What began as a temporary job placing concrete at the Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant (PCAPP), became a permanent position for one Pueblo man.

“I got to see the site come from nothing and be made into something,” said Johnny Lujan, ordnance technician, PCAPP.

Having been a concrete mason for 38 years, Lujan brought that experience to PCAPP in 2008. He said he fondly recalls 3 a.m. concrete placements and working until midnight on backup generator pads. Over the next several years, Lujan would move from mason to foreman and then general foreman.

When construction was nearing completion, the concrete mason changed hats and worked for a contractor who was responsible for placing protective floor coatings in the plant’s Enhanced Reconfiguration Building and Agent Processing Building.

Then in 2014, Lujan became an ordnance technician, and now works in the buildings he helped to construct.

“I remember seeing the machines come in and now I get to use them,” he said.

“Johnny shows up to work every day with a great attitude and is always willing to do any job that is asked of him. He always has a smile on his face and tries to project his good mood onto everyone around him, an example of the PCAPP Core Principle personal accountability,” said Chanse Page, Early Baseline Reconfiguration process supervisor.

“He’s not afraid to stop and ask questions when something isn’t understood, which is an example of the PCAPP Core Principle technical inquisitiveness,” Page said.