John Barczynski is a safety engineer at Yuma Test Center at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona. This Telling the ATEC Story entry outlines the foundational lessons of his early life in Pennsylvania, his pivotal transition from the east coast to the southwest and the many passions that drive him in his work and personal life.
Barczynski was born and raised in Erie, Pennsylvania, and grew up in a household where he was the only boy in a family of five girls. He fondly remembers how hectic a time it was and says his sisters rivaled the Kardashians in the drama category. Growing up, folks thought he was a quiet person, when the truth was, he rarely got a chance to speak because his sisters were always talking.
Barczynski loved growing up in Erie because he loves the water—he owned a boat before he owned a car. Erie is located on the south shore of Lake Erie, and their family home was only a few miles from the beach. For Barczynski, Erie was a great place to grow up, and its small size and low crime rate made it an ideal location to work and raise a family. A port city situated on the Great Lakes, Erie is a manufacturing city with lots of industry.
Father and son
As the only boy, he and his dad, John Sr., spent a lot of time together. They were each other’s shadow—if you saw one, you saw the other. He always helped his dad with whatever he was doing, and if his dad had to work on the weekends, he would accompany him. Cold, snowy days during the winter months were spent sitting on the couch together watching their favorite sports teams. John Sr., who was drafted for the Korean War at 18, served six years in the Army. He left the Army in 1949 with a desire to attend college. Married at 22, his college goals were furloughed in favor of providing for his growing family. He never got the opportunity. He worked as a shop foreman and supervisor at a local injection molding plant. Barczynski’s mother, Marcella, was a stay-at-home mom and housewife. Both of his parents are now deceased.
Although Barczynski said his family were lower middle class, his parents always put their children first and made sure they always had whatever they needed. He said they would go without things so their children never had to. Both of his parents were devout Catholics and sent all six of their children to parochial grade schools.
Barczynski’s parents were both results-oriented type of people who wanted their kids to grow up knowing how to think for and take care of themselves. His parents left it to each of them to figure out how to do what they had been asked to do. They weren’t too concerned with how they did a task, just that they finished it and did a good job.
His parents also stressed independence and encouraged them to start planning early for their futures. Barczynski and his siblings were all expected to attend college and earn a degree.
Barczynski attended Technical Memorial High School, now Central Tech School. He studied machine shop, which consisted of learning to operate lathes, mills, drill presses, shapers, planers and numerical control machines. By the time he graduated in 1981, fifth in a class of 525, he was already qualified to work as a machinist in a shop.
Early years in engineering
Barczynski says he had difficulty deciding on a major and his father advised him to major in engineering. He enrolled at Gannon University and earned a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering technology in 1985, and in 1993, he earned a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering technology and an Associate of Science in microprocessors and robotics. He later attended Penn State and received a project management certification in 1997.
Barczynski had looked forward to joining the Air Force after completing college. Growing up, he had always been obsessed with speed and had dreamed of becoming an Air Force fighter pilot. His dreams were dashed to bits when he failed the Air Force’s vision screening. Since pilots often deal with low visibility and blind spots while flying, which can take a few seconds to adapt to, vision acuity, depth perception, field of vision and color vision are critically important for safety reasons. The only consolation was from the Air Force recruiter who told him the Air Force needed more engineers than it did pilots.
Ater college, Barczynski worked as a mechanical engineer for Erie Hard Facing Industries from 1987 to 1989. He was responsible for designing, estimating and building automated welding equipment. Over the years, from 1989 to 2002, Barczynski worked as a production supervisor at Zurn Industries, and later as a product engineer and senior engineer in the natural gas industry at American Meter Company, or AMC.
A pivotal decision
While working for AMC, a decision was made to relocate his position to Mexicali, Mexico, which was the location of the manufacturer of the natural gas metering and regulating devices he engineered. It was a pivotal time in his life, and a big decision had to be made whether or not to move his wife and three school-age kids from the east coast to the west. However, if he wanted to keep his same job, he would have to move. If not, AMC would hire someone in Mexico, and he would have to take a different job. Since he had always liked the southwest, he decided in favor of moving versus staying put and switching to a job he might not like.
In 1999, Barczynski moved his family across country. His initial plan was to move to El Centro in Southern California, which is only 15 miles from the Mexican border. But he hadn’t reckoned on the unavailability of parochial schools in the area. A devout Catholic, his family’s spiritual life has always been a priority for him. In Erie, they attended church every Sunday and his children were enrolled in the parochial schools. He also considered San Diego, which had plenty of parochial schools, but he eventually decided 100 miles was too far to drive to and from work every day. He finally settled on Yuma, Arizona, which had both parochial grade schools and high schools. It was only 60 miles from the border and had a much lower tax rate than California. An added bonus was Yuma was approximately the same size as Erie and felt much more like home.
