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I’ve been reading the discussion boards for a while and decided to join. I read some of the accounts of how the events of 9/11/01 were received. In many ways, it must have been harder in such an isolated place, than here in the states. Many things have changed here in the US since then. People are a bit more suspicious. Air travel has a much more paranoid feeling – at least the air ports do. We now have a terrorism alert level. A “ministry of security”. Constant talk of new and more restrictive legislation. I was wondering, have things changed in the way science and travel is conducted in Antarctica? It seems the Navy is virtually gone now, so is there any remaining military presence?
I think plenty has changed the world over. In the program you see the biggest changes during the travel period. Everything is scrutinized everywhere we go. Once you’ve been through it a couple of times it becomes the norm, though. Every where you go they are doing body searches and opening bags to inspect the contents. Even the flight from Christchurch to the Ice has personnel x-raying the bags and running everyone through a metal detector. I believe NZ customs has also become pretty strict with incoming mail.
We still have a military presence down here as they do the flying to get us down here.
All in all the security measures have become a way of life and to tell you the truth I’d rather be held up for body searches.
I was on Ice for the 911 incident. My mother and sister were flying in from London around that time {turned out it was a day later}, We get a satelite feed of cnn and they kept showing the planes going into the buildings over and over. I was almost sick to my stomach thinking it might be them. It was several hours before I could get an email contact with anyone to find out they were ok. Yeah it wasn’t a fun time to be stranded down here.
mike[font=Arial:lfejpomc]So the questions was what was it like and how did the 9-11 events change the US Antarctic Program and life on such a far away isolated community..[/font:lfejpomc]
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[font=Arial:lfejpomc]This is being cross posted to several lists…[/font:lfejpomc]
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[font=Arial:lfejpomc](Pardon the word of profanity, but this is how it was…)[/font:lfejpomc]
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[font=Arial:lfejpomc]Well I too was on the ice with Mike and Lori Poole for September 11th, I think this day hit me very hard for several reasons. I have been in Fire and emergency services for 10 or so years.. My time then on the ice was with the Fire Department, Second I am from Pennsylvania, I live 75 Miles from NYC and 3rd….my HAZMAT Team from where I work then and now responded to the WTC. How hard was it for me to look back on the CNN feed and watch these events take place back home, My back yard was Ground Zero! [/font:lfejpomc]
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[font=Arial:lfejpomc]I can remember the day like it was yesterday, I was working at the firehouse and it was about 3AM there, I got a call upstairs in my bunk room, and it was the dispatcher who was from VA, At that time I knew a little about everyone there and she said this.. “Hey Chris, Its Elise.. your from PA right?”, I told her yes…”You better come down to dispatch, there is something on TV you need to see right away” its 3AM Elise “The US is being attacked and a plane went into the WTC” I ran down… [/font:lfejpomc]
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[font=Arial:lfejpomc]Not believing what I was seeing I made my judgments, I needed to hear this from the horses mouth, I made a call to the Pennsylvania emergency Operations Center, (For those of you that don’t know me.. I work for the County Govt here in PA in the field of Emergency Management) [/font:lfejpomc]
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[font=Arial:lfejpomc]Dialing the secret 800 number to the state operations center this is what I got, Luckily it was a good friend who answered… [/font:lfejpomc]
[font=Arial:lfejpomc]”PEMA Operations, Mcateer” [/font:lfejpomc]
[font=Arial:lfejpomc]Jerry this is Chris [/font:lfejpomc]
[font=Arial:lfejpomc]”Chris who” [/font:lfejpomc]
[font=Arial:lfejpomc]Post… [/font:lfejpomc]
[font=Arial:lfejpomc]”Aren’t you in Antarctica” [/font:lfejpomc]
[font=Arial:lfejpomc]Yeah its me.. what the fuck is going on, is this stuff on TV true ” [/font:lfejpomc]
[font=Arial:lfejpomc]Yeah all hell is breaking loose, there is still one plane unaccounted for, its over central PA, its bad here” [/font:lfejpomc]
[font=Arial:lfejpomc]Shit, Ok thanks for the info..good luck [/font:lfejpomc]
[font=Arial:lfejpomc]”ok later Chris”[/font:lfejpomc]
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[font=Arial:lfejpomc]In these 15 seconds my world and the world of everyone on the ice changed forever, I think I was the 2nd person On Antarctica to know what was going on, About 30 min later we called the station manager on the phone and broke the news to him. [/font:lfejpomc]
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[font=Arial:lfejpomc]So you ask what its like and changes, Living on such an isolated spot as McMurdo.. when such a dramatic event in history took place… It was one of the hardest things I ever had to do, Knowing all my training and skills as an emergency worker would hours from now be put to the test at ground zero if I were back home… but there is was 9,344 miles from McMurdo to my front door back in PA, and no chance of leaving the ice for several more weeks…. I would be missing this call…[/font:lfejpomc]
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[font=Arial:lfejpomc]I was back on the ice for the Sept 11th 2002, We had a very special ceremony on the deck of the Challet, This is the National Science Foundations offices in Antarctica.. Here is a picture of that day… Some how it even found its way into Firehouse Magazine..[/font:lfejpomc]
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[font=Arial:lfejpomc]Cheer’s[/font:lfejpomc]
[font=Arial:lfejpomc]Chris [/font:lfejpomc]
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[font=Arial:lfejpomc][/font:lfejpomc]Chris said it well. I was working night shift at the heavy shop. We had the NPR satfeed playing over the intercom. One of the mechanics came to me laughing. He thought it was a radio play about a plane hitting the wtc. In minutes we figured out it wasn’t a play but the real thing. That’s when we turned on the CNN tv feed. Two planes had already hit but nothing was being said about the pentagon or pennsylvania planes. As I said before it was a nightmare watching the reruns of the first planes hitting over and over again.
Most of the time I’m too busy down here to feel isolated. It’s a way of life, but that day we all felt like we were on another world. Helpless. Most people got in touch with their families within a few days. But for some it was up to a week later that they were able to get a phone call through to relatives.
One of our firefighters from the previous year was on one of the first response crews. We heard later that when the towers came down his crew was lost. It was sad for all of us. Later we got the news that he had moved his truck away from the building just before the collapse and while somewhat buried he survived. There was some joy here when we got that news.
mike
HEY CHRIS….
i work airport security…. am one of the TSA personel (feds)…. and i can tell you we are activly searching for the “bad guys” it took a toll on us also… most of the people i work with are ex-militry or ex-police (and most had friends or relatives in new york, and the WTC) and the info we get lets us know that they are still out there and looking for the weakness in the system to pull the same stunts… and our reply is “not on my watch” so the parinoia you refer to is the reall stuff… if you only knew what we know…..
the good guys have nothing to worry about, however as i said, we are looking for the bad guys, and they constantly test the system to see if we are still awake.
satindoll here … hi mike and lori… I am still planning .
keep up the good work……Hey Satin Doll
Go for it. You can check anything you want to in my bags. I’m one of those that appreciate the job you are doing. The people that yell at the screeners can be thrown out of the airport as far as I’m concerned.
Coming down here this year, I was traveling with one of the guys who does the blasting down here. The machines picked up the residue from the previous year on his bags.They were professional and checked everything he had thoroughly. He understood and was patient and everything went well. The nice thing was that the machines tagged him for a full search. Cool, I want you guys checking everyone on my plane like that.
keep up the good work.
mike
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