Rene Steinhauer, who works as a paramedic in Fresno when he is not flying with the 349th. Outside it's a balmy 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Above, the Arctic sun is intense and penetrating as it reluctantly makes its way across the sky. It's a little after 3 p.m. local time. But there still is more than eight hours of daylight left.
Summer is just a little more than a month away.
But signs of winter are everywhere. The trees near the runway are skinny and anemic, as if they have been unable to recover from the cruel Arctic winter. Just a few miles away is Fairbanks. Though only about 30,000 people live there, Fairbanks still is Alaska's second largest city. One of the patients taken aboard at Eielson is Master Sgt.