Public Safety Honored for Supporting Its National Guard Members, Reservists
07/21/2017
For Mark Breckenridge, an Army reservist and officer with Saint Louis University's Department of Public Safety (DPS), the support of his chief and colleagues at SLU has made it possible for him to "serve both employer and the Army."
To thank his fellow public safety officers, Breckenridge had the perfect honor in mind.
Breckenridge nominated four members of DPS to receive Patriot Awards, an honor that the Department of Defense (DOD) bestows on civilian employers. Members of the National Guard or reserves, or their spouses, can nominate individual supervisors and bosses to recognize their support of the service member and his or her family. That support, according to the program, can take the form of flexible scheduling, time off prior to and after deployments, leaves of absence or caring for service members' families.
Chief Jim Moran, Capt. Darryl Walker, and Sgts. Dan Lalor and Edward Agnew received awards from the DOD's Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) program on July 19.
Bob Schure, employer outreach representative for Missouri with the ESGR program, presented awards during DPS's roll call. The program, established in 1972, seeks to promote cooperation and understanding between civilian employers and their employees who serve in military reserve units.
While Schure has given out about 400 ESGR program awards in the last 12 years, to give out four at once is highly unusual as only about five percent of National Guard and reservists ever nominate their employers, bosses or supervisors for the honor. According to Schure, about 56 percent of today's military is made up of National Guard and reserve members, which makes the SLU awards that much more striking.
In the nomination forms, Breckenridge singled out Moran and Lalor particularly for their commitment to him as a fellow SLU employee and a member of the nation's military.
"Dan Lalor has been a wonderful support to me in all aspects of my employment at [Saint] Louis University," Breckenridge wrote. "He is a good and fair supervisor and has always been flexible in accommodating the scheduling needs of my Army Reserve drill schedule. This is particularly important since our department is a 24/7 operation and I work many weekends and often need to have my shift covered by others to attend drill weekends."
For his part, Moran, the head of DPS, took time outside of business hours to attend Breckenridge's sendoff ceremony and the visitation for his mother who passed away while Breckenridge was deployed.
"Chief Moran has been very supportive of me as a SLU employee and Army Reservist," Breckenridge wrote. "It is a comfort to know that I need not be concerned about my position when I return. Supervisors like Chief Moran make it possible to serve both employer and the Army."
Breckenridge also thanked Agnew and Walker for their support.
According to Schure, the awards are rarely given out by DOD and celebrate an employer's commitment to supporting its employees who also serve in the nation's armed forces as citizen-soldiers active in the National Guard or other reserve units. Cooperation between the military and employers like SLU, he said, is critical.
"It's really hard for guys to do this for one another," Schure said. "It takes the guard and the reserves and the employer both."
Since his colleague's deployment, Lalor said, Public Safety has worked closely with Breckenridge and his family. In one instance, DPS worked with SLU's Information Technology Services (ITS) to resolve issues with his SLU e-mail address so he could stay in touch with loved ones and the SLU community. This kind of support, Lalor said, is the standard within the department, where six DPS members are currently members of the National Guard or reserves, including Walker, who is a member of the Air National Guard. The department, Lalor said, works with its service members "in whatever way is best for them to reduce stress for them at home and at work."
"We work very closely with our Guard and service members to support them in any way that we can," Lalor explained. "We don't do it for the recognition. We do it because it's the right thing to do."
For Lalor, Breckenridge's praise and the award were a complete surprise.
"I am very grateful and honored to receive this," Lalor said. "I am touched. It means a lot."