WEBVTT 00:05.840 --> 00:09.770 yeah , we met 00:09.780 --> 00:12.340 in Minneapolis Minnesota at a school . 00:12.340 --> 00:16.200 We were going to up there and at that 00:16.200 --> 00:20.110 time back at that time period , 00:20.110 --> 00:22.221 you know they would , the school said 00:22.221 --> 00:24.388 we guarantee you a job , it was like a 00:25.540 --> 00:27.762 just a little career . It was called an 00:27.762 --> 00:30.460 airline airline and business school . 00:30.940 --> 00:33.880 So we went to , we both met there and 00:33.880 --> 00:35.769 they guaranteed you a job . So we 00:35.769 --> 00:38.510 thought , oh that sounds good . They 00:38.520 --> 00:40.940 actually had the civil service testers 00:40.940 --> 00:43.670 come in and test the people for civil 00:43.670 --> 00:47.240 service jobs and set you up with jobs 00:47.240 --> 00:49.730 in Washington , D . C . And so that's 00:49.730 --> 00:51.952 how we got our first civil service test 00:51.952 --> 00:54.830 job . Well we became engaged in 00:54.830 --> 00:56.810 Washington and we heard about this 00:56.820 --> 00:59.670 agency that was going to be moving to 00:59.670 --> 01:02.000 Battle Creek michigan . So we looked on 01:02.000 --> 01:04.280 the map and we thought , well that's 01:04.280 --> 01:06.700 centrally kind of centrally located 01:06.700 --> 01:09.250 between my hometown and his hometown . 01:09.640 --> 01:11.584 I was from the eastern part of the 01:11.584 --> 01:13.960 state and he was from northern indiana . 01:14.740 --> 01:17.660 So we send in our applications , heard 01:17.660 --> 01:20.140 nothing for a few months while we were 01:20.140 --> 01:23.910 in Washington , we sent him in and we 01:23.920 --> 01:27.350 got married living in indiana and he 01:27.350 --> 01:29.940 was working at in Mishawaka for the 01:29.940 --> 01:33.200 government and we got a call in 01:33.200 --> 01:35.370 december to come up for an interview . 01:35.380 --> 01:37.630 So we both came up and they hired us 01:38.040 --> 01:40.560 And so we moved here and started work 01:40.560 --> 01:43.260 February 4 , 1963 . 01:46.900 --> 01:49.850 My first job here in this building in 01:49.850 --> 01:52.760 Battle Creek . Um I started 01:52.760 --> 01:56.610 February 4 , 1963 . I came in as a 01:56.610 --> 01:59.570 GS- three clerk typist but I was a key 01:59.570 --> 02:02.540 punch operator . So I worked down in 02:02.540 --> 02:06.130 the computer area which was basement 02:06.130 --> 02:08.180 area that was all remodeled for the 02:08.180 --> 02:11.030 computers . The mainframe at that time 02:11.030 --> 02:13.860 was the IBM 1401 . 02:15.040 --> 02:17.680 And we had a room full of electronic 02:17.680 --> 02:19.458 accounting machines , E A . M . 02:19.458 --> 02:22.210 Machines that would sort the car , 02:22.220 --> 02:25.750 punched cards and segregate them and 02:25.750 --> 02:27.850 worked and worked through those and 02:28.440 --> 02:30.384 after we keep punched them well we 02:30.384 --> 02:34.300 occupied the tower building and This 02:34.310 --> 02:36.940 building was occupied by the 6th Army 02:36.940 --> 02:40.340 Corps and offices of Civil defense 02:40.340 --> 02:42.173 management and they had to staff 02:42.173 --> 02:44.760 college here but we primarily we're in 02:45.330 --> 02:47.540 The Tower Building one . Yeah , 02:49.740 --> 02:51.851 we had several directorates , I don't 02:51.851 --> 02:53.851 recall how many , but they occupied 02:53.851 --> 02:56.310 various floors , said we were on two 02:56.310 --> 02:58.860 through 6 and then I think uh 03:00.240 --> 03:04.170 what else would we have ? And 03:04.180 --> 03:06.800 we would go down in the tunnels at 03:06.810 --> 03:09.970 lunchtime , we'd pack our lunches , my 03:09.970 --> 