How to serve company and country with equal dedication

How Texas Army National Guard Major Kevin Volz combines engineering for Baker Hughes with engineering for his country.

Kevin Volz is a 12-year veteran of Baker Hughes and almost 14-year veteran of the US Army National Guard. He is currently Battalion S3 or Operations Officer for the 111th Engineer Battalion in the Texas Army National Guard. He is 35 and is the technical training leader based at the Baker Hughes Oilfield Services & Equipment facility in Tomball, Texas. 

On this Veterans Day, Volz explains how he serves company and country with equal dedication.

Question:

How does dual service serving in the military while holding down a full-time job – work?

KEVIN VOLZ:

I get my annual training schedule which is generally 13 weekends plus one two-week block. I file for military leave for the two weeks, and the rest of my training is on weekends. It’s almost like I have a weekend job with the Army and then a day job at Bakers Hughes. It’s a lot of work. During national emergencies, like hurricanes and wildfires, we get activated on practically no notice because we need to respond to help support the community. 

In those instances, you need to pack up and go. We don’t always have orders processed when it starts, so I file that leave appropriately when I get back. I’ve had a fantastic experience with my manager’s support throughout the past 12 years. When a catastrophic hurricane hit Houston in 2017 I was activated. As my office was on the Gulf Coast, it was evacuated due to the hurricane. The Baker Hughes team understood that what I was doing was valuable to the people that were impacted and were tremendously supportive of my time serving.

Question:

You joined Baker Hughes as a graduate recruit from the Army?

KEVIN VOLZ:

I went to Baylor University, a Baptist University here in Texas and I got a fantastic scholarship from the Army. I had an eight-year minimum requirement after that to serve, which I’ve already passed.

I originally wanted to study chemical engineering, but Baylor didn’t have that, so I took electrical engineering instead. 

After graduating, I went through a six-month basic engineer’s officer leaders course on active orders through the Army. I graduated from that course on a Friday and started working for Baker Hughes the following Monday. 

Question:

You deployed in 2021-2022 – how does that work?

KEVIN VOLZ:

I put in my leave and instead of two weeks it was for 400 days, a little over 13 months. Baker Hughes was very supportive. When I was leaving, my team threw me a farewell party. 

I came back after the COVID pandemic. Fortunately for me, we were allowed back in the office and that helped me reintegrate. My management team had changed, but my new leader was also supportive. My team members would come into the office and work with me to help make sure that I was on par with the changes from the past year. It was really a fantastic experience both as I was going out the door and when I returned, ensuring I could come back in stride into the same position.

Question:

Where were you deployed and what did you do?

KEVIN VOLZ:

The organization I supported was the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). When I arrived in Kuwait, I coordinated our retrograde of service members from Afghanistan, as US forces were withdrawing from the country. Once they all were safely out of Afghanistan, I got on the next plane to Iraq for my next assignment.

As team lead of my location in Iraq, I managed the environmental services, power generation and distribution, quality and project management for construction projects throughout Iraq and Syria. We did everything from water wells to road construction, and we refurbished a new hospital for the US base I was at. We had around 150 projects and approximately $USD 50 million worth of active construction during that time. I grew and learnt a lot in both technical skills and leadership managing multifunctional teams.

Question:

Do you have a choice about deploying?

KEVIN VOLZ:

No, you don’t. My wife and I had been married for about a year and a half when I left for the Middle East, so we were still a newly married couple. 

At that time, I had all the things that the Army was looking for to fill the role – I’m a degreed engineer, an officer and I have my project management professional license, too. I had already been a company commander, and I’d done the prerequisites needed. I was in dual employment but had never yet deployed. The combination of those things meant it was my turn to serve.

The support I got from the people I’d worked with over the 10 years at Baker Hughes was overwhelming. All my previous managers reached out to me; my colleagues in different regions reached out with their support too. And when I came back, I was welcomed with open arms. It was incredibly meaningful to me.

