Veteran Story: William Bouley

Photo courtesy Bill Bouley

William (Bill) Bouley

Hometown

Alexandria, New Hampshire

Title

Safety Manager, Zone 4, Intermountain Region

Military Service

Veteran, US Army 1977–1997
Sergeant First Class, Retired

Deployments:

• West Germany 1978
• Honduras 1984
• Beirut, Lebanon 1988
• Iraq and Kuwait 1991
• Iraq 1992
• Iraq November 1992 - March 1993
• Iraq 1993
• Iraq 1994

Awards:

• Meritorious Service Medal
• Air Medal 2nd Award
• Army Accommodation Medal 4th Award
• Army Achievement Medal 4th Award
• Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
• Humanitarian Service Medal
• Southwest Asia Service Medal with 3 Bronze Service Stars
• Saudi Kuwait Liberation Medal
• Kuwait Liberation Medal
• Master Crew-member Wings
• Joint Meritorious Unit Award
• Valorous Unit Award
• Superior Unit Award

Bill's Story

How did you make the transition from the military to the National Park Service?
"After retiring in 1997, I applied for and was accepted into the US Army / Texas A&M Safety Internship for Industrial Technology Engineering. I spent the next nine years as an Army Civilian doing industrial, tactical, transportation, radiation, and explosives safety. In 2007 I transferred to the Department of the Interior, and in 2010 joined the NPS."

How does your military experience impact who you are in your NPS career today?
"In the military you are taught to take care of your people; working for the NPS is no different. As leaders, our people should be our number one focus; everything else should be secondary."

How did your military service and skills contribute to your role today with the NPS?
"We always hear about 'thinking outside of the box.' When you have in fact 'lived outside the box' global thinking is much easier."