My first duty station was at Fulton. I reported on 06-03-63 as a student trainee. My party leader was Chick Fenwick; and Bob

Held was also on the party. We did scattered farm mapping all of the way east to St. Louis; and from the Missouri River to Audrain       

County on the north. In our spare time we worked on the Callaway County soil survey. I can remember Bob completing his first field

sheet. When the inking was finished; he leaned back in his chair and smiled at it for 30 minutes.

The next summer I reported to Caruthersville; still as a student trainee. I worked on the Pemiscot County soil survey that

summer. The Bootheel was a whole new world. The only thing familiar was Bob Held. He was on the soil survey party, which was

headed by Burton Brown. John Francka was also a party member.The next spring I finally graduated. My first permanent duty

station was Lamar. Ed Hughes was the party leader. Paul Minor was a new party member. Max Aldrich was also a party member; but was

at a different location. Billy Sparkman and Lewis Graves were party members during some of my stay there. We worked on the

Barton county soil survey when possible. It was a period when many counties were forming districts. So we did a lot of

scattered farm mapping; including the first soil mapping in several counties. It was also the time of the famous resource

inventories. So we mapped quarter sections all over Area 7. I can remember Paul finishing his first field sheet. He and Ed argued

for 15 minutes about Paul's mapping in one corner of the sheet. Then Paul tossed it in a desk drawer and didn't finish inking it

for about a month.

I joined the National Guard in '65. Finally was shipped off for training in the Spring of '67. I returned several months

later as a fully trained tank crewman. The next month the guard unit switched from an armored unit to a combat engineer unit. So

much for my good training. Another fellow and I spent the next few meetings teaching math classes. I returned to college in

February of '68.Following this round of school; I was assigned to Warrenton. Was part of the Montgomery-Warren soil survey. Chick Fenwick left

for Kansas about a week after I arrived. Bob Held was the party leader at Warrenton. He kept getting stuck working with me, in

spite of his best efforts. Gary Sturdevant was part of the survey crew for a while; but he was stationed in Fulton. I had just

missed Gary at Caruthersville; he arrived shortly after I left. Other notable people that joined the survey party at Warrenton

were Rex Butler and Richard Tummons. Bob and I were the only ones that stayed until the job was done (I think).

I decided that I didn't care for multi county surveys; just too many logistical problems. So, the first survey that I was

offered a party leader job on was Cape-Scott-Mississippi. I turned it down; a move that I never regretted. A few months later

I was offered St. Louis County. I wasn't wild about it either, but figured that I had better not turn down too many, so I took

it. None of my crew was SCS employees. They were hired under some kind of opportunity program with their salaries provided with a

grant; until the money ran out just before the survey was finished. They all had college degrees; but none of them were in

agriculture. I didn't hire them, and I couldn't fire them. Mapping quality ranged from rather good to rather poor.

When St. Louis County was completed; I was scheduled to go to Rolla to finish the Phelps County survey. I wasn't wild about

landing back in the rocks again. Still had fond memories about being able to map all day in Barton County with a probe rather

than an auger. At about the same time George Robertson was scheduled to go to Brookfield to do the Linn County soil survey.

He had completed one tour in north Missouri, and wasn't enthusiastic about going back. About that time we were on a bus

as part of some kind of soils tour. George and I were sitting fairly close to each other, with Jim Lee only a couple of rows

away. We got into a discussion about how each of us would prefer to go to the other person's assigned county. Of course we were

careful to talk loud enough that Jim couldn't miss hearing the conversation. Jim soon interrupted and said that if that was what

we both wanted, then he would see what he could do. A few days later my assignment was changed to Brookfield, and George's to

Rolla.Linn County was the best location of my career. I had only four party members during that survey; and never had two at the

same time. Mike Cook was the most famous one. He stayed a couple of years or so. Lynn Duckworth was there for over a year. She was

the best female soil scientist that I ever had on my crew. She got married, moved to Columbia, and worked in the map shop until

her husband graduated from law school. Lynn also worked for George Simmons for a while before coming to my crew. Lynn had a

habit of answering the phone, "Linn County soil survey office, this is Lynn speaking". That was often followed by a few seconds

of silence while the person on the other end of the line was digesting that information. Other members of the soil survey

party were a red headed lady from southwest Missouri that absolutely didn't want to be living that far from home. She was

there for only a couple of months. Tom Staggs followed her, and stayed until the survey was over. Then he left government work to

become a chemist.From Linn County I went just up the road north to do the Sullivan County soil survey. Milan wasn't as handy a place to

live as Brookfield; it didn't have a Wal-Mart store. Mike Burney worked on the soil survey for a few years. Mike is now mapping

the Grand Canyon National Park. Also Don Ammons was there as a DNR employee until he was terminated, which was a mistake. Don is

now living in northwest Kansas; where he has just about completed building a four seat airplane. I plan to ask him for a ride when

its done; Mike doesn't.When that survey was finished, I went almost back to the Bootheel. My next location was Marble Hill. Of course Marble Hill

is in Bollinger County; but I was supposed to map Madison County first. Thats the first and only time I've mapped a county

that wasn't where I lived, or where the office was located. Its also the first time I ever had a backhoe to help with soil

sampling. I was back in the rocks again, but a lot of them were igneous, which made it interesting. My crew was all DNR. An

eclectic bunch. Mike Chalfant completed a masters degree during that survey; and he is now a specialist with the DNR. Kind of an

archaeologist/Pleistocene geologist combination. Ron Collman came from Illinois; and returned to his home state before the survey

was completed. He is now a NRCS Soil Scientist on the east side of the state. Curt Marshall was there for quite a while. He is

now doing a soil survey in Georgia near Atlanta. Kevin Godsey arrived after the survey was well underway. He had been a school

teacher in a former life. He had excellent computer skills, which really helped me on that survey. Of course it also got us in

trouble now and then. Having too much data is almost as bad as not having enough. Kevin is still holding forth somewhere in

southeast Missouri.I was planning to do Bollinger County after Madison County was finished. The durned Gumment had other plans. They offered me a

choice of a couple of locations in southwest Missouri; right in the middle of the rocks that I escaped from a number of years

ago. I asked about the proximity of Wal-Mart stores; and found that there was one in Ava. So thats where I went. I'm not big on

shopping. I like to go to one place and get it all. Like one of my former AC's, Keith Little, used to say, "If Wal-Mart doesn't have it, I probably don't need it".

My crew at Ava was DNR Soil Scientists again. Bill Shields was a retired high school teacher. Gary Sturdevant was the real

expert of the crew. He had extensive experience in the area; so I was able to lean on him for a lot of help. This time I left

before the soil survey was completed. I retired on 01-03-99.

This is far too extensive. I would suggest a condensed version; "He was hired, he worked for several years, he

retired". Something like that should work.

Ken Benham