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Welcome to Colorado ESGR. Our purpose is to have an informative newsletter that will educate, inform, Welcome to Colorado ESGR. Our purpose is to have an informative newsletter that will educate, inform, Welcome to Colorado ESGR. Our purpose is to have an informative newsletter that will educate, inform,

and promote service by and to ESGR while fulfilling our mission of supporting Employers, Guard/Reserve and promote service by and to ESGR while fulfilling our mission of supporting Employers, Guard/Reserve and promote service by and to ESGR while fulfilling our mission of supporting Employers, Guard/Reserve

members, Military and Veteran Employment Initiatives and our COESGR Volunteers.members, Military and Veteran Employment Initiatives and our COESGR Volunteers.members, Military and Veteran Employment Initiatives and our COESGR Volunteers.

January 2014

Chairman’s Message:

State of Colorado ESGR for Year 2013

As we enter into Year 2014, I would like to report to you on how ESGR did in this past year. And in my hopefully unbiased way, I think we did pretty well. But we still have a ways to go.

On most of our metrics that we are measured by, we did extremely well. Our ESGR Volunteer base continued to grow, as did our Volunteer Hours. We are working to improve on the number of Guard and Reserve that we brief, and in our Ombudsman efforts, as those were our two areas that we need to improve upon.

With the Freedom Award, we were the only state to have all three of our nominees in the top 30 finalists (out of some 2889 nominees), and two of those were selected for the prestigious Freedom Award. We are very proud of our two winners: DaVita, Inc, and Colorado Springs Utilities, and finishing in the top thirty is

not exactly bad either, for JGMS, of Grand Junction.

We were heavily involved in helping our Guard and Reserve members in their employment efforts. We organized and helped structure and run two of our three day Military and Veterans Employment EXPO’s, one in Denver in January 2013, and the other in Colorado Springs in May of 2013. We recently distributed our Report on the five MVEE’s that we have held during the last two years, and are satisfied that the results we have obtained from these events, usually servicing over 1000 Guard and Reserve, active duty military, retired, and spouses at each, are significantly much better than the typical job fairs so many put on or better in fact than any other type of hiring event that we are aware of.

Our Annual Awards Banquet continued to draw close to 400 guests, with this year being honored by having our ESGR’s new National Chairman, Mr. Paul Mock, in attendance, speaking at the Banquet and remaining for our Saturday’s Volunteer Conference. We are already planning this year’s Banquet for May 30, 2014 at the Hyatt Regency in the Tech Center, again with several top notch speakers. The following day (Saturday, May 31) is our once a year All Volunteer Conference, and this year we are pushing hard on a greater turnout of our Volunteers, as this is the only time during a year where we try to get all our Volunteers together.

We started this year to hold a leadership course for those ESGR Volunteers who aspire to play more leading roles in ESGR. The day and a half event was attended by some 20 Colorado ESGR Volunteers who applied to attend, as well as two ESGR Volunteers from Wyoming. We think there is value in having Volunteers from surrounding states attend which brings about cross fertilization of ideas and approaches. We are going to do this again this year, with the dates being now selected.

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We are trying very hard to work with more employers and are achieving some success. We want those employers to not only support and value the employment and military service of the National Guard and Reserve in the United States, but to realize and utilize the employment services available to them from governmental entities that they are already funding through their taxes which will reduce their costs in hiring and retaining employees.

So through individual contacts with more of our Colorado employers, through our MVEEs, through our meetings with the BOSS program and our BOSSLIFTs, through our Awards Banquet and other employer meetings, through our growing efforts of publicizing our efforts, through continuing to expand our reach throughout the state by having ESGR Area Chairs now in some 11 localities (and soon to grow to 13), and through the dedicated and substantial efforts of our ESGR Volunteers, we continue to make real progress here in Colorado.

To your employers, thank you working with us, for supporting our efforts, and for realizing the value that our military service members bring to your workplace.

So for all our ESGR Volunteers, a most sincere thank you. You can take full credit for the advances we have and are making.

