By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
When the time comes when service men or women are called to do their duty there are many challenges that face them from taking care of their business while they are gone: the separation from their family and loved ones, as well as readjusting to civilian life when they return from deployment.
These are issues facing Galion Papa John’s owner Michael Fender as he prepares for his 14th deployment, this time going to the Middle East for four months with the 179th Air Force Wing. While he will be able to stay in contact with his family Fender said that being away from them will be the most difficult part about the deployment.
“The hardest thing about deployment is leaving the family. Leaving the family, I have three children two girls, that are 9 (Addisyn) and 7 (Alexandria) and a boy (Weston) that’s a year old and leaving the girls has always been hard and I’m sure the boy doesn’t really understand yet, and leaving my wife (Gabrielle).”
Fender explained how he will keep in communication with family and business associates while he is away from home during his deployment.
“Email is the main way. It is the one thing that I can constantly email back and forth. That is something we can do every day a couple times a day,” Fender said. “Skype messaging that’s a big one to be able see each other every once in a while. Phone calls being able to call back on the phone and Skyping those are the best ways.”
Graduating from high school in 1999, Fender attended Wright State University majoring in business information systems and networking. After deciding that financially he needed to do something else he joined Air Force National Guard. Fender, who is a Tech. Sergeant E6, explained what his duties will be when he arrives for his tour in the Middle East.
“I’ll be working on aircraft. I’m an aircraft electrician. So whenever the planes they fly out and come back if they have something wrong either electrical or with the air condition I take care of it,” Fender said. “That is primarily six days a week, 12 hours a day working on aircraft whenever they need something fixed. I will be working on planes from the air force we are taking our own planes from the 179th over in Mansfield; we will be taking our planes over there and doing missions as needed.”
When he returns Fender said he plans on spending time with his family and readjusting to the nonmilitary life.
“We have already talked a little bit about doing a family vacation. We want to spend some time together, spend with some time family,” Fender said. “I want to get my parents, my kids, my sister, and get us all together spend some time with each other, and get back into a normal life.”
Fender explained that one of the most difficult things upon returning from deployment will be getting back into the daily routine, not only of his own, but also of everyone around him.
“The hardest thing is to get back. Just to get back into the daily routine. When you have a family, when you have Kids, when you have a wife, and a business life just goes on without you. When you are gone people are doing their daily work, going to school, going to work, running the business; doing things without you even though you are not here, and when you come back,” Fender explained. “Those people miss you, and they wish you were there, but when you come back it is an adjustment to get back into the swing of things and get back into that routine. You’re used to not being a part of that whether you are gone one month, two months or four months.”
Another aspect Fender will be leaving behind will be his Papa John’s Pizza restaurant in Galion. Opening the Papa John’s restaurant on March 5 of last year, he had spent the year prior trying to secure the franchise. Fender said that while he is gone, he feels his restaurant will be in good hands with general manager Thomas Garverick and the rest of his staff.
“I feel that we have a really great staff. We have a great general manager who is not only my general manager, but my best friend. We have a great staff of assistant managers, drivers, and in store people. I know leaving here that I’m leaving it in good hands and I know that they’re going to get the job done,” Fender said.
While being deployed does have its drawbacks, Fender said that they have been mainly great experiences not just because of the places he has been able to go to, but also the people he has been overseas with.
“Going overseas is actually a great experience. I added it up one time and have been to 41 different countries. Some of it was just passing through stopping for an evening, but going through some of those place and being able to say I have been to these countries stopped at these countries is great,” Fender said. “The people I have been over there with; I have got some pretty good people in the military I have worked with over the years and had a lot of fun going on the deployments. Even though it is hard to leave your family, it’s hard to leave your everyday life, but the people that you go with and the places you go make it better.”
While he has had a positive outlook on his deployments Fender said that a few deployments were better than others.
“Some have been better than others, some have been better places, better environments I guess you could say. Puerto Rico, Germany, those are the deployments that everyone enjoys, because you have time outside of work besides working on airplanes you can sight see and do other things. Some of the other deployments are to rougher places, that aren’t as nice but that comes with the job. You like some that you go to and some that you don’t.”
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