From Desert Storm to the Desert of Yuma, Arizona, retired Master Sergeant John Winn had a Marine Corps career spanning 23 years, 9 duty stations, 27 medals and award ribbons, and two combat tours. How could the Master Sergeant top such a great career?
Instead of running military operations in the desert, John is now running biosolids operations in the desert. Using biosolids (aka treated sewage sludge) to fertilize farms is an environmentally beneficial recycling of the carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and a host of other valuable nutrients and microbes to grow non-food crops.
After he retired in early 2005, he was hired to be an office manager, dispatching a few loads per day. He is now general manager of the operations that include hauling more than a dozen biosolids trucks per day and using them as fertilizer on local farms.
“I work with a good team. They are all very professional.”
When I asked about his first impressions of the job John says, “Interesting. I had never heard of biosolids and never thought about this aspect of recycling. I’m really impressed with how effective they are on the farm. It’s just amazing how well they work!”
As with many of us, John’s greatest job satisfaction has stemmed from one of his biggest challenges. When John first started, some scheduled maintenance was falling through the cracks resulting in breakdowns and missed loads. John is proud of being able to turn things around by creating a more proactive maintenance routine so they almost never miss loads and have very few breakdowns.
Like a lot of the truck drivers he works with, John loves the hitting the open road in his spare time. Instead of an 80,000 pound, 40-foot truck, he can be found cruising on his motorcycle.
“The company has grown tremendously over the last six years. I’m excited about the future and learning more about the cropping and harvesting process that the farmer does – the actual product of biosolids."
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