The Worst Jobs I Ever Party Managed

                                                                                   By: Gary Lee

Around 1990 seismic field management jobs were hard to find, if you wanted to work in the Rockies.
It wasn't that jugging was beneath me, but I had worked too many times for some idiot PM and had been doing things my way for too long to go back.

Mile Hi and Norpac had always given me somewhat more of a free rein to run my crews than they allowed other PMs and Field Supervisors within the company. I paid my crews a little more than company average, partied (in all ways) with the gang and went to the field lots. Everyone knew that I'd started at the bottom like themselves and been a helicopter mechanic/crew chief in Vietnam.
The result was that the crews were happier, worked harder, did better quality, shot more mileage and made the company more net profit than other crews who had similar programs. I got pay raises and recognition due to the results of the field people that appreciated being left the hell alone to do their jobs and OBs that appreciated not being micro-managed.

I was staying in Ft. Collins, Colorado with my good pal Rick Lewis and his family in around 1990 while I tried to locate a job back into seismic, when an ad in the Denver Post said CGG was taking applications for a PM position. I put on my 3 piece suit and tie and showed up at the CGG main office downtown, for my scheduled interview with Fred Buchart and another dude I can't remember.
My resume' impressed them not only because of my seismic experience, but more so because I'd been a CGG Vib-Op years ago and Juggy, Stick-Man and Shooter for Alain Bedeau when, as Jon Horton's story tells, our crew shot the first 5 mile in one day record.
I had watched Lee Hurst stir the Porta-John when it was full at the drop camp, known a surveyor pal named Yves Alno and worked for CGG on three separate campaigns during the 70's & early 80's.

CGG hired me over around twenty other applicants.
I broke the rules before I left Denver for Evanston.
They wanted me to drive a beat up 4WD van to Evanston. I owned a small Toyota 4Wd pickup, and learned years ago not to ever be at the mercy of anyone without my own wheels.
I went to the CGG shop to get the van and told the mechanic that I had my own tow-bar and needed to attach it to the van and rig tow lights.
"Hell NO!" CGG didn't allow personal vehicles to be towed by company vehicles.
Being a new PM, and being used to not taking shit, I bulldozed the mechanic to help rig me for the tow; it was after dark hours and he couldn't call anybody to complain.
Of course, the van broke down bad in Laramie and I left it in a secure place for CGG to deal with later, and trucked on into Evanston with my Toyota.

The office and preliminary startup was already started when I arrived.
Murray Saxton was being temporary PM and running his butt off with drills and surveyors arriving and all the large amount of work it takes to start a large 3D job.
This was, at the time, the largest 3D ever attempted in the lower 48. It was for AMOCO and was a 54 square mile job to re-map the Carter Creek Oil & Gas Field which is Northeast of Evanston about 5 miles away, as the helicopter flies.

The first call I got at the new office phone was from Fred B. He raised hell about my breaking the rules and towing my Toyota. I thought my presence as PM on the job was more important. What an asinine call. I had more important things to worry with than a breach of personal vehicle rules.

During my initial job interview I had told Fred and (Ken?) that Mel James of the Wyoming Oil & Gas Commission was my pal. They scoffed at me and said they had heard this before from people claiming to have the friendship of Mel.
Just before Norpac went under they needed to have many $50K bonds released for lines that had been snowed on etc with open shotholes that were left un-raked and not plugged properly.

 Myself and my Bro Cool Ray were given the job to liaison with Wyoming to clean trash and repair these old program lines. Mel James was the Wyoming man in charge of releasing these bonds. Me and Cool Ray took the old program blue-line maps and proceeded to clean the lines up. Mel James came and worked with us and inspected our work. We spent many days in the field and many nights in the bar in some of the best camaraderie I've ever enjoyed away from the crews.
Mel had the power to approve or disapprove all applications for seismic exploration permits in the state.
Some of you may remember that in the early to mid 80's CGG was banned from Wyoming exploration due to so many shoddy programs, poor safety, non-compliance and general trash.

I found it hard to believe when I arrived that CGG had set-up the job and started loading holes before having the approved Wyoming Oil & Gas Permit.
I called Mel, in Casper, and he wanted to get out of the office and come see me.
I told Fred B he was coming and Fred hauled ass from Denver to my office to be there to represent CGG.

Fred hung in my outer office until Mel arrived the next morning around 11:00.
When Mel arrived Fred was in his face and so so subservient. Mel brushed him off, and when he came into my office the old bastard hugged me and told me it was so good to see his old hillbilly buddy again.
Fred's jaw dropped to the floor.
Mel shut the door in Fred's face and he and I had loud laughs about some of our times with Cool Ray and the good times we'd had together.
We decided to go have lunch and when Fred offered to tag along & pay, Mel told him that he wanted to be alone with his old buddy.
At lunch he told me that the damn frogs had filed an application for this job and he was gonna turn it down until they cleaned hundreds of miles of trash.

 But if I was gonna PM the job he would approve it on my word that it would be done right
Mel left and didn't want to talk to no damn Frogs.
He told me that if I had any trouble with them to call him and he'd pull their Goddamn permit if it was necessary.

After Mel left Fred told me something like "everyone says Mel James is their friend....but you really are!"
Another strike against me with Fred. He damn sure didn't like a PM to have any powerful friends he couldn't control.

CGG had made a deal with Bertram Drilling to have a monopoly for all drilling on the contract. Bertram had given a discount price if CGG would use them exclusively.
As best as I can remember Bertram provided two 4-5 drill, Heliportable crews, around eight conventional rigs, 3-5 tracked Nodwell drills, and a few Buggy drills.
This is where I met Lama Dave Fitzpatrick for the first time as he was moving drills.

