Library's Tom Cotton on serving his country in Kuwait

A little piece of Cornell went to Kuwait with Tom Cotton, a Navy reservist and facilities coordinator at Cornell University Library. During his nine months of active duty, which ended in May, he handled military cargo at a Kuwaiti port while keeping in touch with his family and co-workers back in the United States.

Camp Patriot, Cotton's home base, flew flags in honor of people or organizations that were meaningful to the service members stationed there, and Cotton requested that a United States flag be flown for the Cornell library.

"The library was so supportive of me leaving -- I came back to the exact same job I was in," he said. "I wanted to show my appreciation for them allowing me to serve the country."

Cotton returned with the flag, which he presented to University Archivist Elaine Engst in the library's Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections Oct. 8. The flag will be kept in Kroch Library's archives and displayed later this year in an exhibit documenting Cornell's military history.

"We are honored to accept this gift," Engst said. "It is a privilege to continue the tradition of documenting the many contributions Cornellians have made in service to their country."

Cotton joined the Navy Reserves in 2005 without really expecting to be summoned for active duty. But he was called up over the fourth of July weekend in 2007, and he left for Kuwait two months later.

As a petty officer second class with the Naval Expeditionary Logistic Support Group, he worked loading and unloading cargo ships in vessel operations at Kuwait's Port Shuaiba. He worked 12-hour days, waking up at 3 a.m. and traveling for over an hour to get from camp to the base.

"Kuwait is like a holding area" for the troops in Iraq, Cotton explained, and many of the necessary supplies for the war flowed through the port near Kuwait City.

Nine months later, Cotton returned to his wife Kim, 10-year-old daughter Morgan and 7-year-old son Kevin. He has worked at the university for about a decade and currently oversees maintenance of Olin, Kroch and Uris libraries, as well as the annex.

Cornell's Military Leave Policy prohibits employment discrimination and provides re-employment rights and benefits protection for employees who take a leave to undertake military service. Health benefits are extended to the service person's family, and Cornell's policy provides differential pay for the first 90 days of an employee's deployment and then accepts donations of vacation time from other staff members. The policy was expanded after Sept. 11, 2001, to provide more flexibility for staff serving in the military.

"The goal of our policy is to provide staff with the flexibility to serve our country without the worry of job or benefits security," said Mary Opperman, vice president for human resources at Cornell. "We are proud and thankful to Tom -- he has served our country and Cornell well."

Gwen Glazer is a writer with the Cornell University Library.

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