Patriot Award presentation by the ESGR

From the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) presented Belinda Swindler, a long time Recreation Department employee for the City of North Charleston, the Patriot Award on Thursday, October 13, 2011 at North Charleston’s City Council meeting.

The Patriot Award honors individual supervisors for contributing to national security and protecting liberty and freedom by supporting employee participation in America’s National Guard and Reserve force.  Only members of the National Guard and Reserve forces are eligible to nominate their employers for the Patriot Award.

A city employee for 11 years, Ms. Swindler serves as the recreation department’s senior coordinator, planning, organizing, and facilitating all senior programming in North Charleston.  In addition, she supervises operations and staff at the Felix C. Davis Community Center at Park Circle.

Ms. Swindler was nominated by Dominique Johnson who is currently serving with the United States Army Reserves’ 914th Transportation Company of North Charleston, SC in Iraq.  The 914th Transportation Company was ordered into active military service in January 2011.  Prior to deployment, Ms. Johnson was employed by the City of North Charleston in the Recreation Department with Ms. Swindler serving as her supervisor.

ESGR is a Department of Defense organization. It is a staff group within the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, which is in itself a part of the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

ESGR was established in 1972 to promote cooperation and understanding between Reserve component members and their civilian employers and to assist in the resolution of conflicts arising from an employee's military commitment. It is the lead DoD organization for this mission under DoD Directive 1250.1.

Today, ESGR operates through a network of thousands of volunteers throughout the nation and Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.