Story Published:
Feb 22, 2012 at 8:27 PM MDT
Story Updated:
Feb 23, 2012 at 2:32 PM MDT
WILLISTON, N.D. - Richard Largent has worked in the Bakken since October 2011. His home away from home is a room at a Target Logistics man camp outside of Williston, N.D.
"The living conditions are good. I can't complain about that at all. It's a pretty decent little place, really. It's not too bad," Largent said. "And they have a weight room, so you can work out you know. So if something happens or you think you're eating too much or whatever because that's possible here."
Largent's wife and three children live back home in Idaho while he works 15 days at a time in North Dakota. He then gets a week off to spend with his family.
"And my little boy thought when I took off, you know, when I went to talk to him on the phone in the beginning he (said), 'Oh it's because daddy's dead.' Well I'm not dead and I was coming back home and I had to explain it to him. Then he thought I lived up in the sky because I left on a plane. But I don't live up in the sky and work up in the sky. And he understands that now, I think."
Largent said he misses holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries while he's away for work.
"I don't think money ever takes the place of family time," he said. "Sometimes the sacrifice is worth it for the price in the end because you really can't trade love for money or time with family for money."
Target Logistics crew housing provides 3,500 beds in the Bakken, and they serve 9,000 meals a day at the camp near Williston.
"We've got supervisors, engineers, office staff, clerical people that actually stay here also," said the Target Logistics North Dakota Territory Manager, Travis Kelley. "It's not the rough and tumble oil field guy that you might think of. The demographic that we have now because of the economic state of the rest of the country, really family people that are up here. Sending paychecks back home, you know, trying to support families."
Only one of the 350 employees with Target Logistics is from Williston.
"It's a difficult challenge to keep staffed, fully staffed all the time, but we like that challenge," Kelley said. "You know, it's better than the rest of the country."
Despite the time away from his family, Largent hopes to continue working in the oil fields for several years.
"In today's economy, you have to be willing to make sacrifices if you want to still stay at the top end of the food chain and have your family have a quality way of life," Largent said.
He said he is looking forward to taking a vacation to the coast with his family to make up for some of their time apart.
One night at the camp we visited costs between $120 and $140. Some oil companies pay all or some of their employees' lodging costs.
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