In 2009, I began working with small startup business, Jemez Technology, in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Our office opens around 8:00 and generally everyone is there before 9:00. The company name comes from the Jemez Mountains near Los Alamos. The core team is a group of retired scientists and engineers from Los Alamos National Laboratories (LANL). Our CEO, Craig, is the son of the former manager of this team, and a friend I met in 1972 when I was his camp counselor at a summer camp in Colorado. None of us receive a pay check, we work 40+ hours per week, and we have a remarkable product. The founder of the company, Mel, was the lead engineer and project manager for the major project in the strategic defense initiative Star Wars in the 1980’s. The project was called BEAR, Beam Experiments Aboard Rockets. The team also developed technology to detect ICBM’s in space and determine if the payload was a decoy or a nuclear warhead. If a nuclear warhead was detected, the BEAR project developed the technology to neutralize the warhead. At lunchtime, we go next door to a restaurant Mel and his wife operated and have wonderful Mexican food. There is always interesting discussions (Starwards, BEAR, etc.) and current events, past experiences, and next steps. Green chili was always a favorite, and when talking with our customers and business partners we always invite them to come to Los Alamos and have green chili with us. The former boss and Craig’s father, Robert, lead the Strategic Arms Treaty Verification Program for Ronald Reagan. Many of these discussions with Gorbachev’s team were in Geneva, Switzerland. At a point when negotiations seemed to be breaking down, Robert invited the Russians to send a team of their top scientists to Los Alamos for a demonstration. Mel presented his BEAR project to this team: a neutron beam accelerator in a package that could be launched on an Aries missile. One of the visiting scientists had developed the initial design, but abandoned it because he believed it could never be made feasible. Shortly after this visit, Gorbachev capitulated and the wall came down in Berlin. Bob is the astrophysicist on our team. He has been instrumental in solving and implementing many difficult math equations required for our product – just as he did for LANL. Everett, is our quality department. We call him the landscaper because he was the Nuclear Explosive Shot Engineer for the Nevada Test Site and detonated most of the nuclear tests there. Everett wrote his autobiography titled How I Lived My Dash. Headstones list date of birth, a dash, and date of death. Everett recognized the dash represented everything that happens in one’s life between birth and death. Unfortunately, Everett has suffered a lot of health issues from radiation exposure. Even so, he has the most positive attitude of anyone I’ve ever met. Mel and team worked on many projects through their careers including the Mars Rover and Voyager I. Their names are on a plaque aboard Voyager I outside of our solar system. Until recently, our office was located in the security gate for the Manhattan Project. One of our installations was in the Arizona/California desert where the Blue Angels winter. At one point, Mel was standing on one leg on the top rung of a precariously positioned ladder hanging on a pole adjusting a camera. We scolded him for this. We routinely saw the Blue Angels practicing, including their last show before the sequestration grounded them for a while. Mel tells a story of playing a round of golf when he was stationed on the Marshall Islands. The water hazards were significant. Mel was on the expedition to the North Pole that first measured the polar ice cap. The picture with the penguin is of Robert in Antarctica. Gary is our product engineer. He orders our equipment, assembles our benches, and tests our system before customer shipments – along with Deb and Everett. We affectionately refer to Mel as Yoda. Craig is Elwood, and does our final testing remotely as he doesn’t live in Los Alamos. On a trip to Chicago, Craig pointed out a bronze statue of Jake and Elwood. Mel had never seen The Blues Brothers which was quickly remedied. Mel often wears a hat and sunglasses. From that moment on, Mel has been Jake and Craig has been Elwood. Craig and Mel have traveled a lot for our company, mostly road trips together. Mel’s license plate is “007.” Mel is a sketch artist. His work is displayed on the Wall of Fame in our office. Among his work are sketches of John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. I am honored to have a sketch Mel did of me in the Arizona desert along with Seabiscuit – this hangs prominently in our home. We work on many interesting projects and Gary does all of our designs. This song is my tribute to these true American treasures I have had the wonderful opportunity to get to know and work beside. Thanks guys!