Kimberly Motely a practicing attorney and litigator since 2003 and has worked in Afghanistan since 2008. She is the founder of Motley Legal Services and cofounder of Motley Consulting International. She is the first foreigner who has ever litigated cases in Afghanistan's Criminal Courts and has a strong litigious practice focusing on criminal, commercial, contract, civil, and employment law matters.

You've seen the pictures, watched the videos, read the books and now you've decided you want to actually go to Antarctica. Maybe you can't afford to go as a paying passenger or maybe you want to experience the continent more fully, more closely and most of all - during the winter months when no tourists can visit.

As the longest war in American history is ended, a variety of unique stories have bubbled to the surface. One belongs to Tim Lynch, a retired U.S. Marine who lived and worked in Afghanistan for approximately eight years as a civilian. In a war-torn country, Lynch worked many different jobs, from security contractor to aid worker. With a strong military foundation, he developed a unique perspective on the Afghan people that many never have the privilege of seeing — even those who have spent years at war there.

"There are a lot of assumptions about contractors, and a lot of the assumptions are wrong." Those are the words of a private security contractor who asked to be referred to only as "Lloyd" for this story because like most of his colleagues he is not authorized to speak to the media.

By Lloyd's count, he has spent some 1,000 days working in Afghanistan in the past four years. He, like many other well-trained military men, decided to leave his position as a Navy SEAL and take his chances finding employment in one of the hot spots around the world where highly skilled contractors were well-paid, and in demand.

The last big plane left the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station on Feb. 14. Of the 150 scientists, technicians, and support staff, only 33 men and eight women remained for the winter: six months of darkness, no arriving supplies, average temperatures of -76F. Also: no Wi-Fi or cell phone service. At the South Pole, iPhones become expensive alarm clocks and music players. Sunrise comes on Sept. 21.

Sitting on the ice—as well as buried one mile beneath it—are telescopes and other instruments gathering data to help answer questions about the changing climate here on earth, as well as the origins of the universe. The first direct evidence of cosmic inflation—the idea that the cosmos experienced exponential growth in its first trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second—came from a telescope at the South Pole called BICEP2 (Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization.)