Positive News

[Hayden Collins]

Hidden giants

 

In August the Bartow Chamber of Commerce hosted a Patriot Award presentation to Wayne Leathers of IBM, a resident of the Bartow County area who works at IBM’s office in Washington D.C.  It was a very unusual presentation.

 

The Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) recognizes businesses for their commitment to National Guard and Reserve personnel through the Patriot Award.  Most of my previous award presentations have been to local businesses, at which citizen soldiers have nominated their supervisors for their dedication and the company’s support that enables military personnel to respond to a call to active duty while maintaining their employment situations.

 

One could imagine a presentation to IBM taking place in a large corporate office representing the international firm’s reputation and achievements.  And for most Patriot Award recognitions, the soldier will take part in the presentation, describing how his or her supervisor made the necessary arrangements that allowed the soldier to serve, and how that sense of having the job and the family taken care of gave the soldier peace of mind while facing foreign conflicts.

 

But on that August morning in downtown Cartersville, the soldier – artillery Major Jeffrey C. Rector of Richmond, Texas – was not there.  He is currently serving his second deployment in the Army, although his supervisor Leathers did not know where his current assignment is.

 

As Leathers recalled during the presentation, Rector was first called up from the Reserve to active duty in 2007 immediately after IBM had offered him a job, but before he had begun working there.  “IBM really didn’t have to give him a job, you know, because he hadn’t really started.  But we said, hey, we can’t treat that guy that way, you know, it’s not his fault he got called up from reserves to active duty.”  Rector served for a year in Iraq, and sent back to Leathers a flag which had flown over the embassy in Iraq.

 

Two years after returning to work for IBM, Rector was activated again – initially to coordinate management for relief after the Haiti earthquake in 2010.  Leathers was not sure if Rector is currently serving in Afghanistan or has returned to Iraq, but he is expected to be deployed until June of next year.  During the total span of his five years with IBM, Major Rector will have been on active duty approximately 3 years, and IBM has continued its support of him and his service throughout.

 

This presentation recognized IBM’s extraordinary commitment, above and beyond the Five Star level of most Patriot Awards.  It’s not often you hear of this kind of support for the Guard and Reserves.  IBM is above and beyond what any member of the services could expect in an employer. It’s good to have this kind of employer in North Georgia.

 

IBM’s position as one of the top 20 firms in the United States does fuel the image of a state-of-the-art corporate office in the heart of a city, efficiently addressing the business world of today.  But IBM is also focused on tomorrow, and their process of adapting and overcoming new challenges brings innovation as much as the products and programs in development.  With over 400,000 employees worldwide, some do work in corporate centers – but others, like Wayne Leathers, are here in northwest Georgia, traveling to an office in Washington D.C.

 

IBM is a serious contributor to communities like ours through their interaction with local businesses, and as in Major Rector’s situation, also an outstanding employer on a personal level.  Opportunities to expand such business connections would be a benefit to our community – whether it was a new corporate office or having more IBM employees who call Bartow County home.  Utilizing such individuals may be a strategy for big businesses to reduce overhead costs while adapting to a down economy, and continuing to invest in the outstanding personnel and resources that bring dependable solutions today and innovation for tomorrow.

 

Major Jeffrey C. Rector will return to his job at IBM at the end of this deployment, God willing.  The Patriot Award presentation to IBM recognized this business leader’s outstanding support for the National Guard and Reserves as such citizen soldiers are away from their jobs in order to serve our country.  But on that sunny morning at the Chamber of Commerce in Cartersville, it was supervisor Wayne Leathers and Lisa, his wife of 41 years, who received the pin and the certificate, together with the absent Major Rector’s written commendation:

 

“Wayne has worked tirelessly to ensure that I am able to perform my duties as a soldier without fail and he constantly ensures that my family and I are taken care of during any active duty periods.” In the world of business, IBM is both a corporate giant, and an outstanding example of commitment to our armed forces in the National Guard and Reserves - whose example of taking care of soldiers, even in a down economy, is that of a true patriot.