American airmen defend themselves from cold attack
Sgt. Michael Augustine (L) and Sgt. Steve Leavitt brave a cold North Bay winter day. Photo by Chris Dawson, BayToday.ca Two American airmen are getting their first taste of a Canadian winter. And the two, Sgt. Steven Leavitt and Sgt.
Sgt. Michael Augustine (L) and Sgt. Steve Leavitt brave a cold North Bay winter day. Photo by Chris Dawson, BayToday.ca
Two American airmen are getting their first taste of a Canadian winter.
And the two, Sgt. Steven Leavitt and Sgt. Michael Augustine, who both work at the NORAD underground complex in North Bay, say the best way to deal with the season is to avoid it.
Worst part “Prior to coming here I was in Hawaii for eight years and I did two years in Arizona,” Leavitt said, while he and Augustine bundled up to head outdoors.
“And when I was asked to come up here I wasn’t really prepared for what the temperatures were going to be like, I’m not used to this -40 degree below zero temperature, and the snow was going to be a lot worse, with a record snowfall for December. But the worst part about it is they say I haven’t seen anything yet.”
Toughest thing Sgt. Augustine moved to North Bay in August from Louisiana, where he’d never seen the amount of snow he’s seen here.
“We get snow once every five or six years and it’s not enough to stay overnight, and I did see some snow when I was stationed in Korea, but nothing like this at all,” Augustine said.
“I think the toughest thing for me and my family to get used to is staying indoors all winter, it's comfortable to wear shorts sometimes where I come from. Here there’s not a chance, here we stay in a lot more because we aren’t used to the cold.”
Block heaters Leavitt said he hadn’t heard any North Bay weather stories before coming up here, “because nobody at any of the bases that I’ve been to knew that North Bay existed.”
The stories he did hear once he arrived were through word of mouth, Leavitt said.
“It was just overhearing that people were putting block heaters in their cars, and didn’t know I had to do that. But they said the winters get really cold here and I’m believing it.”
Insulated clothing The two airmen said the extreme weather they’re experiencing make it more difficult to do the little things they were accustomed to doing in warmer climes.
“Going outside to go to the store now you have to let your car warm up, and to just take your dog out for a walk, now you have to put layers of clothes on, and these were these were things I didn’t have prior to coming here,” Leavitt said.
“Shorts, tank tops, I had to go out and spend a lot of money to just to replace all these items with insulated clothing.”
Their flag Fortunately, Leavitt and Augustine said, they have indoor jobs far and the only thing American that has to constantly brave the cold spell is their flag.
