In the small city of Concrete, located about 25 miles west of Sedro Woolley in Skagit County, Staff Sgt. Paul Rider might be the hardest working guy in the town of 845 residents.

Rider, an air guardsman with the 194th Regional Support Wing headquartered at Camp Murray, wears many hats in addition to serving his country - most in direct support of the small town he loves.

While balancing a full-time job as well as his commitment to the Washington Air National Guard, Rider is also a volunteer firefighter and a town councilman in Concrete.

"I don't have a lot of extra time," said Rider, also a married father of two young children. "I have a very understanding wife."

The 43-year-old visual information specialist was recently named as an Air Force nominee for the 2009 Government Employees Insurance Company Military Service awards. The annual GEICO Military Service Awards recognize enlisted service members from all military service branches: active duty, guard and reserve for their contributions to military and civilian communities.

As a councilman, Rider works to balance the city's budget, host public forums and mediates discussions on hot-button city issues.

"You're always working face-to-face with your constituents, so you better have the best interests of the town in mind," said Rider, who was born in Seattle but spent the majority of his childhood in a small town in northern California similar to Concrete.

Concrete residents are such big fans of Rider's passion for the job that he's even been approached about running for county commissioner.

But Rider prefers working at the lower levels of city government. It keeps him closer in touch with those he's serving, he said.

He also likely wouldn't have time for it with his current schedule.

The commitment to being a volunteer firefighter requires mandatory meetings every month and various classes on incident command protocol, not to mention a trip to the fire training academy and EMT training classes.

Through it all, his commitment to the Guard stands strong. His previous jobs in the military included a stint in an active duty Army infantry unit, another as a videographer and graphic designer with a wing at Fairchild Air Force Base to now a photographer.

Rider's career path "tells the story of those in the National Guard," he said. "I think it says the Guard has a lot of qualified individuals proficient with two (or more) jobs."

GEICO officials will select an award recipient in each category from all the nominees submitted by each of the military services. The recipients will be honored at a ceremony in Washington, D. C., in the spring.

"I never thought I was going to get this far (in the nomination)," Rider said.

But now that he has, the citizen airman said he's not that much different from anyone he works with.

"I find almost everybody in my unit is very selfless," he said.