Happy Camper

As part of the requirements to travel to Field Camps, McMurdo requires that people take some kind of training to orient themselves to surviving in the field should an accident happen using the gear that is carried on most vehicles. The training goes something like this:

Tuesday
8:00 AM: Welcome and introductions
8:30 AM: Frostbite and Hypothermia classes
9:30 AM: Travel to field site to an intersection between Scott Base and Willie Field. Hike about a mile to the program site.
10:30 AM: More classroom training (How to use field stoves)
11:00 AM: Begin working on campsite (How to set up Scott Tents as shown to the right, How to set up tents, How to build ice blocks for snow walls, etc.)
5:00 PM: Instructor goes back to Instructor hut and "Happy Campers" (i.e. students) make dinner using standard dehydrated rations.

Wednesday
9:00 AM: Complete breaking down camp and packing
9:30 AM: Hike back to Instructor hut for more classroom training
10:00 AM: More classroom training (How to use VHF and HF radioes)
11:00 AM: Field exercises (how to react to a vehicle emergency using actual vehicle survival packs and how to conduct search during Condition 1 weather conditions)
1:00 PM: Hike back to pick up point
2:00 PM: Truck picked up team
3:00 PM: Conduct classroom training (Helicopter safety and Environmental training for Dry Valleys)
4:00 PM: Ready to join local SAR Team / Class dismissed


I really enjoyed the camping trip since my wife doesn't believe in camping and I have only done the Army thing. So sitting around a stove and BS-ing was something I really enjoyed for one night. And, oh yeah, the weather was perfect, making things even easier. During the camping experience, I ran into a person who was from Grafton, WI originally. Ironic, I travel almost halfway around the world to run into someone who grew up ~ 30 miles from me back in Cudahy. His blog documenting this experience is located at:
http://frozendaze.blogspot.com/2006/12/somewhat-happy-camper.html.

With that training done, our team was finally ready to head out to Black Island to do what were supposed to do. We're pretty tired but, there is a planned Recreation trip heading out to the Pegasus crash site tonight. I think we'll go even though we're exhausted from this trip. We can always sleep on the trucks, right?