Military Personnel: DOD Needs to Assess Certain Factors in Determining Whether Hazardous Duty Pay Is Warranted for Duty in the Polar Regions
Published: 2003-04-29T00:00:00

Fast Facts:

Highlights:
section_title: Why GAO Did This Study
paragraphs: The 109th Airlift Wing, New York Air National Guard, conducts supply missions for scientific research in the polar regions. Most unit members do not spend more than 30 consecutive days in the polar regions. Therefore, they are not eligible for hardship duty pay, which requires more than 30 consecutive days of duty in a designated hardship location. Congress considered legislation in 2002 to make an exception to the 30-day hardship duty pay threshold for polar duty. This legislation was not approved. In addition, the 109th Airlift Wing proposed designating polar duty as a hazardous duty. The Conference Report accompanying the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2003 directed GAO and DOD to conduct separate reviews of special and incentive pays for polar duty. GAO assessed DOD's rationale for hardship duty pay and the implications of making an exception to hardship duty pay. In addition, GAO assessed the 109th Airlift Wing's justification for hazardous duty pay for polar duty.
section_title: What GAO Found
paragraphs: Hardship duty pay is intended to compensate military personnel assigned to areas for more than 30 consecutive days where quality-of-life conditions are substantially below those in the continental United States. DOD did not support the hardship duty pay legislation on the basis that this pay was not intended to compensate stays of short duration and the legislation circumvented a DOD process designating hardship duty locations and rates. Granting an exception to the 30-day hardship duty pay threshold for 109th Airlift Wing personnel deployed to the polar regions would result in minimal costs, but this exception could set a precedent for DOD personnel performing other short-term missions and could further increase costs. Had this exception been in effect in 2001-2002, the 109th Airlift Wing estimated the costs would have totaled about $127,000. The National Science Foundation would incur most of these costs because it reimburses DOD for logistic support in the polar regions. The costs of granting an exception for short-term missions conducted by DOD personnel at other hardship locations are unknown. Based on its review of the intent of hardship duty pay and the implications of granting an exception, GAO believes that an exception to the 30-day threshold is not justified under current DOD policy. The 109th Airlift Wing justified its proposal for hazardous pay on the basis of extreme working conditions and exposure to medical hazards. For example, maintenance personnel work in temperatures as cold as minus 59 degrees Fahrenheit without the protection of hangars and are exposed to potential medical hazards such as frostbite, hypothermia, and carbon monoxide poisoning. Unit officials expressed concern about the retention of personnel who require additional training for polar operations, but they did not know what impact hazardous duty pay would have on retention. Recent data from exit surveys show that dissatisfaction with pay was not among the most frequently cited reasons for leaving.

section_title: Letter
paragraphs: Military personnel serving outside the continental United States may  perform duty in locations with adverse living conditions. Personnel who  spend more than 30 consecutive days in areas designated by the Office of  the Secretary of Defense (OSD) as hardship duty locations are eligible for  hardship duty pay. OSD has designated 170 hardship duty locations and  has authorized a monthly pay rate of $50, $100, or $150, depending on the  severity of living conditions. The polar regions of Antarctica and  Greenland have been designated as hardship duty locations qualifying for  the maximum monthly pay rate of $150. The 109th Airlift Wing, New York  Air National Guard, conducts supply missions in the polar regions in  support of scientific research programs sponsored primarily by the  National Science Foundation. However, according to a 109th Airlift Wing  official, most unit members who perform polar duty do not serve more  than 30 consecutive days and are therefore not eligible to receive hardship  duty pay.
