'In ancient times when people lived in caves and thatched huts, men looked to other men to fashion weapons they could use to hunt and to defend themselves and their families against hostile enemies. These stone club and flint arrow makers were the first defense contractors."
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T. H. Henning, From Memoirs of a Defense Contractor, Chapter Fourteen, Epilogue
Corporate divestitures, acquisitions, mergers and the feast and famine nature of defense contracts have taken their toll on thousands of people. Yet today, you will find defense contractors side by side with our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines providing technical services in the national interest. They can be found on submarines, surface ships, flying with aircrews, in desert tents with our soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq and at spaceports in the U.S. helping the nation's space program reach towards outer space. Defense contractors have diversified their products and services to serve federal, state, and local government clients in such diverse organizations as health, education, civil aviation, agriculture, homeland security, intelligence, and other areas.
This is a story of how one person persevered through three decades of technology change, marketplace change, major historic change, and the rise and fall of his own multiple careers. Memoirs of a Defense Contractor captures the author's experience at International Business Machines Corporation, Loral Corporation, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Litton Industries/TASC, (now Northrop Grumman), and Veridian, (now General Dynamics).
