On April 15th, Russell Oliver, President and Founder of OSS – Operators Suppressor Systems, was awarded the ESGR Service Member Patriot Award at OSS headquarters in Murray, Utah. The Patriot Award is awarded to idividuals who embody efforts made to support Citizen Warriors, such as offering flexible schedules, time off prior to and after deployment, caring for famlies, and granting required leaves of absence.
Tags: OSS
Thanks for posting this.
Reservists and Guardsmen–especially tenured Citizen Soldiers in key staff and leadership positions in their units–have a tough row to hoe with Soldiering, civilian career and family commitments. THOSE folks outgrew the “weekend-a-month-two-weeks-a-year” cliche 3 pay grades ago.
The unsung hero in this equation is the LEADER back at the civilian employer with the backbone to keep toxicity from grumbling colleagues and clients at bay. My employer has an OUTSTANDING military leave policy but I’ve had to leave the operationally relevant world because my current office-mates will actually move workflow to skyline me during my absences (even after 80-hour weeks to keep my absence from affecting the shop). Lots of employers put up posters and hang flags. Not all walk their talk.
If you’re a citizen who serves, and work for an employer who looks beyond the inconvenience of your absences to the larger picture, DEFINITELY put them in for this recognition. I did this for a (long-gone) management team who truly supported me, and my ESGR rep wrangled a General Officer and a Full Bird to do the presentation. We got all the citizen warriors into their uniforms for presentation at the quarterly staff call. That presentation stayed fresh in people’s minds for 2-3 years. This was at an employer with an EXTREMELY diverse population, to include naturalized Arabs, Iranians, Africans, Indians and Pakistanis. Most of whom embraced us as American patriots willing to put it on the line for positive change in the countries they left.
ANOTHER unsung hero in this equation is the ESGR reps (and ombudsmen–who are true ambassadors). THOSE folk are TRUE patriots who bleed red, white and blue. Most are volunteers with thriving careers of their own.