Each month, Axis will shine a spotlight on an employee who represents the Axis motto of “One Team, One Goal.” This month, we’re highlighting Danny Cain, a Field Supervisor who has been with the company since August 2014, where he started with TEC Well Service at the Longview yard before the company merged to form Axis. Danny now works out of our West Texas operation. Continue reading to learn more about Danny and his career with Axis.

How long have you been in the industry and how did you start in the oil field?

I started as an electrician right out of high school; and I was made management and did that for several years. I then owned my own business for a time before the oilfield started going down and I had an opportunity from a close friend of mine who was a toolpusher, to go out on a rig. I went out and started working floors. After a few months, I went to work in derricks. And that was my favorite part at that time, working derricks. That was around 2000.

How did you start with Axis?

I was a manager for a small company in Greenwood, Louisiana, and once again the oil had peaked out at over $100 a barrel and then it dropped down. The owner [of the company] was shutting that company down up there. I had a friend of mine who worked for TEC Well Service, and he got me on with them.

Tell me about what you do with Axis now.

I’m a Field Supervisor, or we call it a Toolpusher. Right now, when we do deep well, stick pipe drill outs, my job is to oversee the crew, get all the paperwork turned in, the billing turned in, so our work can be billed out.

What do you like most about what you do?

Just the work itself. It’s my hobby and my job! I just love what I do. I like the rig, I like the work, I like the people.

What would you say is your biggest accomplishment on the job with Axis?

We’ve had a bunch of accomplishments. We’ve gained several companies that we’ve gone out on a job for and have been able to keep them as customers, and those are the accomplishments I think are great. Axis CORE on the rigs—I don’t have a computer background, but I’ve learned to do that, and it’s been a real advantage for us. I think that’s one of the greater deals, counting the pushes and pulls, gathering the data, and learning different stuff on this system.

You use CORE a lot as a field supervisor on the job. Tell me about that.

At first, I tried to avoid it because I didn’t know a lot about it. Not long after the CORE team put the system on my rig, I went out as relief push on another rig that didn’t have CORE. I really didn’t understand how much I liked it until I didn’t have it on another rig I was working on. When I was on that rig, there were small issues with the job that showed me I didn’t have the backup of CORE to see that we were doing our job right. CORE is really an advantage for us.

How does CORE help you in your decision making on the job?

I can look back and see what I did when I drilled a plug—the weights I put on a plug, or the chemicals that we had pumped at that time. If our pressures were high, I can look back and see what we pumped and see what pressure got lowered, how long it took to drill that plug or our return. There are so many gathering deals on it, and I’m learning, but it will tell us how to drill a plug better, or how a particular plug was drilled, and that will help you on that well.

What is your biggest day-to-day challenge as a field supervisor?

That’s hard to say. I had a 27-year-old stepson who was killed on a rig. I consider my day-to-day challenge over everything, no matter what it is, is most importantly keeping my crew safe, my equipment, and taking care of my customer. That is the day-to-day challenge that I look at, in that order, because loss of life changed my attitude toward the whole oilfield.

What do you like most about working for Axis?

The people. I’ve got good support up here—Greg Murguia, Cory Cope, Chris Anderson, Dirk Lee, the people that support us. I get what I need. It’s like a family. That everybody is looking out to take care of us.

What is something that someone would be surprised to learn about you?

I’m a pretty open person, so there’s nothing really that would surprise anybody! Everybody knows I’m all about the oilfield. I’ve got three sons in the oilfield—two of them work in coil tubing, and one of them works for Axis as a well service operator, runs a rig—Clint Cain.

What is important to you outside of work?

My family, my wife, and I just adopted my two grandchildren that belonged to my son. That’s it—just my family. Whatever we do, whether we’re swimming in our pool, or me and my wife mowing the yard together, spending time with them and making memories, playing baseball and softball. And I have several grandkids and one great-grandbaby, too! My job is very important, but my family is most important.