With the goal of securing incentive pay for polar duty, the 109th Airlift  Wing developed a proposal in 2000 to authorize hazardous duty pay for  duty performed in the polar regions. Hazardous duty pay, which is  separate from hardship duty pay, is intended as an incentive for personnel  to occupy hard-to-fill occupations that involve risky or hazardous duty.  The proposal was submitted to the New York Guard and subsequently  brought to the attention of Congress, but it was not provided to the  Department of Defense (DOD) for consideration in DOD’s process for  reviewing personnel compensation proposals. Although the 109th Airlift  Wing’s proposal addressed hazardous duty pay, Congress considered a  legislative provision in 2002 to authorize hardship duty pay, on a prorated  basis, for each day of work performed in the polar regions. The provision  would, in effect, have made an exception to DOD’s 30-day threshold  requirement and would have increased the monthly rate established by  DOD from $150 to $240. Although the provision was not approved, the  Conference Report accompanying the National Defense Authorization Act  for Fiscal Year 2003 directed us to review special and incentive pays for  reservists who perform frequent and continuous duty on ski-equipped  aircraft operating in the polar regions while assigned temporarily to  locations where conditions are extremely harsh. The Conference Report  also directed DOD to include a study of the same issue in a review of  reserve component personnel compensation directed by the Senate. In  response to the mandate, we reviewed (1) DOD’s rationale for hardship  duty pay, including the 30-day threshold; (2) the potential implications,  including costs, of making an exception to the 30-day threshold; and   (3) the 109th Airlift Wing’s justification for granting hazardous duty pay for  polar duty. In subsequent discussion with your staff, we agreed to provide  an assessment of granting an exception to the 30-day hardship duty  threshold for personnel performing duty in the polar regions.
subsections: section_title: Background
paragraphs: The National Science Foundation conducts scientific research in the polar  regions of Antarctica and Greenland and funds and manages the U.S.  Antarctic Program. This program sends nearly 3,000 scientists and support  personnel to Antarctica each year to support scientific research in areas  such as astrophysics, atmospheric chemistry, biology, earth sciences,  ocean and climate systems, and glaciology. The National Science  Foundation also chairs an interagency committee to coordinate the  scientific research efforts of all federal agencies in the Arctic region,  including Greenland. The 109th Airlift Wing is the main provider of air  logistic support for National Science Foundation activities in Antarctica.  The unit also supports the activities of the National Science Foundation  and other agencies in Greenland. Members of the 109th Airlift Wing train  on and operate unique LC-130 ski-equipped aircraft that take off and land  on snow and ice (see fig. 1). The unit operates 10 LC-130 aircraft.
The 109th Airlift Wing supports U.S. Antarctic Program mission  requirements from mid-October to the end of February each year. It  employs 220 full-time Active Guard and Reserve members whose principal  task is to support this program. It receives additional support from  “traditional” guardsmen, other Active Guard and Reserve members, and  military technicians of the 109th Airlift Wing, as well as members from  other military units. Operations are conducted from McMurdo Station, the  permanent logistics station for U.S. operations in Antarctica. The   109th Airlift Wing schedules between 450 and 500 flights in Antarctica for  the 5-month operational season to meet National Science Foundation  requirements. According to the 109th Airlift Wing, personnel typically  deploy for a period of 1 to 13 weeks, which includes up to 1 week of travel  from New York to Antarctica. These deployments are conducted on a  rotational basis. The 109th Airlift Wing maintains a presence of  approximately 120 personnel (50 operational, 61 logistic, and 9 support) at  McMurdo Station from October to the end of February.
In Greenland, the 109th Airlift Wing performs training missions for unit  personnel who will deploy to Antarctica. The unit also performs scientific  support missions for the National Science Foundation as well as for the  National Aeronautics and Space Administration and European research  programs. Unit operations in Greenland run from mid-March to  September each year and are conducted from staging locations at Thule  Air Base and Kangerlussuaq. Missions are flown to all parts of the  Greenland Ice Cap, northern Canadian locations, and Arctic Ocean camps.  The 109th conducts 10 to 12 1-week deployments to Greenland.
Within OSD, the Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness) is  responsible for DOD personnel policy, including oversight of reserve  affairs and military personnel pay and benefits. The Under Secretary of  Defense (Personnel and Readiness) leads the Unified Legislation and  Budgeting process, which was established in 1994 to develop and review  personnel compensation proposals. In addition, the Office of the Under  Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness) is conducting the  congressionally mandated review of special and incentive pays for  reservists performing duty in the polar regions.