Dick Young, RADM, USN (Ret)

Chairman, Colorado State Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve

Dawanta Parks, an enthusiastic new member of Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, has been recognized as volunteer of the month. Accepting the position of Co-Director of Employment Initiatives, he brings extensive experience as a veteran and as an administrator, being presently employed as Veterans’ Representative for the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. In fact, working with this department is where he first learned about ESGR.

Separating from the military as Army Infantry Staff Sergeant Dawanta Parks, he comes to us as a veteran himself. With eleven service years in the Oklahoma Army National Guard which he joined after a high school membership in the Air Force ROTC, he

knows first hand the veteran’s pride along with the trials and tribulations. He is a two time combat veteran: Bosnia,2001-2001, and Afghanistan, 2002-2003.

After service to our country, he followed up with an impressive set of educational achievements in the areas which would enable him to reach his goals. He holds an Associate’s Degree in Management from Oklahoma State University; a Bachelor’s Degree in Administrative Leadership from the University of Oklahoma; a Master’s Degree in Human Relations from the University of Oklahoma; a Master’s of Business Administration from the University of Denver; and is planning to pursue yet another—Advanced Administrative Strategic Human Resources.

Parks says that his decision to join ESGR was motivated by the desire to help veterans find work, and that his time in the military imparted in him the NCO’s values he carries with him today —specifically, to support military personnel in their endeavors — and he lives by the model that it is extremely important that we take care of our veterans in helping them to find employment.

We at ESGR feel sure that volunteering with this organization will help him reach his goals, and that his expertise and dedication will be of definite value to our group.

January 2014, Volunteer of the Month Spotlight

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Jobs program connects Reserve, Guard members to employers

BY DONNA MILES, AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE

WASHINGTON – Two years ago, the civilian employment situation for members of the National Guard and reserve was bleak.

The economy had taken a downturn, causing unemployment rates nationwide to rise, including rates for veterans. But particularly troubling to Ronald Young, executive director of Employer Support of

the Guard and Reserve, was that unemployment among reserve component members hit a record high of 13 percent in 2011.

“It was higher than for the general population and almost double that of the veteran population,” Young said. “So we took a very aggressive approach to instituting employment initiative programs across the country to get at that challenge.”

The cornerstone of that effort was the “Hero 2 Hired” program, created to make it easy for reserve-component service members to connect to and find jobs with military-friendly companies.

“We put together a comprehensive program that used a very high-tech approach,” Young said, including online career exploration tools, military-to-civilian skills translations, education and training resources and even a mobile app.

To support the program, 56 employment transition coordinators, many of them ESGR volunteers, fanned out to every corner of the United States to provide career counseling and resume assistance to job-seekers and to interface with employers seeking to fill positions.

“We saw this as an opportunity to leverage the 4,900 ESGR volunteers and their day-to-day interface with employers to talk about what great business sense it makes to employ Guard and reserve members,” Young said.

In addition, a vehicle known as the Hero 2 Hired mobile job store regularly rolls into career fairs and other venues to deliver the job search resources where it’s easily accessible by the military community. Small kiosks that rotate between Guard and reserve units also help increase awareness of the program.

Guard and reserve members make great employees, Young said. They’re strong leaders and outstanding followers, exhibiting loyalty, dedication and motivation to their missions. They demonstrate other attributes that employers are clamoring for: professionalism, responsibility, punctuality, a “can-do” attitude, understanding of diversity and an ability to remain calm under pressure, among them.

But when Young met with corporate leaders during a Clinton Global Initiative session in 2011, he recognized that employers didn’t know how to tap into this potential.

“Across the board, the one thing they said was, „We want to hire them. We just don‟t know how to get access to them,‟” he said.

Two years since its standup, Hero 2 Hired is helping to bridge that gap. Almost 20,000 employers now post their job announcements on the Hero 2 Hired jobs website. The site, which 151,000 service members and their spouses now use, provides not only leads about job openings but also information about interview skills, resume templates and links to employment resources.

