Woodbury Fire Department among agencies nominated for national award

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Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), a Department of Defense agency, announced 75 Minnesota Guard and Reserve members nominated their employers for the 2012 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award.

The agency received 3,236 nominations nationwide, including one for the Woodbury Fire Department.

The Freedom Award is the Department of Defense’s highest recognition for employers supporting members of the Guard and Reserve. Up to 15 recipients will be announced this summer and honored in Washington, D.C., in September at the 17th annual Freedom Award Ceremony.

Guard and Reserve members, or family members acting on their behalf, nominated their civilian employers for the Freedom Award during the 12-week nomination season.

Guard and Reserve members, who stand ready to serve whenever they’re needed, often put their civilian lives on hold when they answer the call to duty.

Supportive employers provide stability and peace of mind to these Citizen Warriors and their families, enabling them to continue their dedicated service.

“Guardsmen and Reservists continue to receive outstanding support from their employers,” said ESGR National Chair James G. Rebholz. “America’s employers have not wavered in their commitment to these citizen warriors.”

Almost one-half of the U.S. military is comprised of the Guard and Reserve, and while most employers proudly support their military employees, Freedom Award recipients go above and beyond what is required by law.

Last year’s recipients were nominated for superior acts of support including driving a deployed employee’s children to school, replacing a military employee’s broken family refrigerator while he was serving abroad and working overtime to cover a service member’s shifts so he could take part in military training.

A list of nominations from all 50 states, U.S. territories and the District of Columbia are available at www.FreedomAward.mil. Semifinalists for the 2012 Freedom Award will be announced later next month.

-Riham Feshir

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