section_title: DOD’s Rationale for Hardship Duty Pay
paragraphs: Hardship duty pay compensates military personnel on duty for more than  30 consecutive days in harsh or difficult living conditions. The Secretary of  Defense has the authority to establish implementing regulations for such  pay, including the designation of hardship duty locations and rates.  Within OSD, the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Force Management  Policy) tasked a working group in 1998 to develop hardship duty pay  policy. The working group determined that (1) uniformed members who  perform duty in designated hardship locations for more than   30 consecutive days are eligible for hardship duty pay and (2) this pay is  not intended to compensate for difficult working conditions. According to  DOD, personnel assigned to an area for a short period do not endure the  same range of physical hardships as those in the area on a long-term basis.  According to an OSD official, the working group linked the 30-day  hardship duty threshold to family separation allowance, which  compensates members who are away from their families for more than   30 consecutive days. We found no basis to disagree with the criteria DOD  has established for hardship duty pay.
OSD, in its appeal submitted in response to the National Defense  Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2003, opposed the legislation creating an  exception to the 30-day hardship duty threshold for missions to the polar  regions on the grounds that it “unnecessarily circumvents a process that  has proven to be a fair and equitable means of setting hardship duty pay  location rates worldwide.” The Assistant Secretary of Defense (Force  Management Policy) regularly reviews and determines hardship duty  locations and rates. In certain instances, the Assistant Secretary of  Defense (Force Management Policy) automatically designates hardship  duty locations. All installations located on land areas or an ice shelf above  66 degrees 33 minutes north latitude (Arctic region) or below 60 degrees  south latitude (Antarctica) are designated as hardship duty locations. For  all other locations, unified commanders with regional responsibilities  submit a completed Hardship Duty Location Assessment Questionnaire to  the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Force Management Policy), who  reviews these requests twice a year. Monthly pay rates for hardship duty  are $50, $100, and $150 and are based on the severity of living conditions.  Living conditions are placed into three categories: (1) physical  environment, which includes factors such as climate and physical and  social isolation; (2) living conditions, including sanitation, disease, medical  facilities, housing, food, and recreational and community facilities; and   (3) personal security, including political violence, harassment, and crime.  Hardship duty performed for more than 30 consecutive days in Antarctica  and Greenland qualifies at the $150 monthly rate.
section_title: Granting a Hardship Duty Exception for the Polar Regions Could Set a Precedent for Other Short-Term Missions
paragraphs: Allowing an exception to the 30-day hardship duty threshold for members  of the 109th Airlift Wing who deploy to the polar regions would result in  minimal additional costs. The National Science Foundation reimburses  DOD for 109th Airlift Wing logistic support in the polar regions and would  incur most of these additional costs. However, allowing this exception  could set a precedent for DOD personnel performing other missions  lasting 30 days or less. The costs of granting an exception for short-term  missions conducted at other hardship locations are unknown.
subsections: section_title: Estimated Costs of Granting the 109th Airlift Wing an Exception to the 30-Day Threshold
paragraphs: The 109th Airlift Wing estimated that granting an exception to the 30-day  hardship duty threshold for unit members deployed to the polar regions  would cost approximately $125,000 to $130,000 a year based on  deployment trends in past years. We did not verify the cost data. In fiscal  year 2002, for example, the unit had a total of 1,478 deployments to the  polar regions, including 690 to Antarctica and 788 to Greenland. Unit  members deployed for a total of 15,846 days, including 11,906 days in  Antarctica and 3,940 days in Greenland. According to a unit official,  approximately 30 unit members deployed for more than 30 consecutive  days. The 109th Airlift Wing estimated that if the exception to the 30-day  threshold had been in effect in fiscal year 2002, hardship duty pay costs for  that year would have increased by about $127,000, including  approximately $95,000 for deployments to Antarctica and approximately  $32,000 for deployments to Greenland.
The National Science Foundation would incur most of these increased  costs. It directly reimburses DOD for 109th Airlift Wing logistic support  performed in Antarctica, including personnel and training costs above and  beyond the unit’s wartime task requirements. The reimbursements from  the National Science Foundation include funding for the 220 full-time  Active Guard and Reserve members employed for the polar mission and  for all flying training hours required for these personnel to maintain their  qualifications. The National Science Foundation reported that the total  costs in fiscal year 2002 for the unit’s support of Antarctic missions were  $22.7 million. For operations in Greenland, the 109th Airlift Wing is  reimbursed by its customers, including the National Science Foundation,  based on a rate structure established by DOD for each particular mission.  For example, the National Science Foundation reimbursed the 109th Airlift  Wing about $375,000 in fiscal year 2002 for missions in Greenland.
