LAKEPORT – Lakeport's city manager may be redeployed for military service in Iraq next year.

Jerry Gillham, who has been in the Army National Guard for 35 years following service in the Navy, said that his unit, the 41^st Brigade, recently was called back to Iraq.

Gillham, who remains a member of the Oregon National Guard, was previously in Iraq from 2005 to 2006.

If he goes back to Iraq, it would be for a one-year stay, beginning in June of 2009.

At a recent drill in Ashland, Ore., Gillham said he and his unit began discussing what their duties in Iraq might look like the next time around.

Gillham is a Chief Warrant Officer 3, and part of the unit's command staff.

During his previous tour of duty in Iraq Gillham was on a reconstruction team. He traveled around the country, conducting assessments of community needs in order to rebuild them, working on water and wastewater systems, and teaching democracy and government to provincial government leaders.

“I did all kinds of stuff,” he said.

Robert Anderson, executive director of Northern California's Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Committee, said the law requires employers to hold jobs for employees who are deployed for military duty.

Upon returning from service, National Guard members and reservists are supposed to be able to go back to work in the same position they held before “as though they had never left,” said Anderson.

Some employers, Anderson said, supplement their employees' salaries while they're on military deployment, but that isn't required. Neither is it a requirement to continue health care coverage for deployed employees, although some employers have done so.

Gillham said it's impossible to know if his deployment will actually take place because of changing conditions. “Who knows what's going to happen between then and now.”

His boss, Mayor Buzz Bruns, agrees with that assessment, saying it's too early to tell if the city might actually lose its city manager for a year.

Bruns said be believes that Gillham may not be able to physically handle the rigors of another deployment, as he had back surgery three months ago.

Gillham said he is eager to continue his work with the city as long as the council wants him.

He said he's looking forward to buying a home here and remains committed to the city.

“I want to be here for the rest of my life,” he said. “I love Lakeport.”

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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