Young attributes more than 11,000 hires to the program. In addition, through Hero 2 Hire's partnership with the Joining Forces initiative led by First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, and other public- and private-sector job programs, he estimates that 100,000 reserve component members and veterans have landed jobs.

“This is a way to link together those looking for jobs and those looking to fill jobs with veterans and Guard and reserve members,” Young said. “We are just one of the contributing partners working at attacking this particular issue. But we believe we are having a definite impact.”

http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=121240 Continued next page…….

Click here to connect to

employment opportunities.

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A recent DOD survey of Guard and reserve members revealed that their unemployment rate had dropped 2 percent, Young reported.

“So this is trending in the right direction, and our hope is that it will continue going that way,” he said.

But the best measure of success, he said, are the testimonials of those who have benefitted directly from the program.

A 23-year old Air National Guard member was desperate for a job -- any job -- when he met with Employment Transition Coordinator Joe Fletcher. The airman had been living in his car for the previous three days to help save money for gas to return home after a drill weekend. He acknowledged during his meeting with Fletcher that he didn’t have a resume or knew how to pursue a job interview.

Fletcher helped him create a resume that highlighted his skills in welding and operating heavy equipment and helped him prepare for an interview. It didn’t take long for the airman to land a job that paid $30 an hour.

A former airmen who started using the Hero 2 Hired job website before separating from the military said it worked better than any other employment site he had tried. As a result, he landed a position as a shift maintenance supervisor for a commercial airline with a starting date just six days after leaving the military.

A Louisiana National Guardsman said Hero 2 Hired helped him get in contact with several companies of varying sizes, getting interview opportunities and several job offers. Sue Wegner, wife of Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 Ralph Wegner, credited the program with helping her obtain a job as a laboratory test specialist.

“You helped me with rewriting my resume in a more employer-friendly way, along with helping with interview tips,” she said. “Thanks to you, I had great success. Within two weeks of leaving you, I had two job interviews, and a week later I had job offers from [two] companies!”

(Follow Donna Miles on Twitter: @MilesAFPS)

FOLLOW THESE LINKS TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE LAW:

USERRA: 38 United States Code Chapter 4301-4335

20 Code of Federal Regulations Part 1002 (USERRA) Uniformed Services Employ-

ment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994; Final Rules

5 Code of Federal Regulations Part 353 Additional regulations for Federal Agencies

Non Technical Guide to USERRA

US Department of Labor Veterans Employment and Training Service

Department of Justice

Office of Special Council

US Department of Education: USERRA like protection for students in the military

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Colorado ESGR volunteer and Area Chair for the Pueblo area, Harry Vogel, presented to April Lopez, Director of Volunteer Services, Frontier Hospice in Pueblo with a Statement of Support

Frontier Hospice

&

Frontier Home Health

Steve Wilbur, GM of Toy Car Care, receives a SoS from Military Outreach Coordinator Mark Craig. Steve has a life time affiliation with the military being raised by a WWII veteran and Steve’s son has served in the Marine Corps. One of Steve’s employees served in the Army National Guard as a helicopter mechanic. When talking with Steve it is very evident that he understands and appreciates the sacrifices military members and their families make in support of us all.

Enstrom Candies of Grand Junction was recognized recently with a Statement of Support in recognition of their support of military service members and their families. “The staff has been very generous with their products and programs to benefit service members who have been deployed overseas,“ said Dea Bridges, a volunteer with Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, who presented the award. Enstrom was previously recognized by military commands in Afghanistan for its generosity, Bridges said.

Pictured left to right, Dea Bridges, ESGR volunteer, Darla Fortner, Human Resources Director, Jamee Simons, Secretary-treasurer, and Doug Simons,

President. Photo courtesy of the Grand Junction Daily

Sentinel.

