By Edzel Butac, 446th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
/ Published April 28, 2021
A C-17 Globemaster III, assigned to the 62nd Airlift Wing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, sits at McMurdo Station in Antarctica in support of Operation Deep Freeze. ODF is unlike any other U.S. military operation. It is one of the military's most difficult peacetime missions due to the harsh Antarctic environment. The U.S. military is uniquely equipped and trained to operate in such an austere environment and has therefore provided support to the USAP since 1955. (U.S. Air Force photo by Maj. Tyler Boyd)
Chief Master Sgt. Ty Brooks, a loadmaster from the 313th Airlift Squadron at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., has been participating in ODF for 18 years. Brooks, who will retire from the Air Force Reserve this summer, says ODF is one of the highlights of his over 40-year career. “It never got old,” said Brooks. “That’s why I kept going back all these years.”