Jim Lane, a 15-year veteran of the United States Army, was called up for active duty in January 2020, only five months after he began his role as an IT Asset Delivery Specialist for Minnesota IT Services (MNIT) Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT).

His supervisor, Betty Urban, didn’t hesitate for a second to make sure that he had everything he needed to stay connected while he served his country. Urban made sure Lane had the information he needed for health insurance open enrollment, that he used his floating holiday, and even helped him apply for a promotion opportunity within the team. Lane is now an IT Application Specialist.

All these actions felt unremarkable to Urban but they prompted Lane to nominate her for a Patriot Award. Patriot Awards recognize the supervisor of an employee serving in the National Guard or Reserve for support provided directly to the Service member and his or her family. 

Lane presented Urban with her Patriot Award during a virtual staff meeting Lane attended prior to returning from military leave in February 2021. Urban and Lane had a conversation about what the award and support meant for each of them, and about Lane’s recent service. 

Q&A with Betty Urban and Jim Lane

Betty Urban

Lane: Why did you support me so much while I was serving?

Urban: I knew a little bit about your background. I was very impressed when you joined my team and what a great team player you were. Everyone liked you from the get-go. 

We all missed you very much while you were gone. Because of all your attributes, you’re a person who puts everything into what you believe. It was such a short timeframe from when you were told about deployment to when you actually left. I didn’t want you to be worried about your job, I wanted you to focus on the time left with your family. 

You told me something the other day. You and your wife have been married 5 years, and you have been gone 30 months of those five years for your military service.

Lane: You didn’t make me feel like you were just doing your job. You made me feel like I mattered. 

Urban: You were deployed for almost a year, during the COVID-19 pandemic. What was that like?

Lane: When I left in February 2020, COVID was being talked about. I was serving on Fort Bliss in El Paso, TX, and it wasn’t until about the end of March that our post was shut down. My team was tasked with processing network accounts for soldiers that were deploying. Once COVID-19 hit, our work changed quickly to helping soldiers in quarantine connect to WiFi. As more people were getting COVID, we needed to find different offices for them to work in, and new locations for those in quarantine. In some cases, we needed to completely wire new offices. 

It was tough for those that tested positive or needed to quarantine, because we had to quickly get them laptops, image them, and get them set up on VPN. It was challenging and people were frustrated at times, but once we got them set up, they were pretty much self-sufficient. 

Urban: We experienced that issue also with getting the right services and equipment for our business partner to work from home. Some examples were, but aren't limited to, remote access, collaboration tools, softphones, imaging and assigning laptops, headsets, and cameras. Through great teamwork between MNIT, MNIT MnDOT, and MnDOT, we were able to accommodate staff in a very short timeframe.