Ice work for the sergeant

Makoura College old boy and Army Staff Sergeant Deon McKenzie is keeping cool with a summer posting to Antarctica.

SSGT McKenzie, who was raised in Masterton and attended Makoura College, joined the NZ Army in 1990 and is today usually based at Linton Army camp near Palmerston North, where he supervises the maintenance fitters and armourers.

"I joined the Army straight from school as I had always wanted to be in the Army from when I was quite young," he said.

SSGT McKenzie is in Antarctica as part of a Light Engineering team of 17 army personnel performing a range of facilities maintenance tasks at Scott Base and McMurdo Station in January and February.

Tasks performed by the team include building the Bailey bridge, preparing and painting the chapel, welding work on the fuel pipeline and demolition work to allow the refurbishment of one of the dormitory blocks.

The 100ft Bailey bridge took three days to construct and was eased out over the sea ice to a specially-built ice pier. The pier will be used to offload cargo from an icebreaker when it arrives in mid February. The annual supply ship offload involves personnel working around the clock in 24-hour daylight and freezing temperatures to unload shipping containers and move cargo to McMurdo Station and Scott Base.

"This is my first time in Antarctica. Everyday here is awesome. I could easily stay here for the winter rotation."

SSGT McKenzie has been deployed to a number of places over the years including Bosnia, East Timor and Afghanistan and the cold of the Antarctic summer is easily bearable, he said.

Around 200 defence force personnel will support the two-month mission at various stages over the current season and the mission will peak next month with the deployment of the Ship Offload and Driver Support Teams. Throughout the season the tri-Service Scott Base Support Team provide communications, plant operations, cargo handling and operations scheduling support.

The Royal New Zealand Air Force provides a number of C-130 and B757 flights moving supplies and personnel, an Airdrop Rigging Team assists with a C-17 training drop, a small number of personnel support the US Air National Guard with maintenance tasks, and the Harewood Terminal Team in Christchurch are kept busy throughout the season.

The Light Engineering Team, made up of Army personnel from 1 (NZ) Brigade - 2 Engineer Regiment and Combat Service Support units, will return to New Zealand around February 24.