• Born in Socorro, New Mexico; raised in Magdalena, New Mexico.

• Married to his wife, Brenda, for 20 years and has two children: Jacob, 12 and Kristin, 10.

• Earned his black belt in Taekwondo.

• Enjoys being a private pilot and being an avid outdoorsman, and participating in lineman's rodeos.

Early Years

After graduating from Magdalena High School, I began working for Western New Mexico Telephone Co. installing underground and overhead telephone lines. Shortly thereafter, I enrolled at T-VI in the electrical trades program. I have worked in the electrical field ever since. I am now a journeyman lineman for Public Service Company of New Mexico in Alamogordo, New Mexico.

Day in the Life

The Alamogordo region is surrounded by the Oregon, San Andreas and Sacramento mountain ranges, and covers about 111 square miles serving about 28,000 customers. We have about 400 miles of overhead primary lines and about 100 miles of underground primary lines.

We are a small department. Because we only have one line crew and a service department, we have the opportunity to diversify our skills. We perform all of the overhead and underground T&D work. We are also responsible for all of the maintenance on our capacitor banks as well as the overhead and underground line patrol. Our linemen take care of all of our trouble work, trouble calls, tree trimming and maintenance of streetlight circuits in the city.

On the Job

As the economy had slowed, a lot of new construction in the area has slowed as well. During this time, however, our field crews have had time to catch up on maintenance. We have been working on changing crossarms on our distribution and timbers on our high line.

Recently, our field crews also had the opportunity to work on a big project for a hospital in Alamogordo. Our crew refed the two main circuits feeding the hospital, and in the process, we moved a PMH 9 to a different location and added four new three-phase switch cabinets and a 1000 kVA transformer. We also had to move two single-phase transformers along with adding one new dip pole, one span of 1/0 ACSR overhead and almost 6000 feet of 4/0 URD primary 15-kV cable.

Crew Camaraderie

One of the first things you learn working on a line crew is that you have to trust the person working beside you. You trust your fellow linemen to watch out for you, and in turn, they also trust you to watch out for them. Every day brings a crew closer, and every experience has a lesson. Being a lineman is about being part of a team. Members sharing their qualities and skills with each other is what allows each of us to go home to our families at the end of the day.

Lessons Learned

During my career, I've worked with several individuals and supervisors who have shaped who I have become to this point. That said, the following individuals have contributed to making me the lineman I am today: Wayne Daugherty, Foreman, Steve Dettmer, Area Supervisor, Milo Arrellano, Jerry Salas, Bobby Curran, JP Whipple, Adam Delanda, Isaac Muncy and Mike Testerman. Through these individuals, I have learned to put my safety and my crew members' safety at the top of my list. I have learned that if I'm not part of the solution, I'm part of the problem. Also, I need to always watch out for my coworkers.

I also learned some valuable leadership lessons. To be a good leader, I must first learn to follow. Also, I need to lead by example, and listen to and consider all ideas. I should recognize when things aren't working and then change direction.

Memorable Storm

Hurricane Katrina was one of the worst disasters I have ever seen. It was hard to find a place to start when we arrived to restore power to the area. The memories of all the broken poles, wire down and general destruction will be forgotten long before I forget the gratitude of those people.

Working in the Power Industry

The biggest reward working in the utility industry is building something with my own two hands and seeing the lights come on at the end of a job. If I had to do it over again, I would definitely go into this industry all over again.