Other military personnel performing short-term assignments in the polar  regions would also benefit from an exception to the 30-day hardship duty  threshold. For example, the Air Force Reserve’s 445th Airlift Wing and the  452nd Airlift Mobility Wing conduct passenger and cargo flights on   C-141 wheeled aircraft between Christchurch, New Zealand, and McMurdo  Station, Antarctica. An OSD official said information was not readily  available on the additional estimated costs of granting the exception for  these personnel.
section_title: Other Short-Term Missions Could Claim an Exception to the 30-Day Threshold
paragraphs: According to officials within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense  (Personnel and Readiness), allowing an exception to the 30-day hardship  duty threshold would set a precedent for other short-term missions that  last 30 consecutive days or less. Of the 170 hardship duty locations,   67 locations (39 percent) qualify at the maximum monthly pay rate of  $150. In 2002, DOD refused a request by the Navy for an exception to the  30-day threshold for duty on Vieques Island, Puerto Rico. The Navy stated  that security personnel who are deployed to the island on a 14-day  rotational schedule live in “substandard conditions.” DOD, in turning down  the request, stated that “members on a short-term duration tour-of-duty do  not endure the range of physical hardships experienced by those who are  permanently assigned.” According to an official within the Office of the  Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness), granting an  exception to the 30-day threshold for other short-term missions would  result in additional hardship duty pay costs, but these costs are unknown  because DOD has not conducted a cost analysis.
section_title: Factors Cited as Justifying Hazardous Duty Pay for Personnel Performing Duty in Polar Regions
paragraphs: The 109th Airlift Wing justified its proposal for hazardous duty pay for  military personnel performing duty in the polar regions on the basis of the  extreme working conditions they encounter and their exposure to  potential medical hazards. Unit officials also expressed concern about the  retention of unit personnel, but they did not know what impact hazardous  duty pay for polar duty would have on retention.
A senior unit official said the unit submitted a proposal in 2000 to the New  York Guard seeking modifications to a DOD regulation to designate polar  operations as hazardous duty. Hazardous duty pay is a type of incentive  pay intended to induce personnel to volunteer for duties that may be  hazardous. According to the senior unit official, the New York Guard  submitted the proposal to Congress. The proposal was not provided to  DOD for consideration in the DOD Unified Legislation and Budgeting  process, which reviews personnel compensation proposals. Although the  109th Airlift Wing’s proposal addressed hazardous duty pay, Congress  developed a legislative provision in 2002 to grant an exception to the   30-day hardship duty pay threshold. The senior 109th Airlift Wing official  said the unit’s justification for hazardous duty pay for polar operations  could also be applied to hardship duty pay.
subsections: section_title: Extreme Operating Conditions and Exposure to Potential Medical Hazards
paragraphs: According to information provided by the 109th Airlift Wing, military  personnel performing duty in the polar regions encounter extreme  working conditions and face exposure to potential medical hazards. Flight  crews routinely conduct takeoffs and landings in remote areas on snow  and ice. In zero visibility conditions, they must use emergency whiteout  landing procedures. Maintenance personnel work in temperatures as low  as minus 59 degrees Fahrenheit without the protection of hangars.  Operations in these conditions expose personnel to potential medical  hazards such as hypothermia, frostbite, carbon monoxide poisoning, and  ultraviolet radiation exposure. In addition, the unit indicated that the dry  conditions in Antarctica can lead to dehydration and fatigue. A small clinic  at McMurdo station is capable of treating minor injuries, but all major  injuries and surgeries must be treated in Christchurch, New Zealand.   (App. I provides a more detailed description of the conditions in which  deployed members operate and their exposure to potential medical  hazards.)
