Photo courtesy of Gish

After deploying on a U.S. Army Reserve tour of duty in the Middle East last March, Washington County Attorney John Gish will be returning to work this Monday.

As Gish’s deployment occurred at about the same time the COVID-19 pandemic spread began in Iowa, he’ll practically be picking up where he left off, as jury trials in Iowa have been suspended for most of the past year. Gish says he was glad to maximize his military service by going overseas, and he shares what role COVID-19 played in his unit, “The pandemic did have an effect, it meant we all had to take certain measures to really protect ourselves. The military, especially in my experience with the unit I was with, they took COVID very seriously with mitigating. That includes masks and sanitizing and cleaning and keeping social distancing. But otherwise I don’t know that it really deterred us from completing our mission.”

Gish has served in the army reserve for 12 years, and he hopes to serve a total of 20 or more years, with the possibility of another deployment. He says he looks forward to returning to work for the county on Monday, and while there may be a large caseload ahead as jury trials have been allowed to resume this month, he’s confident his office will have a productive 2021.