Two former soldiers join the team at Ivanpah

As a record number of journeymen craft workers in the United States retire in the next few years, the projected labor shortage could pose project staffing problems for contractors. Through a program called Helmets to Hardhats — designed to help head off the shortage — two apprentice Teamsters recently joined the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating
System project in Southern California. They bring skills especially suited to the desert site, acquired under similar conditions in Iraq.

The two, Ken Platten and Ross Bowlin, are U.S. military veterans who completed their tours of duty last year. Both are Teamsters, transporting building materials and coworkers on construction sites. And both came to the job with the help of Fred Fine, project superintendent and a Marine veteran himself, who heard about the program from Bob Wiley, a local
Teamsters representative who works with Helmets to Hardhats to place veterans on job sites. “As soon as I heard about the program, I wanted to be involved,” Fine says.

Helmets to Hardhats veterans have worked as pipefitters, electricians, and boilermakers, and in other craft positions, on a number of Bechtel projects since 2005, including the Mountainview power project in Southern California, the Springerville power project in Arizona, and the Waste Treatment Plant in Washington state