What Did You Do In The War---??

While conversing with an individual I had only just met---upon learning that I was now retired, and living on social security, the individual asked me , What did you do when you were a productive member of the workforce?" It was obvious to me this individual had no use for us older senior citizens, but I remained calm, and polite and answered his query.

I explained I had spent three years in the Military (the US Army), where I had been taught basic electronics, and later advanced electronics. That finishing my three year stint in the service , ( I had volunteered for a three year period, so as to get my choice of where my duty station was to be. My choice being the far east, this period of my enlistment being after the Korean conflict, and then Out before the Viet Nam conflagration. -----the Cuban missile crisis however was kinda scary), but I digress, ---finishing my enlistment in the military, I returned to civilian life, and with my electronics training ended up being my career in the aerospace sector by going to work for Rocketdyne , where the company designed, built and tested the rocket engines that ultimately took us to the moon. I ultimately worked from engineering liaison directly into procurement, first as and expediter, then a junior buyer, buyer, senior buyer and finally as a major subcontract administrator.

My 30+ years in electronics, covered my employment at Rocketdyne (3yrs), TRW (12yrs), Litton (1yr), Hughs Aircraft, (8 years), and finally Northrup, for 7years, where I was a major subcontract Administrator working on the B-2 Bomber (aka "The Bat Plane")----and then in 1996, at the tender age of 59, I eased myself into retirement.