When we make our annual goals at Baker Hughes, we also draft our individual development plan. In mine I include my family and things that I have going on outside of work such as the military. The culture that we have here is so incredibly supportive. One of my goals is that my wife will one day get to work at a company that makes her feel the way that I feel when I show up at work, because this is like a second family.

Question:

You’re now in a senior training role – please tell us more about it

KEVIN VOLZ:

Yes, I’m the technical training leader for my product line [Completions and Well Intervention]. Seven instructors on my team deliver the training. I’m responsible for the content, the class offerings, and making sure that we are aligned with the product line and portfolios’ strategic initiatives. I also make sure we have the right equipment to deliver that training and support the needs of our regions too.

Our core training is foundational for new employees and career-progression training. We target the new field engineers and field specialists to make sure they have an introductory understanding of completions and well intervention and oilfield basics. There are almost 50 different classes for institutional trainings as they progress through their career, to help them get more specific in certain products, as well as across the product line. You can find more details here.

We’ve got two drilling rigs at each of our training sites, so when I need a change of scenery from the office, I come out to the workshop, spend some time on the rigs and chat with the students as they’re learning and developing. We support down hole engineering tests on the wells – they’re about 2000 feet deep. We run tools down them nearly every day – we set liner hangers, we drill casing exits and sidetracks, we run upper and lower completions. It’s a lot of fun.

We also have dedicated customer training – my team of instructors delivered customer training in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Angola and other parts of Africa, as well as in Asia Pacific. They travel to deliver bespoke courses to help our customers understand how to use our solutions for their specific operations. 

Question:

Do you think that your extra military training helps you to do a better job?

KEVIN VOLZ:

Absolutely. Just this past summer I finished a four-year distance learning institutional training curriculum from the Army. None of it was tactics – it was military history, leadership and some strategic studies. That study directly correlates to leadership examples and principles in Baker Hughes.

Question:

How are you involved in the Baker Hughes Veterans’ Network?

KEVIN VOLZ:

Trying to bring veterans together and building that network is important to me. This office has a handful of veterans, and we try to bring them together to celebrate things such as Veterans Day. At our other offices in Houston, there are several combat veterans and trying to make sure they feel appreciated means a lot. 

We do a Murph Challenge every summer to honor a fallen Navy SEAL, Lt. Michael Murphy who died in an operation in Afghanistan in 2005. We do it on Memorial Day in May. You do a one-mile run followed by 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups and 300 squats, followed by another one-mile run, and you can do that with or without a weighted vest. 

I then go and talk to everyone at our headquarters in Houston in the conference room. I will talk about what Memorial Day means, because even if people didn’t serve, many have family who did. It is important to talk about it. 

Question:

You’re also involved in a few charities supporting veterans and deployed soldiers?

KEVIN VOLZ:

We do multiple other events across Houston for veterans’ organizations outside of Baker Hughes. One is Camp Hope, a PTSD organization that rehomes and rehabilitates mostly combat veterans, and we volunteer and fundraise for them and a few other charities throughout the year.

When I deployed, Baker Hughes employees started a care-package drive for soldiers. They sent my unit a care package for Thanksgiving. It was around 200 boxes of supplies from treats, gum, shaving cream, razors, foot powder, extra socks…etc. It was such a relief to know that you have these things coming. They were sent to my location and two other locations in Iraq. We shared them amongst ourselves and with other units on the base. That was such an overwhelming show of support, all gathered by Baker Hughes employees and sent to service members. 

We are now in the fifth year of doing that care-package drive. Soon we’ll be packaging up the boxes of supplies that have been generously donated by Baker Hughes employees and putting them in the mail to US Soldiers serving in a combat zone in Iraq. 

Question: 

That’s very inspiring. You have a lot of energy! What about your family life?

KEVIN VOLZ:

My wife Marissa and I have a two-year-old daughter, McKenzie. 

I do miss a lot of things because I still spend 13 weekends a year doing my Texas Army National Guard service, but I feel that what I’m doing is meaningful. I cherish the time with them when I am home.