The drilling industry has changed a lot in the 50 years I have been involved. When I started, most of the new hires were farm boys. They came to the rig with certain skills that translated well. They knew machinery, how to drive a tractor, bale hay and dig a ditch. A lot of them knew from experience where not to put their fingers. When I was 14, a neighbor boy lost half his foot in a silage chopper. It sure made the rest of us feel a little less invincible. By the time I went on the rig, I knew that machinery could hurt a fella, and I was ultimately responsible for my own fingers and toes. I’ve still got ’em all too.
Sometimes we’d get a new guy who didn’t have this kind of background. A lot of them didn’t last long, mostly because we ran on ’em pretty hard. But some made good hands. Hard to tell.