THE TRAGEDY AS SEEN FROM ANTARCTICA

[thepooles98]

Here are some excerps from Antarctic Cat’s community. Her letter says it better than I ever could
mike
 

[font=Arial,Helvetica,Sans Serif:rcx9boua]From: Antarctic Cat  (Original Message)[/font:rcx9boua]

[font=Arial,Helvetica,Sans Serif:rcx9boua]Sent: 9/12/2001 4:18 AM[/font:rcx9boua]

[font=Arial,Helvetica,Sans Serif:rcx9boua]No matter how strange the events unfolding in the US may seem, they are even more so down here.   I awoke this morning to news of the attack on the US.  Being one of the first people up in McMurdo station, I had the experience of seeing most of them find out as they wandered in for breakfast.  All were stunned in their own way, wondering if it was real.  Thinking that maybe it was all a cruel joke or a clip from a new movie.  On we went to our work centers, where we crowded around the radio to hear the latest news.  I imagine that it was similar during the Pearl Harbor attack so many years ago.  You see people walking around in a daze, trying to be upbeat or feeling guilty if they laugh or smile.  We are down here on “The Ice”, away from everything and disconnected from it all, but feeling such great pain at not being able to do anything.  The few telephone lines that lead out of our seclusion are jammed with people searching for word of loved ones.  People are afraid to ask eachother how they are doing for fear that everything will fall apart.  The stereotypical “tough men” who drive and fix heavy equiptment are on the verge of crying.  The hearty women crowd in groups and discuss the horrorable reality of what the world is coming to.  The people who arrived here three weeks ago are contemplating going back home and those of us who have been here for 8 months or more are contemplating whether to go back at all.  And what about those planes that take us out of here?  Will they even come?  All those pilots and mechanics that we know so well are all members of the 109th Air National Guard, based in New York state.  How many of those friends and aquaintences were in harms way on this fateful day?  And how many of the rest have already  rushed to help with the devistation?  In so many ways those men and women are our life line to the world, as are our families and friends that we talk to or e-mail when we can.  Without them we are alone in a desolate place, and that is what we felt.  Loneliness, fear and anger all intensified into a flood of emotions that covered our small community with a blanket of confusion.  A community of 420 misfits who found a home in a place few will ever see.  It is a dark day for our community, our nation, and the world and yet we will survive and even thrive as a result.  For we are a group that believes in the old addage, “That which doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.”   Kaci Kurtti McMurdo Station, Ross Island Antarctica [/font:rcx9boua]

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[font=Arial,Helvetica,Sans Serif:rcx9boua]From: your cuz[/font:rcx9boua] [font=Arial,Helvetica,Sans Serif:rcx9boua]Sent: 9/12/2001 5:30 AM[/font:rcx9boua] [font=Arial,Helvetica,Sans Serif:rcx9boua]hey cuz…..we are as lost here as you feel there.  who among us did this to innocent people….i was most horrified by the footage from palestine and the “rejoicing” and giving of cakes and candies to celebrate our loss……..i live in a world of innocence (kinder)– and with each news clip of attrocities in this world i gravitate towards whose mom, whose  child…i dont care the affiliation….its late, im wiped and sad……hope you make some sense of this xoxox peace–dana Memories of the Antarctic Cat wrote:   [font=Arial,:rcx9boua]New Message on Memories of the Antarctic Cat[/font:rcx9boua]   From: Antarctic Cat   No matter how strange the events unfolding in the US may seem, they are even more so down here. I awoke this morning to news of the attack on the US.  Being one of the first people up in McMurdo station, I had the experience of seeing most of them find out as they wandered in for breakfast.  All were stunned in their own way, wondering if it was real.  Thinking that maybe it was all a cruel joke or a clip from a new movie.  On we went to our work centers, where we crowded around the radio to hear the latest news.  I imagine that it was similar during the Pearl Harbor attack so many years ago.  You see people walking around in a daze, trying to be upbeat or feeling guilty if they laugh or smile.  We are down here on “The Ice”, away from everything and disconnected from it all, but feeling such great pain at not being able to do anything.  The few telephone lines that lead out of our seclusion are jammed with people searching for word of loved ones.  People are afraid to ask eachother how they are doing for fear that everything will fall apart.  The stereotypical “tough men” who drive and fix heavy equiptment are on the verge of crying.  The hearty women crowd in groups and discuss the horrorable reality of what the world is coming to.  The people who arrived here three weeks ago are contemplating going back home and those of us who have been here for 8 months or more are contemplating whether to go back at all.  And what about those planes that take us out of here?  Will they even come?  All those pilots and mechanics that we know so well are all members of the 109th Air National Guard, based in New York state.  How many of those friends and aquaintences were in harms way on this fateful day?  And how many of the rest have already  rushed to help with the devistation?  In so many ways those men and women are our life line to the world, as are our families and friends that we talk to or e-mail when we can.  Without them we are alone in a desolate place, and that is what we felt.  Loneliness, fear and anger all intensified into a flood of emotions that covered our small community with a blanket of confusion.  A community of 420 misfits who found a home in a place few will ever see.  It is a dark day for our community, our nation, and the world and yet we will survive and even thrive as a result.  For we are a group that believes in the old addage, “That which doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.” Kaci KurttiMcMurdo Station, Ross Island Antarctica [/font:rcx9boua]

