Photo By Veronica Kemeny | Maj. Josh Aldred, Air Force Civil Engneer Center Energy Directorate deputy director,...... read more read more
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TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. — Curiosity and taking on challenges pepper my earliest childhood memories.
Growing up in the arid and dusty Arizona high desert made me especially curious about the power of water. I distinctly remember trying to block the flow of water in a storm sewer by trying different dam designs composed of sticks and leaves. I achieved small victories before my makeshift structures were overcome by the engulfing water, however, I pressed on with bigger and bolder designs until I attained success.
As I grew older, I remember doodling in class and creating designs for new cities in imaginary lands. My inspiration was the city of Phoenix, which was growing rapidly and rising from the ashes of an ancient civilization. The idea that millions of people could live in a place with no water drove my curiosity further.
In the days before the internet, I visited the library and read encyclopedias. I learned the $4 billion Central Arizona Project consisted of hundreds of miles of canals and pumping stations crossing desolate and remote terrain, ultimately connecting the Colorado River to Phoenix and Tucson. I also learned about the Hoover Dam and how concrete in the dam was still curing nearly 60 years later. My mind was blown, and I wanted to learn more.
I signed up for drafting courses in middle school and high school and had a fantastic teacher named Mr. Johnston who invested a lot of time in his students. My earliest memories of drafting class were not happy ones, as we spent weeks perfecting our drafting penmanship over and over until the letters were perfect and square. However, after surviving the penmanship gauntlet, Johnston taught me how to draw buildings in perspective and in three dimensions. I started drawing custom homes for fun and learned about a famous architect named Frank Lloyd Wright. As I learned more about Wright, I grew enamored with his bold designs, most memorably his design for a mile-high skyscraper in Chicago. I ultimately learned that Wright — although famously known as an accomplished architect — actually studied civil engineering in college and started his career designing some of the first skyscrapers in Chicago. That settled it:I would become a civil engineer.
My first semester at college was a little more challenging than I expected. I took a full course load, participated in Air Force ROTC and worked part time. I thought maybe civil engineering wasn’t for me — my courses took too much time and I was only taking the basic, preliminary courses for the engineering program.
For a class project in ROTC, we had to research an Air Force leader and write a report on his impact to the Air Force. I chose Gen. Curtis LeMay and discovered he was instrumental in winning the war effort during World War II through strategic bombing in Europe and night bombing in Japan. More important, I read his biography and found out he had studied civil engineering in college, worked full time, participated in ROTC and graduated in four years. My mind was blown again. I was determined to push through my challenging courses and become a civil engineer.
After college, I always had a desire for continuous learning. I pursued my professional engineer license and applied for graduate school via the U.S. Air Force Academy faculty pipeline. Teaching at the Academy was by far my hardest but most fulfilling job in the Air Force. Grading papers, developing tests and providing valuable feedback was time intensive, but always worthwhile, especially when I saw a student who was struggling with a difficult concept begin to understand. I’ll never forget seeing my students’ eyes brighten when they finally grasped a challenging topic. It was during my time at the Academy that I realized my No. 1 mission as an Air Force officer is to grow my replacements.
The future will always require engineers — we build cities and carry big ideas from concept to reality. If you haven’t already, look around, find someone to grow as your replacement — you never know, it may be a kid building dams in a storm sewer.
Editor’s Note: Each year, Engineer’s Week is a good opportunity for Air Force professionals in the STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — disciplines to reach out to their local communities to help encourage and mentor tomorrow’s STEM professionals. Aldred is a professional engineer licensed in Arizona and a certified project management professional. He holds a doctorate in civil engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.
| Date Taken: | 02.15.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 02.22.2018 08:22 |
| Story ID: | 266192 |
| Location: | TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, FL, US |
| Hometown: | PHOENIX, AZ, US |
| Web Views: | 52 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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