So long after 30 years at YPG
Ifirst set foot on U.S Army Yuma Proving Ground in November 1989, nearly 30 years ago and a seeming lifetime away. I’m retiring at the end of this month — Oct. 31, Halloween!
Three decades is a long time, but the years have passed at an unbelievable pace. It’s hard to accept I’m even at this point — that I’m on the verge of retiring. The things I’ve done, the people with whom I’ve worked — all have come together to create memories that will live within me for the remainder of my life.
One of the things I always liked about working in Army Public Affairs is that no two days are the same. When getting up in the morning, it’s impossible to predict the questions, circumstances and challenges that will arise in the course of the day, which, to me, make it always stimulating and challenging.
An immense part of my life has been devoted to working with the media, either escorting reporters at the proving ground, providing information by phone or email, or making arrangements for future visits. I personally consider media the vital “link” between the American people and the Army, and place great importance on being responsive and open. This has paid dividends, too, for media news stories over the years have generally been positive and fair. Even when reporters called me about a negative rumor they heard, they always listened to the proving ground side of the story and gave us the benefit of the doubt.
It’s well for everyone in society to remember that the U.S. Army is “America’s” Army. The American people pay for it through their tax dollars and, unless classified, have an inherent right to know what goes on within it.
My 30 years at YPG have been a swirl of individual activities that changed and evolved, or even went away, as the years passed. The number of remembrances I have are incalculable, and I have forgotten many. But a few stick out.
In the lead up to the first Gulf War in 1990, YPG hosted a media group made up of reporters from throughout the world — Germany, Britain, Japan, national U.S. networks, and many others — to witness and learn how Army testing takes place of military equipment amid desert conditions. It took a huge amount of coordination, and the visit went off without a hitch. News coverage was positive and it was an eye-opener for me — YPG is a hugely complicated place!
I also remember the parachute jump of President George Bush (the first one) in 1997, which was his first parachute jump since World War II when he bailed out of a flaming fighter plane. When his advance team arrived at the proving ground, they announced that no local media would be allowed to cover it and only one member of the national media was welcome — a friend of his from CBS. I responded that, since YPG is a publicly funded U.S. military base, they could not restrict media the way they wished. I also explained that Yuma is a relatively small community and that excluding the local media from one of the year’s biggest local stories would give the proving ground a big black eye. They relented. Yuma media was invited and a pool set up for national media in which one member from television, print and radio would cover the story and freely share information with others. President Bush went on to make subsequent parachute jumps in the years afterward, but never again at a military base.
Remember the fears in 1999 that computers would stop functioning when the new century began? That was the Y2K problem and, although it completely fizzled, we had quite a drill out here making preparations.
I’ll never forget the events of Sept. 11, 2001, when planes flew into the World Trade Center and our world changed forever. Media speculation was rampant about what we would do and I spent a large chunk of the day on the phone. YPG, which had previously been an open post, saw security posts spring up at access gates that were subsequently improved and made permanent. Access to YPG today is tightly controlled because of the threat that reared its ugly head that day.
One amusing incident occurred two weeks later when I travelled to Washington, D.C., for meetings with Congressional staffers. A travel agent worked at YPG at the time and sternly told me to arrive at Yuma International Airport two hours before my flight. It was scheduled for 7 a.m. and I arrived two hours early. The problem was that the airport didn’t even open until 6 a.m. No one was there!
Much of the work performed by the Public Affairs Office occurs behind the scenes. One weird incident occurred in 2004 in Washington, D.C. An envelope was mailed to an Arizona U.S. senator that contained the deadly substance anthrax, and I happened to visit his office that morning. There were fears that I might have been exposed, so I went to Walter Reed Medical Center to be checked out. They didn’t find anything, but I had to take an antidote each day for several weeks.
Another time a federal elected official representing our area wanted to add money to the federal budget to concrete-line the multiple sewage lagoons operated at YPG. (I know, not an exciting project, but needed at the time.) His staff asked me to complete the necessary forms that detailed and justified the project for them to submit. When the federal budget was released later that year, an extra $1 million was allocated to YPG! That’s the only time I ever did this kind of thing.
The first decade of the new century saw the YPG workload greatly expand as more and more equipment slated for use in Southwest Asia came for testing. Multiple urban areas consisting of paved roads, buildings and telephone poles were constructed in remote areas to realistically test technologies aimed at countering the threat of roadside bombs, the biggest danger to our forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some of those technologies didn’t work reliably and we uncovered them here, before they were deployed and Soldiers placed their faith in them. We suggested improvements to others. YPG became a key player in this world — an untold number of Americans owe their lives to what took place right here.
The YPG workload today is just as vital. The Army is currently emphasizing the role of extended range artillery capable of firing much farther than ever before. YPG is on the forefront of this effort and will continue to be. Even tried and true systems such as the M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank first deployed in the early 1980s is constantly being upgraded and retested. More effective tank, mortar and artillery munitions are being developed and more are on the way. Unmanned aircraft and advanced parachutes are filling the skies. We still test technologies to defeat the threat of improvised explosive devices. The future has many challenges, but YPG is not going away.
As my work career ends and the retirement years begin, I must honestly admit I have mixed feelings. My job was more than a job, for I loved it. It’s difficult to leave behind something that made up such a huge portion of my life. It brought me to Yuma and caused me to stay.
I was an upwardly mobile guy when I arrived — I figured I would be here no longer than a couple of years before another career opportunity elsewhere came my way. Those opportunities presented themselves, but I determined to remain at Yuma Proving Ground. It was the right choice and I’d do it again.