| John Burns - 3/4/2020 17:41
Are you saying some of the men lacked domestic demeanor?
John
Talking about this brought back memories. One of the more important things I learned up there was that there are men who are - what I call - pushers. On a oil rig (bigskymapping - feel free to correct me here), a "tool pusher" was the guy who made sure things worked. I had the opportunity (and pleasure) to work with pushers. These were guys who, when they came on a job, that job, one way or another, was going to get done. You either were working toward that goal, or you were gone. It was such a pleasant change from working for Lockheed in the Bay Area. And, when I took over running the Deadhorse office (Prudhoe Bay), I knew that I had to RUN it. If I didn't, there were any number of guys who would run me. I was in my 20s, and many of the life-timers were over two times as old as I was. Many had been all over the world - several times, in fact. They were not the kind of people who suffered BS at all. If i didn't know something, I'd ask someone who knew more than me. But I never ever let anyone bluff me. I saw right away that it had to be like that.
One thing I learned on the first crew I was on in 69 was how some really difficult men were necessary. We had a mechanic that, so say he was difficult would have been a joke. Bobby Watkins was from the South. More than one guy on the crew wanted to kill him. One guy was hiding out for the winter from the law, and I worried that he might actually do it. Bobby wasn't phased. I asked the party manager why he didn't get rid of him. The answer was that the crew could not do without him. He would get a new diesel engine in on a flight and would work on it all night - in the 50s and 60s below - to get it in the vehicle and ready for work the next morning. The goal was always to get the job done. That has stuck with me and made me more accepting of people who I call "pushers." They are not common types of people. There are times, IMHO, like now, that we need people like this involved in running things, because you and I both know how bad the situation is today. Just my opinion, of course.
As miserable as it was at times up there, I really miss working with a lot of those guys. From time to time, I have remarked to my wife about how much I learned in those ten plus years. |
All the talk about fish
