Adam Barrett feels like his seven years as an active-duty Marine were a privilege, and he very well could have kept going. But when he started his family, he wanted to be present in his kids’ lives. That’s when he joined the reserves… and Corning.

“This gives me the ability to serve the country that I love while also still having the ability to be there for my kids’ birthdays and graduations,” Adam says.

In the reserves, Adam commits to one weekend of training per month and two weeks in the summer, which takes him away from his role as finishing operations section supervisor at Corning plant in Erwin. But the transition is never difficult, he says.

“There’s a very strong veteran culture here at Erwin, so when I mention reserve training, people are like, ‘Oh, that’s awesome, enjoy. Thank you for what you do.’ I’ve always been very supported,” Adam says.

That veteran culture, along with a reporting structure within the plant that parallels the military, made his move from the Marines to manufacturing easy.