COLD REGIONS TEST CENTER, Alaska-- At U.S. Army Cold Regions Test Center (CRTC) near Delta Junction, Alaska, the most important attribute for a potential employee to possess is ruggedness.
Tasked with testing military equipment in one of the world's coldest places, CRTC's employees spend countless winter hours outside in the natural environment, in temperatures where nostrils freeze shut and breathing hurts.
It is a tall order, and one that Richard Gardner, test vehicle operator, has readily accepted as a second career.
"I tried to retire, but this job suits me so well I thought there was no way I could pass it up."
After 32 years working for the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Gardner spent a few years dividing his time between a pair of homesteads in the vicinity of CRTC. He hunted and trapped as he had for decades, and also played rhythm guitar in a local band with bassist Dave Sutherland, who by day is the lead mechanic in CRTC's vehicle maintenance shop. It was through him that he learned about seasonal employment opportunities at the neighboring test center.
"They discovered me because I was a woodsman. I thought, 'What good is a woodsman going to do on a scientific test?' I found out there is a lot."
He took to his new job as a test vehicle operator for the Stryker Combat Vehicle very quickly. Though he had never driven a large military vehicle like the Stryker before, he credits his years of experience as a licensed pilot in helping him quickly adapt to the job. Likewise, his scientific inclination and outdoor ruggedness fit in nicely with his co-workers' ethos.
"He's been wonderful," said Richard Reiser, test officer. "His experience as a bush pilot makes him very attentive to detail and experienced in recording meticulous data to stay in compliance with regulations. Those two things add immensely to his skill set as a vehicle operator."
"People here are all very self-motivated," said Gardner. "Everybody brings a pretty amazing and diverse set of skills to testing. You've got brilliant shade tree mechanics and engineers and scientists, and I love that mix."
A native of southwestern Ohio, he began his career as an outdoorsman fresh out of high school, joining the Ohio Conservation Corps for a year, then relocating to Alaska in 1980. His engineer father and registered nurse mother had hoped he would pursue his love of science and conservation through university classes, but Gardner was more interested in experiencing nature first hand.
"I recognized I wasn't really interested in becoming an academic. I didn't want to work in a lab. You don't learn how to deal with -50 degree temperatures in a college course."
Seeing Alaska as an outdoorsman's paradise, he relocated to the state in 1980, worked with several entities within the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, and enjoyed a life of rugged action. In his free time, he eventually began to hire out his outdoor skills to interested parties.
"As a hunter and trapper I taught myself all of that and realized my outdoors experience kept opening up opportunities for employment in other fields. I was self-equipped and could get around, so I would be hired by surveyors and guides."
He was also in high demand to serve as a guide for hunters looking for the hunt of a lifetime in America's last frontier.
"The good clients were the ones who enjoyed the blueberries in their pancakes in the morning, the views, watching the wolves chase the caribou, with the bonus being getting something," Gardner recalled. "A lot of times they were retired carpenters who saved their money for years and years and had one shot to go on a hunt."
Not all of his clients shared his holistic view of nature, however.
"You had other people who were all about killing and only the size of the trophy mattered to them. Some people had so little respect for the land that they wanted me to do things that were illegal, and didn't care. That's what got me out of the business."
Married with two adult children and two grandchildren, Gardner intends to stay in Alaska for the rest of his life, and is remodeling his house with an eye toward his later years.
"People here are very self-sufficient and very gracious. If you're having hard times, they've all been in the same boat you're in and will help you out. I could never walk away from that."
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