Learning the ropes for roustabout work: A Marcellus Shale profile
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Bobby Guffey (fourth from right) starts his first day of CCAC's Roustabout Training Program with classmates and instructors at a Chesapeake Energy drilling site in Brooke County, W.Va. -
Bobby Guffey, 22, stands outside a construction site in Elizabeth Township. -
Robert Guffey Sr, 49, and his son, Bobby Guffey, 22, stand outside a construction job in Elizabeth Township. -
Bobby Guffey, 22, watches television with his girlfriend Maggie Gilbert, 19, and his dog Shooter at his home in Elizabeth Township.
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This is the first in a monthly series of profiles on people affected by the Marcellus Shale.
When Bobby Guffey and nine other students graduated from the first-ever Roustabout Training program at the Community College of Allegheny County two weeks ago, there was no "Pomp and Circumstance" -- just a sandwich ring and some Pepsi to be split among the guys and their families.
Each student's name was called and a CCAC Certificate of Successful Completion presented. And the 10 men were closer by the six industry certifications they'd received to one of the elusive, high-paying, entry-level jobs in a natural gas industry that's promised to increase the region's employment.
PG VIDEO: Above Ground: Bobby GuffeyBobby's dad hadn't planned on speaking but he was moved to. "When I was your age, guys like me had one option: the mill," said Robert Guffey Sr.
Robert Guffey, 49, didn't go into the mill, instead starting a construction business in 1984 that at one time built federal prisons and Sam's Club franchises but now faces hard times like much of the construction industry.
R.C. Guffey Construction was supposed to be Bobby's one day -- all that would need changing would be the middle initial -- but now Robert has pushed his 22-year-old son toward what he thinks is a more stable, more lucrative career in natural gas extraction.
So Bobby spent three weeks driving the 28 miles from Elizabeth Township to the old Siemens manufacturing building that houses CCAC's West Hills campus, taking a crash course on getting a job mining the Marcellus Shale gas formation. A roustabout is an entry-level worker on a drilling site, a laborer who works long shifts to help construct or break down the rig and assist in operations.
The program organizers had the new grads pose for a brochure-ready photo. They stood in khakis and green hard hats donated by Chesapeake Energy for the occasion.
In the shot, they've got their arms over each others' shoulders, a change from the stone-cold-stare shot they'd taken during ...
WEEK ONE: Orientation, People Skills, Overview, Safety.
The group first posed together on the first day of class during a field trip to a Chesapeake Energy rig in Brooke County, W.Va. The class's coordinator, Kip Deleonibus, was there, and a guide from Chesapeake also joined Bobby and the guys he'd just met. Among them: the electrician who'd seen jobs dry up, the Stop-N-Go manager, the steel worker who quit his job to take the three-week course.
The picture captures the moment: Arms crossed. No smiles. These 10 boys mean business.
It was a two-month process to get to this class and this rig site, a process that included a background check, a five-panel drug test and one marathon day of testing that included 10 exams in nine hours.
First Published April 24, 2011 12:00 am
