McChord Field Airmen conduct daily missions to Afghanistan and other combat operation zones throughout the Middle East. However, airdrops are only a small part of what these highly skilled and talented Servicemembers do.

They're also the driving force behind numerous humanitarian missions in Haiti, Japan, Pakistan and even on U.S. soil. Even more, they're the core of Operation Deep Freeze (ODF) - a joint service of interagency activity that, along with international partners, provides support to the National Science Foundation (NSF) in Antarctica.

ODF helps the NSF advance scientific work and world knowledge in a myriad of scientific disciplines. There are some 1,500 workers in the summer months (October through February) and 150 personnel in winter (March to August).

As part of the U.S. Antarctic Program, Reserve, Guard and active-duty personnel from the 62nd and 446th Airlift Wings of McChord Field provide the bulk of aerial resupply between Christchurch, New Zealand, and McMurdo Station, Antarctica (off the Ross Sea).   

"The technology of the C-17 (Globemaster), along with the capability and skill of our Airmen, provides the flexibility necessary to deliver to any of the seven continents in the world and in a short period of time," said Col. Brent Keenan, the 62nd Operations Group's Antarctica Operations commander. "We carry generators, water, food, people, equipment, helicopters and vehicles to the most remote and inhospitable place on the globe. Often, we do so in 24-hour darkness and in minus 50-degree centigrade to a place only accessible by air."  

The 2011-2012 ODF season was a groundbreaking one. McChord Airmen flew 72 inter-continental missions, and carried more than 6 million pounds of cargo and more than 5,000 passengers. On June 28, Airmen also performed a historic operational mid-winter landing at McMurdo Station with night vision goggles to evacuate a critically ill patient.

"Within 72 hours we deployed to New Zealand," said Keenan, "flew to NSF and returned the patient to Christchurch for treatment. The urgency of it (and the landing) had never been done before. Saving a life was a big deal, and we were very excited to be part of it. There's nothing out there for the 2,082 miles and five-hour (one-way) trip, and we landed on an airfield built entirely on an ice shelf, in zero visibility, with no runway lights."

In August, a McChord C-17 was instrumental in an airdrop of urgently needed medical supplies to another seriously ill NSF participant at the U.S. Amundsen-Scott South Pole station (in minus 60-degree weather). This was another first - a mid-winter, nighttime airdrop at the South Pole. Similar rescues include the October 2011 summer rescue of Renee-Nicole Douceur - a researcher who suffered a stroke, and the 1999 late-winter operation airdrop of chemotherapy agents to Dr. Jerri Neilsen, who treated herself for cancer until she was rescued.

"Significant and mission-specific training is required, and only the best pilots and loadmasters fly ODF missions," Keenan said. "From point-of-safe-return knowledge to loading challenges with non-standard equipment, to making 45-second (from sight to landing) decisions in the (coldest, highest, driest, windiest) locations, we operate in austere and ever-changing weather conditions. It takes a total force C-17 crew. The best part of the job - we execute unique missions, do it safely and do it well, and fly and do cool things with cool people."

The McChord Field C-17 crews deploy this week to prepare for the 2012-2013 ODF season of WINFLY - the late-winter flying operation that officially kicks off the Joint Task Force - Support Forces Antarctica (JTF-SFA) season.

Photo: Aircrews from the 62nd and 446th Airlift Wings recently completed a record-setting Operation Deep Freeze season, which consisted of 74 missions, six more than any previous season. The crews also broke the record for amount of cargo delivered by transporting 6.33 million pounds.