GOD , please let me be just half the man I once was .

[Boaz]

I wasn't too bright as a child and that situation seemed to get worse as I became an adult. I managed to get a high school education through the benevolent generosity of my teachers. Although I believe they simply wanted to get rid of me.

...................................to be continued .

[Boaz]

Upon graduating High School I went to work in a packing house killing cattle and hogs . The place was a work house , non stop heavy labor but being halfway OCD I loved it . It was 1970 , height of the civil rights movement and I was one of two white guys working with thirty something blacks , it was........interesting . I went to work on drilling rigs in 72 , year I got my son .



I had doubled for roughnecks wanting a day on the weekend going to High School . Solid labor back then seven days a week rain or shine . LOL I remember in was near freezing and raining with a high wind , three crews were sitting in a 'dog house' waiting for the rain to slack off during a rig move . Toolpusher came in and screamed ....ALL YOU HANDS WITH SLICKER SUITS GET OUT THERE AND GET THIS RIG UP !! AND ALL THAT AIN"T GOT A SLICKER... ...GET OUT THERE AND HELP EM !! I loved the oilfield work , it was fast and furious and as usual hard labor . Got 3 or 4 ribs broke when a hand hit me in the right side with a 14 pound maul while hooking up a blow out preventer . His name believe it or not was John Wayne , easy to remember . Got the small bones in the the front of my feet broke when an idiot loosed a boomer holding the load from the other side of the float but I finished the day and went to the emergency room after an 80 drive back to town. Broke my right wrist handling the back up pipe tongs and we'll not count the every day cuts , bruises , sprains and what not . Saw two men killed on a rig before my eyes , cleaned up after another two more were killed on the shift before mine . But ya know what I loved working on rigs . I made an ace hand because I had pride ! (<take note of that word) Yes sir ! You just pert near couldn't stop me ! (do you see a pattern emerging here ?)
.......................To be continued later .

[duckey]

Good honest hard work! I do believe it pays off down the road.

[nagantguy]

I can appreciate hard work, 40 is in a few months but today was a typical day, up at dawn to take care of animals and start a fire, still cold here in MI
8 hours working on a remodeling job, drywall trim and painting, gym after work, the neighbors pasture had dried out so when I got home I took the trailer over and hauled out the fire wood I cut Last weekend, unloaded the wood, took care of livestock, put paneling up in our master bathroom closet, ran a new line for the new toilet and after my reading posting here I'll load the work Truck for tomorrow and start supper, wife will be home late tonight and I make a point to have something hot for her to eat on her late nights...tomorrow will be a repeat of today only the fire wood I have to pick up tomorrow is further down the road...

[rl69]

yes sir I see the pattern I have lived it. Work harder,faster,longer. "worked for everything I have" But I'm going to stop and let you tell the rest of the story

[trails4u]

I have more appreciation for you as a human being every time you post. You are a good man.

[rancher1913]

just left the oil patch and I got to help on a workover rig just enough to know it was real work, almost non-stop. when I got assigned to a coil unit I was worried that I was to old to keep up but with the exception of 1 guy the crew accepted me and we were a good team, hurt me to leave them but the work was going bye bye and I needed to support the ranch. the 1 guy was a 20 something knowitall that thought an old man like me would hold them back, he was really mad when I left because after awhile of showing him smarter ways of doing things he was starting to respect me.

[Boaz]

I was born in 1952, I had caring,, loving parents , I don't remember not going to church . I walked down the aisle in a small Baptist church when I was 7 years old feeling my savior within in me . It was a hot summer day , there was no air conditioning back then . Old black Emerson oscillating fans were turning and blowing around the sanctuary . Women were pumping handheld funeral home fans and there was total silence and accepted my Lord and savior Jesus Christ . I remember in like it happened in slow motion . I remember the pastor brother Earl holding his arms out to take me and we both cried .I have never looked back as far as my belief in the one true living GOD , I have never doubted or had a crisis of faith.
Grew up in a bad neighborhood local folks called Dogpatch and with dad's help learned to fiend for myself . Growing up it seemed like we were surrounded by evil folks but there were good people that helped each other too . My dad was born in a dugout near Stagestand in Oklahoma Territory in 1901 . Mom was born in 1912 in San Angelo , Texas. They lived a hard life , made it through the great depression but they were good solid people with a firm belief in Jesus Christ . All they knew was work to survive , they taught us to take pride (<There's that same word!)in our work also .
I threw in this little bit because it all adds up to the whole .



...................................To be continued .

[buckwheatpaul]

Boaz, Hard work definitely tested your metal. God has led you and will continue to lead you through the trials of life. Many here know about hard work and staying the course, you just put it down for us to undersatnd. But God is there as the compass to keep us on course. Thanks for the post.....Paul

[Boaz]

Paul the title to this thread is intentionally misleading , wait for the rest of the story .

[castalott]

Another worm hand on daylights here ( long ago).....I wish I was 1/2 the manI thought I was.....

