DougGuy
02-08-2021, 01:19 PM
Wow.. 50 years ago today, FIFTY years, I hired in at Ingall's West Bank Shipyard as an Apprentice Shipfitter 2nd Class. I lied about my age, I got into the welding school, by the time they caught me I had turned 18 and they let me stay.
Viet Nam was raging back then, and a lot of American boys weren't coming back. We had just gotten contracts for US Navy new construction, and they changed my draft status from 1A to 1H because they needed every hand they could get building warships so the shipyard kept me out of 'Nam. Somebody had to stay home and build the bullets.
The crew I was on was tasked with starting the first assemblies of the bow section of the first Spruance Class destroyer, DD-963 USS Spruance. I had a lot of hand cutting to do, and my burner supervisor said to me "I am sure you could do it better with this" and he holds out an Airco style 45 cutting tip, a VERY highly prized and prestigious gift to receive! I am sure my eyes about popped out of my head! I used that tip a lot over it's many years of active service, it taught me to be tip-wise, never lend it out, never leave it in the torch at lunch, etc. I still have it. It still works great. I finally put it away some years ago, it still to this day is one of my prized possessions. I don't know anyone who has kept a torch tip 50 years but there was something in that tip, a lesson to be learned, a deep rooted sense of integrity in my workmanship, and a very strong dedication to my craft.
I didn't like Ingalls, it was a MILE from the gate to the wetdock, if you RAN, you could MAYBE make it to the parking lot at lunch and not get docked when you got back, traffic and parking was horrendous, I saw several ****** brawls over parking places, I got my start there, and as soon as I learned enough of a trade as a Burner, I left.
I spent the next 20 odd years traveling the Gulf Coast then the Mid Atlantic working in shipyards, fab shops, offshore oil rigs, pressure vessel shops, Navy yards, worked on hundreds of US Navy ships, hull specialist, pipe welder, I maxed out to Journeyman in the 5 related trades, Burner, Shipfitter, Welder, Pipefitter, Pipewelder. It was a good life. It didn't make me wealthy, it made me WORK. It left me a lot of things but hungry wasn't one of them.
A lot of the guys I worked with grew old before their time. Working steel will do that to you, it's hard work and it will kill you or maim you in the blink of an eye. I am lucky to be here now I suppose, and very thankful for my current health, I credit all those years of hard physical labor with keeping me fit and extending my mobility into retirement years despite beating cancer 3x and a few other things.
And I have to give thanks to God, for keeping me safe through years of my own dumb ****. I am sure I worried him more than I should have.
277170
Viet Nam was raging back then, and a lot of American boys weren't coming back. We had just gotten contracts for US Navy new construction, and they changed my draft status from 1A to 1H because they needed every hand they could get building warships so the shipyard kept me out of 'Nam. Somebody had to stay home and build the bullets.
The crew I was on was tasked with starting the first assemblies of the bow section of the first Spruance Class destroyer, DD-963 USS Spruance. I had a lot of hand cutting to do, and my burner supervisor said to me "I am sure you could do it better with this" and he holds out an Airco style 45 cutting tip, a VERY highly prized and prestigious gift to receive! I am sure my eyes about popped out of my head! I used that tip a lot over it's many years of active service, it taught me to be tip-wise, never lend it out, never leave it in the torch at lunch, etc. I still have it. It still works great. I finally put it away some years ago, it still to this day is one of my prized possessions. I don't know anyone who has kept a torch tip 50 years but there was something in that tip, a lesson to be learned, a deep rooted sense of integrity in my workmanship, and a very strong dedication to my craft.
I didn't like Ingalls, it was a MILE from the gate to the wetdock, if you RAN, you could MAYBE make it to the parking lot at lunch and not get docked when you got back, traffic and parking was horrendous, I saw several ****** brawls over parking places, I got my start there, and as soon as I learned enough of a trade as a Burner, I left.
I spent the next 20 odd years traveling the Gulf Coast then the Mid Atlantic working in shipyards, fab shops, offshore oil rigs, pressure vessel shops, Navy yards, worked on hundreds of US Navy ships, hull specialist, pipe welder, I maxed out to Journeyman in the 5 related trades, Burner, Shipfitter, Welder, Pipefitter, Pipewelder. It was a good life. It didn't make me wealthy, it made me WORK. It left me a lot of things but hungry wasn't one of them.
A lot of the guys I worked with grew old before their time. Working steel will do that to you, it's hard work and it will kill you or maim you in the blink of an eye. I am lucky to be here now I suppose, and very thankful for my current health, I credit all those years of hard physical labor with keeping me fit and extending my mobility into retirement years despite beating cancer 3x and a few other things.
And I have to give thanks to God, for keeping me safe through years of my own dumb ****. I am sure I worried him more than I should have.
277170