I began working in the tower industry in 1980 installing guyed towers and microwave along a pipeline for Diamond Shamrock in Texas. My early years also included constructing flare towers on offshore oil drilling platforms for Shell Oil and construction of some of the early MCI relay towers in the western states. These were some really great experience builders before the cellular years began.Since that time I have taken part in the initial build out and launching for virtually every single carrier in the midwest region. In the beginning days we built a lot of self supporting and guyed towers for Cell One. The other mediums like monopoles, buildings, water tanks and stealth were a rarity. Seeing a new carrier come to town and starting a new technology was pretty educational.Amazing seeing how so many companies went through name changes, mergers or going away completely over the years. And it wasn't just the carriers, but the contractors too. A lot of the companies come and go but it's nice to see that most of the people are still around. Same faces but a different sign over their door.