The Vitro years, Part 1.

From 1987, when I left the Navy, until 1996, I worked for just one company. Vitro, in Maryland. It wasn’t a small or very large company, but in the Rockville area, they provided a lot of jobs, over 3,000. They were fairly important because the area was sliding into a period of decline. There were many elderly people nearby, left over from the hay days of the late 60’s and early 70’s technology/electronics boom, who couldn’t afford to retire in Florida.

Vitro was basically a DOD contracting firm and we often wound up partnering with competitors, especially on dirty or large scale projects. Before I left the company (laid off) they were bought by the competitor Tracor (here is a Company history from the time Tracor owned Vitro https://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Vitro-Corp-Company-History.html ) and then later by BAE (that bad British company). The number of area employees has plummeted; they are now housed in just one of the original group of buildings. Some sites were sold and others (like the original Vitro headquarters on Georgia Avenue) were bulldozed to make way for commercial progress. The company was driven into the ground, but I am sure a few at the top languish in Miami, even as I type this.

I was freshly out of the Navy and moved my (then) wife and son to Maryland. My starting salary was a whopping $24K per year. This was a huge step up from the $19K I was getting in the Navy, but I had not calculated the cost of living increase and the fact that housing would not be free anymore. I was constantly in a state of debt that I have only recovered from in the past 5 years, long after I was out of Vitro and free of a girlfriend. Any girlfriend. Funny how broke and girlfriend go hand in hand?

That is the big picture, but I will delve into what it was like being a very shy, young, white guy that is stepping into corporate America for the first time. It’s something many people leaving the Military go through, but the timing of my shift in history made for some very interesting days.