Dick Paschen had a long and successful career in the military prior to joining the Mercury family. After spending 27 years conducting fuel operations for the U.S. Air Force, Dick retired as a Chief Master Sergeant in 2005. He'd been working in a civilian capacity as the Fuels Manager at the nearby Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs when he learned of the job opportunity at Maytag Aircraft Corporation.

In researching the company, he discovered he was familiar with many of the locations Maytag operated out of, and knew he had a good breadth of experience to contribute. During his interview, he said he was just impressed with the overall attitude at Maytag.

"It seemed like a positive place to be," he said. "They were actively pursuing other contracts, and it had a lot of stuff going on that was interesting. And I liked the idea of continuing to work with or for the military, so that was attractive as well," he said.

Dick joined the Maytag Air Corporation in 2012 as the Operations Manager. His breadth of experience made him well-versed for the job, which consists of ensuring the company's performance is up to the standard of the work's requirements on each of its contracts. He describes his duties as "making sure we're doing what we're supposed to do, that we're meeting safety and environmental portions of the contract, and that we're getting the day to day job done."

Dick enjoys the ability to travel for his work: venturing to the different sites where Maytag has contracts or where they're bidding on contracts. He said he enjoys getting out to meet a lot of the people the company works with on contracts. "It gives me a good feel for what the guys on station are going through and what they're looking at when they're trying to explain things to me over the phone," he said.

One of his favorite aspects of the job, however, is that much of his work involves working with or for the military. "I liked being in the military, but it's designed to let you out at some point," he jokes. "This is a good other career that still contributes."

At Maytag specifically, Dick enjoys the positive work environment. "The folks that work here are very nice people," Dick said. In addition to having a "really fine boss" (Dave Nelson), he said "there is very seldom any friction, and folks get along just great, and I enjoy the working environment here."

Originally, from Chicago, Dick lives with his wife in Denver. "When I got out of the military - I'd been to a lot of places - but there's just something about the mountains, and the air, and being able to be outside most of the year and do things, so [Colorado] is where I threw down roots," he said. "And it just turns out, that that's where Maytag Aircraft is!"

In his spare time, Dick has an old Antique motorcycle he likes to drive "through the twisties in the mountains." He also likes to tinker on what he calls a "funny little car" – a 1967 Fiat 500. "It's a two cylinder car, so it doesn't go very fast, but it gets a lot of looks," he said.