The Next Generation

South Alabama Electric Cooperative’s (SAEC) Newest Group of Linemen Learn the Ropes As They Gain Important Experience

New linemen still have much to learn when they join the ranks at South Alabama Electric Cooperative.

Starting with jobs on the ground, new linemen generally assist their more-experienced colleagues working in buckets or climbing poles. Responsibilities grow as linemen gain more experience.

Since 2023, SAEC has added 8 new linemen to its workforce. These newest linemen wanted careers that offered variety, and they liked the idea of a job that provided something their communities needed.

“I just wanted to do something that I could help out the community with and help give back,” lineman Jackson Adcock says.

It’s a career with risks and rewards. April 18 is National Linemen Appreciation Day — a time set aside to recognize the work linemen do to keep the power on for all of us.

Adcock joined SAEC in March 2025 after attending the electrical lineworker program at Wallace Community College in Dothan. He says he knew what he was signing up for when he chose line work as a career.

“I knew a couple of things — hard work, long days, working on weekends,” Adcock says.

Thomas Bodiford joined SAEC in March 2023 and is now on a construction crew. He says he enjoys the work of building lines and finally getting some time in the bucket. And he has had to climb poles a few times in areas a bucket truck cannot reach.

“It’s been pretty good,” Bodiford says. “It has good days and bad days. The only bad days are when you’re just out working all night, and you’re tired and want to go home, and you still have to go to work. That just comes with it.”

Early training is now usually done through a lineman school or program affiliated with a college rather than on the job. It’s a commitment, as tuition can start around $5,000, and some linework schools can cost up to $25,000 for 10 to 15 weeks of coursework. In many cases, the tuition covers gear such as boots, hard hats, safety glasses, and gloves.

Prospective linemen spend time in a classroom, as well as learning climbing and other skills. By the time they finish, they’ve typically earned a commercial driver’s license. Some programs also provide training and certification in Occupational Safety and Health Administration safety standards, first aid and CPR, digger truck operations, and pole-top rescue.

Adcock says the hands-on skills he learned in school were more involved than he expected.

“You use your body a lot more with the climbing and then working up high,” Adcock says. “It takes some getting used to. It’s a whole lot different than doing everything on the ground.”

Hayes Horne, who has been with SAEC since October, says he chose line work because he wanted to work with his hands. He knows people who work in the field and feels it would be a good fit for him. So far, he loves the job, especially the people.

Horne says the cooperative regularly emphasizes safety.

“We have safety meetings once a month, and every morning we have a job briefing, and they all teach safety,” Horne says. “That’s the most important thing out here.”

Bodiford attended Elite Lineman Training Institute in Tunnel Hill, Georgia. Safety, he says, was the core of almost everything he learned.

“Safety is the main thing up there,” Bodiford says. “Everything they got is all safety-related. I learned how to keep your feet in the right places, keep your body position correct, and how to step up. Even outside of the climbing, when we had to do the CDL portion, they always made sure you were safe — checking all your mirrors, checking around the truck when you’re backing trailers.”

Students learn to climb on poles of different sizes, working up to about 60 to 65 feet in height.

When he started climbing, Bodiford says it wasn’t the heights that gave him pause but rather trusting the safety harness to work when needed. He learned the safety gear would hold him when he lost his footing a few times during his climbs. Once he learned to trust the equipment, Bodiford says his nerves settled.

“I’m a big person, so I was kind of thinking, ‘I ain’t supposed to be up off the ground this high,’” Bodiford says. “But I was never scared of the height, I was just scared of the falling part.”