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 | THE HARTZELL FAMILY HOME PAGE |
Note:This is the crest for the Swiss town of Hirzel, which constitutes the very earliest use of the name, in the late 1200's.
| Concord Naval Weapons Station |
This is where I spent 30 years of my "work life" from 1964 to 1994. I saw a lot of ammuniton go across these docks over a span of time beginning with the Vietnam War and ending with the Gulf War. We spent many long hours, working dayshift, nightshift, weekends and holidays; most work was hard; and conducted in all kinds of weather. Extended hours were required so often, hardly a paycheck was ever received without overtime hours. Often times, we worked short-handed with new personnel and just a handful of experienced employees at our disposal. The money was good, but ironically we worked under the threat of layoffs a good portion of the time, even during long stints of overtime! It was cheaper to pay overtime, to get a vessel out, opposed to allowing it to sit idle over a weekend.
Many of us came to work here at a young age, and somehow managed to keep our jobs through fluctuations in workloads and plenty of RIF notices [reduction in force slips]. Despite these uncertainties, many of us raised families, shared each others triumphs and failures. My children never knew hunger or what it was like to go without, thanks to being employed here.
We as employees became a family also, we spent more awake hours with each other than we did with our own personal families. We grew old together too, and mourned when we lost a member through death by accident, or natural causes. 30 years is a long time to work together, and many friendships are still intact even after leaving due to retirements and base closure. I miss the place and even the work to an extent, but mostly I miss my fellow workers.
In 1994 because of the downsizing of the base, an offer was made that just could not be refused, and so I elected to retire. Several people asked me why I wanted to retire so early, [at age 52] and I thought about that, and pangs of guilt rose up in me spoiling what should have been a joyous occasion. It took several months to rid myself of those feelings and only because of some self-examining did I arrive at the following conclusions: (1) Many of us worked enough hours to honestly say we put in nearly what two jobs would amount to over a span of 30 years. (2) I have worked ever since I was nine years old. Needing not to justify such a personal decision to another soul, I finally felt at peace with my decision. After 3 years of retirement, I decided my income was insufficient and I also needed to stay somewhat active, and reentered the workforce. I presently work part time job for our local school district. |
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