I Think I’ve Read That Somewhere Else Before


Ken’s Story
Sam was recognized for high scholarship as a freshman at the University of Nebraska. He was selected to go to the Antarctic as part of a National Science Foundation project. Drilling below the Ross Ice Shelf for geological information was the principal work. He stayed there approximately three months.

Sam brought back lots of stories from his trip to Antarctica but one stands out. Another came after he returned. The Navy supported the civilian activities at McMurdo Station where the National Science Foundation group was housed. True to military tradition, the unit was required to stand inspection outside every Saturday morning, despite the temperature being as much as 65 degrees below zero. On one such day, the formation was streaked (remember the streaking craze of the 70s on college campuses?) by someone wearing nothing but a ski mask. The commanding officer immediately notified the unit that the streaker would have to come forward or the entire unit would be punished. Subsequently the entire unit, including nurses, signed their name on the bulletin board admitting to the deed. The commander, realizing the futility of his order, called off punishment, saying, “I know it wasn’t one of the nurses!”

When Sam returned it was Christmas break and he was asked to speak at several places in Auburn about his trip. He talked to Rotary, for instance, and a group of third graders at school. “Dad,” he said, “those third graders asked a lot more intelligent questions than the Rotarians.”

Sam’s Version
The Ross Ice Shelf drilling was a later project. The year I participated in the US Antarctic Research Program, we used the annual sea ice off Ross Island as a platform to drill through sediments deposited by glaciers in the, now, underwater extension of the Dry Valleys.

You can read all about it if you choose the link in the next column for The Antarctic Journal of a Young Man.