A thankful life

A thankful life

Twenty years and counting. Maybe it is time to pass the baton. Still it has been a labor of love under the guise of community service. You see yours truly has been the ESGR, Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, representative advocating for the local McCook units. This past Saturday I spent the day in Lincoln doing annual training and was surprised at being awarded a 20-year pin for my service.

ESGR is a nationwide organization under the auspices of our Defense Department. It was created when our nation went from an involuntary draft for members of the military services to an all-volunteer service. As per about everything government connected there were strings attached.

When a person joins a National Guard or Reserve unit which requires him or her to be gone for training or duty his place of employment has certain responsibilities. For instance, the service member cannot be fired for missing work. His place of employment does not have to pay him, and he can’t be charged vacation days. Actually, there is a long list of requirements on how the relationship continues and many small businesses don’t really understand. Enter the ESGR representative, me, and it is my job to bring understanding. If the employer does not comply, he will receive a visit from a Department of Defense lawyer which could result in fines.

Fortunately, in this area employers do understand and stand behind their Guard or Reserve employees. Therefore my job has been easy and I do applaud the good people we have in our business communities. Actually, some businesspeople will continue to play their employees who are serving on active duty the wages that they would have received had they had stayed working on the job. They also collect pay for their service in uniform. That is the kind of people who we have around here.

There are perks connected to the ESGR representative. We do not receive wages or remuneration beyond travel expenses, meals and lodging expenses. It is a volunteer job but on occasion we can go on a “boss lift” where here in Nebraska some business people can ride on a KC-135 or Guard helicopter to an active duty station and see what their employees are actually doing when called to service.

You can rest assured that your old columnist is not leaving the ESGR job unserved as I have lined up an eager volunteer that is knowledgeable and will do an even better job than your tired old columnist has done.

Grannie Annie and I were privileged to drive to Omaha and stay with our daughter while I attended the annual training. Interesting drive when we had to drive through one of the rather violent storms that have been passing through our area of late. I am impressed how people on the interstate are wise enough to slow to reasonable speeds when heavy rain cuts visibility. People are courteous and we saw no accidents coming or going. When the sun was shining I noted that the crops are a bit further along than around here, lots of moisture, and harvest should be a good year for our ag community.

And now as I write this I am celebrating 65 years since I graduated from the Air Force Academy. I was graduate number 153 as I was in the very first class to graduate from the new institution. Second Lieutenant bars and navigator wings. Then four days later I married my high school sweetheart the very best thing that ever happened in my life. We will be celebrating with a quiet dinner at the best steakhouse in Nebraska. Thank you, Lord, for a wonderful life!

That is the way I saw it.

Dick Trail