June was a very active month for the Florida Employer Support of the Guard & Reserve (FL ESGR) in Jacksonville, FL - Area 4. The mayor of the City of Jacksonville, John Peyton, proclaimed his cities’ support of FL ESGR, the Guard & Reservists and their Families and the Employers who support them during a Proclamation signing ceremony at City Hall on June 8, 2010. In attendance were military dignitaries, 17 local companies receiving the Patriot Award, 11 of the nominating service members and several of the FL ESGR Committee members.

In his keynote address, Mayor John Peyton stated “Jacksonville prides itself on being the most military-friendly city in the United States!  And part of that responsibility is supporting all military personnel and their families in any way possible. I feel, supporting these service members is so important, because they are vital to our military and to our national defense operations. ESGR has been fostering good relationships between employers and their Guard and Reserve staff since 1972. And, I commend this segment of the Department of Defense for providing such an important service to our nation. Therefore, on behalf of the grateful citizens throughout Jacksonville, I’d like to present this proclamation for Division Chief Bob Buehn, Director of Military Affairs for the City of Jacksonville, to disseminate to our local Guard and Reserve support centers, as well as, these  area companies receiving their much deserved Patriotic Award today.”

In attendance from the Military Support Centers in Jacksonville were: Capt Robert McKenna, Command Officer of the Navy Operations Support Center (NOSC);  MC Robert Donnellon of the Navy Operations Support Center (NOSC) and COL Robert Branyon, Commander of the 125th Fighter Wing, FANG.

Brigadier General Joseph K. Martin, Jr., the Chief of Staff, Florida Air National Guard, Saint Augustine, Florida expressed his appreciation for the City of Jacksonville’s support of the Guard & Reserve. He emphasized the importance of our community effort for over 48% of service members deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan are members of the Guard and Reserves.  Many of them are on their 2nd or 3rd tours.

Phil Speake, State Chairman of Florida ESGR, brought  greetings on behalf of the Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, Dennis McCarthy, National ESGR Chairman James Rebholz and the volunteer members of the FL ESGR Committee.  Chairman Speake thanked Mayor Peyton for his proclamation in support of the Guard and Reserve and reiterated the importance of the employers & the community’s support of the Families & Service Members who serve in the Guard & Reserve.  He commended the 17 companies receiving the Patriot Awards and their 11 employees/service members, in attendance who nominated these employers for this award.  He asked the employers to commit to visiting the families of their mobilized employees once a month to ensure the A/C, car, refrigerator, etc. were working and if they needed help to contact us.  Do not need to send these problems to the war zone.

CPT Justin Leslie gave a moving narrative of his manager Chris Cornelius’s support and the entire team’s support at Schindler Elevators. CPT Leslie recently returned from his third deployment to Afghanistan with the ARNG and was awarded the Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal, Combat Action Badge and the Georgia Commendation Medal. His last assignment was to lead US Engineer Regional Command North Afghanistan Task Force Warrior.

CDR (Ret) Garfield Jones, Florida Region 4 Chairman, BG and Chairman Phil Speake presented Patriot Awards to the following employers:

Sheriff John Rutherford, City of Jacksonville, nominated by his service member/employee Sergeant First Class Nancy Life; Pedro Rosales of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida and his service member/employee LCDR Ronnie A. Garcia;  Gerald Weedon of Marks Gray Attorneys and his service member/employee LCDR Stella Lane;  Dan Hennessy of PHH Mortgage nominated by E5 Brigette Brice;  Leon Harrigan of Hyatt Regency Jacksonville and his service member/employee Sgt Glenn Mendoza;  Sue Lang of Aetna, nominated by E4 Sergio C. Vieravelasco;   Joseph P. Smid of Warjon, Inc., nominated by Staff

Sergeant Ryan D. Waldron;  Scott Newolet President of Sanford Brown Institute and his service member/employee SGT Scott Hoffman;  Allene McIntosh of the City of Jacksonville of Environmental & Compliance and her service member/employee CDR Brian Kelley;   Marc Hardesty of Hardesty, Tyde, Green & Ashton, attorneys and his service member/employee CPT Charles D. Sykes;  Dr. Natalie D. Hashey of First Coast Family Medicine and her husband, service member & nominator MAJ Terry D. Hashey;  Chris Cornelius of Schindler elevators and his service member/employee CPT Justin Leslie;  Jeremy Drang of American Equity Mortgage, nominated by TSgt Michael R. Decker;  John Hurst of AT&T Communications and his service member/employee SSG James Jobes;  Barbara Moore of Lennar Homes, LLC and her service member/employee 2LT Zenzi Rogers;  Eddie Howard of The Lodge & Club at Ponte Vedra and his service member/employee E6 Dennis E. Young.  Hester Taylor Clark of the Hester Group nominated by her service member/employee CPT Anthony MCGone.
 
Additional FL ESGR committee members in attendance were SGM (Ret) Douglas Corbett, Executive Director FL ESGR and Penny Justice, Florida Region 4 Assistant Chair & State Deputy for Training.