James Yackley

I am currently working as an Electrician for the Rock Island Arsenal. I started my college career at Upper Iowa in Fayette. 37 years later I finished my college career at Upper Iowa (Quad City Center). I was in the Navy for 4 years. I was stationed in the Mediterranean on board the USS Orion sub-tender. Then I transferred to the USS Missouri BB-63 battleship. I literally went around the world in 99 days hitting such ports as Pearl Harbor; Sydney, Australia; Hobart, Tasmania; Perth, Australia; Diego Garcia; Suez Canal; Istanbul, Turkey; Naples, Italy; Lisbon, Portugal; Panama Canal; and back to Long Beach, Ca. After the Navy, I had a job working in a lab making lenses for glasses. Then I was higher by IBEW Local 145, into their apprenticeship program. I received my journeyman's card after 5 years of school. After 911, construction work was hard to find; there was a 6 year period where I was unemployed for 4 1/2 of those years. that is when I finally was hired by the government.