Lu Nguyen: Nearly four decades of testing ammunition
When one door closes, another opens. That was the case for the career of Lu Nguyen, a test officer in the Munitions and Weapons Division at Yuma Test Center
(YTC). He had only been working for the government about two years when his employer at the time, Jefferson Proving Ground in Indiana, underwent a base realignment and closure, known as a BRAC in 1988. “I felt disappointed,” said Nguyen. He and a group of employees transferred to YTC following the BRAC.
Nguyen said, “I wasn’t quite sure how long I would be here. I thought I would be here two or three years and see how it goes. Next thing I know it has been 30 years.”
Now, decades of service later, Nguyen is hailed as one of the test officers with the highest percentages of rounds fired at YTC and a subject matter expert in Lot Acceptance Testing (LAT).
Nguyen said the first round he tested at YTC was the M829E3 when it was being developed and was later designated as the M829A3.
He has primarily performed mortar testing the last decade or
so, and before that tested artillery and tank rounds, “He’s been testing ammunition his whole career,” remarked Munitions and Weapons Division Chief Kermit Okamura.
Okamura said, Nguyen has had the “highest number of rounds fired and number of days with open firing clearances,” among the division’s test officers. Test officers request an open firing clearance for each test day they intend to fire. Okamura estimates Nguyen opens more than 200 firing
clearances yearly and has conducted nearly 1,500 LATs throughout his career.
“I tell him he’s a machine, because he just churns out work” joked Okamura.
LAT’s directly affect mission readiness he explained, “The work he has done, affects the readiness levels of the war reserve, as well as training operational load. As manufactures produce mortar rounds, he would be the one to test them.”
As division chief Okamura as seen Nguyen’s work ethic and comradery with his colleagues.
“People have a respect for Lu, he’s helped train a lot of folks.”
Test Officer Brett Bowman met Nguyen in 2013 and calls him a mentor. Unbeknownst to Bowman, this led to him mimicking mannerism that signaled to others he was “Lu trained.”
“When we would go back to the gun, I would say ‘all stations’ basically meaning all stations ready. I learned that from Lu. That’s how people knew because, Lu was the only one that said, ‘all stations.’’’
He picked up Nguyen’s high-paced, high-round count firing style too.
Bowman boasts, “He’s a hard charger. Even til this day, he’ll still go out there and shoot 120 mortars in a day it’s no problem for him.”
Perhaps Nguyen’s stamina can be credited to table tennis. He’s been Yuma Proving Ground’s (YPG) champion for 15 years beating out competitors, including Soldiers decades younger than him during both the Family Morale, Welfare, and Recreation tournaments and the Organizational Day tournaments at YPG.
In addition to his sport accolades, Nguyen has been selected as YTC Employee of the Quarter, earned a Civilian Service Achievement Medal, and inducted to the Honorable Order of Saint Barbara.
As Nguyen nears his 40-year mark Okamura encourages his colleagues to learn as much as they can from him, “not just about how to test, but the wisdom of going through some stuff over the years.”
When asked about his always positive dementor at work. Nguyen says, “I like to go to work. I am happy because I always enjoy working. I always like to keep myself busy. And it’s a chance to do something for the country too.”