Statement of Support Statement of Support

(SOS) Signings(SOS) Signings

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In the picture from left to right:

Jordan McCarty is the owner of Bender's Brat Haus,700 South Buckley Road Aurora. Bender's has been around since 1976 and was originally on 6th and Chambers. Their location now is closer to Buckley Air Force Base and they do a lot of business with personnel from Buckley. She has different promotions for military members and usually it is a 10% discount on food purchased. If you can't make a quick trip to Germany, these are about the best you will find anywhere. Their brats are freshly made each day and are Sheboygan recipe bratwurst. Once you try one, you will be back! The presentation was made by ESGR Volunteer Mark Craig (right)

A Statement of Support presented to Bender‟s Brat Haus.

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HOW YOUR COMPANY CAN BECOME A FREEDOM AW ARD RECIPIENT

Tom Bullock, Chief, Employer & Military Outreach at Employer Support of the Guard and

Reserve (ESGR)

The Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award is the highest award bestowed by the U.S. Government to employers for exceptional support of their employees who serve in the National Guard or Reserve. Encourage your employees currently serving, or a family member acting on their behalf, to nominate your company at www.freedomaward.mil. The nomination season closes at midnight on January 20, 2014.

NORAD Tracks Santa Program breaks record

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (12/27/13) - The North American Aerospace Defense Command's NORAD Tracks Santa Program exceeded its own records in the number of calls, emails and social media followers this year. The program, which began after a misprinted ad in a local paper in 1955, has more than 1,200 volunteers and NORAD staff answering queries on the location of Santa Claus as he circles the globe delivering presents. The volunteers in the 23-hour NTS operations center answered 117,371 calls from children looking for Santa Claus - an increase of nearly 3 percent from 2012. Military family members and community leaders volunteered their time to answer phone calls as well as 9,606 emails, exceeding last year's count. The first lady, Michelle Obama, also helped answer NORAD Tracks Santa calls for the fourth year in a row. The NTS website, www.noradsanta.org, had 19.58 million unique visitors access the site from 234 countries and territories across the globe. The Facebook page topped 1.45 million "Likes", and the NTS Google+ page had 41,676 fans. More than 146,307 people also followed Santa's progress on Twitter. Nearly 800 OnStar subscribers asked OnStar operators to locate Santa on Dec. 24, which is nearly 150% more than last year. The NTS site, featuring Bing and Cesium maps and other interactive games, also offered photos, videos and lots of fun facts about Santa and his reindeer throughout the month of December. "Throughout the year the men and women of NORAD work hard to provide aerospace security for North America, but for this one night every year, we are able to help bring the magic of Christmas to children around the world," said Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, NORAD's public affairs director."We at NORAD are honored to be a part of so many peoples' holiday traditions. Thank you to our many volunteers and corporate contributors for making this program possible, and we look forward to doing it again next year."

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Irene Trujillo, Supervisor at Mt. San Rafael Hospital in Trinidad was presented with the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Patriot Award by Colorado ESGR volunteer and Area Chair for the Pueblo Area for her outstanding support of military service members, specifically award nominator, Senior Airman Nicolina Martinez, U. S. Air Force Reserve spoke about her supervisor…”I have been employed at Mt. San Rafael Hospital for five years. Out of those five years, I have been in the Air Force Reserve for three. During these three years, I have had an amazing supervisor. She is highly supportive of my Reserve service. Many times I have had to leave on short notice and she does an outstanding job finding coverage for me and ensuring that my position will be available to me when I return. She has made the schedule flexible around my Air Force Reserve duties. When I am fulfilling my Air Force duties, she ensures to keep in touch with me to positively motivate me and keep up my morale while away from home. I would like to thank Irene Trujillo for always being a positive supporter of the Air Force Reserve and my Air Force career. She is a great woman and supervisor.”

The Patriot Award is not an employer-wide award, but one that recognizes supervisors and

bosses nominated by an employee serving in the National Guard or Reserve for support provided

directly to the nominator. The Patriot Award reflects the efforts made to support Citizen Warriors

through a wide-range of measures including flexible schedules, time off prior to and after de-

ployment, caring for families and granting leaves of absence if needed.

