Watervliet Arsenal's Newsletter: Salvo 31 August 2012

Vol. 12, No. 8 U.S. Army Watervliet Arsenal, Watervliet, NY August 31, 2012

SALVO“Service to the Line, On the Line, On Time”

A new Silicon Valley in the Northeast?

Story continued on page 3, see Silicon

By John B. Snyder

Not since the gold rush days of 1848 in California or Spindletop’s striking of black gold in Texas in 1901, has there been a natural resource find that may be as significant — until now.

In just a few research labs in the Northeast, are a handful of scientists with Ph.Ds and graduate stu-dents who are working hard to bring this new re-source into the homes of every American, and the Army is right in the middle of this discovery.

The Army’s Benét Laboratories, which is located at the Watervliet Arsenal in upstate New York, brought together this month 30 of our nation’s experts to share information about a little known resource called “black silicon.”

This is not an easy field to understand, or even to

report on, as the discussion went from lively de-bates about convergent-beam electron diffractions to pressure-induced phase transformations during fem-tosecond-laser surface texturing of silicon. Never-theless, those who attended not only understood this subject matter, they also had an uncanny enthusiasm about something the human eye cannot see.

Just as visible light comes in many different colors, infrared light also has a broad spectrum of “colors,” said Jeffrey Warrender, who has a Ph.D in applied physics and is Benét’s leading black silicon re-searcher. But most light passes right through ordi-nary silicon imagers without being absorbed.

The black silicon community’s goal is to devise techniques to modify silicon’s properties so that it can absorb more of these infrared colors while still

California Gold Rush Texas Oil Discovery Northeast Silicon Exploration 1848 1901 2012

Page 2 Salvo August 31, 2012

The Arsenal Salvo is an authorized monthly publication for members of the Department of Defense. Contents of the Salvo are not necessarily the official views of, or an endorse-ment by the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense, the Department of the Army, or the Watervliet Arsenal. News may be submitted for publication by sending articles to Public Affairs Officer, 1 Buffington Street, Bldg. 10, Watervliet, NY 12189, or stop by office #102, Bldg. 10, Watervliet Arsenal. The editor may also be reached at (518) 266-5055 or by e-mail: [email protected]. The editor reserves the right to edit all information submitted for publication.

Commander, Col. Mark F. MigaleddiPublic Affairs Officer, John B. SnyderEditor, John B. SnyderPhotographer: John B. Snyder Arsenal Facebook Page @http://on.fb.me/sq3LEm

Commander’s Corner

Mark F. MigaleddiCommanding

Manufacturer 6

What a great month this has been! We made great headway in improving our maintenance posture during the annual shutdown, completed three major force protection activities, hosted the new TACOM LCMC commander, and have kept our production and delivery on time. Throughout our history, the ebb and flow of workload that occurs prior to, during, and after every conflict, from the War of 1812 to our current combat operations in Afghanistan, have affected the workforce. There is always a sense of excitement as we ramp up to support and sustain the warfighter in combat. Then, as we wind down military operations and workload begins to slow, there is usually a sense of concern about declining direct labor requirements and potential job losses. Given that combat operations in Iraq have ended and troops are now being pulled out of Afghanistan, we are now at the right of the proverbial “Bell Curve” in regards to our direct labor requirements. To the neophyte Arsenal employee, your stress level may rise as rumors may flow from office to production bay. To those who have been here awhile, you are a survivor of this environment and therefore, your stress level may not be as high. But let me be clear, although the Arsenal leadership is concerned about keeping our direct

labor requirements level in the out years, we are not worried. One theme that stands out in the Arsenal’s nearly 200-year history is that when times become tough, the workforce and their leaders rally together to do whatever is necessary to preserve the long-term viability of the Arsenal. We have had great leaders and workers who have either adapted our capabilities to niche markets or better yet, who have created new capabilities to find new markets. Today is no different. We still have a great workforce with the right leadership to chart the future direction of the Arsenal. Behind the scenes, we are aggressively attacking our future direct labor challenges by: seeking new target markets for our products; supporting the professional development of individuals and leaders; adopting LEAN practices that will make us more efficient; and changing our culture to promote a spirit of collaboration between fellow workers and the community. If there is nothing else you get from my comments, please take away at least this … you have a vote in how future generations view today’s Watervliet Arsenal. Fifty years from now, as future generations read the Arsenal’s history, how do you want the chapter about your tenure to read? The initiatives that I have mentioned will only be as good as the people who support them. I need your support as we help shape the Arsenal for the next generation of warfighters and Arsenal workers.


