It's Official

Collaborative signing ceremony first of its kind


The Army Reserve recently struck an agreement with the National Guard to better provide employment opportunities for Soldiers returning home from deployment. Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stultz, left, Chief of the Army Reserve, and Maj. Gen. R. Martin Umbarger, Indiana Adjutant General, signed Employer Partnership Initiatives Monday and Tuesday, which stated that the two components would work together with civilian employers to acquire better job resources for troops. (U.S. Army photo by Capt. Adam W. Jackson, 310th Expeditionary Sustainment Command)

By T.D. Jackson

Camp Atterbury Public Affairs

CAMP ATTERBURY JOINT MANUEVER TRAINING CENTER, Ind. – In a move the first of its kind, the Army Reserve struck a partnership with the National Guard to better provide employment opportunities for Soldiers returning home from deployment.

Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stultz, chief of the Army Reserve, and Maj. Gen. R. Martin Umbarger, Indiana's adjutant general, signed an agreement that the two components would work together with employers to acquire better job resources for troops. Several Indianapolis employers, the Indianapolis Fire Department, UPS, and ITT Educational Services, also signing the Employer Partnership agreement on Tuesday, Aug. 4.

Monday Columbus, Ind., Mayor Fred Armstrong and Steven Chancellor, chairman of AmeriQual Group LLC., one of the producers of the Army's Meals Ready-to-Eat, signed an agreement in a separate ceremony.


Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stultz, (far right) Chief of the Army Reserve, and Maj. Gen. R. Martin Umbarger, (far left) Indiana Adjutant General, signed an agreement Monday that the two components would work together to acquire better job resources for troops. Columbus, Ind., Mayor Fred Armstrong (second from left) and Steven Chancellor, chairman of AmeriQual Group LLC., one of the producers of the Army’s Meals Ready-to-Eat also signed the agreement which encourages them to send employment leads to the Reserve and Guard. (U.S. Army photo by T.D. Jackson, Camp Atterbury Public Affairs)

Stultz said often when Soldiers return from a deployment they are going back to jobs where they are underpaid and some, he said, don't have jobs at all.

"Everybody can benefit from this pact," said Stultz. "We're all one Army."

What the agreement states is the Army Reserve, Guard, and the employer partner agree to explore mutually beneficial initiatives that support the missions of each organization. The agreement encourages employers to post their job leads on the Army Reserve Web site that has a section dedicated to providing troops with better employment.

Roger Peterman of the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) said this collaboration between the National Guard and Army Reserve with employers offers a variety of career opportunities to service members.

"We're ensuring that Warrior-Citizens are taken care of too," Peterman said. "We're very proud to join with the Army Reserve to best provide meaningful employment to servicemen and women.”

The adjutant general expressed his excitement about the milestone the state was setting.

"Indiana is the first state to sign this kind of agreement for the Guard," Umbarger said. "What this means is our very own Soldiers will now have access to this wonderful partnership which will pair them up with an employer who needs their specific skills."

Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stultz, chief of the Army Reserve, signed an autograph for Maj. Arthur Rabenhorst, an Army Reserve medical doctor at the Troop Medical Clinic here. (U.S. Army photo by T.D. Jackson, Camp Atterbury Public Affairs)

Stultz agreed. In his talks with various employers he found that the qualities they were looking for in a worker were the qualities that every Soldier already has, he said.

"The military is a great pool of talent that people are looking for," Stultz said. "Loyalty, dedication, responsibility … These are all the qualities that our Soldiers possess."

Stultz later explained a national strategy on how to maintain the force through the employer partnership is to match a Soldier's civilian skills with a similar job in the military - ensuring the Soldiers recieve the training they need to be a skilled worker and an experienced Soldier.

"For example you can build a force of nurses who already work in civilian hospitals, and as Reserve Soldiers they’ll work in military hospitals," he said. "Or like the Reserve Soldiers who, as civilians, are truck drivers for Conway. They’re doing it every day!"

Connecting Citizen-Soldiers with jobs that match their military skill sets is one of the goals of the Employer Partnership Office aims for, in addition to providing resources in a time when many are drying up.

Col. Todd Townsend, Camp Atterbury's commander, said he's excited about the three-fold agreement.

"It's great that the National Guard, Army Reserve and the civilian employers are coming together to support deploying Soldiers," Townsend said. "It's all about opening up the eyes of the civilian workforce and letting them know what Soldiers can bring to the table."


The Army Reserve recently struck an agreement with the National Guard to better provide employment opportunities for Soldiers returning home from deployment. Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stultz, (far left) Chief of the Army Reserve, and Maj. Gen. R. Martin Umbarger, (far right) Indiana Adjutant General, signed an agreement that the two components would work together to acquire better job resources for troops.

At the Indiana War Memorial Tuesday, Aug. 4, several local employers signed the Employer Partnership Initiative. Shown are Jim Lewis, UPS; Col. John Layton, Marion County Sheriff’s Office; Joe Opalka, Aero Industries; Larry Dewey, Allison Transmission; Honorable Paul Ricketts, Mayor, City of Lawrence, Ind.; Randy Reichmann, Old National Bank; Todd Mayse, ITT Educational Services, Inc.; Chief Dudley Taylor, Indianapolis Fire Department; Lorinda Peters, VA National Cemetery Administration, Indianapolis; and Thomas Mattice, Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center, Indianapolis. (U.S. Army photo by Capt. Adam W. Jackson, 310th Expeditionary Sustainment Command)