Beverly Altmeier and Willetta Bradburn, Supervisors at Express Scripts in Pueblo were presented with the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Patriot Award by Colorado ESGR volunteer and Area Chair for the Pueblo Area for their outstanding support of military service members, specifically award nominator, Staff Sergeant Shawn Collins, Army National Guard spoke about his supervisors…”My supervisors have gone above and beyond when it comes to supporting my duties as a National Guard member. He has been called on several occasions to support short suspense duties which, without employer support, could not have been accomplished.”

Patriot Award Presentations

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Richard Young Geri Adams

Dan Lowe

The Twelve Days of Colorado National Guard Christmas BY COLORADO NATIONAL GUARD PUBLIC AFFAIRS http://co.ng.mil/News/Pages/131223-12days.aspx

On the first day of Christmas my governor requested of me: 1 massive flood response

On the second day of Christmas my governor requested of me: 2 months of road repairs and 1 massive flood response

On the third day of Christmas my governor requested of me: 3 thousand-233 people and 1,300 pets evacuated, 2 months of road repairs and 1 massive flood response

On the fourth day of Christmas my governor requested of me: 4 wildfire responses, 3 thousand 233 people and 1,300 pets evacuated, 2 months of road repairs,

and 1 massive flood response

On the fifth day of Christmas my governor requested of me: 5 hundred-fifty-seven water bucket drops on wildfires, 4 wildfire responses, 3 thousand 233 people and

1,300 pets evacuated, 2 months of road repairs, and 1 massive flood response

On the sixth day of Christmas my governor requested of me: 6ty-seven security check points during the flood, 5 hundred-fifty-seven water bucket drops on wildfires, 4 wildfire

responses, 3 thousand 233 people and 1,300 pets evacuated, 2 months of road repairs, and 1 massive flood response

On the seventh day of Christmas my governor requested of me: 7-teen lives saved by aerial search-and-rescue (other than floods), 6ty-seven security check points during the flood, 5 hundred-fifty-seven water bucket drops on wildfires, 4 wildfire responses, 3 thousand 233 people and

1,300 pets evacuated, 2 months of road repairs, and 1 massive flood response

On the eighth day of Christmas my governor requested of me: 8 states supporting Vigilant Guard, 7-teen lives saved by aerial search-and-rescue (other than floods), 6ty-seven security check points during the flood, 5 hundred-fifty-seven water bucket drops on wildfires, 4 wildfire responses,

3 thousand 233 people and 1,300 pets evacuated, 2 months of road repairs, and 1 massive flood response

On the ninth day of Christmas my governor requested of me: 9 countries deployed to with 560 guard members, 8 states supporting Vigilant Guard, 7-teen lives saved by aerial

search-and-rescue (other than floods), 6ty-seven security check points during the flood, 5 hundred-fifty-seven water bucket drops on wildfires, 4 wildfire responses, 3 thousand 233 people and 1,300 pets evacuated,

2 months of road repairs, and 1 massive flood response

On the tenth day of Christmas my governor requested of me: 10-million-dollar facility in Alamosa, 9 countries deployed to with 560 guard members, 8 states supporting Vigilant Guard, 7-teen lives saved by aerial search-and-rescue (other than floods), 6ty-seven security check points during the flood, 5 hundred-fifty-seven water bucket drops on wildfires, 4 wildfire responses, 3 thousand 233 people and

1,300 pets evacuated, 2 months of road repairs, and 1 massive flood response

On the eleventh day of Christmas my governor requested of me: 11 hundred man days supporting floods, 10-million-dollar facility in Alamosa, 9 countries deployed to with 560

guard members, 8 states supporting Vigilant Guard, 7-teen lives saved by aerial search-and-rescue (other than floods), 6ty-seven security check points during the flood, 5 hundred-fifty-seven water bucket drops on wildfires,

4 wildfire responses, 3 thousand 233 people and 1,300 pets evacuated, 2 months of road repairs and 1 massive flood response

