Support for Soldiers and Veterans You Gotta Have Heart The Joy of ...

MANHASSET — Since Operation
Iraqi Freedom began in
2003, much has been written
about the plight of returning
military personnel. One member
of the US Army Reserves,
Michael Kentner, Platoon Sergeant,
773rd Transportation
Company, Fort Totten, who is
also a New York City firefighter
and a maintenance worker at
the North Shore-LIJ Stern
Center for Rehabilitation,
knows how important it is for
reservists to have a supportive
work environment.
Last year, Sgt. Kentner
found a Web site maintained
by Employer Support of the
Guard and Reserve, a US
Department of Defense agency
that sought Patriot Award
nominations for employers
that support military-reservist
obligations. He wrote a letter
extolling his immediate
supervisor, Walter Oberman,
the Stern Center’s assistant
director of engineering, who
“continues to support what I’m
doing with a special sincerity
that gives you chills. This guy
embodies a certain intangible
patriotism that simply cannot
be articulated in words on
paper.”
At the recent ceremony to
accept the Patriot Award, Mr.
Oberman was surrounded by
colleagues, veterans and active
duty and reserve military
personnel. He said he was
The recipient of the Patriot Award, Walter Oberman (third from right), with: (from left) Andrew Roberts, Sergeant Major
Vincent Mannion, Maureen McClusky, First Sergeant Kilsi Ciprian and Michael Kentner, platoon sergeant and Stern
Center staff member.
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both humbled and honored
to work with his good friend,
who, he added, “is clearly an
American hero. How can you
not want to help someone
whose only thought is to help
his country and his city?”
Andrew Roberts, director
of North Shore-LIJ’s Office of
Military and Veterans Liaison
Services, led the ceremony.
Mr. Roberts noted that the
North Shore-LIJ Health System
has recruited 100 veterans
for various staff positions
throughout health system
facilities in the past year. He
praised the health’s system
practice of paying employees
on military leave the difference
between military pay and their
regular salaries, ensuring that
their service to our country does
not create economic hardship.
Also on hand to present
the award was Sgt. Major
Vincent Mannion, 301st
Information Operations
Battalion, Fort Totten.
“There are so many people
who talk the talk but wind
up complaining about
the reservists’ military
obligations,” he said,
congratulating Maureen
McClusky, executive director
of the Stern Center, and staff
members for providing true
support and concern.
The New Standard
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