Semper Fidelis is the motto of every U.S. Marine, a universally adopted slogan that represents a commitment to both success and loyalty. It’s a Latin phrase that translates to “Always Faithful.”
Greg Kirtman knows very well what it means.
Not only did Greg, VP of Operations in Arkansas, serve in the US Marine Corps, but he also devoted 45 years to the Datamax organization, continuously in the spirit of service to both country and company. Greg will retire at the end of this month, but well after he walks out the front door facing Kanis Road for the final time, his legacy will endure. Greg has championed the camaraderie it takes to succeed as a department, contributed to insurmountable growth both within himself and Datamax, and remained faithful to an organization he believed strongly in from the very start.
He will be missed, but that’s what camaraderie does. It makes what we do here so much more than just a job.
“It’s mixed feelings,” Greg says of his approaching retirement. “Mentally, I don’t feel like I’m 66.5 years old. But part of me says it’s time to let other people step in and keep going forward with it all… There are good people here now and I hope they have many years of growth, stability, and success in whatever they’re looking for.”
Camaraderie Builds Teamwork.
From the very first day Greg arrived at Marine boot camp, it was 90 miles an hour. He tried college but “didn’t care for it.” A friend of his joined the Marine Corps and referred Greg, so off he went.
His initial weeks at Boot Camp were his biggest exposure to redefining what he was capable of. When the trash can came banging down the squad bay at 5 a.m., you had 15 seconds to be standing at attention at the front of your rack. You had five minutes to go to the bathroom, shower, shave, and be ready to start your day.
You ran (in boots) up to 10 miles a day, hiked with full backpacks, and while the drill sergeants couldn’t physically assault anyone, you didn’t necessarily believe it when they were screaming at you, their large-brimmed campaign hat beating against your forehead. Throughout the daily rigors of Boot Camp, it dawned on Greg, “I never would have done this on my own.” But he learned another lesson, too.
“There were certain punishments that were doled out individually, but just as much it could hurt the whole group. You learned that if someone was a little slow at something, you helped them. Individually you had to succeed, but at the same time, the entire group had to succeed. That pushes you into another mental space.”
After Boot Camp, Greg was sent to Electronics/Radio Communications training 5 days a week for 10+ months, and would eventually serve as a Ground Radio Repairman as an Active Duty Reservist once he completed his education. The stakes were high in this educational training. Fail an exam once? Take it over. Fail twice? That’s it. You were dropped from the training and essentially served as what Greg calls a “grunt” (field combat, radio operator, armed).
“Stories we heard about previous wars were, if you were in combat and you were serving as a ground radio operator, you were one of the first targets. If the enemy saw an antenna, that’s what they shot at first,” Greg said.
His group of classmates paired down from 30 people to 6 over time. As the exams continued, camaraderie began to reveal itself even more. The remaining students worked closely together to help each other pass the stringent testing after each class (each class lasted from several days to 1 week). It was imperative. So, they huddled together in their small “apartments” and studied together.
“If you just didn’t understand something, you had another point of reference to draw from. It’s no different than what we do here,” Greg said.
Camaraderie Promotes Growth.
From Boot Camp to business technology, the 90 mile-an-hour speed never let up for Greg.
After completing boot camp and his active duty training, Greg went job searching and interviewed with A.B. Dick Products, which specialized in mimeographs, offset presses, and later on, infancy-age copiers. He was struck by the level of organization and the overall feel of the company.
“They had a general service manager, and then three other departments within that that included offset printing, copiers, and a general line division. There was just something that stood out in the (interview) process that said ‘wow, I want to be part of this company.’ And then, boom, I took the offer.”
He started as a Service Technician before moving up to Lead Technician and eventually Field Service Supervisor. Many of his fellow service employees were also veterans.
“A lot of us had gotten our education through the military. There was a tight-knit group of five or six of us that challenged each other to a higher standard. We just clicked,” Greg said.
One of his biggest takeaways from that time period was the constant influx of learning. He was sent to school on a regular basis as the copier became a more affordable (and marketable) device for offices. Greg was even the first person to attend Canon’s Color Equipment classes in New York. Those first Color Copiers were placed at some major accounts such as; Anheuser Busch, McDonnell Douglas, Pet Inc., and the government's Defense Mapping Agency.
“I’m learning. I’m going to school, and you’re fixing stuff. That was the ultimate,” Greg recalls. “We picked up the (Canon) line and that technology just took off. Canon came on board with plain paper copiers, no more treated paper, and now offices could truly afford a copier... I enjoyed the field service because you played detective, and you got to be the hero six or seven times a day. The technology, though, it just kept on coming.”
Along the way, Greg took several trips to Little Rock to help the technicians there with the newly acquired office. When Barry Simon was promoted to President of the Little Rock office in 1985, Greg recalls telling him that if he ever needed help, to let him know.
“I honestly don’t remember if it was September or October that he said I want to interview you for the Service Manager position, but we reached an agreement. And on a November Saturday, after we had Thanksgiving with the family in St. Louis, we loaded up the car and came to Little Rock.”
Greg – and the company – were growing at a rapid pace. Little did he know then, 38 years ago, that the growth was just getting going.
Camaraderie Demands Faithfulness.
Whether he thinks about it consciously or not, Greg has lived faithfully by the Marine motto. In reflection of his time here, he thinks about his wife, whom he will celebrate his 45h Anniversary with this year. He feels gratitude for her support on the countless days he stayed late or drove to work super early. He thinks about Barry Simon, whom he’s shared a “customer-first” philosophy with over the years that remains unwavering even as much as the industry has transformed.
He thinks about all his office mates, the camaraderie he shares with them. It won’t be easy to walk away. But it’s even harder to do so without a mutual sense of gratitude for one heck of a ride… one that spanned 4.5 decades.
Martin Luther King Jr. once said that faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase. Greg took a leap of faith when he signed on with the Marine Corps, and later with A.B. Dick Products in 1978. Now, he stands at the top of the staircase, with a view all the way back down. The industry’s evolved, the game has changed, and the world is different 45 years later. But Greg’s commitment to country and to company didn’t waver from his first step to the last.
Always faithful. Semper Fi.
