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APRIL 2012

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 members, and COESGR Volunteers.

Inside this Issue

Employment Expo...1 Freedom Award Nominees.4 Brief on Hiring Veterans....5 April Employment Expo........6 Patriot Awards.............7 Colorado ESGR Events/Contacts...8

February 2012 Military/Veterans Employment EXPO (MVEE ) in Colorado Springs - a Great Success! * Over 1100 registered
participants. 19% Active Duty 7% Guard/Reserve Majority were Veterans 74% Men 26% Women * Numerous walk-ins 659 attended the 2-day class sessions and 90% of them rated the classes as excellent. Over 490 who completed classes met with the 119 employers present for the first 2 hours of Day Three. 100 + volunteers People were excited about the job situation, over 64 were offered jobs on site, with several hundred others continuing the interviewing process. Many attendees said that even if they did not get jobs from this event, the classes helped them feel better prepared for the job search, one of the main goals of the Expos! Employers, ESGR volunteers, as well as, volunteers from other organizations did a superb job. The EXPO required high energy, an ability to answer questions and a wide variety of skills in making things run smoothly. The invaluable effort by volunteers demonstrated a dedicated and hard working group towards an important goal of getting our Veterans and Military service members JOBS!

COLORADO ESGRS ANNUAL EMPLOYER RECOGNITION BANQUET IS

AROUND THE CORNER ON MAY 4, 2012!! 2012!!

Employers: If you wish to attend this banquet on May 4th, please contact Pat Oflaherty at 720-2501176 or email:
patrick.oflaherty2@us.army.mil

Colorados 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 esgrcolorado@yahoo.com 1

2012 Military & Veterans Employment Expo

APRIL 2012
A MVEE attendee was so excited that he was now employed fulltime as a result of his utilizing techniques that were taught at the Employment Expo. One Guard service member remarked: I have gotten three job offers, what a remarkable decision I have to make on which one to take. From a Human Resources Manager: Thank you for a great event...We had a wonderful time, met some outstanding candidates and hired 3 managers on that day...We look forward to a continued partnership in supporting the effort to bring our vets back to work. K. Willis I found the training and the job fair very useful, especially as I plan for my future transition out of the Air Force and back into the civilian world. Hard to believe it was all provided free of charge. K. Daugherty I would like to say thank you to everyone who contributed to the success of the 2012 Military & Veterans Employment Expo. As a veteran and Army Reservist I found the expo very helpful in my job search. The staff and presenters were excellent and I cannot thank you enough for everything you did. B. Sainz

Education Fair

Resume Counseling

Classes

2012 Military & Veterans Employment Expo Employers

10 Til 2 A Buyers Choice Abraxas ADD Staff Inc. Aerotek Aire-Master Aleut Management Services Allied Barton Security Systems Allstate Insurance Alpine Lumbar Company Angel Flight West AppleOne Employment Services Arapahoe County Sheriff Armed Forces Service Corp Aurora Fire Dept. AW2 BNSF Railroad Bureau of Prisons Bureau of Reclamation Charles Schwab City of Pueblo Colorado National Guard Colorado Army National Guard Colorado Dept of Corrections Coca-Cola Colorado Hospital Association Colorado Springs Utilities Colorado State Patrol Comcast DCAA Denver Dept of Public Safety Dept of Veterans Affairs DISH Network EDMC EPA FAA Family Heritage Farm Service Agency FBI First Command Financial Five Rings Financial Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Frito Lay G4S Secure Solutions Goodrich Interiors Goodwill Hiring GSA HealthOne Highlands Roofing HSS, Inc. Humana ITT Exelis JP Morgan Chase & Company Kelly Services Kraft Foods LeaderQuest 3

