Pantex Blog
Pantex Proud: Tyra DeLeon
Thousands of dedicated Pantex citizens like Tyra DeLeon work every day to support the Pantex mission. Take three minutes to learn about who she is, what she does, and why she is proud to be a Pantexan.
The theatre sits ready, as it does every morning. Performers take the stage, each with a unique task, yet one that weaves into a collective, intricate dance. For such a beautiful ballet on the surface, this arrangement takes daily dirty work and flash communication. Add some fancy footwork, a little elbow grease, and dedicated staff for the performance to truly ebb and flow.
Welcome to Occupational Health Services (OHS). The lead? That would be Acting Occupational Health Manager Tyra DeLeon.
DeLeon oversees all aspects of OHS including administrative support staff, case management, nurses, lab, Breath Alcohol Testing, and LiveWise. Each team member has a distinctive role, yet they must all be flexible and adaptable given the action-filled and evolving nature of the healthcare industry including patient scheduling, new medications, and technologically advancing equipment.
“Every single morning the lobby is full,” DeLeon said. “The admin checks in all the patients and sends them to where they’re going to next. If a room is occupied or a case manager is running behind and can’t see a patient at a scheduled time, we all have to communicate what is happening and pivot to adjust to the situation.”
DeLeon’s personal work day is also bustling, as her role requires a blend of elaborate choreography and impromptu shuffling.
“I typically have 15 things happening at a time,” DeLeon said. “Multiple Teams chats and email threads as well as following the daily clinic schedule. I check on my staff at least 20 times a day to ensure they have the tools to succeed.”
DeLeon always wanted to be a nurse, and while she did achieve that goal, she fell in love with leadership. She pledged to be the one to take people under her wing and always be there for that person. That spark shifted her career for the better, including her move out to Pantex. DeLeon has only been at the plant six months, but she’s happier than ever and proud of the mission she contributes to.
“I’m from the Amarillo area, and before I worked at Pantex, I’d never met someone who didn’t like working here,” DeLeon said. “When I took the job, I quickly realized those people weren’t just talking, but telling the truth. Everyone is a family out here. I love my team, and I love seeing how OHS and the rest of the plant collaborate.”
What’s your favorite outside-of-work activity and why?
I love traveling with my husband. Being out on the open road and not having anything on the agenda is liberating.
Why are communications important for all Pantex employees?
Communicating clearly, constantly, and effectively breaks down barriers. Be an active listener and avoid “through the grapevine” communication. By improving your communication skills, everyone stays connected and on task, issues get resolved, and processes run smoother which all make for a positive work environment.
What is the top communications tool you rely on in your daily work?
We use email and Teams, but verbal is our primary means of communication. You need that face-to-face as facial expressions and other gestures add to the conversation; however, when communicating to my staff, upper leadership, and our patients, delivery is key.
Pantex Proud: Garry Little
Thousands of dedicated Pantex citizens like Garry Little work every day to support the Pantex mission. Take three minutes to learn about who he is, what he does, and why he is proud to be a Pantexan.
The minutia of everyday life seems irrelevant when staring down at the world from 10,000 feet.. Wind whips hair and skin, the deafening sound blending with the roar of the airplane engine. Feet stand precariously on the fuselage doorway edge. Hands let go – freefall.
Occupational Health Nurse Garry Little enjoys an adrenaline rush. For the majority of his adult life, he worked in emergency medicine. The field’s high-urgency, sometimes life-or-death nature provided that surge, but the constantly intense environment became too much. While Little still loves a good thrill like skydiving recreationally, he decided to change his career. Soon after, he was Pantex-bound.
“I really enjoy my role within occupational medicine,” Little said. “I never really thought about working at Pantex until I came across a job posting and asked some friends their thoughts. Their consensus was that once you get a job there, you won’t want to leave because it’s that great. I’m two years in. The people are amazing, and my friends were right; this truly is a great place to work.”
Little’s duties include routine physicals, audiograms, vision tests, vaccinations, and to assess and treat on-the-job injuries. Although it is not the high-octane intensity of emergency medicine, he still helps people, an act he thoroughly enjoys.
“I am proud to be a part of the Occupational Health Services team,” Little said. “Our part of the mission is to make sure Pantexans are healthy and physically fit for duty. We’re proud of that. Everyone has a job to do to make the mission successful.”
When freefalling from a different atmosphere, the unique perspective encourages different thinking. The sheer size of cities and countryside from that height may make one feel miniscule, but it may also inspire a new-found view, that of impact and legacy.
“Pantex is a staple of our community and a major role in our country’s security,” Little said. “Once I actually started working at Pantex, I realized just how important everyone’s job is to the mission. Being part of that purpose that helps keeps our country safe is something to be proud of.”
What’s your top bucket list item and why?
To become a licensed skydiver, then learn to base jump. There are some awesome places I’d love to jump from. I love the experience. There’s nothing like it in life.
Why is it important we hold ourselves accountable in our daily tasks?
Holding yourself accountable sets a standard that you will complete your daily task and do your job to the best of your ability.
What advice would you offer someone who has made a mistake in his or her job?
Own it. Learn from it. Grow from it and move on with confidence knowing that you will not make that mistake again.
