Disabled Oilfield Worker Seeks Employment Or Government Grant Money
by Gary Brunson
I have had three critical accidents in my life. The 1st happened in 1986. I had to jump from a derrick of a pulling unit because of high winds. It crushed my feet and they had to be totally reconstructed. I survived and went back to work. I worked in the oilfields until the big bust. Then I went to work driving an environmental truck as well as pest control. Well the pay or income just wasn't enough to support my family, so I went back to the oilfields as a pumper for Calvin Mays in Oklahoma. While making my rounds of the wells that day, I saw that a Waukesha motor was down. These are huge motors. To start it I had to use a manual crank handle. The motor backfired and tore my shoulder and rotator cuff. They did surgery on it and I went back to work after surgery and rehab. They laid me off so I went back to work as a shop manager at Walmart. I worked there for about four years, until they cut the benefits, so I went back to the oilfield. I was a floor hand and derrick hand on a plugging rig. While plugging a well one week we had these two hotshots on the rig who like to think they were a gift to the oilfield. I was running the rack cutting pipe as we laid it down as we came up the hole. We did this every few hundred feet as we plugged it. Well, Rick the tong hand got to showing off, in my opinion. He was unlatching the pipe over my head, which is very dangerous… it can hurt everyone on the floor. He unlatched one a little too quickly over my head and I had to catch it to keep Chuck and myself from getting hurt. I felt a little pain that day, but the next day it was unbearable. I have now had three back surgeries and my doctor says I still won't be able to be hired. I really need help. If you could point me to some government grant money or any other source of assistance, I would really appreciate it. Thank you. Gary Brunson.
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