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[font=Arial,Helvetica,Sans Serif:rcx9boua]From: Antarctic Cat[/font:rcx9boua] [font=Arial,Helvetica,Sans Serif:rcx9boua]Sent: 9/12/2001 5:02 PM[/font:rcx9boua] [font=Arial,Helvetica,Sans Serif:rcx9boua]Sense is something that we shall never find in this great tragedy.  The only things that we can gain are hope and strength.  Hope that we will both find the people responsible and never forget those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.  They were great people who lived normal lives.  They showed us that we must have the strength to live each day as our last.  What do we truely have to fear?  Death comes no matter who you are, but pain leaves a much greater impression.  No pain is greater than that of the heart.  We are the ones left behind to pick up the pieces and build a stronger union with eachother.  If we crumble under the pressure, we fail and the ones who try to oppress us succeed.  We can not give in to the fear and the rumors.  We must use that energy to move forward and not be bound to the past.  We have the responsibility to survive.  We cannot let them die in vain.  Let us rejoice in their lives as well as the unity and clarity that they have given us.  For it is there, if we only choose to seek it.   Kaci [/font:rcx9boua]

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[font=Arial,Helvetica,Sans Serif:rcx9boua]From: Antarctic Cat[/font:rcx9boua] [font=Arial,Helvetica,Sans Serif:rcx9boua]Sent: 9/13/2001 3:09 AM[/font:rcx9boua] [font=Arial,Helvetica,Sans Serif:rcx9boua]To add a bit more to this story…I just found out that a firefighter from the Antactic Fire Department was one of the rescue personel who was caught in the WTC when it collapsed.  Thankfully he was found this morning, the only one of his crew to survive.  Anthony always was a hearty one.   Kaci [/font:rcx9boua]

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[font=Arial,Helvetica,Sans Serif:rcx9boua]From: MIKE[/font:rcx9boua] [font=Arial,Helvetica,Sans Serif:rcx9boua]Sent: 9/13/2001 7:46 AM[/font:rcx9boua] [font=Arial,Helvetica,Sans Serif:rcx9boua]The letter from Kaci couldn’t describe any better how we feel down here. Like Kaci, I’ve been working an off shift, we had a live satelite feed of NPR on the radio at the heavy shop. At first we thought it was a curiosity that an airplane had crashed into the world trade center. Then another airplane and another and another. Throughout the night it got worse and worse. My mother and sister were to be flying home from a trip to England and when they kept showing on tv photo’s of the hijacked planes hitting the building I was sick to my stomach. The phone lines were jammed and nobody in my family had answered my emails. Finally my brother sent an email saying they were still in England with all flights cancelled. Relief, but the cycles of grief and relief are still going on. The most compelling for us is a fireman who worked in McMurdo last year. Anthony, from New York. Reported as one of first responders to the scene and reported as missing. Late this afternoon we got word that he has been pulled from the rubble and is ok, but they havn’t found the rest of his squad. Our prayers go out to the rest. What happens next. Hopefully we go back to normal. Hopefully air flights resume. Hopefully the military planes that ferry us back and forth  will still be available in October to get us out of here. For us winter’over personell it only underscores how anxious most of us are to get somewhere warm and somewhere other than here for a while. In the end we are safer and better off than those back home with missing family members. We’ll be praying for you. mike [/font:rcx9boua]

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