Company Town

Some of you have asked questions about what it's like to live here. There's different aspects of life here: the science mission, the military flying, the amazing scenery and natural beauty of Antarctica. But there's also the day-to-day operations of McMurdo that can best be described as a Company Town.

The National Science Foundation oversees McMurdo (as well as two other US stations in Antarctica), but contracts with other companies or organizations to handle many of the daily operations: for example, the Air Force and a couple other operations provide airlift. Raytheon currently has the primary contract for support; these contracts run for about a decade and the current one is up for renewal in the next year.

Raytheon and other subcontractors hire people to fill in the support jobs: the heavy equipment operators to keep the runways clear and flat, cooks, the barber, computer geeks, custodians, waste managment and more. Some of these folk found the job listings on Criagslist, some by word of mouth (the barber answered an online ad to cut hair down here!). People settle on a salary before they arrive and once here, there is not much money that exchanges hands. The pay here isn't as good as most people make back in the states, but all expenses are covered and it's a pretty amazing place to work, so it's usually a wash in the end. (Also, pipefitters and carpenters and a lot of other folk can't find work back home so they need the job.)

You sign up for a haircut and don't pay anything. There's no gym fee, no library card, meals are all covered and the medical clinic staffs a couple docs, a dentist and even a physical therapist to watch over us. If your vehicle needs a part, you pull it off the shelf at supply or file a request to have someone make it for you. Most of our clothing is issued to us, so often you can tell if people are laborers, scientists, military or civilian based on our outer clothing layer. We have nametags that velcro on and off our jackets. There are town meetings for new safety procedures. There are maybe a dozen bikes that are parked all around town for people to borrow and use when needed.

It's a unique environment, at least for me, and really adds to the sense of us being on an outpost at the edge of the world. For the most part, there's a real sense of group identity and participation in the effort to survive and study here.