On Thursday the first of November we boarded our aircraft and left for our remote field camp. Our flight took approximately 3hrs during which I got to ride in the cockpit and see the vast sea of ice below. One of the highlights of the flight was when the load master took out a box labeled "explosives" and started fiddling with some dynamite looking things. I asked the other GIB (Guy In Back: National Guard people that don't ride in the cockpit) what he was doing. I was informed that they were the igniters for the JATO (Jet Assisted Take Off). Since this was the first LC-130 flight into WAIS this year, they weren't sure the runway was going to be good enough to take off again. So four rockets were mounted to each side of the back of the plane. If the pilot didn't get enough speed to get the nose up, he would hit the switch and these eight rockets would kick to life and push the plane into the air. After landing I waited in anticipation as the plane tried to take off, but unfortunately, they made it on their second try without the JATO.
Just before landing we were informed that the weather at WAIS was marginal and that if two landing attempts where unsuccessful, we would divert to Pole. Well, we made it and it was an amazing experience. To unload the three pallets of cargo, the pilot did a drift offload also known as a combat offload. After opening the rear door, the load master pushes the ramp pallet out the back, a lever is then pulled which releases the next two pallets as the pilot hits the throttle. The pallets slide out the back and land on the runway to be picked up later. You have to check out the cool video below, it starts with the pull of the lever.
I can't describe it all, but when we got there, there were two heated modules still stuck in the winter berm (the man made elevated platform where they store everything for the winter) that had been opened by the six person crew that arrived the week before. After our arrival, the population doubled to 15. 
The second morning there, we woke up in our tents to a horrible storm (Gramma, you may not want to read this next part). The wind was so strong I thought my tent was going to blow away with me in it. After getting on all of my ECW (Extreme Cold Weather) gear, I dug out the snow in my vestibule to my tent, and met the other campers at the outhouse. The tenting site was about an 8 minute walk down a flagged route to the winter berm (safety of heated buildings and food). The walk was a little sketchy as we went flag to flag following the route. Each flag is 15 steps apart except for at the end where someone pulled a couple flags to use for another project. Here the last two flags were about 25 steps apart. The wind and snow was so bad that we all stopped at the second to last flag wondering where the next one was. I have to say, it was really cool to see the power of such a storm. Below is a common rainbow seen around the sun almost daily. The background is the winter berm and the new cargo line created from the cargo removed from the berm the week before.
That is all I have for tonight, but I'll try to keep updating on my WAIS trip. As far as news goes, I received my guitar in the mail and it is better than I could have dreamed. However, Dad and Linda, the package you sent is still not here (there is no rhyme nor reason as to which mail gets here first).
To Be Continued...
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