LA GRANDE — A civilian who is boosting La Grande’s National Guard unit, the 3rd Battalion, 116th Cavalry, was saluted by a Department of Defense agency on Friday, Jan. 14.

Terry Michael, the manager of La Grande’s Rite Aid store, was presented with the Employee Support of the Guard and Reserve program’s Patriot Award, which recognizes employers and their managers whose help make it possible for people to be employed and serve in the National Guard or another reserve branch of the Armed Forces.

Michael has worked at Rite Aid in La Grande for about 11 years and was nominated by Pamela Frederick, a member of the 3-116. Frederick worked at Rite Aid for a number of years before taking a position at Grande Ronde Hospital in late 2021.

Frederick, in her Sept. 14, 2021, nomination letter, wrote that Michael goes above and beyond to see that everything goes well while she is on National Guard duty.

“He keeps in touch with me to make sure I am all right, and makes sure my area of responsibility is covered in my absence,” she wrote. “He also keeps me up-to-date so that when I return, my entry back to work is seamless.”

Michael, who credits Frederick with being an excellent employee, speaks humbly of the praise he received from her.

“I was just doing my job. I’m working to make sure my team is OK. I’m taking care of the members of our team the best way I can,” he said. “I always try to look out for my employees and do what I can to help them.”

The only people who can nominate someone for the ESGR Patriot Award are National Guard members or reservists in other branches of the military, according to Jack Johnson, chair of Area Six of the Oregon ESGR Committee.

Michael was presented the Patriot Award by Johnson.

Johnson, prior to his presentation, spoke of how valuable reserves are to the U.S. Armed Forces because the United States has not had a draft since 1972 when Congress ended it. He said that half of those in the Armed Forces are reservists. The Army National Guard is one of seven reserve components. The others are the Air National Guard, the Air Force Reserve, the Army Reserve, the Marine Corps Reserve, the Navy Reserve and the Coast Guard Reserve.

The Employee Support of the Guard and Reserve program was created in 1972 to help bolster the military reserve programs.

“Without the support of employers, our reserve program would not be nearly as strong as it is,” Johnson said.