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Still serving: Veterans see parallels between military and co-op roles


This month, Walton EMC is celebrating military veterans who use their service experiences to deliver greater value to the co-op’s customer-owners. Board member Billy Ray Allen and long-time employee Anthony Hendricks are among the former soldiers, airmen, sailors, marines and guardsmen playing a role in co-op management and operations.

From battleground to boardroom

Allen, a retired landscape company owner, represents the Mountain Park district on the co-op’s Board of Directors. His leadership is influenced by lessons he learned in Vietnam nearly 55 years ago.

He served with Troop D, 17th Cavalry, an Army armored cavalry squadron attached to the 199th Infantry Brigade. His unit maneuvered Sheridan tanks through combat zones while escorting troop convoys to firebases. It was a dangerous job that proved fatal for some.

Army infantryman Allen guided tanks through Vietnam combat zones from 1969 to 1970.

“You grow up quickly in that situation,” Allen said about being a 20-year-old making life-and-death decisions for his team. “When you’re given a job — even though it might be over your head — you do it to the best of your ability.”

Army life taught Allen to value a culture of respect, something he witnesses at Walton EMC. “Co-op employees show real respect for the customer-owners they serve,” he said. “As a director, I’m very proud of that.”

Veterans make exceptional co-op employees, Allen believes. “The brand of trust you develop in a foxhole is the same kind of reliance needed to be an effective co-op lineman,” he said.

Airman becomes apparatus head

Hendricks’ 32-year tenure at Walton EMC began following a decade of service in the Air Force. Trained as an electrical systems specialist, he maintained and repaired military aircraft at Rhein-Main, a strategic and tactical airlift base in Germany, and Florida’s Hurlburt Field, headquarters for the Air Force Special Operations Command.

His civilian career choice meshes well with his military experience. As apparatus supervisor, he oversees the operation and maintenance of the co-op’s 32 substations, integral features of the electricity grid.

Walton County native Hendricks completed Air Force basic training in 1981.

“If the substations aren’t working, then nobody has electricity,” Hendricks said. High-voltage power from generation sources is transformed into lower-voltage energy at substations before it’s distributed to homes and businesses along Walton EMC’s lines.

Understanding the importance of substations, Hendricks takes his work seriously. He believes his view elevates the performance of everyone on the six-person team he supervises.

“My attitude is strict, something I brought from my military supervisory experience,” he said. “What we do here is serious — sometimes dangerous — work, so I don’t apologize for being tough.”

Lauding their exceptional attitude of service, CEO Ron Marshall will pay tribute to about 25 current or retired employees and directors who are veterans. The group will gather for an annual Veteran’s Day luncheon to honor their service to country and co-op.

“For their service to our nation, we’re especially proud to count these veterans, as well as all those along our co-op lines, as valued members of the Walton EMC family,” he said.