Wednesday, August 10, 2005

By REX BARBER
NET News Service

JOHNSON CITY - Tennessee is called the Volunteer State for a reason.

Its citizens seem to have always been prepared to answer the call to arms when the nation faces a crisis, as it does now.

In times of war, Tennessee employers do not forget their obligations to employees serving in the all-volunteer army.

For Terri McCormick of Bristol, whose husband Staff Sgt. Bill McCormick is currently serving in Iraq with Troop F of the 2/278th Regimental Combat Team, the deployment has been difficult. But her husband's employer, Bristol Compressors, has been supportive and made the situation somewhat better.

"They have been extremely supportive of him," Terri McCormick said Tuesday evening as she sat down to dinner at the Holiday Inn, 101 W. Springbrook Drive.

"As a matter of fact, he will forward me things (e-mails) his boss has sent him, just jokes and stuff, they're really funny," she said.

Terri McCormick was at the Holiday Inn on Tuesday with several hundred other people to recognize the contributions made by area employers of citizen soldiers currently serving around the globe in the effort to spread freedom and rid the world of terrorism.

The McCormicks speak quite often, updating each other on what's going on and reassuring each other that things are good.

"The last time I spoke to him was the day before yesterday," Terri McCormick said.

"Everybody is safe and OK," she said of the condition of Bill's group. "They're hot and tired, but they're getting things done."

The McCormicks have a 9-year-old daughter, Chelsea, which makes Bill's absence much more difficult.

"She's doing incredibly," Terri said. "She is very supportive of her daddy. She knows he has a job to do, and she tells people he's over there getting bad guys."

Terri has began a scrapbook detailing Bill's service and outlining the history of F Troop, which dates back to the Battle of King's Mountain in the Revolutionary War.

"I've been working on it since he got the alert, ..." she said. "This is probably - other than being a father and husband - the defining moment in his life, and I wanted something for him to remember it by."

State Rep. Matthew Hill, R-Johnson City, who was asked to attend the event, said he believes people are not always aware the soldiers' civilian employers face challenges and difficulties too when deployments occur.

"I'm just thrilled to death to be out here this evening and supporting our troops and employers of our troops," Hill said. "Because people forget sometimes that employers have to sacrifice, too. I know the entire region and especially Washington County supports our troops 110 percent."

One of the keynote speakers at the event Tuesday was Maj. Gen. Gus Hargette with the Tennessee Army National Guard.

Hargette said he travels around the state organizing events like the one Tuesday evening.

"It's an appreciation dinner for our civic leaders and employers and our family members to let them know we appreciate what they're doing," Hargette said.

Hargette said all the media hype over most branches of the service missing their recruiting goals has been blown out of proportion - Tennessee will do just fine, he thought.

"We're going to do OK," he said. "We're not going to really fall short in Tennessee."

He said one reason the Guard is falling short of recruitment nationally is because of high retention numbers.

"One reason the Guard is missing our goal is the guys staying on active (duty) when their enlistment is up," he said. "We'll probably exceed our retention goal."

Hargette recalled one particular group of guardsmen who recently had 55 men whose term of enlistment had ended; 51 rejoined.

"That's a pretty good percentage by anyone's numbers," he said.

Hargette said Tennessee's government is supportive and very understanding of soldiers in the Guard because a lot of its employees are guardsmen.

"The state of Tennessee is actually the biggest employer of guardsmen," Hargette said. "The state of Tennessee does a lot for our guys."

A banner at the Holiday Inn in Johnson City shows support for local National Guard and Reserve units and their employers Tuesday. Tony Duncan photo.

Story Copyright to Kingsport Times News