The scene was solemn. A column of young sailors performed a traditional Navy flag-passing ceremony. With tears in her eyes, a military wife accepted the folded American flag.
For such a scene, the setting was unlikely. Workers, some on coffee breaks, gathered in an airy atrium at the Everett headquarters of Verizon Northwest.
One of their own had sent a gift from Iraq.
Bob Emery, a Verizon cable splicer, is a Navy Seabee reservist with the Everett-based U.S. Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 18. Since June, the Marysville man has been on duty in Iraq, stationed west of Baghdad at Al Asad air base.
To thank Verizon for its support during his absence, Emery, 51, wanted a U.S. flag that was flown over Al Asad to be given to his civilian employer. So Emery sent a flag to Chief Petty Officer Frederick Shabo. Until this week, Shabo was commanding officer of the Seabees in Everett.
Wednesday afternoon, a Navy contingent visited Verizon to make the presentation. The flag that flew over Al Asad on Oct. 31, 2006, is now encased in a triangular glass-and-wood shadow box. Another flag, flown over Naval Station Everett on Wednesday morning, was folded for the ceremony and given to Emery’s wife, Cathy.
“I didn’t think I’d get that emotional,” she said after the speeches and formalities.
It was a special day, too, for 58-year-old Shabo, who served in Iraq at the start of the war. He retired Wednesday after 37 years in the reserves program, although he’ll keep his job in equipment services at the Boeing Co.
Shabo spoke of the communications work being done in Iraq by Emery, his friend and fellow Seabee. As a former Marine, Emery “knew what he was getting into,” Shabo said. Emery’s mission, which is “somewhat classified,” involves tracking and reporting on convoy movements and “the bad guys.”
“It’s 12 hours on, 12 hours off, seven days a week,” Shabo said.
Back at Verizon, a completely different kind of job still has to be done by Emery’s 16-member work group. Rather than risky convoys, his civilian job involves fiber-optic cables that bring phone and Internet service to homes and businesses.
“Everybody has to make up for him being gone. He’s one of our hardest workers,” said Chris Tuttle, a Verizon local manager of construction and Emery’s supervisor.
While some veterans return from Iraq to face joblessness, reservists employed by Verizon are among the lucky ones. “Verizon goes way above and beyond,” said Dave Hawkins, an area manager of outside construction with the company.
Verizon makes up the difference between a reservist’s military and civilian pay, said Carla Hallett, a Verizon specialist in labor relations. Benefits for the employee and the employee’s family also remain intact. Shabo said Boeing follows the same compensation policy.
That’s not a given for all reservists, but one organization works to make sure employers know the law. John Patterson of Snohomish is an area representative of Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve.
“The issue is primarily education for both large companies and small. We find they are often not aware of federal law and the returning job rights for military folks,” Patterson said.
The law stipulates that reservists return to jobs of “like status and pay, those are the key words,” Patterson said. Sometimes that could mean a job in another location, he added.
As a volunteer, he’s involved in education, consultation and mediation. Beyond that, a dispute could lead to a Department of Labor investigation or, in an extreme case, a civil rights lawsuit, Patterson said.
Cathy Emery is grateful for Verizon’s support, but her days can’t go by quickly enough. She expects her husband’s yearlong stint in Iraq to end in June. By summer, she hopes he’ll be back doing what he loves, taking their small boat out fishing on Puget Sound.
Bob Emery served nine years in the Marine Corps, but was done by the mid-1980s. He surprised her four years ago with plans to join the reserves.
“I think 9/11 had a lot to do with it,” Cathy Emery said. “He knew he had skills the country needed. Basically, what he does in Iraq is spend a lot of time on computers communicating. I don’t even know what he does.”
When he returns, his Verizon job will be here – along with plenty of unpaid tasks.
“You never realize how much someone does around the house until you have to do it yourself,” Cathy Emery said. “The honey-do list is growing.”
Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlsteinjulie@heraldnet.com.
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