Stefan came to visit us today. Stefan is our youngest son. He’s tall and muscular. His arms are completely covered with animal tattoos. He has a menagerie drawn with multicolored ink on his biceps and forearms. He sports a short reddish beard and moustache. He shaves his head. He gives people the impression that he is not a man to mess with, and that is accurate. Stefan does not suffer fools gladly.
Our son is a journeyman in the Ironworkers Union. He belongs to a macho culture, one that is perhaps even more so than the military. He is currently the welding instructor for his local, which is impressive seeing as he is only thirty years old. Generally, an older, more experienced member of the union would hold that position. However, he was selected to teach the fresh-faced new apprentices. When he isn’t teaching, Stefan is working at jobsites. Lately, he’s been working on a new high rise that is going up on the Milwaukee lakefront. He’s been working on the Couture.
When he stopped at the house, he talked to me about the project he is going to start tomorrow at that construction site. He is going be working with a crew to dismantle the tower crane that has been used to build the structure. This is a big deal for him. It is the tallest crane in Wisconsin, and this is a type of work he has never done before.
The Couture is 44 stories high. The yellow crane in the foreground of the picture is taller than the building. That tower crane is what Stefan, and the other Ironworkers, will take apart piece by piece. They will be walking on the crane as they dismantle it. Stefan tried to explain the process to me, and he sent me a video to watch. It seems very sketchy. The Ironworkers will remove sections of the tower, starting at the top just under the boom, and then, one by one, take off each section below the first piece to be removed. Essentially, the crane will collapse upon itself in slow motion. This will take days to accomplish. The last thing to be dismantled will be the boom itself.
Stefan is both excited and terrified by the project. He told me how nervous he was, but he also made it clear that he wanted to do it. He will get massive overtime by participating in this project, but he could get overtime in a number of other ways. No, he wants to be part of this particular mission.
I asked him why.
He told me, “It isn’t often that you ever get to take down a crane like this. I will get to say I did it. It will keep me from getting shit from these other guys.”
I asked him, “You get shit from the other guys?”
He replied, “I’m a teacher. Guys go at me because they think the grass is greener where I am. They don’t realize that I have to water the fucking grass every day to keep it green.”
He went on, “Very few guys ever do something like this. It takes fucking enormous balls to go up the crane and tear it down.”
“So, you’re anxious about this job?”
“Fuck yeah.”
“But you’re going to do it anyway?”
“Fuck yeah.”
I smiled to myself.
That’s my boy.
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Frank (Francis) Pauc is a graduate of West Point, Class of 1980. He completed the Military Intelligence Basic Course at Fort Huachuca and then went to Flight School at Fort Rucker. Frank was stationed with the 3rd Armor Division in West Germany at Fliegerhorst Airfield from December 1981 to January 1985. He flew Hueys and Black Hawks and was next assigned to the 7th Infantry Division at Fort Ord, CA. He got the hell out of the Army in August 1986.
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