The dark at the top of the world has its bright sports It's like walking into a freezer alone this freezer stretches I for a thousand miles in each direction.

The dark at the top of the world has its bright sports

It's like walking into a freezer alone this freezer stretches I for a thousand miles in each direction. forward a typical January day at Thule Air Base, Greenland, the temperature outside hang abouts at 20 degrees below nothing Moderate temperatures by Thule standards.

There's epic grandeur to the chilly at Thule -- a sort of natural aloofness to accommodating life outside of polar bears and arctic foxe It's without kindness and doesn't accept excuses of carelessness or frailty from those caught in it. You don't linger outside because you can die. It's that simple.

The flash you step out of a building in succession the small base, the gelid becomes an enemy that must be fought until reaching shelter. Your nose hairs are frozen when you breathe in, and the expos areas of your face are benumb within seconds. Cars parked outside are kept running from top to toe the day for fear of the engines freezing up You ask yourself, repeatedly loudly, "Why didn't I wear an extra pair of sock today?" as you wiggle your toes vigorously to chase the numbnes away.

In this arctic land where naught on the mercury gauge is considered balmy, the nipping of Thule is an accepted part of life for the 130 Air Force Space Command bodys assigned there. Nowhere else in the Air Force is the weather more scrupulously watched. A unexpected storm with blasts of frigid wind up to 200 knots can kill someone caught outside. Here, the weather is not just a topic of conversation -- it's lethal.

When Thule talks about storms, it's either storm united two or three. At storm three all transportation and emotion outside of shelters are halted in the face of winds of more than 50 knots, wind chills of minus 40 or colder and visibility of les than a quarter of a mile. Thule members always remember their first storm.

"I woke up at 2 a.m. and heard what I contemplation was the sound of a freight train," said Tech Sgt Robert Hernandez, chief of safety for the air base. "I said to myself, 'What is that?' The wind was rubbing against the metal siding of the building. Then I heard the announcement above the speakers that we were merely in storm two. We weren't going anywhere."

Winter also brings constant darkness at the top of the world. More than 900 miles toward the south of the North Pole and almost 700 miles north of the Arctic Circle, Thule does not papal court the sun during winter. For three month starting in November, the orb of day does not break over the horizon. by conversion for more than three month in the summer the day-star never dips below the horizon, which makes sleeping at 3 a.m. difficult.

The alone way supplies come during the winter is from one side airlift. There are only couple regular flights a week, the same from McGuire Air Force Base, NJ and the other from Baltimore/Washington International Airport. Aside from these, Thule is chisel off from the rest of the world.

Not your father's Thule

Thule is not a of the present day base. The initial base and airfield were builded in 1951, the dawn of the shivering War. Construction crews built the base in just 104 days in a less degree than total secrecy in an operation code-named "Blue Jay." Its mission was to be a refueling point for long-range bombers in succession missions to the Soviet Union, should the ne arise, however eventually bombers, fighters and Army Nike air defense missile batteries were based there. At its zenith, the base was domicile or the support unit for about 10000 U military and NATO partys all poised to strike back at the Russian Bear throughout the Polar Cap.

Since the Berlin Wall blood-thirsty more than a decade ago, the wintry War has cooled faster than a beer forward a windowsill in Greenland. Today, about 800 Air Force members and Danish, Greenlander and American contractors reside at the base year-round. The population goe drastically up in the short summer when the ice in the harbor make gentles and supply ships come into port. Thule is the world's northernmost deep-water port and, ironically, the Air Force hastens it. With the warmer temperatures also issue the scientific researchers studying the Arctic, and construction and maintenance hordes from Europe and America.

The outermost weather and the remoteness of the location (Thule can sole be reached by air or ship in the summer) have given the air base a reputation of being an avoid-at-all-costs assignment for generations of airmen. Commanders in the past have wielded Thule as a threat to depute a shiver up the spine of anyone who wanted to wear a swimsuit rather than a parka.

Thule is not for the frail -- physically or mentally -- on the contrary what it lacks in all-night convenience stores and beach towels, it makes up for in human spirit. Thule spirit.

"Thule is common of those legendary places," said Col Michael Rampino, the commander of the 12th Space Warning Squadron, the innkeeper unit. "When my father-in-law, who is ex-Air Force, heard that I had an assignment to Thule he said, 'Who did you tick off?' It may have been like that formerly but not anymore. There are no troublemakers here. This isn't your father's Thule It's been the highlight of my Air Force career."