So just how does someone go from majoring in Architecture for 3 years to being a microwave telecommunications technician? As a lad if you asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up you would get an over whelming response of *a carpenter*.
I grew up in a small fishing community in Southeast Louisiana in St Charles Parish. The town is Des Allemands, which is French for *The Germans* it was settled by John's Law German Coast settlers in the early 1700's so there were a lot of German sounding names mixed with the Cajun names in the area. My Great Grandfather *Charlie* SCHMILL emigrated to Louisiana from Germany in the late 1800's, settling with his Brother Otto in Des Allemands... but all that is a subject for another blog...
I can always remember that whenever there was something to be built, remodeled or fixed. Our family always did it ourselves. There was not the luxury of hiring someone to do it. My grandfather Jens Schmill was always handy with carpenter skills and so was my Uncle Herman *Jap* Kelone. (My mother's sister's husband). As a young boy I would always want to be around when things were being *built* so they would give me a can of nails to straighten out, while they worked so I would not get in the way. I felt like I was contributing to the cause because nails were expensive and we always reused them.
My Uncle Herman was a *Jack-of-all-trades* and a master of quite a few. I always followed him around and he taught me much about carpentry, plumbing and electrical work. At the age of 11. I recall wiring up my first light switch and he let me do it all by myself after telling me what I needed to do. I found some old books that my Grandfather had about how to wire houses, using the old *knob and tube* method and I studied these. I was always there to help when ever Uncle Herman remodeled his house and that happened several times.
I also really like to draw plans for kids *forts* and designed a boat that would only take one sheet of plywood.. They never got built but still the same I dreamed and planned.. Sometime about the time I was 12 my Uncle Billy (my mother's brother) was planning to build a house and asked if i would help him draw up some plans. I eagerly took on the task and I then helped him in the construction of that house. It was a modest 2 bedroom house but I gained valuable knowledge during the process.
I found some books in the library at school that were on building tube type radios. My best friend in elementary school Van Dee Allen and I had this dream of building a radio so we could communicate with each other beings we lived a couple of miles apart. I always though that radios and electronics were fascinating but the theory was very complicated and I thought I would just settle on knowing about electricity instead. Interestingly both Van and I have Amateur Radio (Ham) licenses today.
Something happened back when I was 12 that changed my whole outlook on my career as a carpenter. I dislocated my left knee by simply tripping when I was running. I would latter dislocate it another 2 times by the time I was in 9th grade, and have an operation to reattach my knee cap.
I took drafting as an elective in 9th grade and really loved it, but we move to Houma, LA and I could not finish out my course of work. I would latter again take drafting in high school. Due to my knee problems I began to consider a career as an Architect, and started to pursue that course of action in the courses I took in high school; however, my interest in things electronics, radios and telephone still were something I was keenly interested in.
Something else caught my interest while elementary school when I attend my very first live theater performance My Fair Lady at Hanhville High School. I was hooked! In High School, I had the lead part in Grandma's Best Years in my Junior year and a really fun role as Lou the class clown in Up the Down Staircase in my Senior year.
After taking one semester at Nichols State University I transferred to the University of Southwestern Louisiana (USL), Now called the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, I majored in Architecture. I also took an elective in Technical Theater and enjoyed it tremendously. I loved that I could put my talents in carpentry, electrical, and sound to good use. I enjoyed it so much that I carefully compared the two curriculum closely and petitioned the University to allow me to persue a concurrent double major in Architecture and Theater. My thoughts were that I could specialize in design of theaters and set design.
I really enjoyed both sets of classes. I remember taking a Radio Production class and the instructor stating if we were able to pass the Third Class FCC license exam with the Broadcast Endorsement during a mid term field trip to Beaumont to take the exam that we would not have to take the rest of the term and we would get an grade of A for the class.. Fourteen of us went on that field trip, two of us passed the test. I was one of the two, but I enjoyed the class so much I continued going anyway.
