JTF participates in dedication ceremony at the Pole Published Jan. 14, 2008 By 13th Air Force Public Affairs HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, Hawaii -- The National Science Foundation's 12-year effort to construct a new station at the South Pole culminated when the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station was dedicated in a ceremony Jan. 12. Among those attending the ceremony were Maj. Gen. Robert A. Knauff, New York Air National Guard chief of staff and commander, and Col. Ron Smith, Joint Task Force-Support Forces Antarctica, Operation Deep Freeze deputy commander. To deliver the supplies and equipment needed to complete the project, ski-equipped LC-130s flew 925 flights, carrying 24 million points of cargo to the South Pole. The NYANG's 109th Airlift Wing LC-130s are part of JTF-SFA, ODF. LC-130s are based out of McMurdo Station, Antarctica, from October to March to transport personnel and supplies to the South Pole and other research stations throughout Antarctica. ODF is a unique 13th Air Force-led joint and total force mission that has supported the NSF and U.S. Antarctic program since 1955. The U.S. military is uniquely equipped to assist the NSF to accomplish its mission to explore Antarctica. The Jan. 12 dedication occurred more than 50 years after an 18-member team of U.S Navy personnel and civilian scientists spent the first winter at the Pole in 1957. The new station is named after two explorers--the first man to reach the site, Norwegian Roald Amundsen, and Briton Robert F. Scott, whose party reached the Pole a month later.