Sweden Lays the Smack Down

“Patience is a virtue, Possess it if you can, Seldom found in woman, Never found in man”~~Unknown

An interesting chain of events occurred right after I made my appointment with the Alaska Heart Institute.

1) On July 28th, I received an email from the National Science Foundation's Director Karl Erb containing the following letter:

National Science Foundation
4201Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, Virginia 22230
July 28 2011

Office of Polar Programs

Dear Colleagues:

As you have probably heard, the Swedish government has decided that it is unable to allow the use of the icebreaker Oden for joint research work in the Southern Ocean or to open the channel through the ice that enables resupply of McMurdo Station (and consequently, resupply of South Pole Station and provisioning of field camps in the Antarctic interior).

 (Oden the Swedish Icebreaker)

Unless we can find and engage a suitable replacement by mid-August, we will have to implement contingency plans that would curtail activities in the near term but enable the possibility of resuming normal operations in subsequent years, i.e. we will need to take steps to avoid closing McMurdo and South Pole Stations. Closing the stations would have a substantial impact on subsequent operating seasons.

Without the January 2012 resupply, avoiding these closures requires stretching the available fuel through January 2013. This can be accomplished, but only by significantly reducing our on-ice tempo of operations in the meantime. As a result, a number of science projects and infrastructure upgrades would have to be deferred in order to reduce fuel usage. Most affected would be those requiring LC-130 support.

Together with U.S. government colleagues in the State Department, the White House, the Coast Guard and in other agencies, we are working to identify and engage a replacement icebreaker to meet the U.S. Antarctic Program's needs. A number of our international sister programs have provided promising leads. If we succeed in this search in timely fashion we will be able to proceed with a normal season.

We will keep you all apprised of developments as they occur so that project leaders can make essential contingency plans should we be unsuccessful in securing an icebreaker. Your best source of information will be your NSF program manager but we will also distribute updated information when available via the USAP.GOV web site.

Sincerely, 

Karl A. Erb Director

2) On August 11th, I also received an email from Raytheon's medical department stating the following:

Dear Frannie,

This e-mail is to inform you that you are Physically Qualified (PQ) for your Summer deployment. Your PQ status is good through 3/01/12. In order to winter or extend your PQ, you will need to contact the Medical Department.

Congratulations and have a good trip!

Sincerely, Carol Roberts

Again, I was in limbo. I had been cleared medically with no mention of the abnormal EKG. When I should have been relieved and ready to prepare myself for the trip to Antarctica, Sweden made the decision to withhold their Icebreaker to the NSF. I was back to the drawing board. 

Without an Icebreaker, there might not be an Antarctic season for anyone, let alone myself. They were asking us to be patient, to wait as they sorted things out. 

I still had a lot of uncertainties ahead of me. Did I need to go ahead with the Stress Echo even though I had been cleared medically by Raytheon? 

Yes I did. I still felt I was perfectly healthy, but I needed to know.

Could I afford to wait while the NSF searched for a replacement Icebreaker? They seemed fairly confident, but my season was ending in less than a month and I would soon be unemployed and homeless. I would also soon be $1,500.00 in debt for a stress echo cardiogram that I did not have money to pay for. But it was my life. You can gamble a lot of things, but gambling my life was not one of them. 

I called my supervisor and spoke briefly about the Icebreaker in hopes of getting a better understanding. That conversation did not provide any clearer of a picture. If there were going to be cuts, it would be the new employees that would be cut. This I completely understood. I would have done the same thing. Why would they bring in people who had never been there and cut seasoned, veteran staff? 

I was told that if I could be patient, they had hopes that it would all work out. Otherwise, they would understand if I had to back out because I needed better job security. 

In a way, it was like Devil’s Advocate. I've always been considered a fairly patient person by co-workers and friends. I, too, consider myself a relatively easy going, patient individual. It takes a lot to get me riled which can be a great thing. On the other hand, once I reach that point, it's hard to let go, which is not always a great thing. What can I say, we all have faults.

However, this up and down could have tried a saint I feel. I was just ready to know. I NEEDED to know if I was going or not. I'd been hired in June and here it was mid August. I was ready. But no one had any answers.

I agreed to wait, while at the same time I started searching for possible “back up” options. However, everything I was finding did not stand out to me like the idea of going to work in Antarctica had. My heart was pretty set on getting there.