By David Harry
Staff Writer

Each time Sgt. Mike Francis has been called to serve, he’s been assured there is a job waiting for him when he returns.
His gratitude to Scarborough-based Northeast Technical Institute and its president, Jim Liponis, was on display last week when the Maine Army National Guard awarded Liponis an Employer Patriot Award.
Francis, a Bangor resident and member of the Guard’s 1136th Transportation Company, teaches truck driving at the Bangor campus of NTI.
In 2004 and 2006, he was deployed to Iraq. In the next few weeks, Francis will be deployed to Afghanistan. Each time he has returned, his teaching job is there for him.
“For me, it is one less thing I have to worry about. I can concentrate on the job I have to do,” Francis said of support from Liponis and school staff.
Francis said he filled out paperwork to nominate NTI for the award last November during a gathering for soldiers facing deployment.
“They have been more supportive than you will ever know – everyone and everything. So I was not going to let this go for a third time,” Francis said about the nomination.
Liponis, owner and president of the career training school with campuses in Bangor and Massachusetts, said paying Francis from when he left his job to deployment and keeping his job open seemed a natural choice from the first time Francis was called to duty.
In nominating NTI, Francis also said the school continued to extend his health insurance benefits while he was deployed.
“While I hope it is the last [deployment], it is an easy decision because he is such a great person and employee,” Liponis said.

Staff writer David Harry can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 219