Arctic/Antarctic Service

[K9OFSTRIKEX]

Just wondering if anyone knows what it takes to score Arctic/Antarctic tours as an officer? I have asked OSO's and standard recruiters alike and sifted through tons of non-related google spew that comes up from searching it to no avail and was just hoping that someone here may know what it takes/how it is done?

 

[OnTopTime]

Just wondering if anyone knows what it takes to score Arctic/Antarctic tours as an officer? I have asked OSO's and standard recruiters alike and sifted through tons of non-related google spew that comes up from searching it to no avail and was just hoping that someone here may know what it takes/how it is done?

Join the Navy and get assigned to VXE-6. Oops, too late. Pull your OCS package and join the New York Air National Guard's 109th Airlift Wing.

 

[Junkball]

...what it takes to score Arctic/Antarctic tours as an officer?...

Uhhh sleeping with the CO's wife? Score? Isn't a tour in Greenland something to be avoided??

 

[eddie]

My Dad said a guy he worked with (prior-E Coast Guard) claims he smuggled a penguin back onto the boat (assume it was an ice breaker?). Can't remember if it was from Antarctica proper, but all penguins live way down south, so yeah.

 

[Fog]

Having bagged many TO's & full-stops at Thule & Sondrestrom (if it still exists) in Greenland, I can assure you it's an interesting place to visit (if there's a phase[blizzard] you'll visit even longer), but you don't want to live there - even for a year.

 

[usmarinemike]

I know that a lot of guys score their arctic service medal by doing things like Battle Griffin in the Marine Corps. The Marine Corps has a pretty sweet stash of gear in Norway that needs to be worked out once in awhile. II MEF sends an exercise up there. Probably a little less now since some of it is getting rotated into the Middle East. I really doubt that you'd have much of a chance at scoring a permanent assignment there, and even less of getting much time above the Arctic Circle.


Best bet...Try NOAA. They have an honest to God officer corps, and a scientific interest in the polar regions.

 

[Carlos Caliente]

For you maritime types a det to Andoya, Norway may do it for you. If you're a marine go hang out in Bardufoss which is a little inland to safeguard the metric crap ton of gear we have over there - there is still a large stash even though it has dwindled over the years.

 

[Steve Wilkins]

Just wondering if anyone knows what it takes to score Arctic/Antarctic tours as an officer? I have asked OSO's and standard recruiters alike and sifted through tons of non-related google spew that comes up from searching it to no avail and was just hoping that someone here may know what it takes/how it is done?

I can honestly say that after 10 years on Airwarriors, I have yet to see a question similar to this. This is definitely a new one. Most folks want to score the warm regions....Jax....San Dog...Bahrain.

 

[PropAddict]

He just wants the cool blue medals.

 

[Alpha_Echo_606]

I've got the Blue Nose Certificate, it's not all that! I much prefer my Shellback Certificate.

 

[loadtoad]

Join the Navy and get assigned to VXE-6. Oops, too late. Pull your OCS package and join the New York Air National Guard's 109th Airlift Wing.

You can land C-130's in the snow for the NY Air Guard or go into the Coast Guard and be on an icebreaker. Those are your two best options. OR you can go join the Sea Sheppard Conservation Society and hitch a ride on the Steve Irwin!!

 

[Pugs]

Worked with a meteorological guy and one 1310 (VXE-6)at NAR Whidbey who had the arctic service medal. The weather guy actually wintered over at McMurdo for 6 months and said the only good thing about it was he got to spend the next 2 1/2 years living in Christchurch. In fact, he was moving back there as soon as he retired.

 

[K9OFSTRIKEX]

Geeze you folks are fast on the replies! I've never had so many replies so quick in any forum, not even ADV, and they have got some serious post vultures there!

I can honestly say that after 10 years on Airwarriors, I have yet to see a question similar to this. This is definitely a new one. Most folks want to score the warm regions....Jax....San Dog...Bahrain.

As I get older I have begun to see a pattern emerging in my life; that I am generally the exception to the norm.I tend to get responses like yours a lot when asking around on this subject. No one seems to want it, so nobody seems to know how to get it... Asked one recruiter and he was so caught off guard that he was just silent for about 10-15 seconds and then asked me what my height, weight, and GPA were!

He just wants the cool blue medals.

Schenanigans, as neat as they are (which in my opinion they are some of the best looking on an aesthetic level), they would only be a flashy side effect. I just happen to be a mountain boy who chases winter around the globe, hates hot sunny days, has no interest in sandy beaches, and is never happier than when in a blizzard in the wilderness! Seems to me that the great white wilderness would be the place for me to be with all that considered and if I can serve my country in such a place, all the better!

 

[K9OFSTRIKEX]

So bottom line, sounds like aside from a quick stint in Norway, USN/USMC are out the door for the caps, bummer... Guess I'll have to get in touch with the ANG and USCG boys.

If only I could figure out a way to get my red cap in the Corps, earn some wings, and score a perminant station in Norway... I know you folks don't share my enthusiasm for hard freezing winds, heavy snow, polar ice, and temperatures cold enough to crack the mercury, but it sure sounds like heaven to me!:angel_125

(And yes I know many of you are now questioning my mental stability, but if you could see my yeti like appearance, you would know I was made for the poles!)

 

[NavAir42]

As a Middie I got to spend a few days above the Arctic circle on a fast attack boat during a summer cruise. We got our Bluenose (think Shellback with more of an ice theme) but didn't come, thankfully, anywhere close to spending the required 28 consecutive days required for the medal.