nerves of steel

by g.j. "gerry" mccarthy

Working on a water tank takes skill and a special kind of nerve. It's the kind of nerve that allows

you to climb a 200 foot steel tower just as soon as the rain stops or a blustery wind dies down.

And it's the kind of nerve that allows you to climb after three of your brothers have fallen to their

deaths. For the men of Jerry Burgess' crew, the ten weeks they spent in Columbia, Mo., are but a small

part of the 300 days each year they spend on the road. They do it to provide for their families.

They do it because it's in their blood.