Today is a little-known holiday: National Veterans BBQ day, on which Americans are encouraged to treat veterans to a cookout as a “thank-you” for their service.
At Heat Treat Today’s, we wanted to take this opportunity to recognize veterans who have donned the hat of heat treating, although we can’t offer a physical celebration. Thank you for your service and sacrifice for our country.
Below, you will find profiles of Heat Treat Veterans from our archive. Heat Treat Today is continually updating our records of individuals in the heat treat industry who have served/are serving in the U.S. military. If you are or know a military veteran whom we can add to this living archive, please reach out via the online form or email Bethany Leone, managing editor, at bethany@heattreattoday.com.
This article as originally published in Heat Treat Today’s September 2023 People of Heat Treat magazine.
Larry Bradley
Bradley has been in the heat treat industry for two years and works as quality manager at Bodycote.
Military Branch: Army
Active Service: January 1972 to December 1979
Highest Rank Achieved: E-6 Staff Sergeant
Service Details:
• Vietnam War
• Basic — Fort Knox
• AIT — Fort Benning
• Airborne School — Fort Bragg
• Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland (Introduction to Quality)
• Bronze Star, Silver Star, Purple Heart, Army Commendation Medal
• Also stationed at Kaiserslautern Germany, and 100th Division Echo Company at Morehead, KY
• Mobilized for Operation Enduring Freedom and stationed at Camp Atterbury, IN
Bradley Johnson
Johnson has been in the heat treat industry for 8 years and works as quality engineer at Bodycote.
Military Branch: Army
Active Service: October 2000 to August 2007
Highest Rank Achieved: E-5 Sergeant
Service Details:
• Involved with Operation Enduring Freedom
• Basic Training at Fort Leonard Wood, MO
• AIT at Fort Lee VA
• First duty Station at 400th QM
• Also stationed at Kaiserslautern Germany, and 100th Division Echo Company at Morehead, KY
• Mobilized for Operation Enduring Freedom and stationed at Camp Atterbury, IN
“As far as stories, I tend to not delve too deep into my tenure as a serviceman, but what I will share is: There are very few people in the United States that truly understand what it means to sign a blank check of your life, being willing to risk it for the county that you love, as well as the millions and millions of its citizens, at the drop of a hat, if called to action. With regards to basic training, I as well as numerous others I am sure, believe that the experience was the most fun and exciting adventure that I would never do again. I was in AIT when the 9/11 attacks happened, and on that day, we all knew we were going to war. It was just a couple short years later when I was mobilized for OEF. I was attached to the 658th out of Mississippi, and we traveled to Camp Atterbury, IN, for our pre-deployment training. We were there for around 3–4 months, chomping at the bit, to go do our part in protecting our country and for a lack of better terms, enact revenge for the ones we tragically lost that fateful day in September 2001. We were three days away from boarding the plane and heading overseas when we got word from the Pentagon that our particular mission was cancelled, and they were sending us home. Come to find out, we were going to be sent to the southeastern part of Turkey, to be able to invade Iraq at its northwestern border. When Turkey denied our access, that was the ticket home. After getting back home I submitted a transfer request to be able to join the 100th Division. It took about a month, but the transfer went through, and I was now a part of a drill sergeant unit (Echo Company) and was making trips to Ft. Knox to push troops through their basic combat training. To be able to come full circle in that regard was one of the most rewarding adventures I have ever had. To clarify, I was not a drill sergeant myself, merely cadre, but I was an NCO, and just by having that rank, the fear in the recruits’ eyes when you walked into the room took me back to being in their shoes. And this is where I ended my career.”
Jon Tirpak
Tirpak has been in the heat treat industry for 42 years.
Branch of Service: United States Air Force
Active Service: 1982 to 1988
Highest Rank Achieved: Captain
Service Details:
Captain, United States Air Force, Norton Air Force Base, CA, 1986 to 1988.
Led an $18M Air Force-wide, integrated effort to evaluate materials and structures in underground nuclear tests and managed Small Business Innovative Research Projects.
Lieutenant, United States Air Force, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, OH, 1982 to 1986.
Served as an Executive Officer within Project Forecast II (an Air Force “think tank”) and focused expertise on advanced materials and manufacturing in Plans and Programs.
Office of the Air Force Materials Laboratory — conducted structural failure analyses; characterized effects of plastic bead paint removal. Centrifuge test subject with 43 tests, some approaching 8.5 Gs. Designed and conducted data generation programs to characterize the fatigue and fracture of cast aluminum and generated static and dynamic property data for various metallic alloys.
“My military career took off in 1982. Earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Metallurgical Engineering at Lafayette College and completing four years of Air Force ROTC Training, the best assignment for me was the Air Force Materials Laboratory at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Those formative years linked me to heat treating, for most alloys without thermal processing are just metallic chemistries! For example, a popular alloy then was A357 comprised primarily of aluminum, silicon, and magnesium. To impart useful properties after casting, heat treating is required, and in the case of A357 industry specified -T6. We can’t have one without the other; we need alloy suppliers and metal workers (foundries, forges, etc.) AND heat treaters. We don’t need a lot of them; we need just the best, world class producers with the passion, people, processes, and purpose for serving humanity. Back in ‘82, my take off for success was via the Air Force and cast aluminum alloy A357 with a heat treat “afterburner” of -T6. In 2023, I have yet to land!”
Awards:
• United States Air Force Commendation Medal
• United States Air Force Achievement Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters
• United States Air Force Outstanding Unit Military Ribbon
• United States Air Force Service Longevity Ribbon
• United States Air Force Training Military Ribbon
• United States Air Force Centrifuge High G Test Subject Certificate
• Lifetime Member Air Force Materials & Manufacturing Alumni Association, Dayton, OH
Danny Woodring
Woodring has been in the heat treat industry for 28 years and works as manager of the Quality/ISO & Flow Team at UPC-Marathon.
Branch of Service: Army
Secondary Branch: Army National Guard
Active Service: 1982 to 1996
U.S. Reserves: 1996 to 2022
Highest Rank Achieved: Sergeant Major/E9
Service Details:
• Participated in three Combat Tours
Timothy Wright
Wright has been in the heat treat industry for 30+ years. He was founding owner of WIRCO.
Branch of Service: Army
Secondary Branch: Army National Guard
Active Service: Yes
U.S. Reserves: Yes
Highest Rank Achieved: Major General
Service Details:
• Vietnam War
• Desert Storm
• United Nation’s SFOR in Bosnia-Herzegovina
• Indiana National Guard
• Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal x8, Air Medal x27 (1 for Valor), Army Commendation Medal x5 (1 for Valor), Kuwait Liberation Medal, and more.
Heat Treat Today interviewed MG Wright and will be releasing the full story of his extraordinary service and sacrifice on Heat Treat Radio in fall 2023. Watch for it at www.heattreattoday.com/radio.
