When did you come to this area?

Well, I was born here.  I began to work in 1966.  I worked at JPG two different times:  from 66 to 71, then from 82 to 1993.

What kind of jobs did you have?

I had a variety of different jobs, mostly in testing, I worked in assembly of ammunition.  I worked in ballistics mathematics about half the time. 

What kind of training did you receive?

Training was mostly OJT; although, after I became test director, I received quite a bit of off-post training at other military bases.

While working in assembly I used a lot of hydraulic equipment putting ammunition together. In Ballistics, I used the computer and as test director ,I used a lot of electronics equipment.

I remember JPG’s first computer.  It would have been in the late 60“s. the computer was slow, with very little memory compared to what we have now, it was pretty bulky.

What were you paid on your first job at JPG?

My first job at the proving ground paid about 2.40 per hour.

What was the work environment and the atmosphere when you started?

It was the Vietnam War.  A lot of work to be done, a lot of overtime. It was not as technical as it later became. It was a fairly young time.  It was a good place to work.  It became a lot more technical over time.  The ammunition was a lot more sophisticated and would take a lot more sophisticated equipment to test it.

What was your worst moment?

I think my worst time was when a colleague that worked along side of me got an injury. It could have been real bad. That was probably one of the worst times.

What was the role of Women at JPG?

Women were involved in most aspects of it.  There were some jobs not accomplished very much by women because of the weight they had to lift, they worked in all other jobs and they played a real strong role and were treated equally.  They did their part.

What were your thoughts when JPG Closure was announced?

After the closure was announced.  Most of the employees including myself thought that they made a bad decision in closing.  Overall it was a good place to work.  It was an expensive mistake.  Early on, I was heavily involved in trying to get the decision reversed.  A lot of people knows, even today that there was a lot of waste. It was politically done.  This piece of ground was basically devastated. 

To kind of go along with what I was just saying, we have to have places like JPG.  The land is ruined forever.  Along with this discussion, my wife’s ancestors actually resided on what is now the proving ground. They were bought out by the government before World War II. Once you start testing then the land is virtually destroyed.  You could spend millions of dollars out there to try to clean it up, but I think the government should not take any more land and ruin it, but utilize this land here.