CALL OF DUTY Boeing veterans share their stories of military service BY ERIC FETTERS-WALP AND PHOTOS BY BOB FERGUSON Vand specialized skills, along with pride, specialeterans make up more than 17 percent ofBoeing’s workforce, bringing unique experiences attention to detail and discipline. Boeing is part of Get Skills to Work, which is focused on training for U.S. veterans, helping translate military skills to advanced manufacturing jobs and assisting employers with recruiting, hiring and mentoring veterans. In less than two years, Boeing already has hired and trained nearly 3,000 veterans. Overall, approximately 24,500 self- identified veterans work at Boeing, with many continuing their service in the U.S. National Guard and Reserves. Boeing has launched an affinity group for veterans, the Boeing Employees Veterans Association. Employees can learn more at http://hr.web.boeing.com/index. aspx?com=59&id=1 on the Boeing intranet. Rosa Bartol was a 17-year-old growing up in East Los Angeles, Calif., when she decided she wanted to see the world. Despite some wariness from her parents, she joined the ROSA U.S. Army. “Right out of high school, one month later, I ventured into the world, just like I wanted to,” said Bartol, who has traveled to all 50 of the United States, as well as Iraq and much of BARTOL Europe. She now is on the cusp of retirement from the military after serving her nation for more than 25 years. During much of the same period, she has nurtured a career at Boeing. “Boeing has always been really good about all my deployments and having a job for me when I came back,” said Bartol, now in the Air National Guard and a Commercial Airplanes Security specialist at the Everett, Wash., site. On her last deployment to Iraq, Bartol served as chief of living quarters for 57 women, helping take care of her fellow airmen while their forward operating base was frequently attacked. “That was what I concentrated on—being the first sergeant to all those 20-year-olds, especially during the bad times.” 38 BOEING FRONTIERS / NOVEMBER 2012
Frontiers November 2012 Issue
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