Jeffrey Warrender, who has a Ph.D in applied physics and is Benét’s leading black silicon researcher, taking questions from the attendees.

Photo by John B. Snyder

taking advantage of the manufacturing infrastructure that produces inexpensive silicon-based imagers and devices such as camera phones, Warrender said.

The Army’s involvement, via Benét Labs, is to leverage this new technology to improve situational awareness for our troops on the battlefield.

“Although there are numerous applications for black sili-con technology that could affect and improve our daily lives, our prime interest at Benét is to give the Soldier an improved weapon scope, enhanced night vision goggles, better infrared-based targeting; and enhanced explosive de-tection,” Warrender said.

The presenters for this symposium came from such aca-demic institutions as Harvard, MIT, and RPI. They provided the theory, but theory is only so good unless there is some sort of application. This is where Martin Pralle comes in.

Pralle, who has a Ph.D in materials science and is the vice president of business development for a Mas-sachusetts company called SiOnyx, Inc., said that black silicon has a wide range of potential uses from com-mercial to industrial to medical to defense.

“My company takes the theory, such as was discussed in Benét’s sympo-sium, and turns it into devices,” Pralle said.

Pralle further explained that some of the products SiOnyx is working on will not only improve consumer-oriented products such as home se-curity systems, but also could become the next generation of defense imagery devices that will dramatically improve daytime and nighttime surveillance and targeting.

“The value of black silicon cannot be understated,” Pralle said. “From a common resource called silicon, we can apply a laser to it to give it properties that will greatly im-prove performance of imagery devices and do so with a much lower price point.”

In a previous Benét Black Silicon Symposium, Harvard Professor Eric Mazur said the discovery of black silicon at

his university was by accident in the late 1990s.

“We (Harvard) were doing research on platinum surfaces for the Army Re-search Laboratories and we knew that after three years of research we had to do something different or the Army funding would dry up,” Mazur said.

“From a dusty little bottle of sulfur hexafluoride that was laying around ― a gas used by the semiconductor in-dustry ― they decided to toy with the sulfur gas using a laser on a silicon sur-face, Mazur said. “What we found was that after the silicon wafer had been hit with a laser the wafer turned black.”

Mazur said the absorption of visible light of typical silicon wafers is about 60 percent, and is effectively zero for most of the infrared spectrum. But when the sulfur is applied to the silicon

wafer and then roughed up with a laser the wafer shows dramatic infrared absorption.

The value of Benét’s Black Silicon Symposium this month also cannot be understated.

What Benét did was to bring together academia with those who will turn theory into devices, each motivating each other to do more in the field of black silicon,” Pralle said.

Silicon cont.

Photo by John B. SnyderDr. Martin Pralle, standing, is leading the discussion about the absorption and structure of black silicon. Pralle is the vice president of business development for a Massachusetts company called SiOnyx, Inc.

“There is no other training aide that equals what New York State has provided today,” Whipple said in regards to the Aug. 9 training. “In addition to being a great train-ing aid, this training was funded by New York’s Office of Fire Prevention and Control.” Whipple said that training with foam is rare due to its cost, lack of skills that are required to apply the foam, and the environmental considerations required prior to using foam. And so, when this rare opportunity for a re-alistic training aide to be provided with all costs associat-

ed with running the device paid for, it was a definite win-win situation for the Arsenal and for the local community. The City of Watervliet Fire Chief Scott Skin-ner agreed that this type of training is very expensive and therefore, his fire-fighters don’t get the opportunity to train with foam as much as they would like to. But more im-portant than simply training his team on how to respond to a

fuel fire, Skinner said the value of working as a team with the Arsenal and other local emergency response teams cannot be measured or underestimated. “Responding to a major fuel fire is a real threat to the City of Watervliet and one that we would need the support of the Arsenal and other community response teams,” Skinner said. “And so, the building of relation-ships is critical to ensure that a rapid and complete re-sponse effort saves lives and property.” The training for the fuel spill fire included such train-ing areas as foam calculation, predicting downwind hazard areas, foam application, and immediate actions to solve problems. Whereas the Aug. 9 exercise was conducted via a



Watervliet builds great cannons, better relationships

By John B. Snyder

Story continues on page 5, see Fire

Through a round-robin type of training, each community firefighting team had an op-portunity to apply foam to a simulated ethanol fire.

