Perfect Timing
Perfect Timing
All his life, he’d dreamed of joining the Army National Guard. But enlisting required 30 weeks of training, and it was never the right time for the senior integrity analyst at Southern Company Gas. Then, just when the timing seemed right, he learned that age 35 was the cutoff for the specific role he wanted in the guard. It was just out of reach.
Mayer could have walked away, but he happened to be listening to the radio and learned about the Georgia State Defense Force.
The force, a volunteer organization under the Georgia Department of Defense, trains at the same armories as the Army National Guard and is called up to support state and local agencies and civic organizations during times of emergency or national disaster. For Mayer, whose primary interest in joining the guard was homeland defense and serving during disasters, the timing suddenly became perfect. “I was hooked because it was everything I wanted to do for the National Guard but without very long absences from work for training and overseas deployments,” Mayer said.
Now, 14 years later, Mayer is the future plans officer and battle captain for the GSDF, volunteering 20 to 40 hours every month. His role involves planning for annual training, mapping out operations plans, testing those plans and drafting orders for all missions and training. During a natural disaster, the GSDF is often the first to respond to events like Hurricanes Michael, Helene and Irene, and then typically hands off the mission to the National Guard.
One of Mayer’s most important missions was during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mayer worked for 117 straight days to help manage missions for food packing and distribution to families in need, do weekly deep-cleans at Georgia nursing homes to prevent spread of the disease, and even convert refrigerated trucks into mobile morgues, which thankfully were never needed. During COVID-19, he also created an automated reporting system that the GSDF still uses today.
At Southern Company Gas, Mayer has also served as president of VetNet, the veterans employee resource group, and as an advisor, he continues to volunteer his time to the ERG to help veterans and those currently serving. VetNet runs an annual sock drive called “Warm Feet for Warriors,” distributes food at the Joseph Maxwell Cleland Atlanta VA Medical Center and provides school supplies and backpacks to the children of those serving in the Georgia National Guard.
“What I would say to others is, if you see something [and think] this is something that I can maybe help with, volunteer some of your time. If you see a need, fill a need,” says Mayer. “It makes me so proud to be able to serve in uniform in this capacity, to give back to the country that has given me so much and given me the opportunity to thrive and be successful.”