S.C. Company to Receive DoD Award for Support of Guard and Reserve Forces
September 8, 2009
By W. Thomas Smith Jr.
COLUMBIA, SC – September 3, 2009 – South Carolina’s Consolidated Electrical Distributors, Inc. (CED) will receive the 2009 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award: the highest award presented by the U.S. Defense Department to employers for outstanding support of their employees who serve in the National Guard and Reserve.
The company – one of 15 awardees out of more than 3,200 nominees nationwide – is slated to receive the award during ceremonies at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, Washington, D.C., Sept. 17.
CED is most deserving of this prestigious award and is actually one of only five large companies being recognized out of the fifteen, says Maj. Gen. John V. Green, former commander of the Joint Services Detachment (S.C. Military Dept) and current chair of the S.C. Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR).
According to Green, Reserve components compose approximately one-half of America’s total available military manpower.
Approximately 13,500 men and women in S.C. are members of the Guard and Reserve components, Green says. Civilian employers in S.C. play an important role in the defense of our nation by supporting these citizen warriors in fulfilling their military duties.
Dennis M. McCarthy, assistant secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, agrees.
In the eight years our nation has been at war, America’s employers – almost universally – have done an outstanding job of supporting their citizen warrior employees.
CED is no exception. Or perhaps the North Charleston-based industrial-electrical products company is the exception.
According to a statement released by ESGR, The company’s Guard and Reserve employee support includes continued profit sharing, back pay, sick pay and raises as well as continued medical benefits during deployments.
In one instance, CED maintained contact and support for [an employee’s] family and sent care packages to him every two weeks [while he was deployed]. The employee has been called to active duty for a total of 47 months in the seven years he has thus far been with the company. During a tour in Iraq when the employee established a clothing and toy drive, CED collected more than 20 boxes of goods for Iraqi children.
The Freedom Award was instituted in 1996.
ESGR is a U.S. Defense Department agency whose mission is to gain and maintain employer support for Guard and Reserve Service by recognizing outstanding support, increasing awareness of the law and resolving conflicts through mediation.
– W. Thomas Smith Jr. – a military analyst, military technical consultant, author and columnist – is a former U.S. Marine rifle-squad leader and counterterrorism instructor. He is a serving officer in the S.C. Military Department.
