Back home: MTMC reservist resumes his pre—mobilization life

Translog: Journal of Military Transportation Management, May-June, 2002

Col. David Smith is back home now.

Smith, who retired after 32 years of military duty on March 7, is among the first of hundreds of Army Reservists working for Military Traffic Management Command to return to the life he had before Sept. 11 terrorist attacks against the United States.

Smith tells an anecdotal tale of the response he has received since returning from military duty.

"My car tag has `COL TC' on it, and that has proved to be very interesting lately" said Smith.

"I was driving to Charlottesville one Friday, and a car pulled alongside of me and kept pace for a while. When I glanced over after a few minutes, the driver snapped off a quick salute and drove off.

"I've had that happen to me several times, as well as having people I do not know blow their horns and wave as they drive past."

Civilian life is busy for Smith. He just completed a 2,500-mile trip to see a son graduate from college in New Jersey, and a sister-in-law receive a doctorate in Alabama.

Smith works as the Information Technology Leader for the Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, in Virginia. Upon his return to his Richmond office, he received a warm welcome.

"Around the office and the state, I am known as `the Colonel' by the people who work with my agency" said Smith. "That's been going on for many years. I've always gotten a lot of respect from the people here at work for the rank and position I hold in the Reserves.

"I just hope other Reservists will get the same positive feedback that I've had since my return to civilian life. Coming back to work, I found everyone very supportive and appreciative of the effort required for reservists to do their military jobs"

Smith's office held a `welcome back' luncheon for him on March 4. Smith had a surprise of his own. He pulled out a plaque that thanked State Conservationist M. Denise Doetzer and his agency coworkers for their support.

"Although we would've loved to have you here working with us" Doetzer told him, "I personally felt much better, and safer, knowing you and the others were serving in the capacity you were."

"People I don't know, who found out I had been mobilized, went out of their way to find me and express appreciation for my service and willingness to give of my time for Reserve duty" said Smith.

In all, Smith served as Chief, MTMC Operations Center, at Fort Eustis, Va., for six months.

"It would've been interesting to have been able to complete a full year there on active duty" said Smith. "I'm now in the Retired Reserve as a result of my mandatory removal date. I completed five years of service as a colonel and that is the limit."

Recently, Smith paid another honor to Doetzer in the form of an `Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve' dinner at Fort Lee, Va. Smith's nomination of Doetzer for a `My Boss Is A Patriot Award' was one of five selected by the organization's Virginia office for a prestigious State Director's Award.

"This is a very good program," said Smith. "It fosters positive relations between employers and employees who are Reservists and seeks to bridge the gap between civilian employers' needs and the Reservists' needs to respond to their military organization."

What about the future?

"I really haven't had time to think about the future, as my return to work has occupied all my attention" said Smith. "My agency has a massive undertaking at this time of installing the Microsoft's Active Directory System on 2,600 servers--each of which will be its own domain to support 45,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture employees nationwide."

At his retirement party at the Operations Center, Smith received several gifts.

The best, said Smith, came from his wife.

"My wife, Ginger, announced that she had gotten me something I'd always wanted" said Smith.

"What she bought me was a 2002 Corvette. I'll have to start practicing looking cool and not getting tickets"

Smith is Back Home.