It is no secret that Watervliet builds the best cannons in the world, but what the Arsenal has been building with the local community lately may be just as strong as the steel used in gun tubes — it’s called relationships. The month of August is traditionally a slow period at the Arsenal because that is when a significant number of workers take leave during the annual shutdown of manufacturing operations. But for the Arsenal’s emer-gency service teams, who provide 24-hour, seven-day-a-week protection to the Arse-nal, there was no such thing as a shutdown. In a series of back-to-back training events this month, the Arsenal firefight-ers, with the support of the Arsenal’s law enforcement team, reached out to local first responders, as well as to New York State’s Office of Fire Prevention and Con-trol, to conduct realis-tic, tough training. The first exercise was conducted August 9 and involved the use of a training aide that is so unique that there are only eight in the world said Dan Baker, the program director of New York’s Office of Fire Prevention and Control. “Given all the fuel trucks on the road today, respond-ing to an emergency involving a spill from a truck car-rying ethanol is a very real-world scenario and one that could impact every community in New York,” Baker said. “Therefore, New York State’s Division of Home-land Security and Emergency Services made a major investment in purchasing a fuel truck training aid to assist community first responder teams in the use of foam to put out a hazardous material fire.” Arsenal’s Fire Chief, John Whipple, said that first re-sponders from the communities of Albany, West Albany, Troy, Watervliet, Selkirk, and Schuyler Heights joined the Arsenal in this one-of-a-kind training.


Fire cont.

Right: The Arsenal’s firefighting team extinguishing a simulated ethanol fire.

Top Left: NEWS10 TV (ABC) caught up with Arsenal Officer Stephen Huneau after he helped apprehend a simulated disgruntled worker and secure the area. He was all smiles until the interview.

Center Left: Arsenal law enforcement officer Pete Northup is all smiles prior to securing simu-lated disgruntled worker, Sean Plaske. Smiles soon ended after just a few minutes of being fully suited up on an 85-degree day.

Bottom Left: The Arsenal’s Assistant Fire Chief, Stephen Bogart, ran the operation on Aug. 14.

round-robin process, where fire fighting teams rotated through various training stations, the exercise con-ducted Aug. 14 was scenario-based and one that included activating the Arsenal’s alert system. The exer-cise tested and evaluated the Arsenal’s ca-pability to re-spond to a sim-ulated hazardous material incident caused by a disgruntled worker at the Arsenal’s waste treatment plant. As part of this exercise, a role player was medically treated due to his simulated injuries, as well as a complete decontamina-tion of all first responders who worked in the hot zone. According to Whipple, the force protection exercise enabled the command to exercise Arsenal emergency response units, from firefighters to law enforcement, in a real-time scenario. The exercise also involved a number of first responders and equipment from the municipalities of Albany, Watervliet, West Albany, Elsmere, and from the Town of Colonie. How valuable was this training? “We don’t have an organic capability to respond to a hazardous material incident, such as what we exercised here today,” Skinner said. “Nevertheless, we still need to know what capability resides at the Arsenal and at other communities, as well as the tech-niques and procedures they apply when responding to a hazardous material incident, so that we can use those capabilities effectively in the City.” So, after the fire hoses were rolled up, chemical training suits stowed, media departed, and firefighters

back in their stations, there was still a sense of unfin-ished business in the air. “Despite the great training and new relationships developed this month, our work is not done,” Whipple said. “Protecting the Arsenal workforce and the com-munity requires that we train every day, as well as to work hard to expand our relationships with local community and New York State emergency response teams.” The Watervliet Arsenal has a Memorandum of Agreement with a number of local communities to provide and receive mutual emergency service sup-port.

Photos by John B. Snyder


Project HARP Big gun firing its payload, early 1960s test firing.

