Ohio Military Reserve is looking for a few good volunteers
After 9/11, Mark Williams decided to serve his country.
"I wanted to do something - but I was too old," said Williams, then 45 years old.
Unable to enlist, he joined the Ohio Military Reserve, a volunteer, noncombat organization trained to support the National Guard and local authorities in case of emergency.
"When people think of soldier, they have a picture in their mind," said Major Williams. "The reason more people don't join is they don't know about it; this is Ohio's best kept secret."
On Saturday, he welcomed potential volunteers into the reserve's headquarters, leading armory tours and explaining reserve training. Reserve members said they hope to make open houses a regular fixture and attract civilians with medical and technical backgrounds.
"This is one of our first ones," said Sgt. Cliff Rittenhouse. "We've been doing the open houses because we need to get our numbers up."
Reserve training prepares members for tasks like managing volunteers and organizing mass water distribution for everything from tornadoes and floods to nuclear or biological man-made disasters. Once a month, they spend a weekend drilling on basic soldier skills and emergency response at armories across Ohio.
"The military is really about training and repetitiveness so when something occurs you don't have to think about it," said 2nd Lt. Jim Trakas. "The day the governor calls us out, we're ready to go."
Volunteers can be as young as 17 and as old as 60 and do not need to have a military background.
"We have people who are custodians and blue collar who are commanding officers to CEOs of companies," Trakas said. "You all get a chance to work together. It's very diverse."
That flexibility often tempts reserve recruits with the chance at a missed calling.
Rittenhouse said he followed his father's footsteps and enlisted in the National Guard, but couldn't serve because of his hearing loss.
"That's all I ever wanted to do," he said.
Similarly, Dillon Barto, 21, of Upper Sandusky, comes from a military family.
"I've had family in every military conflict since the Revolutionary War," he said.
At Saturday's open house, he said he planned to continue that legacy by joining the reserve.
Many others join the reserve after leaving military service, like Col. Kathy Platoni, who was deployed overseas four times during 34 years in the U.S. Army.
"I grieved the loss of wearing the uniform terribly," Platoni said. She was able to find camaraderie in retirement through the Reserve.
The organization hasn't actually been called into action since World War I. Toledo's 2014 water crisis was the most recent incident that came close to requiring Reserve deployment, Williams said.
Brandon Hunt, 17, a junior at West Jefferson High School, plans to enlist in the Navy after graduation. On Saturday, he was one of five Ohioans who enlisted in the Ohio Military Reserve.
"A lot of people are nervous when they join the military. I want to be confident," Hunt said. "I'm hoping to get sworn in today."