Getting by when duty calls

It's a tough void to fill when the man at the front desk is commanding an amphibious personnel carrier in Iraq.

By SCOTT BARANCIK, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 12, 2003

ST. PETERSBURG -- For 4 1/2 years, State Farm agent Karen Wornicki knew exactly where to turn whenever a stranger wandered in drunk, the jasmine were thirsty or an irate customer needed soothing.

Peter Nolan Jr., who joined her staff while a student at St. Petersburg High School and always called her "Miss Wornicki," never refused a task.

But now Lance Cpl. Nolan, 24, is giving orders, commanding a 50,000-pound amphibious personnel carrier somewhere in Iraq, as a map of the Middle East on the agency's wall suggests. Though the Marine Corps reservist didn't sell a single insurance policy from his seat at the reception desk, Wornicki and her family-run business are struggling to make do without him.

Daughter Joely Wornicki said a backlog of unanswered phone calls has caused some potential customers to buy auto or homeowners insurance elsewhere. The computers Nolan operated like a wizard are a mystery to those he left behind, said son Joe. Karen Wornicki tried hiring a replacement for Nolan, but the hire didn't work out. Today, overtime is the norm at 8120 Fourth St. N.

"We're still trying to recuperate," she said, absently petting Scout, one of two office dogs.

At a time when military service is voluntary -- and pressure to expand the battlefield role of non-career soldiers has grown -- reservists and National Guard members have been sent off to war in large numbers.

Businesses large and small are feeling the pinch. AmSouth Bank recently lost a branch manager in Sarasota to reserve duty. In St. Petersburg, the information technology department at Raymond James Financial is down six staffers.

So it was for Karen Wornicki and other local employers when Peter Nolan's Tampa reserve outfit, the 4th Assault Amphibian Battalion, based just east of the Gandy Bridge, flew to Camp Pendleton in southern California on Feb. 1. Most of the 200-plus reservists held civilian jobs.

Gunnery Sgt. Lonnie C. Phillips, for example, remained in Tampa to answer media inquiries and serve as liaison to the soldiers' families. But in civilian life he is a host at Thee Doll House, a topless bar on N Westshore Boulevard in Tampa.

Employing reservists is no small responsibility.

Three years ago, Wornicki had to cope with Nolan's absence during his seven-month enlistment training.

When a reservist returns from active duty, federal law generally requires his civilian employer to give him back his job or provide another one with the seniority, pension, health insurance and salary he otherwise would have acquired by then.

"Their job has to be there for them unless the company has downsized," said Ted Wilhite, chairman of the Florida Military Support Association.

Some business owners, such as Honeywell International Inc., have gone beyond their legal duty by continuing to pay employees' regular salary while they serve overseas, or making up the shortfall between their civilian and military pay.

Wornicki, 57, said she is not supplementing Nolan's Marine salary of roughly $2,200 per month, the average pay for lance corporals. After all, the frugal Wornicki still hands out business cards with the 813 area code, four years after St. Petersburg switched to 727. But Wornicki, the daughter of retired State Farm agent and ex-Pinellas Park mayor and Pinellas County commissioner Joe Wornicki, agreed to give Nolan cash in exchange for his accrued vacation. She said the money helped him buy an engagement ring for fiancee Kelly Ann Gitchel right before he left for Camp Pendleton.

Nolan's civilian boss provides support in other ways, too. She stays in close touch with his parents, Peter Nolan Sr. and Leslie Nolan of Snell Isle, who emigrated to the U.S. from Great Britain when their son was 9 years old. Her staff hoists and lowers the Marine Corps flag daily outside the office building, which used to house the Pelican Hotel. The State Farm sign along Fourth Street N proclaims: "We're proud of Peter Nolan, USMC. Go with God. We luv u."

"They looked after him very well financially and personally," said Peter Nolan Sr., who designs employee health insurance plans for corporations.

Wornicki said Nolan, who hasn't been heard from since a letter home dated March 12, has earned his colleagues' respect and gratitude. Confident by nature, he returned from reserve training several years ago with even more determination and discipline.

Recently, he asked Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, a Department of Defense unit, to give Wornicki a "My Boss is a Patriot" award. A photo of her receiving the award hangs on the wall near the map. She wears the "patriot" pin proudly.

Nolan brought them the Marine slogan "adapt, improvise and overcome," said Joely Wornicki. "That's something we use every day in this office."

-- Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report. Scott Barancik can be reached at barancik@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8751.

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