---

Bill Cyrus (pictured, at right) of the U.S. Department of Defense’s Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) agency presents the Patriot Award to BAE employee Lawrence Coutee (pictured, at left) for his support of BAE employees serving in the U.S. National Guard and Reserve.

While there is a law in place protecting the jobs of those who serve the United States in the National Guard and Reserve once they return from duty, it is up to individual companies to make that process as easy as possible for service men and women.

BAE Systems’ Sealy plant has taken active steps to do just that. The company was recognized Monday for its support of those in the National Guard and Reserve by the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), an agency of the U.S. Department of Defense.

The agency gave BAE the Above and Beyond Award and the even-higher honor of the Seven Seals Award for going above the call of duty in its support.

In addition, BAE also received the agency’s Pro Patria Award Thursday at a banquet hosted by the Texas ESGR in Austin. The Pro Patria Award is the highest ESGR award given in the state and recognizes a company for its exceptional support of its employees in the Guard and Reserve.

Support of those who serve is crucial to maintaining a volunteer army, said Bill Cyrus of the ESGR.

“The best thing you can do is make sure they don’t lose their job while in the service,” he said.

“We’re trying to bridge a communication gap between employers and the service,” Cyrus added. “With a company like BAE, you really don’t have to educate them, because they do everything and they take care of their employees.”

With 10 employees serving in the National Guard and Reserve, and almost 400 local U.S. military veterans employed, BAE Systems in Sealy “works very hard to support the ESGR,” said Nelson McCouch of BAE.

“It’s in our culture to support that,” he said.

Accepting the awards was John Machisak, director of operations for BAE’s Sealy facility.

“John is the person who moves schedules around and makes it a flexible environment so these guys can enjoy a career here,” McCouch said.

It’s all in a day’s work for Machisak.

“We understand how important our reservists are and how important our war fighters are,” he said.

ESGR also presented BAE employee Lawrence Coutee with the Patriot Award, after employees nominated him for his support of those in the guard and reserve.

As a retired U.S. Army sergeant, Coutee understands the life of military personnel.

“For seven years, I was a reservist and I also worked at BAE during that time. I was treated the same way,” he said.

Now, he’s trying to pass on that same atmosphere of support to current reservists “to afford them the opportunity to be citizen soldiers and hold a full-time job with as little impact to their job status as possible,” he said.

It’s also important for a company to extend peace of mind to a reservist’s family, if he or she goes off to serve, by looking after them.

“When you leave your family, you like to know they’ll be OK,” Coutee said.

BAE Systems is a global defense, security and aerospace company delivering a full range of products and services for air, land and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, security, information technology solutions and customer support services.

The company’s GTS business is a leader in tactical vehicle production, offering a wide range of heavy, medium and light tactical vehicle solutions to customers worldwide. The GTS product line includes multi-purpose military tactical vehicles, such as the U.S. Army’s family of medium tactical vehicles, armored fighting vehicles, mine protected vehicles, light armored vehicles and police and security vehicles.

By MARY HOGAN, Staff Writer