Climbing High into the Wild Blue Yonder

Two 1st Special Operations Wing airmen are putting the organization’s “Any Time, Any Place” motto to the test. Capt. Rob Marshall, with the 8th Special Operations Squadron, and Capt. Graydon Muller, with the 6th SOS, both at Hurlburt Field, Fla., are on a mission to scale the tallest mountain in Antarctica. The 16,076-foot climb up Mount Vinson Massif is part of the US Air Force Seven Summits Challenge, an initiative to carry the Air Force flag to the highest point on each continent and to be the first military group to conquer all seven peaks. “The Seven Summits is about airmen setting a goal that some would think would be unattainable and gutting it out to achieve it,” said Marshall. These airmen have already successfully scaled Alaska’s Mount McKinley, Africa’s Mount Kilimanjaro, Europe’s Mount Elbrus, and South America’s Mount Aconcagua. They embarked for Antarctica on Nov. 24. (Hurlburt report by Capt. Lauren Johnson)