APRIL 2012

Leprino Foods Level 3 Communications LifeQuest May Trucking Maytag Aircraft Corp. MetLife Microsoft Military Spouse Employment Program MOAA Namaste Solar Nationwide Insurance Navajo Express New Horizons CLC New York Life Odyssey Systems OPM PARS, Inc. Peak View Behavioral Health Pennica Financial Group Peoples Mortgage Corp. Pikes Peak Workforce Center Primerica Financial Services Progressive Insurance PTI group USA Sage Trucking School Sams Club Serco North America Southwest Conservation Corps. Student Conservation Assn. Swift Transportation TEK Systems The Exchange Union Pacific Railroad University of Colorado Hospital US Army Reserve US Customs & Border Patrol US Forest Service US Mint USAA VA for Vets Verizon Wireless Veterans Green Jobs WCA McMurry Training Center Wyoming Dept of Corrections Zayo Group

Colorado Freedom Award Nominations

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APRIL 2012

Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), a Department of Defense agency, announced 70 Colorado Guard and Reserve members nominated their employers for the 2012 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award. The agency received 3,236 nominations nationwide. The Freedom Award is the Department of Defenses 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. on September 20 at the 17 th 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 our Nation needs them, often put their civilian lives on hold when they answer the call to duty. Supportive employers provide a tremendous amount of stability and peace of mind to these Citizen Warriors and their families, enabling them to continue their dedicated service to our country. "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 years recipients were nominated for superior acts of support including driving a deployed employees children to school, replacing a military employees broken family refrigerator while he was serving abroad, and working overtime to cover a service members shifts so he could take part in military training.
3d Space Operations Squadron, Schriever AFB ADK Electric, Englewood ADT Security Services, Aurora AlloSource, Centennial Archstone, Englewood AspenPointe, Colorado Springs AT&T, Government Solutions Inc., Colorado Springs Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Broomfield Booz Allen Hamilton, Greenwood Village CEESI, Nunn Centura Health, Englewood CIGNA, Greenwood Village City of Aurora Police Department, Aurora Colorado Casualty, Centennial Colorado Department of Corrections, Colorado Springs Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, Denver Colorado Springs Police Department, Colorado Springs Colorado Springs Utilities, Colorado Springs Colorado State University, Fort Collins Colorado Technical University, Career Education Corporation, Colorado Springs Colorado West Regional Mental Health Center, Grand Junction Correctional Healthcare Companies, Greenwood Village Crothall Healthcare, Aurora Delta Correctional Center, Delta Denver Health Paramedic Division, Denver Denver Public Schools, Denver DigitalGlobe, Inc., Longmont Drug Enforcement Administration Denver Field Division, Centennial El Paso County Sheriff's Office, Colorado Springs Emergicare, Colorado Springs Exempla Good Samaritan Medical Center, Lafayette Global Technology Resources, Inc., Denver Goodwill Industries LEAP Department, Colorado Springs Guardsmark, Denver Home Depot (Store #1540), Littleton Infinity Systems Engineering, Colorado Springs Intecon LLC, Colorado Springs Intelligent Software Solutions, Colorado Springs Jax Outdoor Gear, Fort Collins JG Management Systems, Inc., Grand Junction Johns Manville, Denver L-3 Communications E&TS, Colorado Springs Longmont United Hospital, Longmont MapleLeaf Orthopedics, Pueblo MATES 64, Ft. Carson Michelin North America Truck Tires, Centennial Mt. San Rafael Hospital, Trinidad National Weather Service, Boulder Newpark Resources, Inc., Grand Junction Pain Care Center LLC, Colorado Springs Penrose St. Francis Health Services*, Colorado Springs Quad Graphics, Loveland Raytheon, Aurora Routt County Sheriff's Office, Steamboat Springs Sierra Detention Systems, Brighton SKYDEX, Centennial SOS Healthcare Staffing, Aurora The Mean Machine, Denver Tiny Tykes Home Childcare, Colorado Springs U.S. Department of Interior, Office of the Solicitor, Rocky Mtn. Region, Lakewood U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Lakewood United States Air Force Academy University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora USAA, Colorado Springs Veterans Service Center, Veterans Benefits Administration, Lakewood Zoll Data Systems, Broomfield

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 www.FreedomAward.mil. Freedom Award will be announced later next month.
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Institute for Veterans and Military Families

