-821st CE Flight com-mander encourages takingadvantage of what Thulehas to offer
Page 2-
CFC 2007 wraps up
Page 3-
Thule celebrates longnight with a festival
Page 4-
Visitors at Thule AB
Pages 8-9
-Base commander reflectson holiday traditions atThule
Page 15
Inside this issue
Season of giving extends through-out the year at Top of the World
While the holiday season is typically con-sidered a season of giving, for the men andwomen at Thule Air Base, Greenland, this sea-son of giving extends throughout the entireyear.Serving at the DoD’s northernmost instal-lation in the world – not far from the NorthPole and Santa Claus himself – the members of Team Thule, who are separated from their ownfamilies and loved ones, focus on supportingOperation Julemand, an ongoing charity drivethat raises money to purchase Christmas giftsfor native Inuit children.“Operation Julemand is a local humanitar-ian mission organized and supported by TeamThule personnel to purchase and give Christ-mas gifts to Greenlandic children in four localvillages,” said Chaplain (Capt.) MartinAdamson, 821st Air Base Group chaplain andpresident of the Operation Julemand Founda-tion, the private organization that coordinatesthe operation. “Money raised also supportsArmed Forces Day celebrations and gifts forelderly and youth service organizationsthroughout the year.”Operation Julemand began as OperationSanta Claus in 1959, when it was first organ-ized by Capt. John McTamney and Airman 1stClass Delbert Cox.Captain McTamney summed up his mo-tivation for creating the operation by stating,“As long as we cannot be home with our ownchildren, let’s bring a little happiness to thechildren of the area.”That first year, $778.33 was collected tobuy Christmas gifts for 209 Greenlandic and25 Danish children living in the area.Although, the name was later changed toOperation Julemand – the Danish word forSanta Claus – the giving continues, althoughon a slightly larger scale. The amount raisedfor 2007 was approximately $22,000 and$10,000 has already been raised for 2008.See
JULEMAND
, Page 3
1st Lt. Nicole Langley
821st ABG Public Affairs
Julemand Festival
Photos by 1st Lt. Nicole Langley
From head shaving to a Jail and Bail, every-one who attended the Julemand FestivalNov. 17, was able to participate in someway, and contribute to the Operation Jule-mand cause.
November-December 2007
Volume 9
Thule Times Editorial Staff
Col. Lee-Volker Cox,821st Air Base Group Commander1st Lt. Nicole Langley,Chief, Public Affairs
This funded Air Force newspaper is anauthorized publication for members ofthe U.S. military service overseas.Contents of the Thule Times are notnecessarily the official view of, orendorsed by, the U.S. Government,the Department of Defense or theDepartment of the Air Force. Theeditorial content is edited, prepared,and provided by the Public Affairsoffice of the 821st Air Base Group,21st Space Wing, Air Force SpaceCommand, Thule Air Base, Greenland,APO AE 09704. All photographs areAir Force photographs unless other-wise indicated. Articles can be sent to:821ABG.PA@Thule.af.mil.
Light the tree!
Photo by Staff Sgt. Rodney Cathcart
Team Thule gathers in front of the 821st Air Base Group Headquarters building Nov. 2 for the lighting of thebase Christmas tree. The lights will shine throughout the entire dark season at Thule and will not be turnedoff until the sun appears in February.
Author Robert Heinlein once said,“A pessimist is correct oftener than anoptimist, but an optimist has more fun –and neither can stop the march of events.”I know that a lot of people stationedat Thule Air Base didn’t want to comehere. My own first choice for a short tourwas Honduras, picturing warm beaches,palm trees and an exciting Latin culture.Of course, when I found out at thistime last year I was going to be moving tonorthwest Greenland, I was nearing theend of an eight-month deployment in east-ern Afghanistan. The 120+ degreeweather, malaria-carrying mosquitoes andterrorists made it rather easy to accept myArctic fate.I quickly convinced myself to look forward to my next year on Top of theWorld. After all, I grew up on a farm onthe outskirts of a town with less than 700people, where cow-tipping and off-roadingwere the biggest past times. Regardless of what Thule had to offer, I knew that itwould certainly be an interesting experi-ence.Now I’ve been here nearly sixmonths and I’ve already hiked all over thepeninsula, walked on the ice cap and eveneaten whale meat. I’m working on finish-ing one of the last two classes for my mas-ter’s degree and I get to earn extra cash onthe weekends by teaching an algebracourse for a long-distance college pro-gram. Greenland really isn’t that bad of aplace … have you tried to make the best of it? There have been plenty of times in mylife that I haven’t had what I wanted, so Imade due with what I had. Without beinghungry and broke at the same time, Iwould have never discovered the diversityof tortilla shells and sandwich cheese, orthat Ramen noodles and breakfast sausagemake one heck of a stir fry. There really isa bright side to everything.Take advantage of what Thule has tooffer. Finish your education, catch up onyour movies or reading, get in shape, savesome money, and spend the winter relax-ing and the summer exploring. We’re onTop of the World, so make the best of it!