National Science Foundation officials acknowledged that the operating  environment in Antarctica can be harsh and that employees from all  participating agencies and organizations – not just 109th Airlift Wing  personnel – face difficult working conditions. They said the National  Science Foundation has adopted a variety of procedures that mitigate the  hazards faced by U.S. Antarctic Program participants, including scientists,  support contractor personnel, civilian federal employees, and DOD civilian  and military personnel. National Science Foundation officials said  operational improvements were implemented to make Antarctic flight  operations safer and to mitigate the impact of the harsh environment on  personnel. For example, an emergency divert airfield was established in  2002, and navigational aids and more accurate weather forecasting  capabilities have been implemented and remain a high priority.
While duty performed for more than 30 consecutive days in the polar  regions of Antarctica and Greenland qualifies for hardship duty pay, duty  in the polar regions has not been designated as a hazardous duty.   Section 301 of title 37 of the United States Code designates certain duties  entitled to hazardous duty pay. These duties include parachute jumps,  demolition of explosives, and participation in flight deck operations on an  aircraft carrier. Other hazardous duties include exposure to above-normal  levels of toxic fuels or propellants, and the handling of chemical  munitions. Personnel handling these materials are compensated for the  potential for accidental or inadvertent exposure and not for actual  detectable exposure to these materials.
section_title: No Clear Linkage between Retention and Performance of Duty in Polar Regions
paragraphs: A 109th Airlift Wing official expressed concern over the retention of unit  personnel who require additional training for polar duty. Flight crews  receive training in Greenland and Antarctica on how to land on and take  off from snow and ice and in zero visibility conditions. Flight crews are  also required to attend arctic survival training in Greenland where they  learn how to survive on an ice cap for extended periods with no heat and  limited survival gear. Flight crews typically take 3 years to receive their  qualification to fly ski-equipped aircraft. Maintenance personnel attend a  maintenance recovery school in Greenland, which teaches basic polar  survival skills to enable them to cope with the extreme conditions they  confront when they repair aircraft with little support equipment.
A 109th Airlift Wing official said the unit is experiencing a high turnover of  Active Guard and Reserve members who directly support polar missions  in aerospace maintenance (pay grades E-5 and E-7) and aircraft hydraulics  (pay grades E-5 and E-7). For the entire 109th Airlift Wing, the unit has  difficulty retaining “traditional” guardsmen in the following critical skills:  aerospace maintenance and ground equipment, avionics, and aircraft fuels.  Despite retention difficulties in some critical skills, the unit filled   98 percent of the Active Guard and Reserve positions who directly support  operations in Antarctica in 2002. The retention fill rate for the entire unit  was 97 percent during the same year.
A unit official said it is unknown what impact hazardous duty pay for polar  duty would have on retention of unit personnel. Exit surveys conducted  with separating personnel show that dissatisfaction with pay is one of  several reasons for leaving, but is not the primary separation factor.  Between 2001-2003, 165 members left the unit. The most frequently cited  separation factors were family conflict, civilian job conflict, and weekend  drills (see fig. 2).
The unit cannot track specific mission concerns such as deployments to  the polar regions as separation factors. The exit surveys used by the   109th Airlift Wing do not indicate whether an individual’s reason for  leaving is connected specifically with polar duty. A unit official stated that,  based on responses for reasons for leaving, it is possible to “subjectively  deduce that length of deployments and distance from home, as in polar  deployments, are key factors influencing retention decisions.” The exit  surveys also do not track separation factors based on personnel categories  such as military technicians, Active Guard and Reserve, Active Guard and  Reserve who support the U.S. Antarctic Program, and drilling reservists.  Based on our discussions with the 109th Airlift Wing concerning the exit  surveys, the unit has modified the exit survey to track deployments to the  polar regions as a separation factor.
section_title: Conclusions
paragraphs: The hardship duty pay legislation introduced in 2002 — directed at the  109th Airlift Wing — would have created an exception to (1) the 30-day  hardship duty pay threshold and (2) the monthly hardship duty rate  established by DOD for the polar regions. We believe that granting such an  exception for hardship duty pay is not justified under current DOD policy.  First, DOD intends for hardship duty pay to compensate military personnel  who endure a range of hardship on a long-term basis — defined by DOD as  more than 30 consecutive days. Granting this exception could set a  precedent for DOD personnel performing other missions that do not meet  the 30-day threshold, which could increase hardship duty pay costs.  Second, under current DOD policy, hardship duty pay is intended to  compensate personnel for harsh or difficult living conditions, rather than  for difficult working conditions. However, the 109th Airlift Wing cited the  extreme working conditions encountered by personnel deployed to the  polar regions.
