Editor's note: In honor of Anniston Army Depot's 75th anniversary, TRACKS is looking back at the installation's changes through the eyes of those who were present.
ANNISTON ARMY DEPOT, Ala. -- Mike Word and Lynne Kemp are both looking forward to retirement -- him this spring, Kemp at the end of the year.
At the time, Word will have served Anniston Army Depot for 39 years and Kemp for more than 38.
Both began their careers in the installation's industrial area, though Kemp worked in the office areas.
Much has changed in their decades on the installation.
"The technology has changed, big time, over the years," said Word, reminiscing about the days of handwritten notes which were transferred to keypunch cards to be input into large computers.
In the late 1970s and early '80s, the few, large computers on the installation were fed information from keypunch cards.
"We had a remote site in Bldg. 411," said Kemp, who started her career in program management. "We would take an 80-column card to the operator and then have to wait to get our results."
Typing was done via a steno pool because there were no typewriters in the offices for the shops.
Because production management needed to be centrally located to the shops during that time, as information was shared through paperwork, Kemp was in one building, Bldg. 411, for 23 years.
"Now, since the work is performed on computers, it doesn't matter where on depot we are located," she said.
One of the biggest changes Word and Kemp have noticed is with smoking in the workplace. In the '70s and '80s, it was commonplace for everyone who smoked to have an ashtray on their desk and a cigarette in their hand.
The duo have also seen an uptick in the number of women in the industrial area during their time on depot.
"There were no women in the wage grade fields when we started working here," said Kemp. "Even in the General Schedule fields, most women were in general clerical positions."
Word agreed, adding, "Some of the first women I saw in the industrial shops were in the electronic shops."
And, Kemp said, there were no sexual harassment classes or training of any kind along those lines.
"It's not that things were not said or done, it's just that most people accepted it as it was the culture and took it as a joke," she said. "Mandatory training at the time was field-related."
For both of them, though, coworkers here have been like family.
"The people who work here are like your second family because you spend more time here," said Word.
Word started as a warehouseman in general supply, which is now part of DLA Distribution.
Throughout his depot career, he has worked in more than 10 buildings on the installation, some more than once.
He transitioned from supply to a job as a tool and parts attendant and began an apprenticeship as an electronic integrated systems mechanic for missile guidance. After completing the apprenticeship, he had a permanent job in missile guidance until that mission ended for ANAD in 1994.
As 300 missile guidance employees were placed in different jobs throughout the depot, following the transition, Word was assigned to parts supply, working with the M60 70-ton bridge and other vehicle programs.
He was selected as a production controller in 2003, a job he held until 2009, when preparations for the Logistics Modernization Program began at ANAD and he was reassigned to the LMP Office.
During his career, he has traveled extensively with his job -- visiting 40 states and three or four countries in his career, each area for three or four months at a time.
He and Kemp each recall a time when cash was issued to those traveling for the depot, so they could then purchase traveler's checks because government credit cards didn't exist.
Kemp, who now serves as a management analyst for data quality for the Logistics Modernization Program Office began her career when she was a junior in high school in 1978.
"I came in as a student trainee," she said, adding that, as a trainee, she went to school half the day then worked the other half. "It was a little overwhelming coming out here at 17 years old."
At the time, being a student trainee meant earning a wage of $2.90 per hour, but a job on the depot was the job to have.
"If you got on here, you were blessed," said Kemp. "When you took that oath of office, you were honored and you knew, if you could stay for a career, you would. I've never even considered leaving to go anywhere else."
75 YEARS AGO...
Feb. 17, 1941: The federal government broke ground on 10,040 acres of land in Calhoun County, which would become the Anniston Ordnance Depot. By March 1941, the total acreage was 14,000.
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