During the week of July 27-31, our Cement Masons Apprenticeship spent the week with the combat engineers from Fort Lewis’ Triple Nickel Division, giving them an intensive week of concrete training.  It was extremely gratifying to give them some of our expertise in concrete construction before they ship out to Afghanistan, where they will put their new skills to work.

These young men were the finest group of trainees any instructor could ask for – prompt, courteous, attentive, and eager to learn.  They also admirably demonstrated the effectiveness of Army training, the ability to coalesce such a diverse group of individuals into a respectful team, an American team.  They stood, always ready, to help each other out, as well as follow instructions.

During the course of the week, we spent time in our rod pit, (which is a concrete-like material that doesn’t set and allows multiple placements), set up and poured practice slabs, and set up and poured two permanent slabs (one for the Brick Masons, and one for the Painters), all during 100° weather.  Our instructors made sure they were well hydrated and watched for signs of heat stress, but there was not one complaint about the heat from this group of soldiers.

The Ironworkers came on Friday afternoon to show them how to tie rebar effectively, and Seattle Times Columnist Jerry Large stopped by to observe and interview the class.  (See this link for his story.)

Lieutenant Stokow says his commander may be interested in expanding this type of training in the future, and hopefully, work with the entire Building Trades.  This would be a boon for us.  Not only because of the good will and possible jobs it could bring us, but in terms of future recruits into the Apprenticeships.

On Friday afternoon, we passed out certificates of completion to help them find jobs when they finish their service and, perhaps, extra credit toward an apprenticeship.  When asked what they thought of their training, and what we could do to improve, Sergeant Richard Wulf said, “Best damn training ever, sir,” to which the rest added, “woo, woo, woo”.  It made us feel very good, and proud to help serve those who serve our country. 

I would like to thank member and instructor Randy Collazo for helping to set this up with Sergeant Stanley Snowden.  I would also like to thank Frank Benish, Al Blouin and Andrew Madrid for the fine job they did instructing all week, and John Kearns, Jon Martin and Kevin Vaughn for their help with training.

We will maintain email communication with the soldiers who took the training, especially after they are shipped out to Afghanistan.  They are a great bunch of guys.  Please join us in sending good thoughts to:  Isaac Correa, Brandon Giblin, Brian Holland, Matthew Hoppes, Christopher Meadows, Travis Ross, Enrique Salazar, Nathan Savoie, Stanley Snowden, Daniel Turner, Richard Wulf, Arturo Yanez