We’re pleased to announce that Jason Eldred has returned from his second tour in Iraq and married Stacey Burns on October 24, 2009. Congratulations Jason and Stacey!

Jay has worked at the Clio branch since 2002. His first responsibility was UPS shipments, and eventually driving a delivery truck. Starting in 2006 many of you may have spoken to him as he began working on the phone in customer service.

Jay signed up with the Army National Guard at the age of 17 while still attending Montrose High School. He is a member of the 1460th Transportation Company out of Midland, Michigan. His first tour in Iraq was from 2003 to 2004. One of his jobs was driving a huge truck that carried loads weighing up to 72,000 pounds. The truck and trailer alone weighed 80,0000 lbs, not including any cargo. We at Quality Pool found this quite amusing because at the time Jay was not legal to drive our little Quality Pool trucks across the Ohio border to our Perrysburg branch because he was under 21! When Jay wasn’t driving a truck, he was a 50-caliber gunner escorting convoys. Saddam was captured during this time and Jay said; “You wouldn’t believe how that raised morale”.

Jay’s second tour started in September 2008 and this time Jay and a few others from his outfit were responsible for overseeing Iraqi’s training fellow Iraqi’s to become corrections officers to work in the local prisons or jails. The facility they worked at is known as ICOTA, Iraqi Corrections Officer Training Academy.

After returning to Quality Pool in 2009, Jay added the title of “Buyer’s Assistant,” expediting special orders and tracking down any orders that are behind schedule. Jay states that working at Quality Pool has never been a chore, thanks to his fellow co-workers.

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Below is a short clip of Jay and two fellow soldiers inside the Iraqi training camp volunteering to take a 50,000 volt taser electrocution. In this video it's difficult to see, but one end of the taser is connected to Jay on the far right, and the other is connected to the solder on the far left. Jay said it was the worst pain he had ever felt in his life.