Red Speaks:

After I retired from the Army, I worked several jobs which, frankly, sucked and didn’t pay very well.

Then I got a call from someone I knew who told me that fifteen tour guides at Hoover Dam had taken a buyout in a single afternoon and they were desperate for new bodies.

Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. I had veteran’s preference, so I put in an application, and low and behold, the fools hired me.

The Bureau of Reclamation had been building a new Visitor Center and parking garage at the dam, and about a year after I started working there, it opened.

Fast forward a year or two and the Visitor Center decided to expand their offering with what they called a ‘hard hat’ tour. Everyone who took the tour got a souvenir hard hat that they could keep. A group of fifteen tourist would receive an hour long in-depth tour that went to a lot of places most people never got to see. Honestly, it was fun for all, even the guides.