WorldWide Drilling Resource

38 OCTOBER 2015 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® “There’s someone I want you to meet,” said Rick Young, a sales representative for Mobile Drill International. The 60 th Annual South Atlantic Well Drillers JUBILEE had just kicked off its second and final day. My colleague Mary Lynn and I had been making the early rounds, catching snapshots and talking with vendors. We stood below Mobile Drill’s B57 rig, and Rick began to tell us about a very special man in attendance at JUBILEE. “He’s one o f t he f i r s t operators of a Mobile Drill. He should be here any time now. You can’t miss him.” We waited a few minutes to see if we’d be fortunate enough to catch this living legend. Just when we’d decided maybe we should give him a little more time to get there, and come back later for another try, Rick said, “There he comes now.” Rick was right, you couldn’t miss Dwight Brainard as he slowly and deliberately made an entrance through the trade show crowd. He was walking toward us with his head held high, in what appeared to be a three-piece suit. “I didn’t put on my badge because it covered up my nice tie,” he said after we were introduced. Mr. Brainard didn’t need a badge anyway; the way he carried h i m s e l f t o l d everyone he was in the right place. It didn’t take long to see where this sense of pride came from. “I was actually a driller’s helper,” he began. In high school, he was a friend of Bob Dickinson, son of Mobile Drill founder George Dickinson. As a friend of the family, Mr. Brainard was hired for the summer to help Bob with drilling projects. It was hard work, but he was up to the challenge. He said when he and Bob worked together on a drilling project, they rotated operation of the drill rig four days a week, Monday through Thursday. The dilemma of who should run the rig on Fridays was solved by a sensible method of hand-to-hand combat. The guys held a wrestling match every Friday morning; whoever lost the match won the helper’s job for the day. Mr. Brainard’s summer drilling job eventually led to a career as a geotechnician. After serving in the Army, he began working full time for Mobile Drill in the late 1950s. He stayed with the company for several years, and with the drilling industry for the rest of his career. It was gratifying to meet someone so fulfilled by their life’s work. There was no complaining about the bad times, which he surely expe- rienced along the way. That day, there were only good memories of earning an honest living beside friends. “This is a great industry with a huge number of rewards, especially if you’re an entrepreneur and want to start your own business; the drilling industry can accommodate a large number of operators.” His love and appreciation for the trade was plain to see as he continued. “I’ve been retired 22 years and I still come to these shows. I feel fortunate to have fallen into something when I was young that carried me through my life.” Later that day, as things were winding down and JUBILEE was coming to a close, I noticed Mr. Brainard remained standing tall in his suit surrounded by a small crowd of lucky listeners. His smile was still there, and now those around him were smiling too. Good times... Mr. Dwight Brainard, one of the first to operate a Mobile Drill rig. WWDR photo. Dwight Brainard, Robert E. “Bob” Dickinson, and their friend John Kilman, circa 1950. Bob was with Mobile Drill his entire career. John and Dwight founded Brainard Kilman Drill Company in Atlanta in 1966. Photo courtesy of Dwight Brainard. Smooth Operator by Amy White, Associate Editor WorldWide Drilling Resource ® Mr. Brainard was also the life of the party at JUBILEE’s opening day! WWDR photo.