Community Relations 121 



soon as they got that accomplished — it opened while Admiral Duke was here — 

 then the Station was able to convert its payroll to check as opposed to cash. 



People were paid in cash? 



People were paid in cash unless they requested a check, but most people 

 wanted cash. That's the way the Station had operated all these years. Again, 

 change. People oppose change as a basic rule. We couldn't convert to check 

 because we didn't have the check cashing facilities. We could only do it for those 

 who made a special request for it. As soon as we got the facilities available, we 

 were able to convert to check. 



I also, personally, hold a high esteem for the administration of Captain 

 Sellars and Ball* as a team. They had an outstanding relationship with the 

 employees. They were down to earth. They were wholesome, and they could be 

 serious, and they could sit down and talk with you on any subject. They could be 

 humorous. I found from the working relationship that, as a team, they proba- 

 bly stood out. I can't speak from the technical standpoint because I'm not 

 involved and never had been involved in the technical operations of this com- 

 mand. There are probably technical personnel who would take exception to 

 that, and that would be understandable, but I'm looking at it strictly from just 

 the day to day routine of working with them as the Commanding Officer and 

 the Deputy Commanding Officer. 



Your entire career has been at Dahlgren. Do you have any regrets about not moving 

 elsewhere, perhaps for better job opportunities? 



No. 1 think any of us could leave this area if we wanted to and get higher 

 grades and higher pay, but to me it isn't worth it. I realize I'm obviously biased 

 in my evaluation of the area, having grown up here, but 1 wouldn't trade living 

 in this area of rural Virginia for all the tea in China. I went to school up in 

 Washington. When I went to school in Arlington County, it was rural, believe it 

 or not — rural enough so that 1 could ride a bicycle 3 miles to get to school 

 without any fear of heavy traffic, but you wouldn't dare undertake such a thing 

 today. 1 used to ride a bicycle in the District of Columbia, on any occasion, 

 without any fear whatsoever. The traffic, we might say, was heavy for those 

 times, but it wasn't fast moving traffic, and it was no problem at all to get around 

 via bicycle. I spent a lot of time over at the Capitol, over at the Library of 

 Congress, in the House Office Building, and the Senate Office Building just 

 browsing around, meeting people, talking with them. Insofar as living up there 

 now or in any other metropolitan area, I don't want any part of it. I feel that this 



*Captain George G. Ball was Deputy Commander during the tenure of Captain Sellars and was 

 Commanding Officer at Dahlgren from July 1964 until September 1964. 