By Mark Koziol

Photo provided by the Arsenal Museum

How could 16-inch Naval Gun tubes made in the early 20th century be useful during the space race in the early 1960s? Some did and we can thank the Cold War for it. In the early 1960s, government officials sought a better and more cost effective way to launch payloads into the atmo-sphere other than using multi-staged rockets. Canadian scien-tist Gerald Bull proposed the use of large guns for launching projectiles and he successfully lobbied the Canadian govern-ment for funding. Project HARP (High Altitude Research Program) was a cooperative venture between the Canadian and U.S. govern-ment. Canada’s McGill University supplied the ideas and expertise and the U.S. Department of Defense supplied the money to fund the project, as well as experience. Bull was appointed the project direc-tor because of his successful experiences in creating low-cost, efficient testing methods for anti-ballistic missiles and intercontinental ballistic missiles. He theorized that using older 16-inch gun tubes would allow scientists to effective-ly and cheaply launch payloads into the atmosphere. This is where Watervliet Arsenal entered the picture. The U.S. Army’s Ballistic Research Lab assigned Watervliet Arsenal the contract to modify several 16-inch guns because of the Arsenal’s experience in manufacturing and maintaining such large guns. Between 1961 and 1963, the tubes were modernized by removing the rifled grooves in the barrel tube and by extending the original length of the gun from 60 to 100 feet. Arsenal project managers were Foreman Howard French and his assistant Thomas Connolly. According to the January 1965 issue of the SALVO, the first 16-inch gun came from a World War I Naval vessel, the USS Washington, with the sec-ond gun coming from the USS Indiana. A launch site in Barbados was chosen because a water-borne reentry was deemed safest. The first gun was installed in January 1963 and the 100-foot long gun could be hydrauli-cally elevated from a horizontal to vertical position in less than two minutes. Construction of the payload occurred simultaneously as the modified 16-inch guns. The Martlet series of projectiles carried “instruments made from discrete solid-state electron-

ics potted in a mix of epoxy and sand…the electronics sur-vived the launch acceleration of 2000 g.”

The first generation Martlets stood four-feet tall and were liquid propelled, later they changed to the more efficient solid rocket fuel. They were equipped with a high speed camera to record the behavior of the payload in flight. The first launch occurred on Jan. 21, 1963, and according to the website Astronautix.com, once launched, the Martlet I was to hold colored chemicals for release during flight to produce a visible trail. This allowed observers to track altitude conditions affecting the pro-jectile. The nose (cone) was designed to hold a small one-watt radio transmitter and other electronic instruments. In early 1965, The Wall Street Journal praised the early success of the program: “… in 75 shots, the 16-inch gun sent one type of a rocket-assisted package 40 miles up and an-other payload, Martlet 2A, 125 miles.” There were many advantages using a large gun to launch payloads into space rather than multi- staged rockets:

• The fast initial velocity of a gun launched payload meant they were less vulnerable to wind currents (than rockets) causing an errant missile flight path.

• Cost differentials were significant: a payload fired from the Big Guns cost $3,000 per launch as compared to a multi-staged rocket launch costing $30,000.

By 1966, after spending $10 million on Project HARP, the project was cancelled due to the rising costs of the Vietnam War and increased diplomatic tensions between the U.S. and Canada.

Photo provided by the Astronautix.com

Early 1963, a modified 16-inch gun made for Project HARP depicts modifications that include an elongated tube from 60 to 100 feet and trunnions and breach removed. Arsenal people in the photo, from left to right, Anthony Camprone (under the tube near the muzzle), Jim Nagle and Marge Moran.

Who knew???The Arsenal was in the space race


Watervliet: When shutting down creates an environment for long-term success

By John B. Snyder

Was it a falsehood, deception, or simply an inappropriate use of words when Arsenal leadership said the manufacturing center was shutting down operations July 30 to Aug. 3? Each year, the Arsenal leadership sets aside a one-week period when manufacturing stops or slows down to accommodate summer vacation plans. This is so the Arsenal does not have a surge of vacationers at an inopportune time during the summer months. But it is also a time when critical, focused maintenance can be conducted without impeding manufacturing delivery schedules. Thomas Herold, the Arsenal’s Maintenance and Operations supervisor, said that the annual shutdown period is actually one of the busiest times of the year for his team and a challenge his team looks forward to each year. “For this week, I have been able to augment my 33-member team with 19 employees from manufacturing,” Herold said. “Because of this team effort, we will be able to do such tasks

