Welcome to General Chat - GAW Community Area
This General Chat area started off as a place for people to talk about things that are off topic, however it has quickly evolved into a community and has become an integral part of the GAW experience for many of us.
Based on its evolving needs and plenty of user feedback, we are trying to bring some order and institute some rules. Please make sure you read these rules and participate in the spirit of this community.
Rules for General Chat
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Be respectful to each other. This is of utmost importance, and comments may be removed if deemed not respectful.
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Personal anecdotes, puzzles, cute pics/clips - everything welcome
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Feel free to give feedback as these rules are expected to keep evoloving
In short, imagine this thread to be a local community hall where we all gather and chat daily. Please be respectful to others in the same way
It's mainly a matter of definition. The dictionary definition of arctic is: "of, relating to, or suitable for use at the north pole or the region near it". When folks speak of an "ice wall" it's in reference to Antarctica. I'm just going with the technical definition of arctic and Antarctic.......
BTW I am a retired Coast Guard officer. I made 2 trips to the continent of Antarctica and 1 trip to the north slope region in the mid 70's. On my 2nd trip to Antarctica we did see what I now believe was either the ice wall or a massive tabular iceberg. The ship I sailed on was the USCGC Glacier.....
Have a prosperous New Year...
Thank you for educating me on this. My Dad did the Arctic Circle with the Navy, he doesnt say much about it though. I appreciate your observation on your trips to Antarctica. Was there any other oddities or things you noticed during that deployment? Why were you guys there anyways?
Thanks again, you have a prosperous New Year as well sir.
o7
FYI here's a general video on the history of the USCGC Glacier: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgRR2w1RpmA.
Wow, one hop from Admiral Byrd! What an incredible ship.
Yes the famous Admiral Richard Byrd. Glacier served as his Flag ship before it was transferred to the Coast Guard.
Have you gone down the Operation Highjump rabbit hole? If not poke around a bit. Some crazy theories abound as to what the expedition was really about. It was advertised as being a scientific mission but most believe it was more than that. The Nazis had a huge presence on Antarctica before and during the war. They set up bases there. Admiral Bryd commanded a flotilla of 13 vessels - 1 being an aircraft carrier. I think there was a contingent of about 4-5000 Marines/Sailors. All for a scientific mission?
We were taking part in "Operation Deepfreeze". The deployments were for about 6 months. We had a number of scientists on board conducting research. Our main mission was to clear the channel of ice into McMurdo Station in order for ship(s) to re-supply the research base there. I was also part of the Weddell Sea mission which is featured in this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du2immnK25A. I was a young 22 year old Ensign serving as a Bridge Watch Officer. I have other stories but you would probably think I was BSing you...
Very interesting, did you get to speak to the scientists? Did you ever expect you would get sent to Antarctica? Was it ever talked about when you got back to the homeland? Did you need a clearance for this operation or did they just send you nonchalantly? Sorry for the bombardment but this knowledge and info should be spread for those with the ears to hear and the heart to listen.
If you are willing to share your stories, it would be a honor for my wife and I to read and discuss them. We are grateful for your service, and I served as well as a combat engineer in the Marines. No cool stories from me though, just a bunch of combat stories that most people avoid.
Thanks for your service! My father was also a Marine and proud of it. The scientists ate in the officer's wardroom with us so I saw them all the time. Sometimes they would come up to the bridge were I worked and sometimes I might stop and chat with them in the labs. My job was to get them to where they wanted to go. I remember one of their experiments involved us having to put divers under the ice. There also was a lot of studies involving taking samples of water at various depths.
When we damaged that prop and would have to "winter over" we made national and international news. My family was certainly worried about me at the time. As far as clearances I really don't recall having a special clearance. Most of our missions were considered pretty routine. I don't believe any of what the scientists were doing was classified.
On my second trip to Antarctica I received orders to a Coast Guard Loran Station in Hokkaido, Japan. So I was allowed to depart the ship when we arrived at McMurdo Station. While waiting for a flight make to New Zealand I became friends with one of the C130 pilots. They made regular logistics runs to South Pole Station. He was able to get me on one of the flights as a passenger. I was put on the flight manifest and was issued my winter survival gear. After a 3.5 hr flight (some over the trans-Antarctic mountain range) we landed at South Pole Station. The C130 was equipped with skis - we landed on the ice runway. It was flat white as far as the eye could see. We were there for about 30 minutes. I took a couple photos and got my South Pole certificate from the Station Manager.