Even though Radio & Television is a far cry
from what I do today, it definitely put me on the path. My years in
the RTV class gave me a love for not only the music and personality
aspects but also for the mechanics of the communications field. When
the time came to choose what I wanted as my specialty in the Marine
Corps, I looked at the list and saw "Operational Communications." At
the time I was a DJ at the local roller rink, Aca Y Alla (R.I.P.), as
well as spending quite a bit of time in the RTV studio. "Operational
Communications" sounded like something I could handle. After a couple
years pulling cables and splicing wires I moved into programming
switchboards. By the time I hung up my boots, after 7 years, I was
designing telecom networks for forward and rear military encampments.
I decided how the LAN/WAN, satellites, and telephone systems
would best go together so the general could pull his cot up to
the table in his tent, power up his laptop, and play poker with the
brass back on base. Or, so I could sit on a ship off the coast of
Norway and make a local call to family back home. That experience
enabled me to get a job with Fujitsu Network Communications. Having
spent the majority of my life in the south - first in Mississippi,
then in North Carolina - Fujitsu thought I'd be the best person to
handle their operations in New York City. Turns out they were right.
Our customers spend so much time listening to my accent and telling
me I ought to be on the radio and sympathizing with my stories of a
redneck trying to deal with Manhattan traffic that they don't notice
when the project is running behind schedule or some other minor thing
is wrong. My job consists of traveling to customer sites to program
new fiber optic transport systems or to troubleshoot problems with
pre-existing systems. Our customers include all the baby Bells (Bell
Atlantic, Pacific Bell, etc.), MCI Worldcom, GTE, Ameritech, Time
Warner, and dozens of other telecom companies. With everybody wanting
DSL and cable modems our business is going through the roof!
And that's how you go from struggling over those crazy names in the
news (say Martina Navritalova 5 times fast) on WJEF to struggling
over those crazy names of Bell Atlantic Vice Presidents in the
Bronx.
Enjoy your time in the RTV class, you never know where it'll take
you!"