The wonderful story of the rescue of the Chilean miners has an American twist: their rescue was engineered primarily
by an American named Jeff Hart, who's made himself into the world's foremost drill expert.
Jeff Hart was drilling water wells for the U.S. Army's forward operating bases in Afghanistan when he got the call to fly to Chile.
He spent the next 33 days on his feet, operating the drill that finally provided a way out Saturday for 33 trapped miners.
"You have to feel through your feet what the drill is doing; it's a vibration you get so that you know what's happening," explained Hart, a contractor from Denver, Colorado.
Update: David Gergen with
more on American contributions to this rescue.
In Western Pennsylvania, two companies long-trained by mine collapses in that region rushed to action. They had UPS ship south a specialty drill, capable of creating shafts large enough to fit the men without collapsing, within 48 hours. And UPS did it for free.
Then, working with Chilean crews, Geotec's Kansas-based partner came up with the plan to get the miners to the surface almost two months earlier than the Christmastime date originally projected.
That plan was more or less: Jeff Hart:
Expert driller Jeff Hart, a contractor from Denver, Colorado, was called from Afghanistan, where he was helping American forces find water, to man the machine. The 40-year-old drilled for 33 days straight, through tough mineral ore, to reach the men trapped more than 2,000 feet below.
His comment after breaking through last week? "We got the job done."
Plus there's NASA:
Three NASA doctors have provided advice on how to keep the miners healthy, both physically and mentally. And the design of the rescue pod is the brainchild of NASA engineer Clinton Cragg. Cragg drew on his experience as a former submarine captain in the Navy and directed a team of 20 to conceive of a small 13- foot-long tube to carry the miners one at a time to the surface.
All told, about a dozen Americans decamped to the desert, and many more labored from home, to rescue the miners. The display of generosity and technological ingenuity shows our finest face to the world.
2nd update: Thanks to reader GS (a spy I didn't know I had in NM) for sending me a Catholic angle. One of the American engineers who helped mastermind the rescue
is studying to be a deacon.
