The Employer Support of the Guard & Reserve through the U.S. Department of Defense recently recognized Hamilton County Surveyor Kenton Ward as a Patriotic Employer. Sgt. First Class Scott Dykes, a Section Corner Technician in the surveyor’s office and a member of the Army National Guard, recently returned from a nine-month deployment.
“Each day, employers like the Surveyor’s Office help these brave men and women maintain their commitment to the nation and our great state,” said Stephen J. Williams, Indiana State Chair of the Employer Support of the Guard & Reserve. “They’re support for America’s National Guard and Reserve Force contribute to our national security and the protection of our liberties and freedoms.”
Dykes, 37, first enrolled in the Army National Guard his junior year of high school in New Haven, Ind. Since then he has been deployed four times – serving in the global war on terrorism and providing homeland defense in Afghanistan, in Iraq (twice), and most recently, in Kuwait.
Ward hired Dykes in June 2018 as a part of a three-man team charged with maintaining the section corner network throughout the county. Within weeks, Dykes was called up for training. He left for Kuwait in February 2019 and returned to work in January 2020.
“A lot of places won’t hire you if they find out you’re getting deployed,” Dykes said. “It felt good knowing I still had a job to go back to when I got called up.”
“I’ll admit we were caught off guard when he got called up, but that’s a risk I’m willing to take,” Ward recalled. “I like to hire veterans like Scott whenever I can. They know the chain of command and they have a good work ethic. Scott is a quick study and has been a great asset to our team.”
During his deployment, the surveyor’s office sent Dykes care packages on his birthday and during the holidays.
“We appreciated his service,” said Janet Hansen, administrative assistant. “We sent him cakes in a jar, games and cards. We missed him and wanted to let him know we were thinking of him.”
In return, Dykes sent a flag flown over his post in Kuwait back to Noblesville. It hangs in the Surveyor’s Office to this day.