I work for a company that manufactures very sophisticated and very precise navigation systems for ships. My job is to travel the world to install, maintain, and repair these systems, and to provide training to ship's crews. Currently my primary responsibility is the US Coast Guard, who use our systems to precisely position buoys that other ships use to safely navigate. So if you've ever sailed in US waters, I've made your trip a little safer.

I found out about the firm and its products from a fellow member of a non-profit community service organization that I belong to. When he showed me the equipment he helped develop, I was so taken that I asked, only partly jokingly, if they were looking for anybody. I was told "Yeah, a field technician. But you don't want that -- it's nothing but travel." I promptly took a massive pay cut, and have been travelling ever since. My #2 motto is "Between planes and ships, my feet never touch the ground." (My #1 motto is "I'd rather be late than hungry.")

I'm "in the field" about 90% of the time, and I am often gone for such extended periods that when I return to the office, I am continually asked "May I help you?" by new staff as I walk the hallways. My "No thanks, I work here" is usually met with stunned silence.

Two weeks is a short trip, 4 weeks is common, 6 weeks is not uncommon, and occaisionally I'm away for 8 weeks at a time. The cool thing is that I bank so much time in the field that when I'm home I'm pretty much on perpetual vacation. But I usually stay home for a treat.

Unlike many FTers who seem to wear suits and ties or other business apparel, I usually wear steel toed boots, jeans, a company T-shirt, safety glasses, hearing protectors and a hard hat to work. I've ridden all manner of aircraft including hovercraft and helicopters, and all kinds of vessels from aircraft carriers to small inflatable rescue craft used to ferry me miles out to sea in blizzard conditions and 8 ft seas so that I can scramble up a rope ladder to board a destroyer. I frequent steel mills, military bases, cement plants, coast guard stations, ship yards, and airport lounges.

And I love every minute of it.