A semester or so later I had to take a Television Production course. As fate would have it I had a free hour prior to my class and would show up early for class. The chief engineer of the campus television station began to show me how he did troubleshooting on equipment that needed to be repaired. I was fascinated! I started rushing to the TV studio right after my previous class so Floyd could show me some new things and how to test transistors using an oscilloscope.
I signed up for a correspondence course from National Technical Schools named Master Course in Communications with FCC. I ate up the information and could not wait until the next lessons were mailed to me.
By this time I was married and we were really struggling to make ends meet as a college student and a working wife. I met a guy at school that invited me to join him one weekend at his National Guard Drill. Little did I realize that this would change my life forever. I discovered that in Louisiana if you joined the National Guard they would pay your college tuition. All for only one weekend a month and two weeks during the summer, which they paid your for as well. I always felt a patriotic duty to my country so I decided to enlist.
Part of the enlistment process required that I take an aptitude exam to determine what MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) I would be best at. I took the exam and the sergeant giving the exam explained that typically they look for someone to score about 90 points out 160 on the exam to determine what MOS to put you in. He came back and said I scored 91 in clerical, but then the kicker was that was my LOW score. He said I could pick any job I wanted including the General's. Of course he was kidding about the General's job, but I scored 158 out 160 in electronics. There was a Signal Platoon unit in Lafayette so I was signed up to go to school as a 31L20 or Multi-channel Equipment Repair
So now I was In the Army Now. I took Basic training at Fort Gordon GA. My MOS training consisted of two schools. The first was 31M20 which was the *Operator* course. it was a 11 week *lock step* course meaning you had to take 11 weeks to complete it. I caught on very quickly to the concepts that were being taught and usually after third day I was assisting the instructor with the other soldiers that had difficulty grasping the course content. After 11 weeks I was at the top of my class and was promoted to PV2 (Private Second Class) I had some *mosquito wings* now (my first stripe). I then went on the the 31L20 course which was the *Repair* course. This course was a 26 week self pace course in which you could move though as quickly as you could test out of the information for each module of instruction. The first module was on basic electronics it was a 4 week module. I finished the module in 2 weeks and 1 day and set a school record for the fastest person ever to go though that module. I was promoted again to PFC (Private First Class) and got my first *rocker* under my stripe.
The school had a policy of giving a Post Pass (or day off) for finishing a module is less than the time allotted. So I enjoyed my time off. I then went on the complete all the remainder of the modules which were 1 to 2 weeks each in a total time of 13 weeks (half the allotted time). In fact I finished two modules in one week and my Platoon Sargent would not let me take two days off. So I got to go tour the Depot Repair facility on Post instead which was really nice.
During final testing I was tested again on every piece of equipment and repair of each. Most of the problems were really easy for me to detect. Until I got to one board that was not oscillating at the right frequency. It really stumped me and I spent about two hours trying to diagnose the problem. I knew that it had to be only on of three components that was faulty but I could not remove any of them from the circuit (un-solder). So I finally though in the towel and explained my findings to the Testing Sergeant. His answer was *We new you were a wiz kid and frankly we could not figure it out either so we hoped that you could.* I PASSED! I was also promoted again to SP4 (Specialist 4) as the Distinguished Honor Graduate of my class ( I finished the top of my class in fact I lapped some of the people in the previous class). I had been in the Army less than a year and had been promoted 3 times..
I returned home with Melinda (she also had joined the National Guard but was up in Fort Lee VA and graduated the day before I did). I took a few days off then went to look for a job until I could return to college. I first when to a company called Data Comm and they were not hiring but sent me to Auto Comm and I was hired on the spot as a Microwave Telecommunication Technician, working predominately in the Gulf of Mexico, and have been working in the field every since.
I eventually went back to college part-time but that took a total of 11 years and got a General Studies Degree... but that is another story...
So that is how I went from Sawdust to Microwaves...
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