The Ice...

There's a high-pitched hum coming from directly over my head that I just can't seem to escape, despite how loud Andrew Birtd's whistles and violin are playing in my ears. It's coming from one of the massive pipes that emanates from the rear of the aircraft and travels along the ceiling until just before the front bulkhead, where it branches into two smaller pipes and disappears into what I can only imagine is another set of confusing tubes that are obscured from view. I think the closest I can come to pinning down its source is that something is rattling against something, and that it's loud and high-pitched. That's as good as it gets.

Sgt. Ruth Beyette is sitting against the interior cabin wall to my right across a narrow cargo aisle (I know her name only because it's stitched onto her uniform). She's been reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for the past 3 hours. Some of the other crew members on our C-17 are talking about how well the Steelers have been doing this season, while others are watching movies on their laptops and iPods, and one is asleep in a sleeping bag on the floor at the rear of the aircraft. If I've learned anything on the flight down to the ice, it's that 1.) there are A LOT of crew members on each C-17, and 2.) there's not much for them to do once the aircraft is in flight.

We were told that our flight would depart at 9:00am and would last approximately 5 hours. We took off at 8:58am, and we landed at 2:00:24pm. I'll forgive them for the slight miscalculation in departure and flight times. You could tell that it wasn't your standard commercial flight because of the rate of descent coming into McMurdo. Let's just say that I wouldn't have been surprised if I had keeled over in pain when nitrogen started bubbling out of my blood.

We were welcomed to sub-zero air temperatures and -40 degree wind chills when we stepped off the plane. Remember that I volunteered to come back.

Now I need to take a few online tests to teach me how not to download or install viruses on the network, and how to recycle plastic bottles separately from glass bottles. Wish me luck.


Mark