Internet about it.  It is called “Operation Deep Freeze”.  It is mainly a science mission, research, weather, and other interesting things.    Many countries send their people down there every Antarctic spring and summer.  And it is about to be spring time in Antarctica!  Opposite of the northern hemisphere.  It will be daylight 24/7 while I am down there!

McMurdo Station, Antarctica is the main place where I will be, at the Chapel of the Snows.  Yes, there is an Interfaith Chapel there!  I will also visit the South Pole, weather permitting.    

I will be one of the two chaplains there, along with a civilian Roman Catholic priest chaplain from New Zealand, a "kiwi priest" as they are called.  

OK, so I am spinning up.  Jumping through hoops, filling out forms, getting orders, plane tickets, coordinating logistics, travel, doing last minute trainings, medical things, awaiting orders, etc.   All this not to mention the massive amount of personal business I need to take care of before I go.

In many ways, the military is like being with fire department.  When the alarm goes off, you react...and quickly.   It is a topsy turvy life, always going here and there.  At moments notice...to far away places.  No sense of “normalcy”. 

But it is exciting too.  This is no regular job for sure.  I guess I must admit, I like the adrenaline rush!!  Maybe that is why I like very strong coffee!

I have been in now over twenty years.  How have I done it?  Caffeine, prayer, and a sense of humor.    Lots and lots of prayer, and lots of coffee.  And being able to laugh at the absurdities of life.

I will be posting more, as I live out this new adventure....

The Secret to Happiness and Inner Peace: A TV Hiatus!

Last week I drove across two states, one state being as the Internet notates, “slightly larger than the country of Iraq”.  Yes, that was a long drive!! 

I am here in Texas for a short military tour.  So, over this Labor Day weekend,  being that I am on orders, and the base is closed (and it is not like I know many people here to hang out with on a day off anyway) I am doing some research here in my hotel room.  Among many books and resources that I am reviewing for my project on creating a suicide prevention program for my unit, one book I am reading is on Anger Management. 

There was an interesting excerpt from the book that caught my eye.  The author told a story of when he was traveling and stopped to eat at a diner in a small town.  He began talking to the waitress, and happened to mention the name of a television personality.  The waitress responded, “I am sorry I do not know who that is.”  The author explained the person was a famous TV personality.    To which the waitress replied,  “But I never watch TV.  Haven’t in 20 years or so!” 

The waitress explained that she had had depression, and that her doctor advised her to stop watching TV, especially the news.  So she stopped watching TV, and she felt much better.  And so..... she just kept NOT watching TV!  And has felt fine ever since!

Wow!

The anger management book recommend a taking a TV news  break, especially from cable news, as these channels tend to polarize things and present things to incite emotion and anger.  If you must watch the news he says, watch your local news instead.  

Interesting.

In my hotel room, I looked at the large flat screen TV on the wall.  I decided not to turn it on.  Nothing on usually but ‘bad cinema’ and junk anyway!

I was never really a TV person or a couch potato.  There was always something I rather be doing; hiking, swimming, playing my bass or guitar, tinkering on my computer,  gardening,  reading or something!   

But last year, after I returned from my deployment to SW Asia, I was just so tired...I was exhausted.   It seemed all I wanted to do was relax... and watch TV. 

And I began to watch TV.    I have made some observations. 

Most TV shows today are crime dramas, and many TV shows are very disturbing.  And I am not just talking about violence, or how they show cut up corpses on the autopsy table, body parts, blood, crime scenes, or the bullet entering a body at the microscopic level. 

I am talking about the content, or stories of these TV shows.  Absolutely disturbing.  If you are reading this and have watched TV lately, I am sure you know what I mean.

The past year, many times the last image or thing I see before I go to bed or fall into sleep is something about crime, murder, suicide, mass killing, body parts, rape, atrocities, or some heinous or disturbing topic. 

Not good!

As for the commercials, have you noticed that most seem to be for prescription drugs?  If we don’t feel there is something wrong with us, it seems those prescription drug companies do their best at least to try and make us think so, and here is their drug to cure us!!  Just ask your doctor to give it to you!

There also seem to be way more commercials than ever before.  Remember when TV shows that lasted an hour were really about 50 minutes of show, and ten minutes of commercials?  Not so anymore.  Especially on the cable channels.

So, I began to realize why I have been feeling so edgy lately.  So, I decided to take a TV hiatus. 

Yep,  no TV!!  At least for awhile anyway.

But TV is not easily escaped.    It is everywhere...in the lobby of my hotel and it is on all the time!  They are in the gym, all over the place hanging down from the ceiling...loud and intrusive....they are in the dining halls on every base....obnoxious cable news channels blasting in your face.    When I was deployed, I could never eat a meal in peace.

And we wonder why we may need anger management?

On another note, is how much time TV takes from our lives.  One lady I know, a teacher, earned her PhD while working full time.  I asked her, “How on earth did you do it?  Find the time, that is?”   She replied, “I don’t watch TV!”  (And she was not kidding either!)

It has been 4 days now.  And I have not watched any TV.    It has been amazing how many things I have the energy to do!   And it has only been 4 days!    I already feel more peaceful, quiet.   I am playing my guitar again!!  Reading much more.  Walking.  Site seeing.   Meditating, praying....and getting so many things done!

Who knows.. I may just not turn on that TV again for a long while!