How do our established procedures, administrative controls, rules, etc. help us in being accountable to PXD, Pantex, and our peers?
Having policies and procedures lay a foundation and give structure and guidance for all employees. Doing so prevents management from having to handle situations “as they see fit,” and instead hold everyone to the same standard and expectations.
People of Pantex: Scott Nelson
People of Pantex is a series that highlights what makes Pantexans unique when they are not at our plant, and how those activities help them contribute to the mission.
At just over 5,000 feet in the air, Scott Nelson radioed over the common traffic advisory frequency that he was circling back to land his plane at Tradewind Airport in Amarillo. It’s something he’s done hundreds of times as an adult, but his passion began its ascent decades earlier when he took his first flight at 5 years old.
“My uncle had flown his plane from Oklahoma to take us back to his house for the summer,” Nelson recalled. “My sister and I are walking out to meet him and I thought ‘my uncle must be a fighter pilot because look at this airplane he’s got.’ It turned out to be an old Cessna 206, but at the time he stepped out with the Tom Cruise sunglasses and — as kids — we thought he was a rock star.”
Nelson was instantly hooked. From that day on, he dedicated his life to flying and helping people. He began his career in law enforcement, became a deputy sheriff, a firefighter, and an EMT. All of that led him to Pantex where he’s worked for the past 26 years.
As the management self-assessment program manager, Nelson’s job at Pantex is similar to flying planes. Just like he does mandatory safety checks to make sure all systems are working properly before takeoff, at Pantex he oversees the program where managers and workers perform self-assessments to ensure proper readiness in the mission — so they can catch problems before they happen.
“When you’re flying there are all sorts of rules — including the laws of physics,” Nelson said. “You can’t cheat the laws of physics. If you don’t have enough air speed going over an airfoil, you’re going to crash. At Pantex, we have rules and procedures we follow, and if we don’t, something could happen.”
Nelson’s dad retired from the Navy and was also a pilot. He continued the legacy of patriotism his dad instilled in him at a young age sitting in the co-pilot seat. One way he did that was by shuttling veterans around the United States for their medical appointments. Nelson is proud to have helped people who served our country and said he enjoyed going to new places every day.
“My family got a contract with the Veterans Administration system supplying the VA with air ambulances for veterans. We flew them all over the United States for surgeries and things like that,” Nelson said. “Back then, each individual VA had a different specialty, so you would pick up veterans at that hospital and fly them to Cheyenne, Wyoming, New York, or wherever for the next surgery they needed. That had me flying on an everyday basis.”
One day Nelson and his dad decided to take their hobby a step further and purchase, restore, and fly old wartime aircraft.
“We said ‘we should get a WWII airplane and go play with that,’” Nelson said. “So, we went and found an old UC-45J. It’s a 1939 model from the Navy and it’s an old photo reconnaissance aircraft that flew throughout the Pacific theater. We restored it back to its original condition and ended up selling it to a museum up in Chicago.”
It didn’t stop there. Nelson and his father’s passion took off faster than the aircraft they were rebuilding.
“That kind of morphed into a ‘hey why don’t we become fighter pilots,’” Nelson said. “So, we started looking at how we could get into a fighter jet. We got into the MiG-15 and then a little later we got into the MiG-17. The MiG-15 was the Korean War era. The MiG-17 was Vietnam era.”
Even though flying is now just a hobby, Nelson continues to give back to others in the air.
“One of the exciting things we do is Uncle Scott’s Christmas Light flights,” Nelson said. “We take kids up in an airplane at night and fly about 1000 feet over Amarillo. We fly circles and let them see the Christmas lights from the sky and say ‘this is what Santa sees as he comes in to land on your roof.’ We’ve had everything from kids ages 3 to 18 looking out that window with their nose pressed against the glass of the airplane just going ‘oooh’ and ‘ahh.’ It’s very rewarding to give a kid their first chance to go flying.”
Nelson is still taking flight and inspiring the next generation of potential pilots or aircraft enthusiasts, just like when he took his first ride in the sky more than five decades prior. To hear more about Scott’s love of flying – and giving back – watch his People of Pantex video here.
There’s no place like home
Scott Kennedy stands in the upcoming High Explosive Science and Engineering Facility.
Scott Kennedy recently moved back to his hometown of Panhandle, Texas, when he joined PanTeXas Deterrence as the division director for Infrastructure and Modernization. Though he enjoyed his stints in Carlsbad, N.M., Portsmouth, Ohio, and Los Alamos, N.M., that took him away from the area for about 11 years, he was ready to be back at Pantex.
“It was a good chance to come home,” Kennedy notes. “My wife and I talked about it and thought it was a good way to finish out my career. Coming back to help accomplish the mission at Pantex that I was a part of from 1982 to 2012 was important to me.”
Shortly after finishing his civil engineering degree at Texas A&M University, Kennedy was offered a job in the oilfield that would require a move to Dallas. After a discussion with his wife, they decided they wanted to stay closer to home. He set up an interview with Mason and Hanger and was offered a job on the spot, but again, Kennedy asked for time to discuss the opportunity with his wife. They made the decision for him to accept that job — which led to his first 30 years at Pantex.
