POWERGRAMS

SALUTING VETERANS Photos by Bill Snow Plant Gaston journeyman saw the world in the Navy Wallace tests electrical equipment at Gaston. At the tender age of 18, Kevin Walker was seeking the right path for his life. When a U.S. Navy recruiter visited Shelby County High School in 1991, Walker knew he was on to something. The next week, he committed to the Navy delayed entry program. Within months, Walker was winging his way to the next station in life, 800 miles from home, in Great Lakes, Ill. Walker never dreamed his quick decision would lead him to Greece, Spain, Italy, Sicily, Tunisia, Israel, Canada and Africa. He attended boot camp for three months. Illinois' deep-freeze cold was a shock to this Southerner's system. "I had never been cold that way," Walker said. "The snow was waist deep, but Walker spent five years in nothing ever stopped in Illinois. the Navy. Things shut down in Alabama when it snows, but Chicago just kept going." After training for 18 months, Walker was stationed at the Naval Amphibious Base, Little Creek, near Norfolk, Va. As the major operating base for Amphibious Forces for the Atlantic Fleet, the base provides support services to more than 15,000 personnel for 27 ships. "That's when I really felt like I was in the Navy," said Walker, who, as part of Assault Craft Unit 4, started working on hovercrafts. "They were pretty cool. Each hovercraft had four gas turbine engines, and we did the maintenance and repair." Walker was detached to the USS Pensacola for six months, traveling overseas with Navy and Marine personnel. He was part of a Navy maintenance team that repaired large hovercrafts. "The ship can get only so close to shore, so we'd load up tanks and personnel, and take them to the beach so they could set up," Walker explained. When the work was complete, Walker and other personnel were free to travel on their off time, leaving the ship in the morning and returning in the evening. "I got to see things I'll probably never see again," Walker said. "I was able to see Greece. I was able to see Israel, and got to see Bethlehem and Jerusalem. That trip stands out in my mind." Walker spent a day at an orphanage in Sicily, painting and cleaning the facility as a volunteer. Walker said the Navy allowed him the opportunity to experience different cultures. After five years of military duty, he decided to leave and take advantage of the GI Bill. He studied finance at the University of Montevallo, then put his gas turbine training to work, taking a part-time job at Alabama Power. In 2007, he earned his bachelor's degree. "A lot of my friends were going into banking," Walker said. "I already had a good, secure job at Alabama Power. Out of all my friends, I'm the only one who is still in the same place." Walker said his salary as an electrical and instrumentation journeyman at Plant Gaston is comparable to earnings for the field in which he earned his degree. "My job stability is unmatched," he said. "I'm happy where I am." Walker doesn't regret the choices he made as a youth. Indeed, the Navy turned out to be the unlikely path that led him to Alabama Power. "Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I'd not gone into the Navy," he said. "But I wouldn't change anything. If I'd stayed in the military, I'd never have come back to Alabama, I wouldn't be at the company, and I wouldn't have met my wife or had my stepson. "I love my job," he said. "I feel like the guys I work with, I can depend on outside of work." By Donna Cope 3

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