On the twelfth day of Christmas my governor requested of me: 12 hundred sand bags filled, 11 hundred man days supporting floods, 10-million-dollar facility in Alamosa,

9 countries deployed to with 560 guard members, 8 states supporting Vigilant Guard, 7-teen lives saved by aerial search-and-rescue (other than floods), 6ty-seven security check points during the flood, 5 hundred-fifty-seven

water bucket drops on wildfires, 4 wildfire responses, 3 thousand 233 people and 1,300 pets evacuated, 2 months of road repairs, and 1 massive flood response

12/23/2013

2013 Year in Review: CONG statistics in the style of "The Twelve Days of Christmas."

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Click on pictures or links for websites

State ESGR Vice Chair Tom Mills, Brigadier General,

CONG (Ret).

EMPLOYER OUTREACH AREA CHAIRS

Boulder/Longmont

Brad Gallup

Colorado Springs Mark Hustedt Mary Miller

Cortez Area

Robert Valencia Denver Area

Bruce Erek Rick White

Douglas County Area

Jimmy Graham Bob Rotruck

Estes Park Area Chair

Ed Acela

Fort Lyon/Tri County Leanne Wheeler

Larimer/Weld County

Ralph Trenary

Grand Junction

Lou Brackett

David Popham

Pueblo

Harry Vogel

Steamboat Springs

Jim Stanko

STAFF AND CONTACT INFORMATION

Brent Hamilton - Program Support Technician

720-250-1176 brent.l.hamilton2.ctr@mail.mil

Chandra Hance – AST-Administrative Support Technician

720.250.1189 chandra.l.hance.ctr@mail.mil

COESGR Business Office

12200 East Briarwood Avenue, Suite 160

Centennial, Co 80112 FAX: 720.250.1199

State ESGR Chair Richard E. Young, RADM, USN (Ret)

COLORADO ESGR

DIRECTORS

Military Outreach

Pete Callaway—Director

Employer Outreach

Bev Skinner - Co-director Dave Pruett - Co-director EO Coordinator, Major Corporations- Mark Saunders

Ombudsmen

Martin Cobb - Director

Gary Brown - Dep. Dir.

Training

Lynn Albi

Paula Kauffman - Dep. Dir.

Special Programs

Fritz Ihrig

National Guard Liaison

Liz Kelpis

Public Affairs

Sherma Erholm - Director

Employer Initiatives

Zach Jacobsen - Co-Director

Dawanta Parks - Co-Director

Chase Dinkler - Deputy

MVEE Coordinator - Jason Shireman

H2H.jobs www.H2H.jobs H2H offers valuable resources for Service members by way of hiring fairs, job training, career assessment and military skills translation.

National Site News and Information

Join Facebook and Twitter Become a fan of Colorado ESGR

COESGR COESGR Twitter COESGR LinkedIn

2014 Recipient

Events Calendar

January 14 MVEE Planning Meeting,

Colorado Springs

January 20 ESGR Freedom Award

nomination period closes

January 25 Volunteer Initial Training, Colorado National Guard Headqtrs, 6848 S. Revere Pkwy., Centennial, Colo. 80112.

Directors Meeting following.

February 21-23 Advanced Ombudsman

Training, San Antonio

Guard and Reserve Members!Guard and Reserve Members! Would you like to see your employer’s name as a recipient of the 2014 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award? Contact Brent Hamilton, Program Support Technician, for Colorado ESGR to get additional information and assistance in nominating your employer for this prestigious award.

Contact info: 720-250-1176 or brent.l.hamilton2.ctr@mail.mil

Nomination period is November 1, 2013 to January 20, 2014.

Don’t delay in nominating your employer.

January 2014

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Colorado’s ESGR Electronic Newsletter is published not only for the information and benefit of the members of the Colorado ESGR but most importantly to our Guard and Reserve members and their employers.

The contents of this newsletter highlight activities and events conducted by Colorado ESGR.

Send comments regarding this publication to the Newsletter Editor: James Garrett at coloradoesgr@yahoo.com