WATERVLIET ARSENAL, N.Y. -- Working at the 204-year-old Arsenal may be summed up by the wisdom of Yankee great Yogi Berra, who once said, "It's like déjà vu all over again."
After all, the Army's oldest manufacturing center not only has reported ghosts, it also has historical records for past weapon systems that have been milled, machined, sandblasted, forged, painted and in this case, welded.
These historical records are from time to time reopened years, and sometimes decades, after the product line had been closed whenever a Soldier's readiness requirement is renewed.
When major U.S. combat operations ended in Iraq around 2010, combat operations ramped up in Afghanistan. The Afghan terrain, however, would dictate a different type of combat, from one of direct fire to one more of high-angle and indirect.
To meet this rising Soldier readiness requirement, the Arsenal's manufacturing priorities shifted from large cannons to mortar systems. And, for the next few years, direct labor for mortar production, from 60mm to 81mm to 120mm, overcame that of large caliber barrels and associated parts for tanks and howitzers.
But in 2013, when the Congressional Budget Control Act of 2011 kicked in, Arsenal production requirements, even for mortar systems, dramatically declined. In fact, some mortar manufacturing requirements, such as for the large baseplates for the 120mm mortar system, slowly slipped away.
William Tharp, an Arsenal metal processor supervisor, said that the 120mm mortar baseplate was once great work for the Arsenal because it maintained the critical skill set of welding. Once the bulk of the welding work went away, the remaining welders were cross-trained into a new job field called "metal processors."
"In a way, the closing of the mortar welding line worked out well," Tharp said. "By migrating welders into a new job field called metal processing, not only did we retain welding as a critical skill, but we also added forging, heat treatment, and composite winding as required skills."
By the end of 2013, the Arsenal only had about eight people who would form the nucleus of the job field of metal processors, Tharp said. But because metal processors have been very good at following the workload since 2013, he was able to build a team that now numbers 34.
And as a bit of déjà vu, earlier this month three metal processors by the name of Christopher Davis, Robert Gauthier, and Leonard Mallery, who were the welders who formed the nucleus of the metal processor team some years ago, were back at work welding 120mm mortar baseplates for the first time since 2013.
Gauthier, as well as Davis and Mallery, said that of all the metal processing tasks, welding is his favorite.
"If I could do something and not get paid for it, I would be a welder," Gauthier said before he quickly backtracked not wanting anyone from resource management to begin docking his pay.
Nevertheless, watching Gauthier, Davis, and Mallery earlier this month emplacing 90 feet of weld on the 120mm mortar baseplates was a thing of beauty as they quickly worked through the blue glow of the torches and the flying sparks that surrounded them.
Tharp said he is now working closely with the newly formed Workforce Development team to better "professionalize" the metal processing career field by establishing certification standards for each of the four critical tasks required of a metal processor.
Although Tharp has yet to complete all certification requirements for the metal processor job field, he said that there is no better time than now to be a metal processor.
"We have followed the work so well that we are now working three shifts in several critical tasks," Tharp said.
As this story was being developed, the Arsenal was near locking in several new multimillion-dollar contracts for more mortar production. Tharp and his team may soon have even more on their welding tables.
The Watervliet Arsenal is an Army-owned-and-operated manufacturing facility and is the oldest, continuously active arsenal in the United States having begun operations during the War of 1812. It celebrated its 200th anniversary on July 14, 2013.
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