I knew a guy who went to Antarctica. He was a geologist and managed to get himself attached to a scholarly expedition that was going there. He wasn't there very long and I heard it was pretty miserable but he was very proud to have gone and considered it one of the high points of his life.
The US government has some installations in Antarctica and the military is actively involved with them. I've heard there is at least one nuclear reactor down there. It makes sense. How else could you get reliable power without hauling in large amounts of fossil fuels?
When I was in the Navy, I heard that they were always looking for guys to volunteer for duty at the South Pole but never met anyone who had been assigned there. I never saw any communications asking for volunteers. I probably would have gone. It would have been a great place to save money and there probably wouldn't have been too much military bullshit in the day to day life. There might even have been an opportunity for a yearly, extended leave in Argentina or Chile. I'm sure that the facilities there had a good library and probably cheap booze.
Anybody out there ever go to Antarctica or know someone that did? Hell, I might sign up to go there now, if they paid decent and could use me.
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