Nomination open for ESGR’s 2012 Employer Support Freedom Award

ARLINGTON, Va.-Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, or ESGR, a Department of Defense agency, is now accepting nominations for the 2012 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award. The Freedom Award is the DoD’s highest award for civilian employers supporting Guard and Reserve members.

The DoD encourages all Guard and Reserve members to nominate employers who have provided exceptional support of their military service. Nominations may be submitted by service members, or a family member acting on their behalf, at www.FreedomAward.mil through January 16, 2012.

“Employers who go above and beyond in their support of Guard and Reserve members are providing a tremendous service to our country; they are contributing to the resiliency and peace of mind of the more than one million men and women who stand ready to serve when our nation’s calls on them,” said David McGinnis, acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs. “Guard and Reserve members who feel their employers have gone the extra mile in supporting their military service should nominate them for the 2012 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award to show their appreciation and highlight their support as an example for others to follow.”

With employer support acknowledged as a critical component of our national defense, ESGR enhanced the nomination website this year to help guide nominators in capturing the most important details of their employers’ support. Previous recipients garnered recognition for supportive measures including organizing colleagues to provide dinners to a deployed employee’s family, covering extra shifts during an employee’s military training, taking a deployed service member’s children to sports practices and other family events, and establishing robust military support networks.

There were 19 nominations on Guam and in the CNMI last year. Three local employers, Galaide Group, LLC, Hilton Guam Resort and Spa and the CNMI Public School System were named as Semifinalists, or Top 148 of the over 4,049 nominations nationwide.

The Top Fifteen Employers of 2012 will be announced by early summer and honored in Washington, D.C. during a special ceremony early next fall.

The Freedom Award was instituted in 1996 under the auspices of ESGR to recognize exceptional support from the employer community. In the years since, 160 employers have been honored with the award.

For questions regarding the Freedom Award, visit www.FreedomAward.mil or contact Capt. Josephine Blas at (671) 735-0456 in Guam or Janice Tenorio at (670) 483-6309 in the CNMI. (ESGR)