“Ask The Chief”… one of Burt’s favorite motto’s followed by “Of Course It Can” …. When told something couldn’t be done. Very often in his early military career when told something couldn’t be done, he’d shoot back the remark “Of course it can, let’s go ask the Chief”…. And then he became one…. achieving the Rank of E-8 Senior Chief. Which was one of his proudest moments during his 26 yr. Military Career with the U.S. Navy spanning from 1968 - 1994.
Burt carried that motto with him thru out his military and civilian working careers. After gaining employment with BAE Systems following his military retirement in 1994 he joined the world of civilian government service in 1998 as an Information Technology Manager where he was a key founder in the establishment of the Navy’s Automatic Identification Technology Laboratory which served all of DoD and Federal agencies in “doing business better” with barcodes and RFID tags. His projects were varied and diverse but success and quality was a common theme. Among his largest projects as a Certified Property Manager, he led a national inventory and validation of all airport assets owned by TSA, developed a system for tracking those assets and coordinated the training for over 600 users.
Burt expanded this expertise and support to the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) where he led a team in support of their asset management as well as their engineering requirements for communications and sensor systems located along the United States Southern and Northern Borders. In 2011 he was promoted to a government technical High Grade position and became the Integrated Communications and Information Systems Division’s Sensor Systems Technology Team Lead. In this position, he supported the DHS CBP by developing an In-Service Engineering and Software Support Activity. He recently received a Career Service Award for his 40 + years of dedicated services to the United States Navy and to the Government of The United States.
Burt’s lifetime interests were many but his most cherished interests included his affiliation with the U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer’s Association… his 8 yrs. of Scuba Diving the Hawaiian Waters with his wife Brenda during their 11 yr. Naval Tour in Hawaii… his yearly Scuba Diving Trip to the Cayman Islands with friends from work…fishing in St. Mary’s Lake… and mostly his lifelong love of the motorcycling community. From 1993 he and his wife enjoyed memberships with… “Honolulu Hawaii Harley Owner’s Group” (where they helped establish the first Hawaii State Motorcycle Rally)…”Street Biker’s United Hawaii” (where they first became involved in the Toys-For-Tots Christmas Runs)…. “Annapolis Harley Owner’s Group”….. And his most recent and most cherished membership with the “Raging Goats Veteran Chief Petty Officer Motorcycle Club”.