REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. -- White water rafting, traveling, visiting relatives and making a difference in his community -- all are part of the "bucket list" that David Branham, director of the Aviation and Missile Command's G4 (Logistics), has compiled for retirement.
Now, with retirement just a few short weeks away, Branham's bucket list will soon be reality.
Branham will bring his 40-year government civilian career to an end in December. He will celebrate the honor of being able to serve at an open house on Dec. 9, from 1 to 3 p.m., in the Sparkman Center's building 5308, room 8124. Co-workers and friends from throughout AMCOM as well as Team Redstone are invited to attend.
"Forty years is a milestone. I will be 62 on the 30th of December. Retiring now leaves me still young enough and healthy enough to go do other things," Branham said.
"I have a bucket list of things I want to do and many of those things have to do with helping to build the quality of life for the people living in this area."
Outside of his work at AMCOM, Branham already serves on the City of Huntsville Board of Zoning Adjustment, Huntsville/Madison County Leadership Alumni Advisory Council, University of Alabama-Huntsville Business Advisory Council, UAH President's Council and Alabama Rivers Alliance board of directors.
One of the walls in his office is testament to his enjoyment of canoeing and white water rafting with friends and as a guide for others. While that wall holds a vision of Branham's future, other parts of his office hold a look at his past -- the accolades he has received for his leadership in overseeing environmental activities and facility requirements for AMCOM operations worldwide and for leading the development of Redstone Arsenal through the 1990s.
Branham, who has two engineering degrees, a master's degree in administrative science and a doctorate in environmental engineering management, was the recipient of the Department of the Army's Director of Engineering and Housing of the Year Award for 1988 as well as the Army's Directorate of Public Works Executive of the Year for 1995. He was a recipient of the first UAH Alumni of Achievement Award in 2002. He was also selected as the Society of American Military Engineer's, Engineer of the Year for 2007. He has worked for 16 commanding generals and 25 chiefs of staff.
"While I'm going to miss the work somewhat, it's the personal interaction with the people of AMCOM and Team Redstone that I will really miss," he said.
Branham's career as a government civilian began after he graduated from the West Virginia Institute of Technology with a civil engineering degree. In 1975, he went to work for the Tennessee Valley Authority, first in Knoxville and then in North Alabama, where he was assigned to the Bellefonte Nuclear Plant, which was under construction.
TVA and UAH brought Branham to Huntsville, but it was Redstone Arsenal that kept him here. He was recruited to work as a design engineer in the Directorate of Public Works for what was then the Redstone Arsenal Support Activity, the forerunner to Redstone Garrison. He worked as DPW's operations chief, master planning chief and deputy before serving as the director of Public Works for 12 years.
"Engineers can be introverted. And, I could see that because I am one myself. I stepped away from being an introvert, and I took a broader look at things because I knew that would take me farther," Branham said.
His mentor, Paul Hancock of DPW, saw potential in the young engineer, and other leaders gave Branham a chance to stand up and lead. By the time he became director of Public Works, it was 1988 and Branham was in a position to really make a difference.
"There were two projects that were quite substantial at that time," Branham said. "The first was leading the development planning team that built the Sparkman Center.
"The hardest part of the Sparkman Center was getting it approved, and we had a great team that made sure that happened. The Army didn't want to build more administrative space. They were building labs, so the Sparkman Center really bucked trends. But we knew if we had a Sparkman Center it would be a boon to a future BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) measure that could bring more Army organizations to Redstone."
The team worked at the highest level, briefing the Sparkman project to the Secretary of the Army and to Sen. Howell Heflin.
"Sen. Heflin came up with the name for the Sparkman Center," Branham said. "We had been considering the usual Army names of missiles and generals and Army acronyms. Sen. Heflin said that Sen. Sparkman was indeed a good friend of his and that we would garner more support from him and his colleagues if we named it after Sen. Sparkman. So, we did."
Branham said the Sparkman Center set a standard for building design at Redstone Arsenal. The head architect used the theme "durable elegance" coined by Branham for its design.
"One smart thing we did was we bought the design," Branham said. "Because of that, the Von Braun Center and the Missile and Space Intelligence Center look similar to the Sparkman Center. Since we own the design, they were able to take it and populate those buildings from our basic design."
The second significant project of those RASA years was designing and implementing a Building Energy Reduction Management Strategy that involved adding insulation and metal siding to about 200 concrete block buildings at Redstone Arsenal.
"That project paid for itself pretty quickly," Branham said.
It also set the pace for the rest of Branham's career. As RASA shifted to the Installation Management Command and Garrison structure in 2000, Branham had the opportunity to take his talents and interests to AMCOM.
"There was a need to keep the engineering and environmental presence growing strong at AMCOM, and so the G4 was stood up in 2000. I was ready for the challenge of creating something new, but I was also apprehensive because I was comfortable at DPW, even though it was changing, too," he said.
"When we stood up the G4 is was provisionally. We grew from six employees in January 2000 to a peak of 160 in 2010."
Today, AMCOM G4 hovers at about 100 employees, who are focused on three missions: overseeing facilities for AMCOM worldwide, overseeing property accountability for AMCOM worldwide and ensuring AMCOM remains in compliance with the variety of federal, state and international environmental regulations wherever its employees are located.
"We must consider the environmental implications of our aviation and missile systems from cradle to grave. We must ensure our employees have the facilities and equipment they need to do their job," Branham said. "We are a technical organization of engineers, environmentalists, chemists, biologists and other scientists who must stay on top of changes in environmental regulations, and do the investigations, research and testing to ensure that our systems comply with those regulations."
The top priority is to not pollute or endanger the environment with an AMCOM system.
"We try to keep the environmental mission low key. We work to prevent things by looking far enough ahead so that we know what changes in regulations are being made by the Environmental Protection Agency. We pave the way so the AMCOM mission doesn't slow down," Branham said.
Branham is a manager who likes to encourage his employees and expose them to different opportunities for development.
"We hire good people, give them responsibility and then let them do their job," he said. "We want them to reach their potential. We want to develop people and see them do good for our organization and for themselves. We don't hold anyone back.
"Our employees have high morale. They like their work, the atmosphere, the environment. We have the lowest turnover rate of all AMCOM organizations."
As he prepares for the Dec. 9 open house and his retirement, Branham hopes his employees will remember him for "challenging them, for being fair and for always interjecting a sense of humor in the workforce."
He knows the next director of AMCOM G4 will set their own mark on the organization, and that's how it should be.
"The new director doesn't need to do it the way I did it. I hope the new director understands what I did and why I did it. But if they have a better way, they should go for it," Branham said. "Don't follow blindly, but don't throw out and start fresh. We've got a well-oiled machine in G4."
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