Four years and 8,000 hours are the foundations to becoming an Army machinist

Photo By John Snyder | First-year apprentices Derrell Barefield, left, and Jeff Empie checking out their first cuts in the tool room as machinist apprentice.  

WATERVLIET ARSENAL, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES

06.02.2016

Story by John Snyder 

Watervliet Arsenal

WATERVLIET ARSENAL, N.Y. (June 2016) -- Out of more than 450 applications for a machinist apprenticeship in 2012, the Arsenal selected 15 and ended last month with 12 machinist apprentices to have completed a rigorous four-year Advance Manufacturing program at Hudson Valley Community College that also required 8,000 hours of hands-on training at the Arsenal.

If someone asked any of the 12 former apprentices as to why they signed up for such a demanding program that required them to work full time while going to college, they might give a different story.

Then, again, they might not.

There seems to be a common thread through this apprentice cohort … they had all reached a point in their lives where they wanted to aim for something that would give them more than just a steady income, apprenticeship would also give them a purpose in life.

This statement could not be sounded any louder, except by a spouse, who proudly sacrificed four years of family time to support her husband.

"He was aiming for something, there was a goal in the end, and it wasn't just time away from the family for income," said Sherry Luther after her husband, Steve, graduated from his apprentice training. "It was more about him getting this done and then the doors will open up. He was just aiming to better himself and us, in a long run."

Former apprentices Joshua Feldman and Anthony DiNova echoed Sherry's comments.

Feldman, who plans to get married later this year, said that after serving four years in the Army National Guard as a medic and then, working as a bartender in Florida, he was yearning for something more permanent in his life.

"I compare the four-years of apprentice training to Army basic training," said Feldman. "It was the best times of my life, but I don't want to do it again."

Although Feldman said he did not know all the requirements of becoming an Arsenal apprentice before he joined the program, what he did know was that if he worked hard and sacrificed a lot of his free time over four years that at the end of the training he would have earned a lifestyle that would be predictable and honorable.

DiNova, also an Army veteran and who had a deployment to Iraq as an engineer, said that his father is a tool and die maker and so, machining was in his DNA. Nevertheless, like so many young men his age, he too attempted many job careers before settling on the Arsenal.

"I had three kids when I started the program and knew I needed more than a steady income," DiNova said. "I needed, and really need today now that I have four children, is consistency in my life where I can put down roots to plan a future for my family."

Now that this four-year program is all but complete -- just need a formal ceremony at the Arsenal in August -- trying to fill the gap of what was once filled with night and summer school, won't be a problem.

"My wife has saved up a lot of projects for me," said Colin McCarthy, a former apprentice. "The last year of the apprentice program was very hard due to the final project and so, I'm looking forward to working on those projects, as well as doing some house hunting with my wife."

The Arsenal is now left with just one apprentice class of eight who are now completing their first year of training. One of the many things they will have learned this past year from their senior class is that the training will not get any easier, but the rewards will be just as great.

The Arsenal began its apprentice program in 1905.

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The Watervliet Arsenal is an Army-owned-and-operated manufacturing facility and is the oldest, continuously active arsenal in the United States having begun operations during the War of 1812. It is a subordinate command to the TACOM Life Cycle Management Command and the Army Materiel Command.

Today's Arsenal is relied upon by U.S. and foreign militaries to produce the most advanced, high-tech, high-powered weaponry for cannon, howitzer, and mortar systems. This National Historic Registered Landmark had $138 million in revenue in fiscal year 2015 and has an annual economic benefit to the local community in excess of $100 million.
Media

• Date Taken: 06.02.2016
• Date Posted: 06.02.2016 11:42
• Story ID: 199761
• Location: WATERVLIET ARSENAL, NEW YORK, US