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My Remote @ Thule Air Base, Greenland |
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From 3 Aug 2000 until 9 Aug 2001 I spent 371
days living on Top Of the World (TOW) at Thule Air Base, Greenland. My military career has taken me many
places but none so remote as Thule. The word remote in the military community means serving a tour without your family. But a tour at Thule, AB is truly a remote tour. Thule air base is located 900 miles above the Arctic Circle and 900 miles south of the North Pole along Greenland's western coast. The word remote fits it to a T, because other then the base there
isn't nothing. A small village called Qaanaaq lies approx. 100 miles north although
there's no way to get any where from here as the old saying goes, unless you own a dog sled or helicopter.
To the south nothing for 100s of miles. I enjoyed my time at Thule which is hard for me to say, cause
I missed my family so much, but even with this hardship I was able to see some sites that many of you can
only read about. |
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This is an overhead shot of Thule in the summer. You can see in the foreground
the ice cap which covers the entire top of the world, and do not let the green foul you, it's only green
for a little while. One thing you should notice on this picture is the three glaciers that come together
in the Fjord (Bay). I was told this is the only place in the world that 3 glaciers come together in one
spot, a wonderful site. In the right corner of the [picture is Thule runway with the base being just to
the left. Approx 130 U.S. Air force serve at Thule and have since 1951. |
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Why Thule? Ballistic Missile Early Warning...that's why. The initial airfield
and base, code name "Blue Jay”, was built by the US Government in 1951 in 104 days under total secrecy.
The base was to provide a refueling point for long range bombers. But since the early 1970's the main
mission has been to support early warning for Ballistic Missile attacks on the U.S. a mission Thule still
provides to this day. |
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This is a photo of me at the BMEWS site (May 2001) located 12.5 miles further
north of Thule main base on a rise of about 1500 feet. Guess who ran all the way up to BMEWS and back
(well almost I bonked at 19.5 miles). What other reasons is the U.S. Military at Thule? Thule hosts a
number of research projects from global warming to the study of birds of pray not to mention it is the
northern most staging port for the re-supply of two weather stations even further north, Station NORD
(Danish) and Boxtop (Canadian). How did they get that ship anchor all the way up to the BMEWS site?
I have no idea? |
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This picture best displays how our early warning shields protects the United
States from missile attacks. Thule (site 1) along with a site in Alaska and another in the United
Kingdom provide advance missile warning. |
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Many people have asked me if I saw any Polar bears while at Thule and I can say
yes I ran across this friendly family of bears near base one day. They were really nice and loved to
play, but that one little bear was always licking his lips? I kind of felt like he was up to something,
maybe it was just me? |
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During one Thule Trippin (site seeing) adventure I was lucky enough to witness
icebergs break off of one of the glaciers and fall into the bay. This massive hunk of ice must have been
thousands of years old. This photo was taken up at the BMEWS site in May you'll notice the bay is still
frozen. The bay opened up around late June or early July. Once the bay opens up the icebergs are free to
drift into the ocean waters and points unknown. |
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Another wonderful shot of one of the three glaciers. This photo does not do
justice, truly a site you have to see for yourself. |
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During a Sept 2000 outing myself and a few of my dorm mates went to explore
Thule's well know ice cave settled along the edge of the ice cap. This was a wonderful site, witness to
thousands of years of ice build up. A small steam ran through the ice cave, much like the Grand Canyon,
craving out this wonderful spectacle of nature. Just like the growth rings on a tree the walls of the
cave were lined with age layers, made of frozen soil, ice and stone from years gone by. I kept thinking
that if these walls could take what a story they might tell. |
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