On Government Service

3/12/2009

Like anyone else I do not always agree with policies and decisions that are made by government officials. Since I am, at a very low level, one of those officials I guess I've made decisions that some people haven't been pleased with but I've always tried to balance the needs of the person with the mission and the needs of the agency. Concurrently I've tried to balance my own needs with the needs of the agency and its need to accomplish the mission. If I reword all this and say the same thing in four more sentences you can understand in a nutshell how the government works...mostly...

This week I celebrate 30 years of government service. That's been in three different agencies with a couple of breaks for jobs in 'the real world' but when you add it all up I clocked over 30 years at the beginning of March. Now, while I am still deeply involved in my current career as an Front Line Manager Air Traffic Controller, and while I still have more than a couple of years before I can hope to retire it is still cause for reflection on where the career track has taken me and what the expense and rewards of that career have been.

I joined the Air Force right out of high school and spent the better part of four years learning how to paint, solder, drive different kinds of vehicles and serve the mission of nuclear deterrence. We did not fear terrorists then as the spectre of all-out doomsday war was still a very real motivator. Sitting next to weapon that can start fires simultaneously in nine states is sobering and brings a young man to think about things he might not be ready for. Still, my fellow airmen and close friends did the best we could to cope with the job and the potential consequences and life went on.

After a couple of years of turning wrenches and wrenching ankles I quit being a mechanic and was hired by the U. S. Postal Service as an MPLSM (Multi-Position Letter Sorting Machine) operator. I got the bug to learn to fly and became a pilot; chasing the brass ring of a career with an airline just when the airlines were struggling with deregulation. The Air Traffic Controller strike provided an opportunity for me to take the entrance exam but it was over three years until I was actually hired because I passed on the first offer they made (oops).

I took the job in 1984 and have had a career filled with good friends, tough working conditions and the slow, inexorable change that is government progress. I have had days where I thought I couldn't do it any more, and days where I couldn't wait to get to work because of some exciting new technology. I've wondered why I made this career choice more than once, but looking back now I fully realize that it was part of the Plan and that it has all been good. I will finish this career in 3 or 4 more years and I will be able to look back with gratitude for the professionals I have worked with, for the trials that have brought me a little bit of wisdom and for the absolute gold of the friends I will always have.

And yes, I'd do it again.