Murray Saxton was the only drill pusher and was busting his ass and was overwhelmed trying to keep drillers on the stakes.
I hired one of the best, Chris Trimboli, to help push the drills and another I can't remember.
Drill offsets stopped.
Next I hired an old driller from Powell, Wyoming whom I knew from Norpac jobs.
Ivan Koloff owned a single drill and water truck that each was 10WD. Ivan had the balls to climb where he would sometimes get out on the running board in case he had to jump. I hired Ivan at a price between conventional rate, which I think was $3.50 per foot and Portable which was around $14.00 per foot. It was probably about $10.00 per foot for Ivan.
Fred went ballistic and told me that only the main office had authority to hire subcontractors and that there was no way in Hell CGG would pay a Conventional Driller this rate..

I told him to take it out of my pay if I was wrong. Trust me.
On top of his regular bust ass drill pushing, I asked Chris Trimboli to herd Ivan and steal holes from the higher priced drills.
If a conventional hole was right there, drill the bastard. Ivan would drill three to one over the other conventionals. But his main job was to steal Nodwell and Portable holes at a lower price. The final tally of the program was around 2300 holes. Ivan's final drill logs show that he and his single drill drilled around 230 holes. That's 10% of the entire program drilled by a single driller against around twenty + others. That speaks for itself.
Fred didn't give a damn about results or savings on production costs or profits. I was an outlaw and was not subservient to the French rules.

Next came the crew. CGG furnished the computer/survey experts that were versed in 3D survey notes and they were good people who did great and didn't bother me.
When we needed more survey help, because we could increase production so fast, I hired Niles Justice, Perry French, Diana Clark, Rob Erwin and others from my old "little black book."
LZ helicopter men, Dusty Trails, Worm, and others.
Line crew leaders, Al Donovan, Worm again, Tom Butler, and others.
I hired around 50 local men and women from the local Mexican Community. Damn good people if a crew leader showed them the ropes.
Fred asked me something like "Gary, can you find about 20-30 experienced people." damn right I can", and did.
"Gary, you are hiring only Mile Hi and NORPAC people." "Hell, that's the good and greatest people any crew could ask for and the only ones in my phone book."
"This is CGG not Norpac. You are trying to make CGG like NORPAC."
"The hell! I'm trying to make this program cook and be proud of the results."

I told Fred B that I needed another Hughes 500 to help the many survey crews jump to places they needed to set up.
A Hughes 500D from a major company arrived at the airport a couple of days later. I went to talk to the pilot and see the new helicopter. The belly of this aircraft was red with hydraulic fluid. The tail boom and tail rotor blades were nasty from blown back fluid. I am an former Vietnam helicopter mechanic and I raised hell. The pilot (who is now RIP) assured me that the leak was minor and would be repaired overnight. The next morning the aircraft hauled survey people from point to point. Around mid day I drove to the field and stopped at the new Hughes. The sagebrush under it was dripping red hydraulic fluid.
I got on the big radio in my PM truck and told all survey crews to knock off in time to walk out to roads, where I would send trucks, and nobody was allowed to ride in the Hughes.
The Pilot came first. He stormed into my office and told me "how dare me to tell him his job. If he didn't think the helicopter was safe he wouldn't be risking his life flying it". He called his boss who called Fred B who sent me a letter of reprimand which would go into my permanent CGG personnel file.
The next morning, at the Evanston Airport, the Hughes pulled pitch and had a major hydraulic failure at maybe 6 feet and rolled sideways into a ball of aluminum. Nobody hurt.
Fred didn't care that I was right and had probably saved lives. The letter of reprimand stood.

A nearby Norpac crew PM'd by John Morley had a mag truck loaded with powder, primacord and caps break down in Evanston traffic.
John's crew was in Kemmerer and he called me for emergency assistance. He was sending a spare mag truck but it would take a long time to arrive. I sent two CGG folks in a mag truck to offload the explosives and bring them back to my parking lot. The NORPAC mag truck folded up it's explosives signs and was clean before the cops arrived

Fred B screamed bloody murder at me on the phone. (He had several long time CGG buddies on the crew that called him every time I did something.)
How dare I help NORPAC. Let them look bad.
The alternative was for the cops to call the BATF and evacuate the area. The Evanston cops would have freaked out since not one of them had ever seen a cap or a gel-pac. The mag truck had half a ton of assorted explosives. The industry didn't need any bad PR no matter what company it was.
I had a mag truck five minutes away and prevented the problem before it had taken seed. Fred hated me more again.
The TV and Newspapers would maybe have announced: SEISMOGRAPH COMPANY EXPLOSIVES ACCIDENT CAUSES EVACUATION Of NORTH EVANSTON.
Seismograph crews PR shit was weak at the time.
Nobody should have wanted bad seismo PR.

When the final program Profit and Loss Reports came out, this crew had generated the largest CGG net profit ever, in the lower 48. We had generated a net profit of around $4.2 million.

I was gonna be fired just as soon as possible.
Instead the Client pulled the next 3D job, in Texas, from open bidding on the agreement that this same crew would shoot it.
The job worked as well as the last.
I got The Frogs madder & madder at me.
My crew, once again, broke records and generated tons of profit.
When the final shot was recorded I was fired.
All crewmembers were "laid off."

That is the only time in my life I have ever been fired.

I had worked about 18 + hours a day for around 8 months with a total of three days break and was totally "French-Fried".
They tried to break me into quitting but it didn't happen.
Nor did it happen to any of the great people I had dragged out of my "little black book."
The Frogs got the profit.
We got the pride of showing them what a crew of great American men and women could accomplish.