Las Vegas to host training conference for Guard, Reserve

Dick Benoit

Thursday, June 23, 2005 | 8:49 a.m.

National Guard and Reserve officials, along with citizen volunteers from 11 western states will gather at the Embassy Suites Las Vegas Convention Center beginning tomorrow for a regional training conference conducted by the Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, which goes by the acronym ESGR.

Participants from Alaska, Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington will discuss employer outreach efforts, business planning for their state committees, the group's strategic plan and the organization's annual awards program that recognizes employers and individuals for efforts to gain and maintain active support from all public and private employers for men and women of the National Guard and Reserve, Maj. Robert Palmer, public affairs officer for the ESGR, said.

This week the Defense Department announced that the numbers of people currently on active duty in support of the partial mobilization for the Army National Guard and Army Reserve is 124,550; Navy Reserve, 3,311; Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, 9,922; Marine Corps Reserve, 9,578; and the Coast Guard Reserve, 579. This brings the total National Guard and Reserve personnel, who have been mobilized, to 147,940.

ESGR leadership in Nevada for is led by state chairwoman Dixie Sue Alsbrook, executive director Maria Zaldivar-Vaught and Charles Blake, ombudsman coordinator. Blake and the Nevada committee serve as advocates for service members when conflicts arise between military and civilian employment in light of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994.

According to Alsbrook, the operations tempo of the armed forces and total force participation of the Guard and Reserve in the worldwide war on terrorism has increased the number of calls the Nevada committee receives.

"In the past we were surprised if we got a call every two or three months," she said. "Now if we don't get a call a week we are surprised."

Army Maj. Gen. Lawrence Johnson, the commanding general of the 70th Regional Readiness Command, will be the featured luncheon speaker during the conference. For more information regarding ESGR meeting or ESGR, call Lt. Cmdr. Craig Kujawa with the Office of the Secretary of Defense at 703-696-1386.

In brief