[Boaz]

lol, we all had to be a worm Castalott to begin with ! (Oilfield Definition; WORM = lowly, worthless new hand that aspires to be a roughneck , generally relegated to doing the stupid jobs requiring little to no common sense . Often the victim of cruel pranks, verbal abuse and considered highly expendable .)

[nagantguy]

lol, we all had to be a worm Castalott to begin with ! (Oilfield Definition; WORM = lowly, worthless new hand that aspires to be a roughneck , generally relegated to doing the stupid jobs requiring little to no common sense . Often the victim of cruel pranks, verbal abuse and considered highly expendable .)

Never worked an oil rig but the pranks verbal abuse and being expendable I sure can relate to, sounds just like being a boot pfc in the fleet Marine Force in a front line infantry unit, then later in a high speed direct action platoon. Please continue your story I'm enjoying it !!!!

[castalott]

I was a worm for years...I can flip chain but it wasn't pretty. We could dig to 6000 feet in 7days. Tore down. move, and set up once a week.. for years..... I knew every drill collar by name....

I worked for Halliburton so I have fracked, squeezed, and cemented. 1 day on a pulling unit and 2 years on a 'H' Cardwell Spudder. A few days as a 'roustabout' .

Oilfield is honest labor....I ran an 'endless rope' for 4 hours making up pipe. At the end of the day I couldn't unclench my hands or make my arms stay at my side....

God blessed me with the best and safest drillers known.

[Boaz]

I did it all . Deepest hole I worked on was west of Vici Oklahoma 14000 ft deep. Workin derricks for Verson And Cockron Drilling , believe it or not we were drilling for salt water ! I drilled a good bit but preferred to work derricks .

[aspangler]

UMMM... 1952. We share a birth year. Worked all kinds of jobs both as a kid at home and as an adult. Most if not all were the "hard labor" kind but Jesus came into my life in '68 and has helped me for all these years. Ain't God Goood?

[w5pv]

My oil field experience was very short,my wife had a Uncle that was a tool pusher and had me to come in on one of his jobs and do a motor/pump alignment one time.He got frustrated with a hand that was suppose to be a Millwright and could align equipment but couldn't get it going that day I went out and spent a couple of hours got him out of a bind got paid and went back to the house.

[Blackwater]

Well, Boaz, you might be heading to a twist here - I'll wait for the end to see - but as to the title, I hope it's tongue in cheek, because I doubt any of us here are worse off, whatever our physical condition is now, than we were a couple or more decades ago. Being a real "man" is a lot more involved than being strong and unafraid of things that we probably should have respected more than we did back then. So as to the title at least, I have my doubts that you're "half the man" you once were. Now I'll settle in and await your completion. I'm sure it's gonna' be good. People today just aren't much into testimonials and stories of other people's lives. They're mostly into "I want results and I want 'em RIGHT NOW." This is really unfortunate, because I think if we all look back, it was our search that gave us the most satisfaction and appreciation for what we have and are now. And I'm betting every one of us has a similar story. Only the details, personalities, circumstances and locales differ, really. Life is just life, and we all get dealt differing hands to play. But I've seen enough who were dealt the most horribly imaginable hands in life, play them according to God's will, and come out shining like a fresh cut diamond. Most didn't get a formal education, but the kind they DID get was ..... I don't have the right word for it, but it was truly impressive to a guy like me who'd been much more fortunate.

And BTW, I did some water well drilling with my father in law after I was discharged from the Navy, but also have a friend who was a roughneck for a good while like you, and his stories from those days area a constant source of both my and his amusement. Water well drilling is NOTHING like what you guys did. The tooling on his rig was all based around an old tractor mounted on the frame of a big truck, and he built the rig and everything in and on it himself. And it actually worked better, in at least some ways, than the very expensive bought rigs they kept trying to sell him.

Did you get in as many fights as my friend did back then?

[Boaz]

Getting into 'altercations' was part of being oilfield trash , yes it was pretty regular . lol , I always used my term of ......sins of association. Lots of crazy men out there in the patch back then . If you didn't accommodate em you were thought little of and we all had pride ( <pride?). I only started one fight that I remember with a driller who stole a near new Gerber lock blade knife from me , He said he didn't take it. I left the rig that morning with my knife back in my pocket.

[Boaz]

I started a Rig Mechanic service and practically lived in my pickup for about 2 years on drill sites, took a lot of pride(<One more time !) in my work . OPEC fell apart in 1979 and the boom was dead . I had been making $18.00 an hour including time driving , overtime before 8 am , overtime after 5 pm , double time on weekends and holidays , 50 cents a mile driving fee , all expenses paid , sold parts and added $4.00 an hour for any contract labor I had to hire . I was makin doctors wages , looked like I might get rich till the bottom fell out ............yea.........till the bottom fell out .

Within a year I was welding up garbage can racks and goin door to door selling them with free installation . lol !