03:12.310 girlfriends and myself and we would 03:12.310 --> 03:16.290 explore the building just to see what 03:16.290 --> 03:18.346 they were being used . And it was so 03:18.346 --> 03:20.512 interesting . We would walk up some of 03:20.512 --> 03:22.734 those back staircases from the basement 03:22.734 --> 03:25.500 on up into the fingers and there were 03:25.500 --> 03:28.040 still signs on the walls of no smoking 03:28.040 --> 03:30.670 in bed by order of the commander . It 03:30.670 --> 03:33.460 was left from when it was percy jones 03:33.470 --> 03:36.940 Army hospital . So it was all very very 03:36.940 --> 03:39.280 interesting and there used to be 03:39.280 --> 03:41.220 tunnels that would go over to the 03:41.220 --> 03:44.320 Battle Creek fieldhouse and over to the 03:44.320 --> 03:46.950 heart hotel . It was hot in the summer 03:46.950 --> 03:49.980 and cold in the winter to get any 03:49.990 --> 03:52.046 cooling , you know , open the window 03:52.046 --> 03:54.323 and all the papers would blow all over . 03:54.540 --> 03:56.540 But that was your source of getting 03:56.540 --> 03:59.960 some refreshment . Hm . 04:00.940 --> 04:03.550 And then when they finally did well G . 04:03.550 --> 04:05.360 S . A . Monitored all of that , 04:05.740 --> 04:08.350 especially the heats of the rooms , 04:08.350 --> 04:10.406 some of them would get really cold . 04:10.406 --> 04:13.310 Some of us would get some initiatives 04:13.310 --> 04:14.977 and pack ice cubes around the 04:14.977 --> 04:17.088 thermostat , maybe get a little extra 04:17.088 --> 04:20.900 heat finally Jessa and closed the 04:20.900 --> 04:22.956 thermostat . So you couldn't do that 04:25.440 --> 04:27.218 well when we first moved here , 04:29.550 --> 04:32.760 it was a new organization and it was 04:33.240 --> 04:37.050 largely a male populated organization 04:37.940 --> 04:40.850 and in fact they had even a woman's 04:41.340 --> 04:44.770 organism , women's auxiliary that the 04:44.770 --> 04:46.881 women could join that . We're working 04:46.881 --> 04:48.659 to be with the wives of all the 04:48.659 --> 04:52.410 managers and stuff . And there was a 04:52.410 --> 04:55.770 lot more camaraderie being it was a new 04:55.770 --> 04:59.740 agency people coming from all over . So 04:59.740 --> 05:03.460 you were a lot more friendly . 05:03.940 --> 05:07.060 Um , you had parties together , you 05:07.060 --> 05:09.450 would have dances , you would have hail 05:09.460 --> 05:12.670 and farewell parties to welcome new 05:12.680 --> 05:15.930 employees and to say goodbye to some um , 05:15.930 --> 05:18.152 he had christmas dances , you know , it 05:18.152 --> 05:20.500 was just christmas parties for the 05:20.500 --> 05:22.520 Children , it was just a different 05:22.520 --> 05:26.390 culture at that time , but you accepted 05:26.390 --> 05:29.290 it and you went on , I was a 05:29.440 --> 05:32.620 secretary and a clerk typist and a 05:32.620 --> 05:35.440 secretary in that organization then . 05:35.530 --> 05:38.440 And yes , you dressed appropriately 05:38.440 --> 05:41.680 professionally . I'd put it you'd wear 05:41.680 --> 05:45.670 dresses or suits and then I 05:45.670 --> 05:48.660 became their first computer technician 05:49.240 --> 05:51.460 and worked in the programming area . 05:52.250 --> 05:55.350 And yeah you still dress professionally 05:55.350 --> 05:56.350 all the time . 05:59.140 --> 06:02.420 We started out with the Manual 146 was 06:02.420 --> 06:05.500 filed by a descriptive cards of the 06:05.500 --> 06:08.260 items that had been being cataloged . 06:08.840 --> 06:11.240 And we progressed from that to a 06:11.250 --> 06:13.083 gradual progression of trying to 06:13.083 --> 06:16.460 mechanize those and put them in the 06:16.460 --> 06:19.230 computer . But it was different phases 06:19.940 --> 06:22.162 eventually to eliminate the hard copy . 