Hecimovich honored for volunteerism

Published 10:21 am Monday, April 27, 2009

Norman E. Hecimovich is the Presidential Volunteer of the Year award-winner.

He has also been honored as the Minnesota Employer Support for Guard and Reserve Volunteer award recipient.

Hecimovich is a one-man volunteer army for veterans.

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Fifteen years ago, Hecimovich became the ESGR chair for Region VI; Minnesota’s First Congressional district. He assists soldiers in 15 National Guard units and five Army Reserve units.

For 42 1/2 years, he served in the U.S. Armed Forces.

He is also a retired education, having been a teacher and a principal for four decades.

Operation Desert Storm, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan … the wars seem endless, and the number of men and women fighting in the conflicts grows.

Hecimovich is waiting to help them adjust to civilian life.

“The number seems to be increasing all the time,” the ESGR chair said. “I’ve had a lot of people, who have retired now, too, as well as people who are just starting on their military duty.”

“It’s a big area when you go from Winona on the Mississippi River all the way to Mankato and every place in between all over the congressional district,” he said.

“I’ve briefed and debriefed soldiers and their families all the time,” he said.

“I have to represent soldiers when they may have a problem with their employers, too,” he said.

The latter job is what the ESGR is all about.

Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) is a Department of Defense organization that seeks to promote a culture in which all American employers support and value the military service of their employees.

The nation’s Reserve components (referring to the total of all National Guard members and Reserve forces from all branches of the military) comprise approximately 48 percent of America’s total available military manpower. The current National Defense Strategy indicates that the National Guard and Reserve will be full partners in the fully integrated “Total Force.”

ESGR was established in 1972 to gain and maintain employer support for Guard and Reserve service by recognizing outstanding support, increasing awareness of the law and resolving conflict through mediation. It is the lead DOD organization for this mission.

Today, ESGR operates through a network of more than 4,500 volunteers throughout the nation, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

When Hecimovich, also a former Austin City Council Member, works with veterans and their employers, he reminds both sides: It’s a two-way street.

“Both the soldier and the employer have responsibilities,” he said.

He is “connected” with all Mower County veterans.

Want a guest speaker for Veterans Day? Call Hecimovich.

Want a program on flag etiquette? Call Hecimovich.

Want a squared-away member of a Color Guard? Call Hecimovich.

Want an opinion on veterans’ issues? Call Hecimovich.

Veterans, who are on his e-mailing list receive regular updates on veterans issues on both the state and national levels.

Politicians court his opinion before taking a stand.

He’s the “go to” guy for veterans needing advice or assistance.

There’s Army Strong and then there’s Hecimovich Strong, when it comes to veterans.

“My feeling is that anyone who is a veteran should get updated regularly on issues that can affect them. They need to have the information readily available to them always,” he said.

His wife, Helen, may covet more of her retired husband’s time, but Hecimovich marches on.

He was just as passionate about children, when he was an educator, as he is about veterans’ rights today.

And, lest anyone think being an ESGR chair means having coffee at the local veterans service club, they should think again.

“Before 9/11, we didn’t have many Guard or Reserve units,” he said. “But as we activated more units and so many soldiers, who are gone so often, after the terrorists’ attack on America, it’s become a stress on employers, on soldiers and on their families.”

Today’s ESGR volunteers “have to know more about the problems and situations we are dealing with and we also have to be more compassionate with all those involved in military duty.”

In Hecimovich opinion, more soldiers are coming home today injured. The physical injuries are obvious to all, but many soldiers are hurting inside.

The “Greatest Generation” of soldiers in World War II called it being “shell shocked.”

Since the Vietnam War, it’s been called post traumatic stress disorder.

“The stress factor in the life of today’s soldier has really gotten to them, to their family and others, too,” he said.

Hecimovich said, PTSD is really the same as WWII’s shell-shocked emotional injuries.

“We have people right now, who are veterans of World War II or the Korean War, who came back and went back to work and raised their families right away after the war, because that was expected of them, and now the PTSD is catching up with them and they’re suffering,” he said.

Hecimovich received his twin state and national ESGR volunteer awards at a banquet held last week with Governor Tim Pawlenty and 22 generals in attendance.

“It was an honor,” he said.

Thousands of veterans in Minnesota could say the same about Hecimovich and what he has done to relieve the stress in their lives, while fighting America’s wars.