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They think I'm crazy,
they've seen pictures of me walking on beams and climbing columns.
My Mom has pictures, "Ohhh, that's my son he's a nut",
wellll, That's Me!
East and West bound Oakland San Francisco Bay Bridge
Los Angeles County Museum of Arts
Six story hospital
Oil refineries
And I Built It!
I built this bridge
I built it
I built it
I built it with my two hands
With these hands
Five, Ten fingers here, (Laughs)
And I'm proud of it!
Something was missing after I left the Marines,
and I wasn't finding it
working in the retail business
I decided to be an Operating Engineer,
about I guess two years ago
My buddy Ted showed me pictures of the stuff he'd built,
and I was like "Man I wanna be involved in that"
I remember seeing these pieces of equipment,
thinking "OOOHH my Gosh, that tire is five times as tall as I am"
I didn't know what I wanted to do, I didn't know what to expect
I didn't think I could do it when I was
a waitress just going to work everyday.
I finally needed a career and I just said "I'm gonna do it"
I got into apprenticeship, I had a good friend,
he told me how to get in
I looked into it, their benefits were excellent,
the pay started out great for being out of high school
I filled out an application, and they called me back
I started the program, and it's been the most rewarding career
I wish I would have started when I was younger
You can be an apprentice at any age
It is for everyone
Your normal four year college is not for everybody
You learn while you earn
They really do a lot of good training
When I first got on equipment, for real,
I'm not going to lie, it's a little bit scary
They're going to show you the proper way to do it,
and they have. And now I'm a certified welder
After that it's Cake, and its Fun!
And when you Journey out, you make really good money
It's a career. The pay is wonderful, it's not just a J.O.B.
The roadways always have to be build,
the bridges are always gonna be built,
and there always has to be somebody to do it
I'm stable, we have benefits
Actually, this is the first job that's ever given me insurance
Dental, and everything for my family that I can imagine
Now I've got money in the Bank
I'm not as stressful worrying about making a truck payment
I feel so much better going to bed at night
And you have money to go on vacations
I can provide my kids with a house,
and a lot of people that I went to school
with 12 years ago, still don't have that
On my own, and I don't need anybody to support me.
Gives me a lot of confidence
I could be the breadwinner, and I like that
My favorite part of being in this job,
is being with the rest of my crew
The Camaraderie that we got,
the brotherhood that we have amongst each other
This is a team effort
Everybody is looking out for one another
I'm one of them!
The people I work with made me feel important,
that I could do it
And you can make life long friendships
We always have our little tailgate parties,
we do get together quiet often
It's like a big family
Yeah, we do have women working with us,
and they're just as good as the guys
I never imagined I'd be doing this type of work
I feels great to blow someone out of the water
that looks at you like you can't do it
I do not mind getting dirty at all,
it's kinda fun actually (Laughs)
I just love being outside
My body's in better shape,
it's like going to the gym everyday
As big as the machines are, and loud!
I'm having a blast actually (Laughs)
You get to play around with big
Tonka Trucks all day long
OOOoohhhhhhoooooo that's my favorite part
It's a lot of fun
It's the glory job, you know there's
nothing like being up there eight stories
Me standing right on the top,
like this saying "I'm on top of the world!"
It's just an Adventure
You never know where you're gonna go,
what job site you're gonna be on
At Disneyland one day,
at a refinery the next day
It's always a challenge
If I was bored I wouldn't be doing it
And you get satisfaction knowing
you helped build something
When I get to stand back
and say "I built this"
This is my bridge
I drive by and look at it,
and I go "I built that!"
This building is going to be up
longer then I live
Awesome, You look at that
and you're like WOW!
Everyday you go home saying
I accomplish something
It's been a great experience,
I would rather not be doing anything else.
This is the best job there is
My family is proud of me
My daughters are very proud of me
They love it. You know my son
he wants to do the same thing
It's just an amazing experience
It's Awesome
I love it
I'm empowered
It's rewarding
I think I have a great future ahead
I think we'll be here for a long time
building California
Work twenty more years and
move to Hawaii, SURF!
Nothing beats it, No!
Can't beat this
It doesn't get much better then that
Time to go to WORK!