When John Bings thinks of patriotism, a series of memories come to mind. He remembers being five years old when his father was stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas. He recalls seeing his father come home, every day, in his uniform. Bings spent those days in Fort Bliss helping his Korean mother practice the Pledge of Allegiance in preparation for her citizenship test. As a result of these experiences, Bings made the decision – at a mere five years old - to work in support of the Armed Services.
“My father said I need to be an engineer so I could be an officer,” said Bings, lead recruiter for engineers and scientists at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC Crane). “Not many at that age have their life figured out, but I did. I wanted to become an engineer so I could be an officer and serve my country for 30 years.”
Following high school, Bings applied to Rose-Hulman University, even though he was unfamiliar with Indiana. At Rose-Hulman, he majored in electrical engineering on an Army ROTC scholarship. His senior year, his dreams of becoming an officer in the Army unfortunately had to be reevaluated – his newly injured shoulder demanded it.
“When I heard about NSWC Crane, I liked the idea of being able to still serve my country – albeit now for the Navy and as a civilian,” Bings recalled.
Bings started his NSWC Crane career as an electrical engineer in the Radiation Sciences Branch. Since then, Bings has held various positions at NSWC Crane. His movement around the base supports the common adage that NSWC Crane employees have the opportunity to explore several positions and various duties throughout their career.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better place to start my career at NSWC Crane,” said Bings. He spent 18 years in the Radiation Sciences Branch before moving on to other challenges and experiences, but he said he always looks back fondly at the great comrades he had the honor of working with and the contributions he made.
Bings’ current position requires him to identify and recruit top talent for engineers and scientists at the student, entry and journey level. He sees creating a diverse workforce as a key to success as a recruiter at NSWC Crane, and he desires to create and foster relationships with higher education institutions, potential candidates and new hires to establish NSWC Crane as a destination of choice to start a career.
“It is probably the most rewarding and fulfilling endeavor I have done at Crane,” he said. “That’s really saying something.” Bings feels like a proud parent watching his recruits go through onboarding, which is introductory training for all NSWC Crane new hires.
“Those engineers and scientists had a lot of options on where to start their career and they chose NSWC Crane!” said Bings. “Every time I think about that it makes me so proud and humbled because they didn’t have to come to Crane, but they did come - and I think I helped make that possible.”
NSWC Crane is a naval laboratory and a field activity of Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) with focus areas in Expeditionary Warfare, Strategic Missions and Electronic Warfare. NSWC Crane is responsible for multi-domain, multi- spectral, full life cycle support of technologies and systems enhancing capability to today’s warfighter.