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Entry time:	Thu Nov 30 09:58:14 2017
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<p>Congratulations, you've been selected to deploy to Antartica in support of ARA or ANITA. This mostly covers my experience in preparing to go to the South Pole for ARA.</p> <p> </p> <ol> <li>First, you wil be notified that you are either a primary or back-up for deployment to the ice. <ul> <li>Your experiment's contact person will send you an email request for basic info below. This will all be enterd into a Support Information Package (SIP) which will generate a document for you to Physicall Qualtify (PQ). <ul> <li>Name exactly as it is listed in your passport.</li> <li>Address where things can be sent to you,</li> <li>Best email address for getting important information,</li> <li>Phone number - work and mobile if possible,</li> <li>Institution name,</li> <li>Your airport of departure if you do deploy,</li> <li>Nationality on your passport,</li> <li>Expiration date of passport,</li> <li>Your birthdate</li> </ul> </li> <li>For me, this happened on March 23 2017, with my deployment scheduled for January 2018 (the earliest people in my "grouping" to go to pole started heading to pole in early November though).</li> </ul> </li> <li>Then, you must complete the PQ process. <ul> <li>See my other elog here (<a href="http://radiorm.physics.ohio-state.edu/elog/Advice/21">http://radiorm.physics.ohio-state.edu/elog/Advice/21</a>) for advice on doing that.</li> <li>My PQ packet arrived on May 17 2017. I sumbited my completed medical PQ on July 31, and my completed dental on August 17 (my dental was complete later because they made me report a filled cavity; I mailed the "first round" of dental stuff in one packet with the my initial medical PQ stuff on July 31).</li> <li>We went back and forth about a few things, and I sumbited final information on October 3, and got my PQ on October 5.</li> </ul> </li> <li>While PQ paperwork is being processed, you shoud fill out travel paperwork, which will be in a packet labeled "Antarctica Deployment Packet for Grantee and Technical Events". <ul> <li>You do not have to wait for your PQ to submit travel paperwork. They will make you agree to appropriate use of technology in Antarctica, will collect information about your travel, your passport, and your clothing sizes. On the "Trip Details" page.... <ol> <li>If you are going to Pole, the travel proceeds like this. You start in your home city (Columbus for me). Then on to Christchurch New Zealand (CHC), then to McMurdo, then on to South Pole. You will have two nights of layover (minimum) in CHC, and one night of layover (minimum) at McMurdo. If your final destination is McMurdo (ANITA) obviously you stop there. You should plan on arriving in Christ Church (CHC) two days in advance of your CHC -> McMurdo flihgt. It takes between 2 and 3 days of commerical travel to fly to CHC (the flight is 15 hours from Columbus <strong>and </strong>you lose a day crossing the international date line). The advice Jim Haugen gave me is to budget five days of travel before your first pole on-ice date. So, my first on-ice date at pole was Jan 4, so I would need to be in McMurdo on Jan 3, Christ Church by Jan 2, and therefore requested to leave Columbus on Dec 30.</li> <li>For the return to the states, you should just reverse the procedure above.</li> <li>If you want to take personal travel on the <em>front end</em> of your deployment, then you should list that on the form and make a note.</li> <li>If you want to take personal travel on the <em>back end</em> of your deployment, then you should fill out the form as if you were taking no personal travel. The <em>return</em> ticket from Antarctica is <em>actually </em>booked a few days before you are scheduled to leave the pole. They buy a fancy provisional ticket with a flexible date. So you should not worry about telling them about personal travel at this phase.</li> </ol> </li> </ul> </li> <li>Buy supplies. <ul> <li>Oindree and others have already written down some great advice (here: <a href="http://radiorm.physics.ohio-state.edu/elog/Advice/13">http://radiorm.physics.ohio-state.edu/elog/Advice/13</a> ) concerning what to pack.</li> <li>The Antarctic program will provide you with the following: a parka, a light outer coat, overalls, boots, hat, scarf, gloves, goggles. You are responsible for four critical items. All of which you can obtain at Cabelas / Bass Pro Shop / REI or online. <ol> <li>Thick socks and sock liners (I bought <a href="http://www.cabelas.com/product/clothing/mens-casual-clothing/mens-socks/mens-liner-socks/pc/104797080/c/104746680/sc/105550380/i/104031180/cabelas-mens-over-the-calf-polypropylene-liner-socks-two-pack/732845.uts?slotId=0">these sock liners</a> and <a href="http://www.cabelas.com/product/Cabelas-Mens-Deluxe-Cold-Weather-Socks/732820.uts?slotId=0"> these socks</a>, both from Cabelas)</li> <li>Light-weight baselayers. Yes, they really are called "baselayers" (you can go into a store or google this term and people will know what you mean). My recommendation is Merino Wool. (I bought <a href="https://wool.minus33.com/ticonderoga-mens-lightweight-wool-crew/718zg/product/">these tops</a> and <a href="https://wool.minus33.com/saratoga-mens-lightweight-wool-bottom/719/product/">these bottoms</a>).  The cost roughly as much as polyester which you could buy at Cabelas (eg, <a href="http://www.cabelas.com/product/Cabelas-Mens-E-C-W-C-S-Medium-Weight-Bottoms-with-Polartec-Power-Dry-Tall/1900677.uts?slotId=0">these </a>), but the Merino wool is better in my opinion. Some people find wool scratchy, but I tolerate it well, so there's that to consider.</li> <li>Mid-weight baselayers. (I bought <a href="https://wool.minus33.com/chocorua-mens-midweight-wool-crew/705nv/product/">these tops</a> and <a href="https://wool.minus33.com/kancamagus-mens-midweight-wool-bottom/706cg/product/">these bottoms</a>).</li> <li>Sunglasses. Buy a nice pair (I bought a ~$100 pair of sports sunglasses from Native at Cabelas) and a cheap backup pair (~$15 from Foster Grant at Walmart). They need to be polarized and 100% UV light blocking, so make sure to check carefully for that. A shocking number of expensive (>$100) sunglasses (both sport types like Oakley and Native and fashion types like Ray Ban and Vera Wang) are not polarized. They need to have plastic frames (metal frames get cold from the air and can hurt you).</li> </ol> </li> </ul> </li> <li>About a month ahead of your travel date, you will receive a phone call from the ASC travel office to confirm your travel dates. About week after that, you will be issued your tickets. My tickets came Dec 5 2017.</li> </ol> Encoding: HTML ELCode plain Suppress Email notification Resubmit as new entry

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