as run new power cables for outdoor lighting, clean storm drains, replace water piping, install eye wash stations, and get caught up on outdoor trimming and painting in addition to our scheduled maintenance requirements.” Scheduled maintenance included such tasks as electrical sub-station maintenance, elevator maintenance, boiler plant maintenance, and air conditioning maintenance. This shutdown period was also a boon for the Chief of the Arsenal’s Manufacturing Support Division. “This was the first time in more than four years that we have been able to completely shut down our production lines, which has allowed us unmitigated access to every production area,” said Tim Allard. “In fact, we have not only been able to achieve every maintenance task on our plan, we also have been able to do some extra work such as the calibration of some of our machines.” Allard explained the reason why the Arsenal was able to completely shut down its production lines this year was because of the extraordinary effort by everyone in production,

contracting, and shipping to have all August delivery requirements ready for a 100-percent on-time ship rate for this month. Maybe one of the bigger, non-maintenance tasks was the movement of a box packaging operation from one building to another. This major move will position a critical shipping function closer to the production lines, which may result in the reduction of hundreds of manufacturing hours during the next year. In all, nearly 150 Arsenal employees were directly tied to improving the maintenance posture of the Arsenal during this year’s shutdown. “This truly was an exceptional effort by everyone to work as a team making the Arsenal safer and more productive,” Herold said. Although the Arsenal leadership has always called this annual maintenance event a “shutdown,” maybe for next year a better use of words could be used. After all, the Arsenal has operated continuously since 1813 and therefore, the word “shutdown” shouldn’t even be in the Arsenal’s vocabulary.

After all, the Arsenal has changed its production lines hun-dreds of times since its humble beginning during the War of 1812. So, what will be different during Terry’s tenure, versus, Maj. Gen. Kurt J. Stein’s time as the TACOM commander? Stein transferred command of TACOM LCMC to Terry last June. “We know that for us to be DOD’s manufacturer of choice, we must stabilize our rates and become more ef-ficient,” Migaleddi said. “This involves changing the Ar-

senal’s culture to not only adopt LEAN processes that will create efficiencies in all that we do, we also must get our workforce to truly believe in LEAN to ensure our long-term vi-ability.” Terry said that al-though he had heard of the Watervliet Arsenal many years ago, he truly did not know what to expect. But as Terry moved through the Arsenal, taking time to talk and praise the work-force, he had a common theme.

“What a great history,” Terry said. “You have such an amazing, unique capability that we must do all that we can to use strategic communications to tell your story.” Many could anticipate what Terry would get out of this visit, but what about the troops or in this case, the Depart-ment of the Army Civilians who work in the Arsenal’s re-search labs, manufacturing bays, and in the tool rooms? Christopher Humiston, a mechanical engineer with Benét Laboratories who often briefs visitors about a flow-form process using extreme cold versus heat to form mortar barrels, said there seemed to be a new sense of importance to briefing Terry than for other visitors. “We had more preparation, such as rehearsals, move-ment of displays, as well as more senior leader involvement than we typically have had for other visitors,” Humiston said. “And it paid off.” Humiston explained that Terry asked a lot of questions about the mechanics of the flow-form process that no one


Photo by John B. SnyderArsenal Deputy Commander Ed McCarthy, left, answers a question about the rotary forge from Maj. Gen. Michael Terry, while Greg Marcklinger listens in.

