Operation Deep Freeze: 'An incredible and cool experience'

Published Dec. 8, 2011
By commentary by Col. Christopher Bowman
13th Air Force Chief of Staff

JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii -- Lt. Gen. Ted Kresge, commander of Joint Task Force-Support Forces Antarctica, traveled to New Zealand and Antarctica from Nov. 21 to 23 to see members of his joint service, interagency team in action during Operation Deep Freeze.

Operation Deep Freeze provides support to the National Science Foundation, which manages the United States Antarctic Program.

The general's itinerary included interaction with senior officials from the National Science Foundation as well as JTF-SFA support staff in Christchurch, New Zealand, and "on the ice" at both the McMurdo and South Pole stations on Antarctica.

One unexpected highlight of the trip was a chance meeting with Dr. Subra Suresh, Director, NSF, who was awaiting transportation from McMurdo Station back to New Zealand. In their short discussion, Kresge and Suresh expressed admiration for each other's missions.

The airlift arm of Operation Deep Freeze operates C-17 (Globemaster IIIs) at Christchurch, New Zealand, and LC-130s from McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Kresge flew aboard both the C-17 and LC-130 and spent significant time with the aircrews, maintainers and support teams forward-deployed in support of JTF-SFA.

During his visit, the joint team worked in temperatures ranging from 10 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit at McMurdo Station to a "cool" negative 35 degrees Fahrenheit at the South Pole.

"What they do, in some of the most austere conditions on the planet, is incredible," said the general. "No one else can do what these professionals do. These men and women, with their expertise and selflessness, are a national treasure."

U.S. military support for Operation Deep Freeze is a Pacific Command responsibility organized as Joint Task Force - Support Forces Antarctica. The Joint Task Force includes cargo and fuel tanker ships provided by Military Sealift Command, active duty and Reserve C-17 support from the 62d and 446th Airlift Wings at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wa., ski-equipped LC-130 Skibird aircraft flown by the 109th Airlift Wing of the New York Air National Guard, as well as Coast Guard icebreakers and the Navy Cargo Handling Battalion One to provide critical port services at McMurdo Station.

Additionally, elements of the military's Surface Deployment and Distribution Command and several other logistics specialties play important roles in supporting the National Science Foundation's objectives.

The support Operation Deep Freeze provides to the United States Antarctic Program is unlike any other U.S. military operation. It is possibly the military's most difficult peacetime mission due to the harsh Antarctic environment.

The U.S. military is uniquely equipped and trained to operate in such an austere environment and has therefore provided annual support to U.S. Antarctic research since Rear Adm. Richard E. Byrd began such operations in 1955.