Support the Guard and Reserve

Grannie Annie and I took our annual trip to Lincoln for refresher training in my role as liaison to the local Army National Guard and Reserve units. It is a little hard for this old Air Force veteran to speak and understand Army but we are brothers in service together.

A wonderful part of our agenda was a formal dinner where Nebraska employers are honored for accommodating their employees concurrently serving in the Guard or Reserves. Garnering top honors, the Pro Patria Award, this year was Chief Larry Browning of the Imperial, Nebraska Police Department. Four officers strong when one is called to Guard duty those remaining have to work extra duty to provide the normal 24-7 coverage of protection to their city. Chief Browning gets it done with a minimum of complaint and both his city and country is better served for their sacrifice. Chief Browning was nominated for the award by one of his patrolmen, SPC Dan Morales who with their wives were present for the presentation.

Receiving top honors, the 7-Seals Award, for a large employer that evening was Werner Enterprises, a large over the road trucking firm. Werner employs a large number of Guard and Reservists. Their Company is also in competition nationwide for national honors.

A recurrent theme, I was able to learn from a variety of business people that I visited with, is that those employees doing double duty as guardsmen/women and reservists seem to have a good work ethic, many show good leadership traits and they are clean from drug usage. The military demands it and those employees carry those good habits to the workplace.

Recruiting for the military seems to be a bit difficult in today’s society. A statistic given was that only one in five of today’s youth, that fall in the age bracket to go into the military, are found to be qualified. Felonies, prison records, drug use, low academic achievement, disfiguring tattoos seem to be what disqualifies candidates who otherwise might be eligible to serve. What a sad comment!

On a good note though our Nebraska low unemployment numbers also make recruiting into a military a bit more difficult at the moment. In times past when employment was difficult young persons signed up to the military for a temporary job until a more permanent position could be attained. Generous educational assistance as a military benefit also helps young people lean toward a position in the military whether active duty, guard or reserve.

Traditionally the Guard and Reserve have served as a strategic reserve for the active duty forces. In times of war when a rapid buildup of manpower was required an entire reserve unit would be called to active duty when needed and it took several months to train that unit before deployment to the theatre where needed. Guardsmen traditionally served one weekend per month and two weeks training during the summer for some 39 duty days per year. At present training is ramping up so that selected units are ready to go within a few weeks rather than months and more duty days per year are being required. It is my observation that the requirement for training in the middle of the summer limits somewhat the availability of candidates in the farming sector who might be willing to serve but are conflicted due to summer being the critical time for farm-related employees to be gone.

Part of the reason for the greater need of the services of the Guard and Reserve has been sequestration and ever decreasing military budget for active duty forces. In addition, our military is called on to participate in more areas of conflict across our world today. Continuing resolutions instead of a longer-term budget also has caused instability for the military. Our recent large increase in budget funds is helping but the Guard and Reserve will be called upon to play a bigger role until equilibrium is reached.

In recent times the Air Force associated Air Guard and Air Reserve units have played a more active role in support for active duty forces. Nebraska Air Guard flies the KC-135 air refueling tanker and has an aggressive deployment schedule worldwide. The same is true for state units flying F-16, F-15 and even the latest F-35 fighters plus those with cargo aircraft. Those crews train and participate seamlessly with their like active duty components wherever called. In addition, the Stateside Air Guard units also participate in stateside relief and assist missions. Nebraska sent aircraft, supplies and manpower to all the four major hurricanes last year. Busy people and those who employ those guardsmen are to be applauded for enabling their employees to be gone to military duty.

If you know a Guardsman give them a high five and thank them for their service. Also most important if you know an employer who employs guardsmen in their workforce tell them thanks also because we are all in the critical endeavor to protect our country together. Recognize that those who are behind the scenes are also serving.

That is how I saw it.

Dick Trail