06:22.162 --> 06:24.340 And it took many years . All that 06:24.340 --> 06:26.451 information was transferred and coded 06:26.640 --> 06:29.260 so it could be put on the computer to 06:29.260 --> 06:31.427 save storage space which was a premium 06:31.427 --> 06:34.600 then not like it is so much today . And 06:34.600 --> 06:37.880 it was the five day cards were include 06:37.890 --> 06:40.550 they contained the item name of the 06:40.550 --> 06:42.550 item that was being cataloged . The 06:42.550 --> 06:44.850 physical descriptions of uh 06:47.340 --> 06:50.200 I guess the performance characteristics , 06:50.200 --> 06:52.380 physical characteristics and all that 06:52.380 --> 06:55.450 was on those cards . And they were 06:56.740 --> 07:00.620 manually sorted . And the idea was to 07:00.630 --> 07:03.130 eliminate duplication from the services 07:03.140 --> 07:05.310 buying from different manufacturers 07:05.310 --> 07:07.588 when they get it all of them one place . 07:07.588 --> 07:09.754 And occasionally somebody would try to 07:09.754 --> 07:12.920 do that and a preferred manufacturer or 07:12.920 --> 07:14.864 something . So we would physically 07:14.864 --> 07:16.698 screen all those characteristics 07:16.698 --> 07:19.850 manually they look for duplications and 07:20.940 --> 07:23.300 eventually that all was done after it 07:23.300 --> 07:26.160 was all that information was put onto 07:26.170 --> 07:29.070 the computer then the computer would 07:29.070 --> 07:31.480 match all those characteristics . Look 07:31.480 --> 07:34.880 for duplications and they would return 07:34.880 --> 07:37.158 them before they signed a stock number . 07:39.540 --> 07:43.210 Once I started with D . R . M . S . Or 07:43.210 --> 07:46.170 D . Pds defense property disposal 07:46.170 --> 07:48.560 service . Um 07:51.340 --> 07:55.180 I saw the in the first computer come to 07:55.180 --> 07:58.390 our directorate it was texas 07:58.390 --> 08:01.510 instrument and we had one computer , 08:01.510 --> 08:04.100 one little personal computer sitting on 08:04.100 --> 08:07.500 a desk that no one would touch . And so 08:07.500 --> 08:10.300 I sat down and I taught myself how to 08:10.300 --> 08:14.060 use it . And I tried to develop a 08:14.060 --> 08:17.600 program that I could use in my 08:17.610 --> 08:19.980 work that I was doing . I was at that 08:19.980 --> 08:22.560 time in foreign military sales 08:23.640 --> 08:27.020 and I had quite a few years in foreign 08:27.020 --> 08:29.610 military sales and advanced in my 08:29.610 --> 08:33.320 career there and was able to 08:33.320 --> 08:35.980 use the computer . And then I remember 08:35.980 --> 08:37.813 when everyone got their personal 08:37.813 --> 08:41.410 computers on their desks and you know 08:41.410 --> 08:44.160 you had to practice just 08:45.240 --> 08:48.220 dropping and dragging and dropping and 08:49.030 --> 08:51.141 everything that went with it . But it 08:51.141 --> 08:53.460 was such just to have word processing 08:54.240 --> 08:56.570 it was so wonderful compared to coming 08:56.570 --> 08:59.240 up as a clerk typist and all the 08:59.240 --> 09:01.790 carbons and the copies you had to use . 09:04.940 --> 09:08.050 And then I went into was a property 09:08.050 --> 09:11.560 disposal specialist and 09:12.240 --> 09:14.500 was assigned to the operations branch 09:14.500 --> 09:17.070 at that time . And I did all the 09:17.070 --> 09:20.840 budgeting work for them from 09:20.850 --> 09:24.730 getting all the field requirements in 09:24.730 --> 09:26.786 what they needed , putting the whole 09:26.786 --> 09:28.730 budget together and submitting the 09:28.730 --> 09:31.530 budget for each year . So that was very 09:31.530 --> 09:34.060 interesting and 09:35.440 --> 09:37.660 then about that same time 09:40.830 --> 09:44.830 I ran for I was ran for a position 09:44.840 --> 09:48.840 in the union here also . And I was 09:48.840 --> 09:50.960 the vice president for D . R . Mess . 