ROF= Ring of fire Odyssey MEF-H = Marine Expeditionary Force- Hargus
college Journey circa 1975
Hard Hat
Underground Utilities is a hard working job. Most people think little of blue collar workers. They dismiss them easy. They are overlooked often but working men are of a distinguished class.
Going back to the UofA that Fall, sitting in classes listening to some of the frat boys brag about how the cheated on some of the exams... some of them now bank vice presidents in town... I didn't then and still have no respect for them. I learned a lot that Summer.
For a summer job working my way through the UofA... THE University of ALabama working underground utilities was a learning experience far better than any academic class could teach.
I wanted to go to college so bad... I literally dug ditches to make that happen.
Underground utilities for the small southern contractor I worked for was installing water mains and lateral lines for small rural communities in ALabama. It was back breaking work at times. There was a Case 520 backhoe machine for most of the trenching with a LOT of hand shovel work; that was my job.
Being THE "college" boy on the job was somewhat of a curse. These pipeline guys were mostly rural uneducated redneck southern boys. Most had dropped out of high school in the 9th or 10th grade. They were not dumb! Many were very smart with very unique work skills.
Billy Perryman was an old working class coot from way back. He taught me how to "which" water with bent welding rods. I swear he could find water lines. he couldn't spell hydrology, but he could find water lines with bent welding rods.
All these country boys gave me a hard time and ragged me all summer... We 'd be gathered at a jobsite and Perryman would look out towards the horizon and say "We need somebody that has some college smarts"... and he's get me to a place and hand me a shovel and say, "start digging here and when you hit a metal pipe come get me".
We dug and installed 6", 8", 12" ductile iron waterlines for municipalities... small town that got a HUD grant for water distribution and control systems. Water valves, T-ees, fire hydrants... We brought modern clean water to their homes. Some times it was 6", 8", 12" PVC lines... tap a brass corporation to run the service line to a meter box for their home... most thanked us. Clean drinking water is a right in our country!
These guys gave me hell all Summer. Ragged me, kidded me, gave me every shit job there was. The nicknamed me the most fowl thing they could think of; Economist. I still have my hard hat with "Economist" written on it.
I took the ribbing in stride, did a good job, didn't complain... and eventually won their respect.
Most of the guys would tell me off to the side while eating lunch sandwich under a tree... You get that education Son; they can't take that away from you.
Many days was digging in the mud and slop of a hole to connect a fitting. Some were in dangerous places... down 10 to 12' down in a high trench without barriers. I saw a dirt bank cave in on a guy that broke his back; we dug him out by hand/ shovels so the paramedics could take him to the ER. That was unnerving. He was a poor country boy.
In the Summer of '69 when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon I listened to these working class guys say "that's all a fake, the highest you can go is in an airplane". The defense rests, your honor!
I learned to do a good job for the sake of the job and they- the guys- respected that; and earned their respect. I learned a lot that Summer. It didn't show up as a grade like a "B" or "C"... but I learned the dignity of hard working men and the work ethic they respected.
Sometimes I hear people say they don't like unions... anything that helps working class blue collar guys... they have earned the right for decent working conditions and they deserve our respect for that job.
You never drink twice from the same stream.
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