Behind the Scenes: Thule, 1965 – The Rescue That Taught Me That Discipline Was Not Optional

In 1965, I learned firsthand that the greatest danger at Thule Air Force Base in northern Greenland was not an enemy. It was the environment.

Thule was a remote Arctic outpost, just 700 miles from the North Pole. At the time, about 6,000 military personnel and 2,000 Danish construction workers lived there. Once anyone stepped beyond the boundaries, they were completely exposed to a world that did not forgive mistakes. Discipline wasn’t optional. Warnings were not suggestions. They were often the difference between life and death.

During one Phase Three alert, the most dangerous level, when no one was supposed to be outside under any circumstance, I was part of a three-man rescue team. Our mission was to find a missing Danish construction worker who had failed to respond to the warning system.

I was a First Lieutenant, Assistant Chief of Security and Law Enforcement. I hung onto the rope as I boarded our half-track rescue vehicle, which was specially equipped to withstand the extreme weather. The wind was around 90 knots. Visibility was near zero. The temperature was about 40 degrees below zero.

We weren’t dodging bullets. But we were up against the worst challenges the environment could offer.

We had only fragments of information from the man’s buddies about where he might have gone. Foot by foot, we slowly investigated different locations. Finally, we found him sprawled out on an icy side road. He was barely alive. We struggled to get him into the half-track and rushed him to the base hospital as fast as we could.

The doctors worked on him right away. They saved his life.

That was Thule.

Discipline wasn’t optional. Warnings were not suggestions. In the Arctic, the environment does not forgive mistakes. And sometimes, the difference between life and death is simply showing up and refusing to give up.

Vern Hayden CFP®