ANNVILLE, Pa. – Pennsylvania Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), an office of the Department of Defense, announced that State Chair Marty Kuhar recently hosted an All-Ranks conference at the Keystone Conference Center at Fort Indiantown Gap.

The event brought together volunteers from across Pennsylvania to review the past year’s accomplishments, receive the Chair’s vision for the committee. Attendees were briefed about functional area activities. Briefings were presented by the State’s South-Central Area Chair, James Astor, Miliary Outreach Director, Wes Craig; Training Director, Reginald Green who was assisted by the PA Northeast Area Chair and Ombudsman Michael Jones; Ombudsman Director, Terry Curran; and, Public Affairs Director, William Burkhard.

Kuhar reiterated ESGR’s mission statement, goals and objectives and highlighted the Committees accomplishment. He discussed the challenges being faced by budget constraints, emphasizing that funding allocations are partially based on volunteer participation in Military and Employer Outreach events; credit for participation can only be credited to the Committee by volunteers submitting hours.

Astor Employer Outreach discussions presented best practices for presenting ESGR awards to employers. He focused on methods to effectively make the initial contact with the awardee and servicemember to establish their preferred method of the award presentation. Astor stressed the importance of this coordination to ensure a positive employer engagement.

Craig’s Military Outreach briefing focused in two areas: coordinating events with the Pennsylvania Adjutant General’s staff and briefings of Pre and Post Deployment units. He stressed the importance of these interactions to inform servicemember about their rights and obligations to keep their employers informed about their service requirements, noting that there were two recent major servicemember outreach events. Craig concluded his briefing by providing a list of Pennsylvania Reserve force units scheduled for or returning from deployment.

Green and Jones spoke about volunteer training requirements, showing how to log onto ESGR educational program sites and identifying annual volunteer training requirements. They stepped through the logon process and stepped through the course requirements and questions related to USERRA 101 and Privacy Act courses.

Curren provided an overview of the salient points regarding both servicemember and employer obligations under the USERRA Law. He reviewed best methods for servicemembers to notify their employer about their scheduled military training and deployment obligations. Conversely, Curran discussed the reinstatement of a service member upon their return from training and deployments.

Burkhard briefed on the number of ESGR press releases published in FY 24 and from the beginning of FY 25 through February. He compared the number of published articles to those received by Area Chairs and to the total number of awards Exhibit Arts distributed throughout the state, concluding that the bulk of articles were sent directly to servicemembers for personal presentation. Burkhard concluded the presentation by discussing the essential elements of information required to prepare a press release.

A highlight of the conference was an address from National ESGR’s Northeast Area Chief Maj. Smith. Smith’s energetic message focused on the importance of volunteer service supporting those who serve in our country’s Reserve forces. She noted many of the PA ESGR’s committee accomplishments and the organizations cohesiveness.

The conference concluded with the presentation of State and National Certificates, awards, and years of service pins. Many individuals received Certificates of Outstanding Performance and Seven Seals Awards. Several received Outstanding Volunteer Awards. Nicholas Krawec received a Spirit of Volunteerism Award and Albert Newman received a Lifetime Achievement Award. Special recognition was given to Astor and Curran for being recognized as Volunteer of the Year Award selectees for the Northeast Region.

The most noteworthy award was given to Craig. Craig received the highest ESGR award, the James M, Roche Spirit of Volunteerism Award. Roche was an American statistician who served as the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board at General Motors Corporation and was the first ESGR National Chair.

Photo 1 (L-R): James M, Roche Spirit of Volunteerism Award presentation, Kuhar, Craig, Maj. Smith.

Photo 2: Pennsylvania ESGR Committee All-Ranks conference attendees.