Pantex Blog

Pantexans arrive on-site to safe streets and sidewalks, even amid harsh Panhandle weather. Few stop to think about the men and women who report hours before them—and often stay many hours after they leave—to keep their work environment safe and well maintained.

Extreme weather is a familiar occurrence in the Texas Panhandle. Longtime Pantexan Harvey Bellamy has seen his fair share of storms and their aftermath, including National Guard snow rescues and severe windstorms that toppled buildings.

“Before our present hardened guard stations were built, we had temporary stations, basically portable buildings at the east and west gates,” he recalled. “During one severe-wind event, the west station was blown over–with a guard in it!”

These days, Pantexans arrive on-site to safe streets and sidewalks, even amid harsh Panhandle weather. Few stop to think about the men and women who report hours before them—and often stay many hours after they leave—to keep their work environment safe and well maintained. For the staff of Infrastructure’s Site Services team, going unnoticed is almost a badge of honor—a signal their job is correct and complete.

“We watch the weather every day,” said Quinton McNabb. “As things progress and it looks like it’s going to be a significant weather event, we make sure we have everything we need. Then, as it gets closer, we look at how many personnel we’re going to need.”

Much like their relative anonymity, advanced planning comes with the territory. Occasionally, however, the team has to adapt to evolving situations more quickly.

“Sometimes, you just have to jump on it because weather moves in so fast out here,” explained Irene Lewis, yard crew manager and one of about a dozen or so employees—about half the full team—gathered in an upstairs breakroom. “We had one storm when we used up our entire year’s worth of [ice-melt] product in one week! We got the plant ready at 1, 1:30 in the morning, and it just got covered in ice all over again.”

Lewis’ memory of that storm a few years ago perfectly highlights Site Services’ dedication to their colleagues and the Pantex mission.

“We came out Sunday morning to get ready and didn’t get to leave until Thursday,” she said.

Her colleague Kurt Cockrell nodded.

“People don’t know that we’re out here as long as we are, especially during the winter,” he said.

Voicing his agreement, Brad Johnson ticked off a list of items that must be attended to before shifts change during winter-weather events.

“We get our equipment ready and go prep the [plant] roads,” he said.

Paying special attention to intersections, turns, and sloping roads, Johnson said the team then turns to sidewalks, applying a sufficient covering of granular ice-melt.

As days lengthen and temperatures rise with spring’s approach, severe-storm season will soon follow. With those storms will come new challenges for these men and women, many of whom will maintain the condition of grassy areas and ditches, as well as address leaky roofs caused by the inevitable Texas-sized hail.

“Last summer, we all stood out here and watched our cars get completely pulverized,” recalled Lewis with a mix of both humor and lament.

It’s an event which draws wry chuckles now, but each staffer knows severe weather on the High Plains is no joking matter. On Labor Day weekend of 1967, a series of five tornadoes struck Pantex, destroying some 50 power poles, numerous ramps and roofs, and shattering an incredible number of vehicle and building windows. Strong wind storms again left devastating impacts on the site in 1969 and the 1983 event Bellamy remembered. Each incident left this group’s predecessors grateful for their safety but with huge messes to clean up.

Yet, for all their hard work, this is not a team that asks for attention or accolades. The pride of a job well done is thanks enough. They work hard in the day-to-day providing safe roads, digging trenches, and filling sand bags. When situations really escalate, they rise to the occasion. During wildfire season, the crew can be found cutting fire breaks, refilling the fire department’s grass rigs, or refueling fire trucks on the go.

Of course, there’s one thing this crew does wish employees would take to heart.

“Give us room to do our job, either walking or driving,” Cockrell said.

Lewis explained employees will, at times, crowd their heavy equipment, creating a potential hazard if the machine’s operator should need to back up.

“People on tractors have a problem with employees walking behind the equipment,” she said.

Drawing echoes from his peers, Travis Reed said it’s hard to watch other employees make careless decisions that frustrate hours of hard work.

“We spend hours and hours putting down ice melt, to watch people walk [in an untreated area], creating a hazard,” he said.

Much like the old postal creed involving snow, rain, and gloom of night, the men and women of Pantex Infrastructure stand ready both day and night to ensure their peers accomplish the mission, safely.

Infrastructure’s Site Services team provides safe roads, digs trenches, fills sand bags, and much more.

Take 5 minutes and learn about CNS's Forrest P., a Pantex production technician. All views and opinions are the employee’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of CNS.

“It doesn’t look right.”

When a Pantex production technician utters words like that, people pay attention. The cost of even a single mistake is simply too high.

“We received some shim stock, and it didn’t look right,” explained Forrest P., who has been a production technician at Pantex for most of his 12-year career. “It was the wrong thickness from what we were normally using.”

Forrest obtained more stock to verify there was, in fact, an issue. When the second batch came in with the same discrepancy between the labeled specification and what he knew from previous experience, Forrest and his coworkers reached out to 35 Account to begin an investigation and, ultimately, correct the problem.

Someone without Forrest’s years of experience might be tempted to dismiss the CNS directive to maintain a questioning attitude, yet such a mindset is truly foundational to the work at Pantex. After more than a decade as a Pantexan, it has become a way of life for Forrest, a small facet of the work that fills him with patriotic pride.

“I’ve always had high patriotism,” he said. “I see the weapons when they’re completed, and I get a satisfaction in doing my job, providing quality.”

Building America’s nuclear deterrent at Pantex was unimaginable for someone who once envisioned himself pursuing a career in real estate and development, but relatives working at the plant presented a positive image in Forrest’s mind.

He was eager to land a Pantex job and get to work. Forrest said success at Pantex hinges on finding the right motivation and bringing diligence to each day’s activities.

“It’s not something for everybody,” he acknowledged. “You’re stuck in a building, and it’s dark. But you’ve got to enjoy what you’re doing.”

And Forrest, who dreams of one day retiring to enjoy life in a log cabin in the mountains, does indeed relish his work.

“I’ve always enjoyed a challenge,” he said, “and this has been a challenge I enjoy.”

Why are you mission success?
What I do is for the protection of the United States — and my family.

What CNS principle drives you to be successful, and why?
Just personal satisfaction, I’m kind of a perfectionist.

What’s your favorite outside of work activity, and why?
I build and restore classic cars. I have a 1936 coupe and a ’55 Chevrolet Nomad.

What is your favorite aspect about your work environment? How does that part of your job or work environment let you know the mission is being met?
Success: When we’re finished and we sew up the unit and everything’s done properly, there’s just a satisfaction.

As an employee, what do you want to be remembered for?
I took pride in what I did and did everything properly.