Bored of her decade-long career as a graphic designer, Blue Coble of Phoenix ditched her desk job and picked up a wrench instead.

At the end of the first day Tony Gerde, then 22, worked as a rodbuster—carrying rebar like a pack animal—he went home a wreck—with bruised shoulders, raw skin and his body aching from head to toe.

When Terry Jacobsen showed up for this first day of work with the Idaho Transportation Dept. in April 1959, he wasn’t thinking about starting a career in the transportation industry. He was barely 20 years old and just needed a job. 

Wayne Williams began picking up construction skills as a youngster helping his father, an independent contractor who built custom homes and additions.

Vince Gurneau calls himself a “working foreman.”

Wendy Overeem of Tullahoma, Tenn., was exposed to the construction trades early in life.

“Life ain’t easy for a boy named Sue,” Johnny Cash sang. Dave Perkins adds that it’s difficult for an older construction craftsperson too.

Rex Symank, 66, is sharing four decades of experience with a younger generation on the U.S. military’s largest-ever base-construction project in South Korea.