After moving to Yuma, the only issue Barczynski faced was the one-hour commute from Yuma to Mexicali and the border crossing delays into Mexico. After the al-Qaeda attacks on September 11, 2001, border wait times stretched on for hours. He realized it was time to do something different. It wasn’t that hard of a decision to make—working in the gas industry had never been his goal but was just a job. That led to him accepting a contractor position in 2002 at Yuma Proving Ground’s Yuma Test Center, or YTC, with APT Research as a system safety engineer.
Work and family life
Today, Barczynski is still a safety engineer—a position he’s held for the last 23 years—11 years as a contractor and 12 as a Department of the Army civilian. His contractor position converted to civil service in 2013. If it hadn’t, he would have remained with APT Research, a company he says treated him very well.
As a safety engineer, Barczynski provides system safety engineering support to the Combat and Automotive Systems Division. His work entails test planning and execution safety for personnel and equipment. Barczynski says over the years and due to the influx of younger engineers and junior personnel to the division, his role has become instrumental in helping facilitate a safer working environment while still providing the testing outcomes and results ATEC requires. While his work life was the picture of success, things were not so picturesque on the home front. After 17 years of marriage, he and his wife divorced in 2006 and Barczynski gained custody of his three children.
Barczynski raised his kids in much the same way his parents raised him. He let them do their schoolwork as they saw fit, but only if their grades were good. He used his parents' same approach in letting them learn to think for themselves. Like his parents, John also stressed independence. Likewise, he expected his kids, Samantha, John II and Amanda, to go to college and make something out of themselves. As far as a career choice, his only requirement was they had to choose something that would earn them a living.
Focus on the future
Barczynski has a philosophy on life that is centered on looking to and planning for the future. He says that growing up, it used to drive him crazy watching his parents live their lives day by day. Now he lives by the quote, "If you take care of the future, the present takes care of itself," and says it has been the key to his success.
Barczynski, who plans to retire in April, says he started saving for his retirement at age 25. He advises his kids to save their money, as much as they can as soon as they can, instead of getting caught up in the endless cycle of frivolous and impulsive spending. As a mentor, he advises everyone to invest—and then invest some more. He says putting a defined amount of money into the stock market for future needs is essential.
Besides working and raising his kids, which are two full-time jobs, Barczynski also made time to remarry. Married for 4 years now, he met Sofia through a mutual friend who thought they would make a great couple because of their shared values. When they met, they were both single parents raising kids from previous marriages—Barczynski had three and Sofia six. Both are devout Catholics who take Sundays and holy days seriously. For Barczynski, Sofia is the one person he credits for making the most impact and having the strongest influence in and on his life.
Barczynski has accomplished a great deal over his lifetime, but his proudest accomplishment is his patent. On October 26, 1999, Barczynski was granted a patent for a natural gas rotary meter. The patent is for a small commercial rotary gas meter for flows up to 1500 ft3/hour. The meter uses a "batwing" design, allowing the gas flow to be more fluid while passing through the meter. It is also a positive displacement type of meter with minimal leakage (less than 1 percent). This ensures all the gas provided is accounted for.
A passionate person
Barczynski is a man of many passions. He’s passionate about the work he does for the Army, YTC and the Warfighter. He’s passionate about his teammates and making sure everyone goes home safely each day. He’s passionate about honoring the commitments he makes to others and the trust bestowed upon him by his senior leaders. But most of all, he’s passionate about his faith—his faith in God and in family.
His parents are both gone, but they left behind so many valuable memories and mementoes of the lives they led, the family they loved and their strong faith in God. His father’s cross and his family albums are two of his most treasured possessions. Until he died, his father maintained a collection of scrapbooks, which contain pictures and mementos of their family over the years. His father received the cross as commemoration for his service to the Catholic Church as an altar boy. Barczynski says his father was very proud of it and wanted him to have it. It now hangs in a place of honor in his master bedroom to always remind him of the spiritual devotion of his father.
And just like that, it’s once again time to do something different. Barczynski says he is looking forward to his upcoming retirement. He doesn’t plan to do much—just focus on his hobbies—woodworking and collecting stamps, coins, and clocks—but at his own pace and for as long as he wants. Over the years, he has done a fair amount of charity work and plans to do more of it.
He believes we are put on this earth for a short period of time and it’s important to help as many people as possible while we are here. This is his way of giving back and paying it forward. It’s how he was raised—to care for others as God cares for us—and he can’t think of a better way to honor his parents’ legacy and love than by giving of himself and his time. It’s what he believes they would want him to do.
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