REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. -- Horses, goats, a 67-acre farm and a growing weekend hobby as a track-and-field official have tipped the scales toward retirement for Aviation and Missile Command Operational Safety division chief Bryan Lorge.
And his family couldn't be happier.
Come the end of 2015, Lorge will be leaving a 37-year safety career that has provided plenty of opportunities to make a difference for the nation's air defenders and aviators. His career will be honored during an open house on Dec. 15 from 2:30 to 4 p.m. in the Sparkman Center's building 5301, room 1146 and 1148.
"It's kind of the time that I feel it's time to go," Lorge said.
"It has been a career of broadening experiences, and lots of challenges and opportunities to support the military. I had a lot of doubts about this career when I first started as a safety intern. But, it's been as good of a career as I could have hoped for. I have a lot of respect for the military and I've developed a real sense of duty to serve the military. Now, I am saying goodbye to that, but I hope to leave behind some of the experience and knowledge I've gained in supporting the military."
Lorge is a member of the Explosive Safety Training Working Group and Explosive Safety Council. In the AMCOM Safety Office, he has worked alongside director Pat Vittitow in mentoring, leading and encouraging the next generation of AMCOM safety employees.
"During the last few years, I've focused on those things that hopefully will benefit from the experience I've gained," he said. "I am hoping that my experience and knowledge will be reflected in the policies and training standards that I've been involved in developing and, in that way, some of my knowledge will remain here after I'm gone."
Lorge began his safety career as a Tufts University chemical engineer graduate who was accepted as a Department of the Army engineering intern with the then Development and Readiness Command.
"We got to choose from three areas -- Safety, Reliability and Production, and I went into Safety," he recalled. "We were in a training program at Red River Army Depot, Texas, where we learnd all about accepts of Safety engineering."
His first duty station was Fort Belvoir, Va., where he worked on a variety of equipment, including power generation and water purification.
Lorge was then assigned to Redstone Arsenal for seven months, during which he worked on everything from installation safety to research, development and testing safety. His career then took him to the Corps of Engineers, where he worked on Safety issues pertaining to military construction projects and civil engineering projects.
In 1986, he moved to Heidelburg, Germany, where he worked three years in Safety for the 7th Army Headquarters. The assignment was one of his favorites because he worked in the field with Soldiers.
"I got to work more directly with the troops," Lorge said. "It was a new position with the 7th Army, so I was able to make it what I thought it should be. I would get feedback from Soldiers on the weapon systems they were using so that I could identify safety problems and then get them fixed."
Then, in 1989, he came back to Redstone Arsenal, where he has remained for his career.
"During those early years, there was only one installation safety office," he said. "This second time at Redstone I was very involved in research, development and test Safety, but there were other aspects of Safety, too. One day I would work on test missile safety and the next day on child care safety issues and then another day on safety issues related to an Army concert. It was a wide variety of issues and that made it really interesting."
But, as changes were made and the Redstone Garrison was stood up, Lorge's career came to a crossroads. He chose to remain with missile and aviation Safety rather than to work in the Garrison's Safety office.
"In the changes that were made, we picked up the depots (Corpus Christi and Letterkenny), but we kept the research and development, and testing Safety. That was the kind of work I wanted to do and where I wanted to build up my experience," Lorge said.
"Today, I think we have the best Safety Office in the Army and maybe even in the Department of Defense. We are the best because of the kind of experience we have with aviation and missile systems, and because of what we do every day in support of Soldier aviators and air defenders. AMCOM has a worldwide mission that broadens our scope and variety."
Lorge said he is a chemical engineer who tends to get bored with the same work after a few years. But at AMCOM Safety, the job kept him engaged and far from losing interest. The goals of any Safety mission is to protect lives and property and as the AMCOM mission grows so, too, does the role of industrial occupational safety.
"In research and development, and test, you are working with systems that don't yet have Safety standards. We have to develop the standards and criteria as the systems are being developed or modified," he said. "There are no OSHA standards for new technology. We have to set those standards as we go along."
Through the years, Lorge said AMCOM leadership has become more involved and vested in the Safety mission. And, the reactive Safety mission of the past has changed to a proactive stand.
"When you have a failure, it is pretty obvious. Someone gets hurt or property gets damaged.
But it's hard to measure success when things are operating safely. It can be hard to see how the Safety mission makes a difference until you get to an instance when it doesn't," Lorge said.
"We do upfront analysis to try to prevent accidents. We build safety into our systems instead of waiting for a failure and then reacting to that."
He has learned a lot over the years as the Safety mission has evolved, and he has gained knowledge from a wide range of mentors, including Jeff Lynn, Herb Steger, Pat Ricrd, Diane Averey, Bob Braun, Gil Tolley and Ken Williams.
To those government employees who also hope to enjoy a long career, Lorge advises that they should "manager your career. No one else is going to do it for you. You need to do what looks right for you.
"You need to have a plan, but write it in pencil because as opportunities present themselves those plans can change. Don't be afraid of new opportunities and challenges that broaden your experiences. Different experiences help you develop different solutions and a better understanding."
Lorge will fill his retirement days with working with his wife on their farm in Athens, a life-style change they have made in recent years. They have two college-age daughters, one who loves the five horses they keep on the farm. He also plans to spend a good amount of time officiating at track and field competitions at the high school, collegiate and USA Track and Field levels.
"One of my daughters got me interested in pole vaulting when she was in middle school. She was a pretty good pole vaulter in high school. I began officiating at events as a volunteer, then got my certification and it's gone from there," Lorge said. "My daughter is now in college and no longer pole vaults. But, my officiating is starting to grow through the southeast."
In the past year, Lorge's officiating duties included the Southeastern Conference championship in Starkville, Miss. In 2016, he is already looking forward to a 10-day job as an officiant at the college championships in Birmi
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