‘Earl of ESGR’: A dedicated volunteer is honored with a national award

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Andre Bowser
  • 439th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
WESTOVER AIR RESERVE BASE, Mass. --  For 12 years, Earl Bonett has put the needs of veterans before his own need to enjoy his retirement.

For this and more, he's the 2011 National Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Military Outreach Volunteer of the Year.

But voluminous titles aside, he just likes to be called Earl, of ESGR.

After retiring from the U.S. Postal Service, Bonett returned to his military roots and became a volunteer with ESGR, a national organization that supports reservists and guardsmen by, among many other things, helping them maintain gain- 'Earl of ESGR': A dedicated volunteer is honored with a national award gainful employment outside of the military.

Bonett himself joined one of the sea services, he'll tell you, "during the sixties -- in the Destroyer Navy." After four years, he left the Navy and returned to his hometown of Monson, Mass., before attending and finishing college, and embarking on careers in education and federal civil service.

The 68-year-old retired postmaster of Holyoke became an ESGR volunteer after one of his employees, who happened to be in the Air Force Reserve, invited him on a Boss lift, an Air Force and ESGR-sponsored trip which show employers what their employee/reservists do as a means to garner support for those Citizen Airmen.

In Bonett's case, it worked.

"I was amazed that all the pilots and aircrew were reservists, and I said to myself 'I'd like to get involved in this," Bonett recalled.

Since then, Bonett served as ESGR's state vice chairman, Western Massachusetts chairman, acting ombudsman director, and ombudsman director. Even as a junior enlisted Sailor in the Navy, Bonett had a warm place for veterans. He was stationed in Newport, R.I., aboard a destroyer; and since he was so close to his family in Massachusetts, he said he took advantage of his mother's generous nature almost every weekend.

"I would bring eight, nine, 10 guys home with me every weekend and my mother would make each of them a favorite food," he said of his mother who worked as a mechanic for the military, as well as a professional chef.

Recalling the tough times in the Navy, Bonett said: "The thing that was the worst on the Navy destroyers was the sterilized milk. All you could taste was the metal, but I drank it anyway."

Bonett served in the Navy as a radioman crypto technician, which meant he sent and received top secret messages for the sea service.

He left the Navy to attend school at the American International College in Springfield, Mass., where he earned a bachelor's degree in English.

Bonett taught high school for eight years before he took a job with the Postal Service. After retiring from that career, he worked as a youth counselor before becoming heavily involved in volunteer programs such as ESGR.

Bonett said part of the impetus for volunteering, besides returning to his military roots, was the "raw deal" Vietnam veterans like himself received from the public when he returned to civilian life.

"It was different back then," he recalls. "People weren't as supportive as they are today of the military."

Bonett said he decided to be a part of a solution he envisioned to help make the bond between the military and the public stronger.

He has helped reservists and guardsmen avoid issues at their places of work, by educating the service members, and sometimes the employers.

"The only part of ESGR that is reactive versus proactive is going to places of employment and smoothing out relationships between reservists and their employers," Bonett said.

Otherwise, he said he's out engaging military members across the state within his area of responsibility -- or Western Massachusetts -- and sometimes beyond.

The difficult part for him is when reservists in challenging situations continue to feel the pinch of poor workplace relations.

"We explain the law to reservists and highlight the law that applies to their specific circumstance, and then the next step is a formal case after the employer has been informed of an issue or violation of reservist's rights," Bonett said.

Often, in his experience, cases involve reservists who leave on deployments and return to find their civilian positions marginalized, in which case ESGR steps in and informs reservists and employers of the law in the hope that it ends there.

Bonett said he's found outreach, before a problem arises, to be a much better road to travel.

To that end, he pushes reservists to nominate supportive bosses, employers and places of employment for Patriot Awards, by contacting his office.

Bonett's zeal for military outreach and his proactive posture for seeking out supportive employers are precisely what netted him the distinction of the national military outreach volunteerism award. And the field of competition was no small swath, with more than 4,500 people in ESGR.

"The functional area volunteers are integral to the accomplishment of our mission as they provide critical support to our reserve component members, their families, and employers," stated James Rebholz, the national chairman of ESGR, in a letter informing Bonett of his selection. "Your active participation in this vital program has done much to enhance ESGR overall."

the national winner Bonett would be invited to attend the Freedom Award Ceremony and National Leadership Conference at the White House in September.

Bill Hebert, a program support technician for the Massachusetts ESGR, said he nominated Earl "because of the tireless effort he puts into briefing military members about their rights."