Officials Announce 2012’s Top Guard, Reserve Employers

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, July 23, 2012 – Fifteen public and private-sector employers have been chosen to receive the 2012 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award.

The award represents the highest recognition the U.S. government provides to employers for their support of employees who serve in the National Guard and reserves.

The recipients are:

-- Basin Electric Power Cooperative, Bismark, N.D.;

-- Caterpillar Inc., Peoria, Ill.;

-- Citi, New York;

-- Crystal Springs United Methodist Church, Crystal Springs, Miss.;

-- Delta Airlines, Atlanta;

-- Gary Jet Center, Gary, Ind.

-- iostudio, Nashville, Tenn.;

-- Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety, Kalamazoo, Mich.;

-- L-3 Communications, New York;

-- Nyemaster Goode, Des Moines, Iowa;

-- Port of Seattle;

-- Siemens Corp., Washington, D.C.

-- Tennessee Valley Authority, Knoxville, Tenn.;

-- Uniform Color Co., Holland, Mich.; and

-- Verizon Wireless, Basking Ridge, N.J.

The Freedom Award was instituted in 1996 under the auspices of the National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, a Defense Department agency, to recognize exceptional support from the employer community.

Guard and reserve service members, or family members acting on their behalf, submitted 3,236 nominations for this year’s awards. The winners will be honored at a banquet in the nation’s capital in September.