Peterbilt of Springfield's Brian Nimmo was presented with a Patriot Award for his support of hiring members of the National Guard and Reserve.
An employee at The Larson Group (TLG)’s Springfield location was recently presented with a Patriot Award in recognition of extraordinary support of employees and family members of those that serve in the National Guard and Reserve. The Patriot Award is given by the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), an agency of the Department of Defense. In addition, Skip Wendt, General Manager, signed a Statement of Support to demonstrate the organization’s continued support of Guard and Reserve members.
Brian Nimmo, Service Manager at Peterbilt of Springfield was nominated by employee Mitchel Henry. Henry is a Service Technician and a Specialist assigned to Bravo Company, 1st of the 129th Field Artillery Regiment, Missouri Army National Guard. Col (Ret.) Steven Vanderhoof, ESGR Area 4 Chair, conducted the presentation ceremony on April 18.
To make the occasion even more special, Nimmo’s son, who is stationed in Iraq, was also able to join a crowd of supportive employees by video-calling in.
Spec. Henry says, “Brian Nimmo has always supported the military. Last year I got a call to go to a course to get promoted to Sergeant. I got the call four days before I had to leave for 28 days. I went up to him (Brian) and he immediately said, ‘Okay. See you when you get back.’ There were no questions asked. He just believed me. It was an integrity thing.”
Nimmo also thinks highly of Henry.
“He’s a jokester,” Nimmo said. “He keeps it light. He’s always ‘yes, sir’ and ‘I’ll get it done,’ and I relate to that very well.”
He added, “I feel that we always extend the welcome arm and are willing to embrace those people when they come back. They come back very eager to work. They have solid ethics. They blend in very easily. The military produces a quality person and we just finish that out. We're glad to have them in our workforce and they do a great job for us. They become part of the family very quickly.”
Due to that family-oriented culture, Henry was able to go from the cleanup guy to diesel technician with hands-on training from his peers – over half of which have prior service experience or are in a reserve component. He also graduates from Ozarks Technical Community College’s diesel program in May.