According to the 109th Airlift Wing, unit personnel are subjected to  extreme conditions and are exposed to potential medical hazards while on  duty in the polar regions. These factors warrant consideration as part of  DOD’s review of special and incentive pays for personnel performing duty  in the polar regions. In addition, because one of the purposes of hazardous  duty pay is to induce personnel to volunteer for duties that may be  hazardous, we believe that retention data should also be considered as  part of DOD’s review. Officials from the 109th Airlift Wing expressed  concerns about current retention rates, but they did not know what impact  hazardous duty pay for polar duty would have on retention. Exit surveys  conducted with separating personnel show that dissatisfaction with pay  was not among the most frequently cited reasons that members of the unit  provided for leaving. At the time we conducted our review, the 109th  Airlift Wing was not collecting retention data related to members who  were deployed to the polar regions. Collecting this data would be helpful  to target retention incentives to the personnel categories experiencing the  highest turnover rates. According to an official of the 109th Airlift Wing,  the unit has modified the exit survey it uses to track deployments to the  polar regions as a separation factor.
section_title: Recommendation for Executive Action
paragraphs: Congress has directed DOD to study special and incentive pays for  reservists performing duty in the polar regions. As part of this study, we  recommend that the Secretary of Defense direct the Under Secretary of  Defense (Personnel and Readiness) to assess certain factors in  determining whether personnel performing polar duty should receive  hazardous duty pay. These factors are  the extreme working conditions that military personnel encounter  while performing polar duty,  the exposure of military personnel to potential medical hazards related  to polar duty, and   retention data for military personnel performing polar duty.
section_title: Agency Comments
paragraphs: In written comments on a draft of this report, DOD concurred with our  recommendation on assessing certain factors to determine whether  personnel performing polar duty should receive hazardous duty pay.  DOD’s comments are reprinted in appendix II.
DOD and the National Science Foundation also provided technical  comments that we incorporated as appropriate.
section_title: Scope and Methodology
paragraphs: Our review focused on special and incentive pay for DOD personnel  performing duty in the polar regions. To develop the information in this  report, we interviewed DOD officials in the Office of the Assistant  Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, the Office of Military  Compensation, and the Air National Guard. We also met with officials at  the National Science Foundation. We visited Stratton Air Guard Base,  where we interviewed officials from the 109th Airlift Wing, New York Air  National Guard. In addition, we reviewed DOD Financial Management  Regulations related to hardship duty pay and hazardous duty pay.
To assess DOD’s rationale for hardship duty pay, including the 30-day  threshold, we reviewed the legislative history concerning hardship duty  pay, analyzed DOD policies implementing this pay, and interviewed OSD  officials. To assess the potential implications, including costs, of making  an exception to the 30-day threshold, we reviewed cost data from the  109th Airlift Wing and interviewed officials from OSD, the 109th Airlift  Wing, and the National Science Foundation. We did not verify cost data  provided by the 109th Airlift Wing. To assess the justification for  hazardous duty pay for polar duty, we obtained documentation on the  109th Airlift Wing’s operational activities and the conditions unit members  encounter when deployed to polar regions. We also obtained and analyzed  retention data for 109th Airlift Wing personnel performing duty in the  polar regions.
We conducted our review from December 2002 to March 2003 in  accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.
We are sending copies of this report to the Secretary of Defense; the Under  Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness); the Director, National  Science Foundation; and the Director, Office of Management and Budget.  In addition, the report will be available at no charge on GAO’s Web site at  www.gao.gov.