Growing up, Kennedy worked on farms and ranches, in restaurants, driving buses, and for oil companies, all the while peppering in construction jobs.
“I think that background helps in my position now,” Kennedy said. “My grandfather was a civil engineer and he did a lot of heavy earthwork construction. My dad also studied architecture, and even though he was a preacher he always had something he was building at every church, so I was immersed in that world growing up.”
Since his return to Pantex, Kennedy considers himself lucky to have an organization that shows great commitment to diligently and safely supporting the mission. Though he has seen lots of new faces upon his return, he considers himself fortunate to recognize many familiar faces as well.
“I am fortunate because I have known a lot of them for a long time,” Kennedy said. “Between Infrastructure’s Quality of Life initiatives and more line-item projects coming to Pantex, we will see more new faces to help contribute to making our great site even better. When those people get here, we want to develop them. Improving the maturity of the current staff and training our new staff is very important, and making sure they have the right coaching, mentorship, and exposure to experienced employees is key.”
Modernization is the goal for the future of Pantex, but the largest near-term undertaking for Kennedy’s organization is sustaining existing facilities to meet today’s mission. Looking forward, there are many new facility and infrastructure needs that are mission critical and necessary for successful future mission delivery.
“We have a lot of existing facilities that we have to sustain to support today’s mission so we continue to deliver,” Kennedy said. “My entire organization works toward that. Modernization plans for the site include resilient facilities that will optimize performance. We are getting started on this with the Advanced Fabrication Facility and the High Explosive Science and Engineering Facility.”
When Kennedy is not focused on improving the site or the people in his organization, he plays golf and fishes. Though he does not have a camper currently, he loves camping with his two daughters and their families — and there are plans to pick out a camper soon.
Came for the experience, stayed for the mission
Emmy Schniederjan, Octavio Almanza, and Isaac Kendrick are 2024 summer interns turned full-time Pantex employees.
It’s one thing to learn something and another to actually put it into practice. Internships help close the gap between knowledge and experience, which is especially important at Pantex where the work is specialized and unique to anywhere else.
“My internship experience helped me develop a keen eye for small details, and also exposed me to the collaboration process between cross-functional teams,” said Octavio Almanza, information system security officer. “I find myself using these skills for my current position on a daily basis.”
Pantex recently welcomed 35 students representing 18 different colleges across the nation to a 10-week summer internship experience at the site. The interns will spend time in concentrated training gaining real-world experience with their host organizations. Their experience will culminate in a final project they will present at the Intern Expo on Tuesday, July 22, from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. in the John C. Drummond Center cafeteria.
Summer Interns
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Almanza graduated from Texas A&M University and interned at Pantex through the NNSA Minority Serving Institutions Internship Program in summer 2024. That October, he made the transition from summer intern with the Cybersecurity Formal Authorization & Risk Management team to an employee with the same group.
“I personally found my internship experience to be very rewarding,” he said. “I felt very welcomed by my team and was able to learn so much from my mentor and other cybersecurity professionals here.”
From the 2024 summer intern group, 18 of 38 interns converted into full-time hires. Emmy Schniederjan, environmental science associate, graduated from Texas Tech University and interned with the Environmental Projects group before being hired in August 2024.
“My internship was a fantastic learning opportunity,” she said. “I was able to get a really great idea of what working at Pantex would be like.”
Schniederjan said the internship experience itself offered great experiences like plant tours, social activities, and professional development, but she especially loved how her internship project made her feel like an integral part of the greater Pantex mission.
“During my internship, and now as an employee, I have the privilege to work with wonderful people to better the health of the surrounding environment and protect the organisms that rely on it,” she said. “I love getting the opportunity to do my part in contributing to my team’s efforts.”
The incoming 2025 group includes seven returning interns back for more hands-on learning about the work at Pantex, highlighting the excellence of the internship program, the mission, and mentors who take the task of teaching the inexperienced. Isaac Kendrick, West Texas A&M graduate and structural design engineer, interned at Pantex for two summers before becoming an employee in 2025.
“My first summer, I was put to work with all three disciplines in my group (civil, structural, architectural),” Kendrick said. “My second summer I wanted to shift my focus on just structural engineering. I really like my department and everything about my job.”
Kendrick appreciated the chance to discover what discipline in Project Engineering he would be most interested in and said the most important skill he learned was to not be afraid to reach out for help.
“When I was interning and I wasn’t sure I knew how to do something, I would tell my mentor at the time and he would sit down with me and give me a lesson,” he said. “Even now that I am full-time, I still ask for help when I need it.”
With all the skills these three Pantexans learned through their time as interns and now full-time employees, they offer some wise advice for the 2025 intern group:
“You're going to be surrounded by professionals in your field who want to see you grow and succeed throughout your time here,” Almanza said. “Use this opportunity to ask lots of questions.”
“Take advantage of all of the amazing tours and professional developments the program has to offer, and reach out to your fellow interns,” Schniederjan said.
“Take time to get to know other departments and managers,” Kendrick added. “Don’t be idle and waste time. If you have nothing to do ask your manager or coworkers if there is anything that you can help with.”