09:52.240 --> 09:55.010 And I created the first labor 09:55.010 --> 09:58.800 management partnership in A . 09:58.800 --> 10:02.710 D . L . A . Agency and 10:02.710 --> 10:05.550 we had a wonderful working partnership 10:05.940 --> 10:08.850 going with the arms and the union . 10:10.140 --> 10:14.110 Um I was sitting in with all the staff 10:14.110 --> 10:18.050 meetings and everything then I mean 10:18.050 --> 10:20.217 there was all these different programs 10:20.217 --> 10:24.010 I worked on prior to that but and the 10:24.010 --> 10:27.040 philosophy the agency changed over this 10:27.040 --> 10:31.010 time too . Um We were always told that 10:31.010 --> 10:33.460 we're a service organization , we're 10:33.460 --> 10:35.560 not in business to be in business . 10:37.240 --> 10:40.580 And then as the commander's changed we 10:40.590 --> 10:42.930 did get one commander that changed that 10:42.930 --> 10:46.580 philosophy . He realized that D . 10:46.580 --> 10:49.940 Arms was one of three organizations in 10:49.940 --> 10:52.600 the government that could bring money 10:52.600 --> 10:54.433 back into the U . S . Treasury . 10:55.720 --> 10:58.130 There's the I . R . S . Service , 10:58.740 --> 11:02.660 there's GSA and the arms was . 11:04.140 --> 11:07.470 And so the concept or the 11:07.470 --> 11:10.660 philosophy change to we are in business 11:10.660 --> 11:13.960 to be in business . So we were really 11:13.960 --> 11:16.810 looking at proceeds we could bring into 11:16.810 --> 11:19.800 this organization . That's when the 11:19.800 --> 11:22.410 recyclable materials program took off 11:22.410 --> 11:25.420 so big . The precious metals program , 11:25.420 --> 11:28.530 recovery of the precious metals . Um 11:28.530 --> 11:30.360 The sale of all the recyclable 11:30.360 --> 11:34.110 materials are sales programs took off 11:34.110 --> 11:37.350 real was quite emphasized . Re 11:37.350 --> 11:40.200 utilization . Foreign military sales 11:40.200 --> 11:43.330 never faded at all . That was kept to . 11:43.330 --> 11:45.550 But the emphasis was put on bringing 11:45.550 --> 11:47.860 proceeds into the organization . 11:49.540 --> 11:52.960 And then came the idea to 11:52.960 --> 11:56.740 contract out And beforehand it 11:56.740 --> 11:59.260 was called a 76 studies 12:00.840 --> 12:03.610 And I was on a team there we did all 12:03.610 --> 12:07.500 the a 76 studies had every 12:07.500 --> 12:09.520 job description had to be in such 12:09.520 --> 12:13.350 detail where someone else could 12:13.350 --> 12:16.320 pick it up and do that job . But the 12:16.320 --> 12:18.640 difference there is you had to also 12:18.640 --> 12:21.690 create a contingency plan in case a 12:21.690 --> 12:23.790 contract faded . It could go back 12:23.790 --> 12:26.750 government with this contingency plan . 12:27.640 --> 12:29.918 I don't know whatever happened to a 76 . 12:29.918 --> 12:32.550 It kind of went by the wayside . But 12:32.550 --> 12:34.780 when our philosophy changed here , we 12:34.780 --> 12:36.891 went into what they called enterprise 12:36.891 --> 12:40.450 management and 12:42.820 --> 12:45.530 that was part of the D . L . A . 12:46.640 --> 12:50.620 Um a reorganization part or 12:50.630 --> 12:53.460 contracting out phase of D . L . A . 