If you or your staff have any questions regarding this report, please call me  at (202) 512-5140 or Brenda S. Farrell at (202) 512-3604. Major contributors  to this report were Kelly Baumgartner, Thomas W. Gosling, and   Timothy Wilson.
section_title: Appendix I: Extreme Operating Conditions and Potential Medical Hazards Encountered by Personnel Deployed to the Polar Regions
paragraphs: The 109th Airlift Wing submitted a proposal in 2000 to the New York  Guard seeking to modify the Department of Defense’s (DOD) current  hazardous duty pay regulation by designating as hazardous duty (1) duty  involving frequent and regular participation in flight operations in ski- equipped LC-130 aircraft conducting ski landings and takeoffs on snow in  polar locations and (2) duty involving maintenance of LC-130 ski-equipped  aircraft as a primary duty in polar locations. The 109th Airlift Wing  justified its proposal to designate polar operations as hazardous duty on  the basis of two primary factors — difficult working conditions, including  cold temperatures, and exposure to potential medical hazards.
subsections: section_title: Difficult Working Conditions
paragraphs: According to the 109th Airlift Wing, flight crews and maintenance personnel  operate and maintain LC-130 ski-equipped aircraft in difficult working  conditions. Specific hazards and risks include the following:    Ski takeoffs include steering with asymmetrical use of the throttles and  the rudder only, since use of the nose wheel will cause aircraft damage.  The aircraft is highly susceptible to sliding off ski ways in high winds,  particularly at low speeds (below 60 knots), when the rudder is not  effective.
Ski landings are performed in extreme, remote areas of Antarctica and  Greenland, hundreds of miles from any station or site; on glaciers and  open snow locations in areas not surveyed and never before visited by  humans; on crevasses that are hidden under snow bridges; and in  katabatic winds that often make landing and taxiing on skis extremely  difficult.
Whiteout procedures require flight crews to perform an approach and  landing in a designated area in zero visibility weather conditions.
Ski approaches in bad weather include a lack of external navigation  aids to orient the aircraft on approach, flying in weather conditions  down to 300 feet above ground and 1 mile visibility, and flying in  conditions that can induce extreme vertigo when there is no contrast  between the white snow and white clouds.
Many missions are flown to high altitude elevations. Each year over   250 missions are flown to the South Pole at an elevation of over 9,300  feet. Many missions are flown to camps in Antarctica and Greenland at  field elevations greater than 10,000 feet and some as high as 12,000 feet.
Assisted take-off rockets are routinely used for getting an aircraft  airborne on a takeoff from high altitude sites. Aircraft must achieve a  higher than normal ground speed to reach the proper indicated  airspeed to get enough lift for takeoff due to thin air. The snow at high  altitude locations is often unprepared, which creates additional drag  and makes it more difficult to build up speed during the takeoff slide.
Unit personnel fly missions to locations where there is no camp, no  personnel, and no equipment, which creates the risk of being stranded.  There is no rescue capability at these locations other than another   LC-130 aircraft.
Personnel are exposed to extremely cold temperatures as low as minus  59 degrees Fahrenheit. Wind chills can be as high as minus 100 degrees  Fahrenheit.
All fueling and cargo operations are conducted with engines running,  which requires a flight engineer to operate the refueling panel outside  for 30 to 40 minutes directly behind running engines. Loadmasters are  also outside of the aircraft for periods of 1 to 3 hours off-loading and  on-loading cargo from the snow with engines running.
Cargo loading and unloading are extremely difficult, often with little or  no material handling equipment. Two to three hours of manual labor  are often required by the flight crews to load and unload cargo in the  snow. This activity is extremely hazardous due to the extreme physical  exertions required with little oxygen in the atmosphere and exhaust  fumes from the aircraft engines.
section_title: Potential Medical Hazards
paragraphs: According to the 109th Airlift Wing, polar operations expose 109th Airlift  Wing personnel to a variety of potential medical hazards. Potential medical  hazards include the following:    Frostbite and hypothermia — Brief exposure to polar temperatures can  have a severe impact. For example, exposed flesh freezes at   minus 59 degrees Fahrenheit within 1 minute, with no wind.
Carbon monoxide poisoning — Aircraft maintenance and unloading  activities expose flight crews over a prolonged period to potentially  hazardous exhaust fumes.
Continuous exposure to intense sunlight — Operations during the   5 months in Antarctica are conducted in 24-hour direct sunlight.
Exposure to ultraviolet radiation is greatly increased due to the hazard  of the “ozone hole” over the Antarctic continent.
section_title: Appendix II: Comments from the Department of Defense