Bernard (Bernie) Garma:  

Greetings to all who read this, I think I was remembered in our yearbook as "good man" (the phrase of the time) and as wanting to open a speed shop. Things people say in their youth. I don't have my yearbook in front of me so, I'm only recollecting. Being of the graduation class of 1962, one can only guess I was born in the Chinese astrological year of the Monkey, 1944. Well, my life has been textbook monkey. Everything happens at a whirlwind pace with events overlapping. So many interests, so many events, so many joys of life. I started my life after high school the way so many others have a bit confused as to what lay in my future. The job I had taken, after graduation, with the telephone company was getting boring. Even the classes at City College gave me no true direction. I passed a lot of time playing pool at Cochran's on Market street. Hustling pool wasn't a job! A friend told me about a city wide test for apprenticeship programs at the shipyards. I signed up, passed, was accepted and started my apprenticeship as a machinist. Making things out of metal was a path that was my destiny in every way. It fulfilled my ability to work with my hands, engineer products, design parts, and ultimately invent things for patenting. I felt the career was correct but not the sponsor. I transferred my apprenticeship to United Airlines. Now, working in the best environment in the country I began designing parts for race cars, airplanes, and firearms. All personal projects. I have a few patents from that experience. I was participating in racing cars. But, I wasn't comfortable with the level of danger I was facing. I soon went to flying airplanes. Single engine, multi-engine and even 3rd seat observation in a Lear Jet. Life is good. After receiving my journeymen certificate and my A&P license (airframe and power plant) I left to go to the heart of manufacturing and prototype development in Silicon Valley. I started working on prototypes of the first hard disk drives, helical scan video recording equipment, military surveillance optics, satellite tower systems, the Voyager space craft, and I-V communications satellite. I found myself doing more engineering than machining. So, I opened a machine shop, engineering and consulting firm in the heart of the Valley. Being in Silicon Valley In the '70's and '80's was an opportunity of a lifetime. While, working on state of the art projects was very rewarding, I began concentrating on corporate project development. Eventually, working at various start-up companies. Then one day in 1986 I got a telephone call from a strange source. The call came from an unsolicited headhunter who was representing our nation's highest security office. The voice on the other end asked if I was interested in development of Failure Modes and Effectc Analysis for failed solid rocket motors. My response was that I had only rudimentary knowledge of rockets systems (having produced the nose exit contour for Trident, and a few other aerodynamic modifications on other systems), and if I was interested in working out-of state in a desert location. Around two months later, I recieve another phone call from the same person who had offered me the position at the rocket facility. Before I could say no, he explained that this offering was a position of national security and very important that I accept it. He then proceeded to describe the benefits, pay rate, overtime rate, per diem allowance, and paid living expenses for the relocation to a remote area in Utah. After listening to the complete offer, I couldn't turn it down. I packed my personal belongings and drove my Mustang 800 miles to Ogden, Utah, where I met with an agent (security organization withheld) and accepted the contract to work on the Space Shuttle Challenger Recovery project as a Reliability Engineer. I and four other engineers from different backgrounds and college degrees were hired as an outside uninfluenced source to identify a...Expand for more