12:54.240 --> 12:57.100 For the agencies . I was a member of 12:57.100 --> 12:59.322 the board of directors for Battle Creek 12:59.322 --> 13:01.790 unlimited which is the economic arm of 13:01.800 --> 13:04.900 Battle Creek . And it brought 13:04.910 --> 13:07.440 everything together . We worked and we 13:07.440 --> 13:10.860 fought the braque and we won we were 13:10.860 --> 13:12.916 able to keep the federal center came 13:12.916 --> 13:15.970 off the list with a lot of effort . But 13:15.970 --> 13:19.080 it worked so well with this partnership 13:19.090 --> 13:21.110 going on that we had the labor 13:21.110 --> 13:24.770 management partnership but then 13:24.780 --> 13:28.550 after that then came out with their 13:28.560 --> 13:32.550 idea to contract out stuff . So 13:33.640 --> 13:35.696 I worked with that somewhat with the 13:35.696 --> 13:37.590 commander to try to keep some 13:37.600 --> 13:40.170 organizations some things in house 13:40.170 --> 13:42.503 rather than trying to contract them out . 13:42.840 --> 13:46.520 But then I had an opportunity I saw 13:46.520 --> 13:50.360 this job posted for europe . And so I 13:50.360 --> 13:53.450 put it on it and I was accepted 13:54.240 --> 13:57.750 and he was able to retire . And I had 13:57.750 --> 14:00.630 about 3.5 , 4 years to go before I 14:00.630 --> 14:04.300 could retire . So he retired and I took 14:04.300 --> 14:07.030 him as my dependent and off we went to 14:07.030 --> 14:10.300 europe for three years DRM s 14:10.300 --> 14:13.390 international and at that time the Arms 14:13.390 --> 14:15.720 International covered both the pacific 14:15.720 --> 14:17.860 and the european region . 14:19.340 --> 14:22.390 And so the communications team , I let 14:22.390 --> 14:25.330 go , I let go of my union position two 14:25.340 --> 14:28.240 and went off and forgot all that . So I 14:28.240 --> 14:31.050 don't really , I wasn't up to date with 14:31.050 --> 14:33.120 what was happening here anymore that 14:33.120 --> 14:36.900 much but had a wonderful 14:36.900 --> 14:40.670 career India Arms International and 14:40.670 --> 14:44.450 here . But and the communications 14:44.450 --> 14:47.150 team won numerous awards . We won the 14:47.150 --> 14:50.570 scissors award , we've won a special 14:50.570 --> 14:54.430 act award from LA and we won all 14:54.430 --> 14:56.700 the members got employees of the year 14:56.710 --> 14:59.460 awards . So we did a good job 15:03.140 --> 15:05.590 advancement potential , I could say . 15:05.600 --> 15:08.740 It started as a supply clerk with a new 15:08.740 --> 15:10.750 agency and I got to grow with the 15:10.750 --> 15:14.590 agency . It seemed like every , I went 15:14.590 --> 15:17.890 from a four to a 5 to 7 to a 9 , 11 , 15:17.890 --> 15:21.840 12 , 13 . And those lower grades 15:21.850 --> 15:23.980 probably one a year . And then I 15:23.980 --> 15:26.160 leveled off at a 12 for quite a while 15:26.540 --> 15:28.373 And then a 13 for quite awhile , 15:28.610 --> 15:31.670 probably 10 years each . But it gave me 15:31.670 --> 15:33.892 an opportunity to grow . I didn't apply 15:33.892 --> 15:36.400 for a a cataloging chief's job in 15:36.400 --> 15:38.870 Richmond Virginia , and I went there 15:38.870 --> 15:41.770 for an interview , but they hired a 15:41.780 --> 15:44.480 gentleman from philadelphia to take the 15:44.480 --> 15:46.860 job . Another thing that was so 15:46.860 --> 15:49.100 fantastic in this organization , you 15:49.100 --> 15:51.800 could sit here at headquarters , make a 15:51.800 --> 15:54.960 policy change and 15:55.540 --> 15:57.262 go out in the field and see it 15:57.262 --> 15:59.980 happening . You could see the results 15:59.980 --> 16:02.147 of that policy change if it was a good 16:02.147 --> 16:04.960 policy or not . So that was just 16:06.040 --> 16:08.207 fantastic That way . You could see the 16:08.207 --> 16:09.250 results of your work .