Eddie Rodriguez stepped out of the car and onto the rough gravel parking lot of a huge construction site sprouting from the black dirt of the Iowa prairie. "Wow, this is no PowerPoint show," he said to himself.
In class at Des Moines Area Community College, he had seen presentations and read articles on the construction of the Interstate Rail Transport System, or IRTS. But seeing the activity live all around him was a different experience entirely. He had just arrived with a letter of appointment from Prairie Associates and a brand-new union card from Local 234 of the Operating Engineers. "Edward J. Rodriguez, Apprentice Operator for Class 2 and 3 Robotic Equipment." Having been to operator's school and to college classes in robotics, he was, in theory, well qualified for this internship. In practice, his stomach was not so sure.