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APRIL 2012

Issues brief on compelling business case for hiring a veteran, reaching beyond public clichs
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
By Jaime Winne Alvarez (315) 443-0177 Today, the Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) at Syracuse University issued an employment brief titled The Business Case for Hiring a Veteran: Beyond the Clichs." The publication draws from academic literature to suggest a robust, specific and compelling business case for hiring individuals with military background and experience. Rsums cannot adequately reflect the potential contribution of a prospective employee. This represents one of the most significant impediments to addressing the unemployment situation of veterans in this country, says Mike Haynie, executive director of the IVMF and Barnes Professor of Entrepreneurship at SUs Whitman School of Management. By themselves, generalizations based on leadership and mission focuswhile certainly a powerful reason to employ a veteranare not enough to empower U.S. employers to look beyond a candidates rsum and fully benefit from the knowledge, training and experiences represented by those who have served our country in the military. The brief issued by the IVMF details the results of a comprehensive review of academic literature from the fields of business, psychology, sociology and organizational behavior positioned to illustrate the foundational elements around which employers can formulate a research-informed logic for recruiting and developing military veterans in the civilian workforce. The business case is based on the following 10 research-informed propositions on the value of a veteran in a competitive business environment: 1. Veterans are entrepreneurial. 2. Veterans assume high levels of trust. 3. Veterans are adept at skills transfer across contexts/tasks. 4. Veterans have (and leverage) advanced technical training. 5. Veterans are comfortable/adept in discontinuous environments. 6. Veterans exhibit high levels of resiliency. 7. Veterans exhibit advanced team-building skills. 8. Veterans exhibit strong organizational commitment. 9. Veterans have (and leverage) cross-cultural experiences. 10. Veterans have experience/skill in diverse work settings. The propositions were developed based on an analysis of academic research contrasting veterans/service members with non-veterans in the context of vocational tasks, skills and experiences; and a complementary review of research focused on specific abilities, attributes and characteristics required for success in a given work role, as compared to research focused on the abilities, attributes and characteristics descriptive (generally) of military veterans. The scope of the IVMF review of the academic research was limited to the abilities, attributes and characteristics conferred on the individual veteran as a consequence of military service, as Click on graphic to open pdf. file those attributes complement performance in a competitive business environment. The research did not include elements of the business case for hiring veterans that are externally/ market driven, such as enhanced reputational value to the firm, customer/stakeholder legitimacy and other similar motivations.
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Colorado Statement of Support Employers

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APRIL 2012

Patriot Awards
Paula Kauffman, ESGR, Johnny Mullins, Ella Mullins, Johnny's 7-year old daughter

APRIL 2012 Shamrock Foods Patriot Award

Christopher Martinez, Specialist, USAR, (not present at the presentation) wrote this about his supervisor, Johnny Mullins. "Mr. Mullins and the management team, including Human Resources, at Shamrock have been supportive of my military commitment from my initial interview and continue to remain in contact throughout my current duties. I was hired in January 2011, and almost immediately departed for a 29-day annual training. I reported back to work briefly and received orders for May through September. In late September my orders were extended for an additional year."

Ella, Paula, Sherry Mullenberg, Transportation Support, Johnny Mullins

IRS Patriot Award

Pat Evans and Kimberly Guitierrez, supervisors in the Denver office of Internal Revenue Service, were presented with Patriot Awards from Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) by Beverly Skinner, ESGR's Employer Outreach Director. The presentation ceremony was held Friday, March 15, 2012, in the IRS offices with a number of employees attending. Patriot Awards honor individual supervisors for their superior support to Guard and Reserve members. Pat Evans and Kimberly Guitierrez were nominated by their employee, who also serves as Staff Sergeant Edgar Nevarez, USAR, in the U.S. Army Reserve. Returning after fifteen months from his latest of four deployments with an injury suffered in Iraq, Nevarez states that his two bosses have been outstanding in their support. They have helped him both as a soldier, making sure he is paid while attending Reserve training and Medical Evaluation appointments, and as a civilian, providing training at work and flexibility to attend school under the GI Bill. Having lost a previous job because of deployments, he appreciates even more the welcome home greetings he receives here. SSG Edgar Nevarez further stated, If it weren't for these two wonderful bosses, I really don't know where I would be now.

