Thankful for Navy training

As a U.S. Navy veteran, I write to thank the U.S. Navy and our citizens for training provided by U.S. Navy technical schools. I joined the U.S. Navy in 1958 and received training as a guided missile technician. The program was basic electronics, plus hydraulic and pneumatic training. Thus, U.S. Navy training qualified me to obtain an excellent job in 1962, missile technician at General Dynamics.

U.S. Navy training was the foundation for a new job in 1967, working for a brilliant designer in the power supply field. I learned a lot from the designer and co-founded Power-One Inc. in 1972, a power supply firm which now employs 5,000. Power-One is now an industry leader connecting windmill and solar power to the U.S. power grid.

In 1979, I founded Condor DC Power, now an industry leader for patient-connected power supplies (medical equipment).

Shortly put, U.S. Navy training later enabled me to form companies that have provided 150,000 man-years of manufacturing employment, approximating a million man-years of jobs in America. So I say a strongly felt “thank you.” The schooling helped me become a productive and useful citizen of the United States.

Len Wallace

Spokane