Navajo lineman brings power under protection

WINDOW ROCK

When Myron Brady, 27, heads up an electrical pole he brings physical, mental, and spiritual protection with him into a profession where one wrong move can extract the ultimate price.

As much as the safety equipment he uses protects him physically, the men and women he works alongside help him stay safe around wires with high voltages coursing through them, which electrical workers call “hot” wires.

“There’s a bond when you are on the job with someone especially when you are doing hot work,” Brady said. “Anything can go wrong and we do everything we can to do everything right because you don’t get a second chance in this trade.”

As an apprentice lineman, he knows where each piece of equipment in his tool belt rests. Suspended above the ground with live electricity at his fingertips, knowledge of each tool and an awareness of its location keep his work running smooth and safe.

At the International Lineman’s Rodeo and Expo 2016 in Bonner Springs, Kansas, Brady demonstrated his knowledge of his tools for the “master judge” in a quiz.

At the premiere showcase for such skills anywhere in the world, he demonstrated the knowledge he picked up growing up with his six siblings and masaní under the care of his mother in Rough Rock, Arizona. In the place of the father who left his family, four uncles stepped in.

“When I was growing up, my father left when I was seven and my uncles took me under their wing,” he said.

He placed third in an event that tested some of his basic skills, third in a competition between municipalities, and fourth in an overall best-of-the-best category at the competition. He had not just maintained the lessons of his lineage; he had proven them against top competition.

“I figured it was something I needed to do to prove to myself that a Navajo kid from the reservation could hang with the big boys.”

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