Telling the ATEC Story – The People Behind Test & Evaluation: Tom Duttle

Tom Duttle: Building a Life of Purpose, One Commitment at a Time At 4 a.m., while most of Las Cruces sleeps, Tom Duttle is already moving. It's a habit… Tom Duttle: Building a Life of Purpose, One Commitment at a Time At 4 a.m., while most of Las Cruces sleeps, Tom Duttle is already moving. It's a habit he's looking forward to breaking someday—but not just yet. There's too much left to do. Thomas C. Duttle—Tom to everyone who knows him—has spent nearly a quarter-century supporting the mission at White Sands Missile Range, or WSMR, in New Mexico, first as a contractor and now as a mechanical engineer in the Test Technology Directorate.

But to understand the man behind the engineering drawings and project timelines, you have to look beyond the office, past the security gates, and into a life shaped by family, hard work, and an unwavering commitment to leaving things better than he found them. Born in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and raised in Mesilla Park, Duttle grew up in a household that was anything but quiet. He was one of thirteen children—six brothers and six sisters—sharing a home with his parents, his grandfather, and what he describes with understated humor as "the family drama." "We lived outside the city," he recalls. "There were always tons of chores