By Robert Johnson
Managing editor

It’s 5 p.m., the flag is down and most of the work force on Fort Leonard Wood is headed home for the evening — another day of supporting the force is in the books.

But for a large number of Soldiers and civilians, their shift is just getting underway and a majority of their work effort happens while the rest of us are tucked away, safe in our beds.

It is this work force that the GUIDON has decided to highlight in this issue with a very special “After Hours” edition. From cooks showing up in the wee hours of the morning to prepare breakfast for a hungry Army to firefighters waiting for an emergency they hope never happens, our post is very much alive after 5. Across the installation, we have Soldiers and civilians continuing to support our military throughout the night.

Many of us don’t give the after hours workers much thought. We never really think about the watch commander at the MP desk or who is monitoring the weather in the Emergency Operations Center. We don’t dwell on the crew running the bowling alley or the cashier who is there at the ready at 2 a.m. in the shopette. It is this special group of individuals that work the second, third and early morning shifts that miss out on what “normal” families get to do most evenings. These after-hour heroes forgo family dinners, most prime time television viewing (hooray for DVRs), evening events with their kids, and other after-duty activities. Their internal clocks are reset to the night, so even their days off are usually kept on owl time. The more we talked with these workers, the more impressed we were with their dedication to keeping the post safe, secure and ready throughout the night. It’s definitely a lifestyle that isn’t for everyone.

Of course we could not highlight every facet and every operation, so we humbly apologize in advance for any organization we have omitted. (Big hint, call us and we’ll make sure we catch your organization for After Hours II.)

But for those organizations that allowed us to peer into their effort after the sun goes down, we humbly thank you. You truly have a tough job that most of us take for granted.

Next week, we plan to continue our summer special editions with an in-depth look at some of the dirtier jobs on the installation. The Soldiers and civilians who handle these tasks are truly some of the unsung heroes of the fort. From waste water management to vehicle recovery to hazardous materials, many of these jobs are the ones we take for granted, but really cringe when we hear the particulars (especially true regarding the crew at the waste water treatment facility).

We hope you enjoy reading these different type of stories over the next couple weeks. It’s been our pleasure to bring them to you and we would love to hear back from you, the reader. Tell us what we did right and what we can improve upon the next time. Send me an email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and in a future commentary, I will share your comments (without naming names) with the community… good or bad.