TACOM CG’s 200-year journeyBy John B. Snyder

Maj. Gen. Michael J. Terry visited the Watervliet Arse-nal Aug. 21 and in a space of about eight hours, he learned about the Arsenal’s nearly 200-year role in providing con-tinuous support to our uniformed men and women. As the new TACOM Life Cycle Management Com-mand’s commander, this was Terry’s first visit to the Arsenal and as can be expected, there was something of the standardized tour that other TACOM subordinate commands have already conducted for him. Conduct an Office call with the Arsenal com-mander…Check. Receive a command overview brief…Check. Visit production lines…Check. Hand out awards…Check. Attend a working lunch…Check. And so forth — mis-sion complete. Right? Well, not so fast. There is nothing stan-dard about today’s economic environment or the future state of defense dollars. As part of the Department of De-fense’s Industrial Base, the Watervliet Arsenal cannot take a visit by a senior Army leader lightly … and it didn’t. Watervliet is not your grandparents’ arsenal and for that matter, not even your parents’ arsenal. It hasn’t made the big 16-inch guns for naval warships for some time now. And, what may have been unconceivable just a few years ago, cannon manufacturing no longer makes up the bulk of production. “We have seen a rapid shift in core manufacturing from cannons to mortars in just the last couple of years,” said Watervliet Commander Col. Mark F. Migaleddi to Terry. “Production of 60mm, 81mm, and 120mm mortars, as well as mortar sustainment parts, now makes up more than 50 percent of today’s production.” Migaleddi’s words might be viewed by some Arsenal retirees as heresy, but shifting production priorities is only a piece to providing unparalleled support to the warfighter. Story continues on page 9, see CG


Arsenal History

SALVO: August 1985

Bldg. 135 to be named for Frank A. Miller

In keeping with the Arsenal tradition of memorializing its major buildings, Bldg. 135 will next month be named for Frank A. Miller, the installation’s outstanding superintendent of production throughout World War II and the Korean War. Permanent plaques will be attached to the building to tell the story of Miller’s rise from a machinist in 1917 to his retirement in 1953.

else had ever asked. “At the end of the day, it was a great visit and I really appreciate General Terry taking a personal inter-est in my background and for thank-ing me for what I do to support the warfighter,” Humiston said. Greg Marcklinger who supervises the operation of one of the most fa-vored parts of any Arsenal tour —the rotary forge — also said that prepar-ing for Terry’s visit was different. “I usually don’t brief visiting dig-nitaries, but the commander thought it would be a nice touch if I stepped up and briefed General Terry,” Marcklinger said. “General Terry asked some great questions about the type of training forge operators go through, as well as the type of material we used,” Marcklinger added. “But what I really liked about General Terry’s visit is that he seemed down-to-earth, which made me feel at ease.” Terry Van Vranken, an arsenal machinist and tool maker

who briefed Terry on gun tube rifling, said he knew just how important it was to not only give a great first impression, but also to showcase the Arsenal’s capabilities to Terry. “I did a lot of additional research on gun rifling just to

make sure I had my ducks in a row, and I’m glad I did,” Van Vranken said. “General Terry asked some very intelligent questions about gun rifling that no other visitors have asked me.” Van Vranken, like Humiston and Marcklinger, praised Terry for his personal interest in who they are and how they got to where they are. So, if first impressions are any measure of the success of Terry’s visit to Watervliet, then this trip exceeded expectations. The troops were very pleased and truly felt good about being able to showcase their skills and capabilities to their new commanding general. Terry also seemed to leave Watervliet with a good gut feeling, too. Terry’s note to the workforce after

his tour was complete said that this was a great visit and he is very impressed with the Arsenal team. “Good things are happening.”


CG cont.

Benét Labs’ Chris Humiston, right, explaining the mortar flow-form process to Maj. Gen. Michael Terry.


Life at the Arsenal when onecareer ends, another begins

Quarters One, circa 1918, the year before Col. James W. Benét returned with his family to the Arsenal to serve as Commander.

Photos provided by the Arsenal Museum

By Kenneth G. Botsford

A plaque on the Arsenal grounds near Quarters One notes that the author Stephen Vincent Benét (1898-1943) lived there during the summer of 1920, while revising the manuscript of his first novel, The Beginning of Wisdom. His father, Col. James Walker Benét (1857-1928), was serving as the Arsenal’s commander, a post he had assumed in March 1919. The family, though, was not new to Watervliet. From 1899 to 1904, Col. Benét had been stationed at the Arsenal to direct its ordnance production. The return to Watervliet was to be Col. Benét’s final Army assignment, as he was nearing retirement age. The modern reader who plunges into The Beginning of Wisdom anticipating specific references to the Arsenal will be disappointed, as there are none. Yet, the return to Watervliet allowed the Benét family to reflect on the past and to construe its meaning. The colonel, fond of history, gave it lasting form by naming the Arsenal’s thoroughfares after preceding commanders; in addition, he directed that a history of the facility be compiled. Stephen looked similarly to the past and fixed it, with a dash of poetic license. He had been rejected from enlisting in the Army during the First World War owing to poor

eyesight. The novel’s protagonist, Philip, is likewise declined on medical grounds. However, a successful operation clears him and he is promptly delivered to a training camp in the American South. He becomes a member of a gun crew in a mobile light artillery brigade. Committing to and participating in something larger than himself brings Philip toward the wisdom that he had sought. He appreciates the unique personality–in this instance, named ‘Benny’–of his mass-produced gun:

