International Operating Engineer - Summer 2016

Feature
“He served in Vietnam, had
injuries, found a career through the
Operating Engineers, and has provided
leadership for other veterans for many
years. Now others have to navigate
their trail ahead.”
Kurtz said the Operating Engineers
were a natural partner to carve out
the trail largely because of Wetzel’s 41
years in the construction union and
lifetime membership in American
Legion Oelschlaeger-Dallmann Post
No. 434 in Oak Creek.
Camp American Legion Director
Kevin Moshea added, “To me, this
trail is the first, initial step in an overall
development plan for that land.” Future
additional uses may include camping
and hunting.
Local 139 President/Business
Manager Terry McGowan noted
that while the Operators could
provide manpower and machines for
constructing a trail, the union was
looking for a community project on
which apprentices could enhance their
skills.
“We are extremely proud to partner
with the Wisconsin American Legion
on this project,” McGowan said. “This
is a natural extension of our Combat
2 Construction programwhich aims
to help our veterans acquire career
skills and find employment with our
signatory contractors.”
Apprentice Operators cleared and
grubbed, excavated, and paved the trail
over about a month in April-May. Most
of the apprentices are veterans such as
Leroy Miller of New Berlin.
“I learned about the Camp
American Legion project at our union
meetings,” said Miller, a second-year
apprentice who served in the Army’s
10th Mountain Division, was wounded
in combat in Afghanistan, and was
an Army Ranger instructor. “I had a
compelling feeling of wanting to serve
[photos clockwise from top] Entrance to Camp American Legion in Lake Tomahawk,
Wisconsin; men and machines crowd a section of the trail through the woods at the start of
the work day; the trail is named in honor of Gary Wetzel, a Medal of Honor recipient and a
41-year IUOE member.
my country and, after leaving the
military, I wanted to continue that and
to build for America.”
“When the project started, Woody
(Local 139 Training Center Site
Coordinator Woody Wickersheim)
called me and asked if I wanted to be a
part of it and I said ‘absolutely.’
“To provide this type of service for
other veterans is an overwhelmingly
emotional experience for me, to get
veterans out of their daily grind,
veterans who are restricted to their
homes, or their wheelchairs, and to get
them out into the woods where they
need to be for healing reasons. It’s also
medicating for me.”
Another Army veteran, Mike Burt,
supervised the trail-building project.
Burt is an instructor at the Joseph J.
Goetz Jr. Training Center in Coloma.
He watched some of the apprentices
return to the site in the early evening
hours of May 4, after eating supper
at the mess hall at Camp American
Legion, so they could get additional
seat-time operating heavy equipment.
“It’s fulfilling to watch them grow
as Operators, from being tentative to
being confident in what they’re doing,”
he said.
“We cut a hill and created a slope
maybe two or three times. But that’s
OK. That’s why we’re here, to learn.
“These apprentices are learning
basic techniques that we teach at the
training center, like excavating below
subgrade, topsoil stripping, and slot
dozing.
“Our days are the same number of
hours as we would put in at the training
center and even longer, sometimes,
because some of these guys volunteer
to come back and work after supper.”
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INTERNATIONAL OPERATING ENGINEER
SUMMER 2016 15