PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. - It may or may not be the official longest commute for a Picatinny employee, but Jody Fulton says his job is well worth the long stretches of roadway he endures each week.
Fulton, a mechanical engineer technician, has a 105-mile commute from Mount Holly, which is located in Burlington County, and is an eastern suburb of Philadelphia.
The drive averages 90 minutes in the morning, and sometimes as much as two to three hours in the afternoon, Fulton said.
“Fridays are just miserable, especially during the summer with people going to the beach,” he said.
“On a Friday afternoon I have to leave work by 2:30 p.m. to get home by 6 p.m.”
Fulton began working in the Weapons Technical Support Branch of the Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center here in November 2009.
He put his house on the market shortly thereafter.
“A year and a half later, the house is still up for sale,” Fulton said.
The collapse of the housing market and scarcity of buyers are the only thing keeping Fulton from moving to northern New Jersey and closer to the Arsenal.
Before arriving at Picatinny, Fulton spent 10 years as an active enlisted member in the Air Force. More recently, he was a civilian employee for two years with the Navy at Lakehurst Naval Air Station.
“This is the job I always wanted,” said Fulton, who was motivated to serve his country in seeking employment here.
So far, that dedication and desire to work at Picatinny comes at a price.
He changes the oil himself on both his Volvo S40 and Toyota Camry every 5,000 miles to help save on the cost of wear and tear that comes with commuting.
On average, he spends nearly $600 a month on fuel and another $100 in tolls.
But the biggest drain on Fulton is the value of his time.
“You can’t put a price on sitting in a car for four hours a day,” he said.
Fulton said he wakes up at 4 a.m. every day to get to work on time and tries to leave no later than 3 p.m.
That extra time on the road means time that is not spent with his wife and children.
Fulton tried to find a vanpool to accommodate his location and work schedule but with no success.
With gas prices climbing, Picatinny’s Director of Logistics, Chris Wagner, said he has seen an increase in the number of employees who commute to and from work in a vanpool.
“There are more than 450 vanpoolers, and the number continues to rise,” Wagner said.
Like Fulton, are you in the pantheon of Picatinny road warriors? If you believe your commute is longer than Fulton’s, contact Eric Kowal in the Public Affairs Office at eric.kowal@us.army.mil
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