“From the soft chock of the breech-block that smacked home like a closing metal mouth to the dot of a flag from the signal pit showing that Benny had plumped square on his target again and the burnt chemical whiff of smokeless powder in his nose and on top of his tongue, Philip acquainted himself with every trick and idiosyncrasy of the play.”

Silently, the novel’s words pay tribute to his father, who had served as commander

of the Ordnance Training Corps at Camp Hancock, in Augusta, Ga., during the war. The unique environment of the Arsenal allowed one career to conclude and another to begin. The decade unfolded with a mixture of sadness and achievement. In 1921, Col. Benét retired after forty-one years of service. He died in 1928, after a brief illness. The following year, Stephen received the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. Ninety-two summers ago these outcomes were unknowable. Today, though, a sole plaque may suggest them.

Stephen Vincent Benét Circa 1921

Carl Fruscio & Sgt. Maj. Garett Savard came up with the winning name and the two runner-up names are Stinger (anonymous) & Gunner (Laurie Moffre).

The Safety Bee has a name...Buzzy


Saturday, Sept. 22 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Upcoming Arsenal Family Day

KID-ZONE - Bouncy Bounce - Crafts - Face Painting - 3-legged race and more...

TOURS -Manufacturing bays -Benét Stereolithography and Tank Turret Labs -Museum -Fire House

SPORTING EVENTS -Sumo Wrestling (Ages 9+) -Olympic games (long jump, hurdles, etc.) -Tug-a-war -Water balloon toss

PICNIC (nominal charge for food) -Chicken BBQ, hot dogs and more... -Cotton candy, popcorn, and snow cone -Wrist Band sales begin in September

MUSIC: USO's Liberty Bells and a DJ

Need Volunteers to help with...

The Kid Zone, OD Tour, and food service

For more information or if you can help out on 22 Sept., please call Dawn Whelan at 266-5473.


9-11 Commemoration & Retreat Ceremonies

WHAT: Special 9-11 commemoration ceremony to mark the anniversary of the terrorists’ attacks to the Pentagon, World Trade Center, and the downing of United Airlines Flight 93. The post will also conduct a retreat ceremony, which is the traditional lowering of the National Flag at the end of the day.

WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 13, 3:45 p.m.

WHERE: Post Flag

WHO: All installation employees. Ar-senal employees are authorized admin-istrative time to attend, but first check with your supervisor. Post residents and tenant organizations are also in-vited.

Delegated Examining Unit (DEU) / External Vacancy Announcements Did you know if you are selected for a position via an external/DEU announcement, you are required to serve a one-year probationary period? Every time an employee applies and is selected through delegated examining procedures, he/she must serve a new probationary period, regardless of how many times they may have already completed one. If an employee is selected via a DEU certificate and occupies tenure group 1 (Career), he/she will be in changed to tenure group II (Career Conditional) until he/she completes the one-year probationary period; then the employee will be changed back to tenure group I (Career).

Questions regarding Status of Application/ResumeDid you know if you have a question regarding the status of a position or why you were not referred for a position you applied for via USA Jobs, you can inquire via USA Jobs? To submit an applicant inquiry, please follow the steps below:

(1) Sign into your USA Jobs account;(2) Select "Application Status" from home page;(3) Under the Job Summary column, select the position you are inquiring about;(4) On the right hand side of the announcement, you will see the heading "Questions About This Job.” Send an inquiry to the email address listed under this section and you should receive a response to your inquiry within seven days.

For announcements/positions located at Watervliet, the email address is: [email protected] If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact the CPAC office (extensions 4058, 4053, 5400, or 4054).

CPAC Corner