We’re all here because we’re not all there
1st Lt. Nick Van Elsacker
821st Civil Engineer Flight commanderPage 2
Thule Times
Volume 9
JULEMAND
from Page 1“Team Thule can take great pridein knowing Operation Julemand is thelargest fundraising effort in the northernpart of Greenland,” said Col. Lee-VolkerCox, 821st Air Base Group commander.“It demonstrates to the Greenlanders thatAmerica and Americans are their friendsand we care. We may be at the Top of the World, but we are not alone.”Team Thule raises money for theoperation a number of ways, includingannual events such as the Julemand Fes-tival, a coat check at the First Night andFirst Light celebrations, and coin dropboxes at the Base Exchange.However, if people have creative,fun ideas for fundraising for OperationJulemand, we support those as well,added Chaplain Adamson.This year, extra fundraising eventsincluded the Thule Biggest Loser Con-test and a Texas Hold’em Tournament,where all entry fees for both events wentdirectly to the Operation Julemandfund.“When you see an Operation Jule-mand event, it’s obvious our entiremulti-national Thule family – Ameri-cans, Danes, Greenlanders and Canadi-ans – is involved,” said Colonel Cox.“It’s heartwarming and an indica-tion of the quality of our team to seeeveryone come together to help the localchildren and elderly. When you live in alocation as remote as Thule, we need totake care of our people not only on thebase, but also the surrounding areas.”Each year, the festival can becounted on as an entertaining day forTeam Thule, as well as the biggest fund-raising event of the year. This year’sfestival, held Nov. 17, began with anathletic competition at the Fitness andSports Center, and then moved on to theCommunity Center where attendees en- joyed an afternoon and evening of fair-style activities.Highlights from this year’s festivalincluded a pie-in-the-face event, headand eyebrow shaving, a ‘Thule Idol’singing contest, Jail and Bail, auctionand booths with various items for sale,including jewelry, Christmas ornamentsand traditional Danish refresh-ments.During the one-day festival, morethan $7,000 was raised.“I am amazed at how much wasdonated for the festival, said the chap-lain. “It far surpassed any expectation orhope I had, but when it is for a goodcause and is fun, people want to give.”The money raised each year is usedto purchase gifts for the following year,and the 280 gifts purchased for thisyear’s distribution were wrapped at theCommunity Center near the beginningof the holiday season.Once the gifts are wrapped andtagged with the names of individual chil-dren, the Danish Liaison Office, a keyplayer in each year’s operation becauseof the continuity they’re able to provide,makes the arrangements with AirGreenland to have the gifts flown to thevillages.“What we do is not much, but in asmall way it shows the great generosityof Americans and the Danish people,”said the chaplain. “Ultimately, it brings asmile to the faces of children who livesimple lives. I am a believer in simplic-ity, but one toy for a child can reallybring a season of joy.”“In the middle of our four-monthArctic night where we don’t see the sun,the smile of a child receiving an Opera-tion Julemand gift will light up the sky,”added the colonel.While many things about Thule AirBase have changed since 1959, the self-less act of giving and helping othersremains constant.Staff Sergeant Kait Beck, 821stSupport Squadron and chairperson forthis year’s Julemand Festival WorkingGroup, explained that her participationand work raising money for OperationJulemand was a way of honoring thosewho helped her during a period in herlife when she was struggling financially.“While those kids may not remem-ber 20 years from now what it is theyreceived this Christmas, they will re-member the kindness of others,” saidSergeant Beck. “And, just maybe theywill return the favor by helping someonewho needs it someday.”As 2007 nears a close, and formany brings an end to the season of giv-ing, the men and women of Team Thulecontinue to donate their coins at the BXand plan fundraisers for 2008 to raisemoney and hope for children at the Topof the World.
CFC UPDATE
AS OF 3 DecGold level for participationGold level for average donationBeat financial goal by $15
0%20%40%60%80%100%120%Donations % Contacted % ParticipatedActualGoal
$13K$13,015K100%62%100%60%
Thule’s 2007 CFC ends on high note
Team Thule wrapped up its Combined FederalCampaign for 2007. Although, the final data has notofficially been released, Thule’s CFC organizers haveconfirmed that the base exceeded its goals, as well as theamount contributed in 2006.
CFC Update
Page 3
Thule Times
Volume 9
of 00
US Air Force: AFD-071227-037
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