Pat Evans, Bev Skinner, ESGR, Kimberly Gutierrez, SSG Edgar Nevarez

Cigna Patriot Award

Present were managers from several different areas in a meeting to educate everyone on what soldiers go through as well as what Cigna does to take care of the reservists and guard members. Captain Michael Hance, ARNG, said that even throughout the day he had several people comment on the award and presentation. CPT Hance stated that I have been an employee at Cigna for just over two years and during that time I've left once for annual training and deployed for a year. Phil has been completely supportive of my military duty by constantly checking on how me and my family are doing. He's made sure that I have all the information on the benefits that are available and helped ensure the proper documentation was submitted. Phil not only kept my job as required, but continued to send updates on how things were going in my department and to ask how I was doing. Cigna as a company has been very supportive and provided 1 year of supplemental pay while I was deployed and the bonuses to which I was entitled. Cigna took care of all of the details without me having to do anything other than provide a copy of my orders. They made that part of my deployment completely stress free. 7

Adam Smith ESGR Rep, Amy Cordova, CPT Michael Hance, ARNG, Philip Barner

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APRIL 2012 EVENTS CALENDAR

APRIL 2012 12 Directors/Area Chairs Meeting 12-15 Basic Ombudsman Training

STAFF AND CONTACT INFORMATION

Pat OFlaherty Staff Director patrick.oflaherty2@us.army.mil 720.250.1176 Kathleen Dorram Program Support Manager Kathleen.dorram@us.army.mil 720.250.1195 FAX: 720.250.1199 Chandra Hance Program Support Specialist chandra.hance@us.army.mil 720.250.1189 FAX: 720.250.1199

Denver - Curtis Hotel

MAY 2012

Employer Recognition Awards Banquet, Denver 5 COESGR Volunteer Conference 17-20 HQESGR Volunteer Leadership Training Course Seattle, Washington
JUNE 2012 7-10

COESGR Business Office 12200 East Briarwood Avenue, Suite 160 Centennial, Co 80112

State ESGR Chair

Richard E. Young, RADM, USN (Ret) dickyoung123@gmail.com COLORADO ESGR DIRECTORS Military Outreach Mary Rathje mkrathje@aol.com Joe Ely elytj@aol.com Employer Outreach Bev Skinner jtsbbs@gmail.com Dave Pruett - Co-Director PruettDE@comcast.net Ombudsmen Bill Belz ewbii@msn.com Training Lynn Albi lynnalbi@aol.com Special Programs Kip Cheroutes kcheroutes@ Emgacommunications.com National Guard Liaison Robert Balster, BrigGen,USA robert.balster@us.army.mil Public Affairs Iris Fontera IFontera@aol.com Kelly Mazezka - Deputy Kelly@kellymaze.com Employer Initiative Program Dir ector

State ESGR Vice Chair

Tom Mills, Brigadier General, CONG (Ret). meels52@msn.com EMPLOYER OUTREACH AREA CHAIRS Boulder/Longmont Vacant Colorado Springs Mark Hustedt rockymtnfun@gmail.com Mary Miller mary.miller3@us.army.mil Cortez Area Robert Valencia relampagosvt@msn.com Denver Area South Paula Kauffman paula1299@aol.com Denver Area North Michael Mitchel michael@oc-consulting.com Douglas County Area Lorin Ricker Lorin@RickerNet.us Bob Rotruck ole.gunner.bob@gmail.com Estes Park Area Chair Gary Brown

Advanced Ombudsman Training Denver - Curtis Hotel 22-24 Colorado National Guard Family Programs Conference

National Site News and Information Join Facebook and Twitter and become a friend of Colorado ESGR

NEWSLETTER EDITOR James Garrett esgrcolorado@yahoo.com

hongrb24@gmail.com
Fort Collins Vacant Grand Junction Lou Brackett patriot08@bresnan.net Pueblo Harry Vogel hotspot58@cs.com

Brad Gallup Brad@Cable-Safe.com