SCOTT CITY POLICE OFFICER RETURNS FROM GERMANY HAPPY TO BE HOME

SCOTT CITY -- Nine months stationed outside of Bosnia has taught a Scott City police officer a few things -- including how much he appreciates the comforts of home.

Scott City senior patrolman Randy Zimmerman returned last month from Germany where he had spent the better part of nine months as Missouri National Guard Lt. Randy "Zim" Zimmerman with the 1137th Military Police Company out of Kennett. His job was to safeguard the U.S. soldiers who were a part of the American deployment into Bosnia.

His efforts over there have paid off in many ways for Zimmerman, who was recently presented with the Guard's Flying Eagle Award for outstanding performance of his duties. Issued by Col. Daniel C. Williamson and Lt. Col. David Bowman, the award states Zimmerman was selected for this honor because of his "significant contributions to the overall police operation." Bowman said in a letter accompanying the certificate that Zimmerman's unit was the only one he could consistently count on when needed.

Zimmerman, who supervised 32 men, said for the first time he was thrown into the role of administrator.

"It was a rude awakening," he said. "Because we were so far from our company headquarters we had to find our own means of support. We had never actually had to do that before.

"You basically had to take care of every single problem that cropped up. And anything you can imagine you might have a problem with, it happened. Murphy's Law struck us hard."

Those kinds of experiences, and that is just one example from the three deployments Zimmerman and his unit have had in the last six years, have matured Zimmerman in his job as a Scott City patrolman. Desert Storm and the local flood of 1993 are the two other times the 1137th has been mobilized while he was a member.

"If you can picture it, being a police officer and being a military police officer -- they kind of cross train each other," he said. "After you do it awhile, if something happens it's natural to say, 'OK, do this,' instead of saying, 'Oh my God, what am I going to do?'"

That kind of experience is something Zimmerman welcomes. The other aspect of leaving home to go to a foreign assignment, depriving yourself of the things most Americans take for granted, is something he could probably live without.

"When you do those sorts of things and come back you realize that what you have is not so bad compare to what people have in other countries," he said. "When I was in Saudi and we were sent out to Iraq; you don't have toilets, you don't have showers and you live like that for six months -- it's tough.

"I am so happy to be back. I've gone away to far away places. I've done things I wouldn't have had the opportunity to if I hadn't been in the military. But there ain't no place like home."