Some 40 bosses form West Virginia recently had an opportunity to tour military installations in Biloxi-Gulfport, MS, with members of the WV Employer Support of the Guard and Reserves Committee.  The purpose of the trip was to allow employers to see the training and skills of their deployed employees, and to acknowledge their own contribution to national defense.

"Losing an employee to the nation's defense may cause some companies considerable difficulty," said Larry McNeely, chairman of the WVESGR. "But the importance of the guard and reserve components in our military cannot be overemphasized," McNeely added, “Approximately half of our fighting forces are citizen soldiers serving alongside the volunteer military.”

Local committeemen attending the event were Jon Meriwether of Merco Marine, WV Delegates Tim Ennis and Roy Givens of Wellsburg, and George Wallace of the Brooke County Review.

The visit included a stop at the Combat Readiness Training Center which has as its goal an integrated, year-round, realistic training environment of supersonic airspace, gunnery ranges, systems, facilities and
The Gulfport location serves the Army and Air Guard Blackhawk, Huey, Kiowa, and other helicopters, and a number of safety cans and cabinets manufactured at Wellsburg's Eagle Manufacturing are in use there.
Other than a tour of the major rebuild shop which performs repairs local mechanized aviation units are not equipped to handle, the group toured the Seabee (Construction Battalion) training center, viewed scenarios which present real-life real-time decision-making simulations and prepare the warrior to survive and succeed in the war zone and under combat conditions.

Keesler Air Force Base, home of the hurricane hunters which fly into the eye of hurricanes, is located in the area and is home to a wide range of Air Force training units, including
both combat and "regular" air traffic control schools.

"West Virginia bosses on the tour were able to see how their employees are taught disciplines which are advantageous to their own businesses," said McNeely.

“Many managers are unaware of the sophisticated training their employees receive, “ he added, “and when they see them in the military setting, they gain a new prospective and respect.”

The are 52 ESGR units in America with the goal of educating, training and, where necessary, mediating disputes between employee-soldiers. The WVESGR committee has earned national recognition and Ed Bowman, former executive director of the Brooke County Senior Center, is executive director of WVESGR.
Committee members from Brooke County flew from the Ohio County Airport National Guard facility to Charleston on a Blackhawk helicopter where they boarded a C 5 Galaxy for the trip to the Mississippi bases.