Landis comes home to protect and serve

WARSAW – Morgan Landis graduated from River View High School in 2009 and in that same year he started on a career path of serving others.

“I joined the United States Air Force Reserve in 2009 and became an EMT,” said Landis, who is the son of Nina Drinko and Duane Landis. “When I returned from my training, I obtained my volunteer firefighter certification at Hocking College.”

He worked for Corning Fire and EMS in Perry County for several years and then returned to Coshocton to help with his grandfather Ernie E. Landis who was sick.

“My grandpa was in the military and is what pushed me toward it as a child,” Morgan said. “He did a lot with me and took me all over the place with him.”

Around the same time Morgan moved back to Coshocton, he applied to Coshocton County EMS and became a part time EMT and a member of the West Lafayette Fire Department.

“I decided to continue my education and attended Mid East Career Center in Zanesville and obtained my paramedic certification,” Morgan said. “I then obtained my firefighter one certification to further my education in fire service.”

Then in 2014 he went to the police academy held at COTC Pataskala, completed his firefighter two certification and graduated from the police academy. Morgan is currently employed full time at the sheriff’s office, part time at Coshocton County EMS and volunteers at the West Lafayette Fire Department. He was also deployed to Afghanistan in 2017 and spent the summer working in a hospital in the northern region of the country. He currently has nine years in the air force reserves and would like to stay in until retirement.

Each of his jobs provides him with different ways to help people in the community.

“With EMS we help people in their medical time of need,” Morgan said. “A lot of times people are looking for answers and we give them the best care we can until we get them to the hospital.”

He also has the opportunity to impact how people view Coshocton.

“You aren’t going to want to go to a place that has bad law enforcement or not enough of it or where the EMS system is delayed because they don’t have the opportunity to have ambulances all over the county,” Morgan said. “We get to affect someone’s life on a day-to-day base. People from out of town might have an accident here or we might pull someone from out of town over for speeding and we can show them how we treat people in the community.”

When he isn’t working, Morgan enjoys taking part in Civil War reenactments and doing history presentation at all three local school districts.

“My mother’s mom played a big factor in getting me interest in living history, the Civil War and looking back at genealogy,” he said.

Morgan started Civil War reenacting in 2000 and in his junior year of high school starting doing presentation for students.

“I worked at the bowling alley and one of Coshocton’s history teachers bowled a lot and said I should come in and do presentations,” he said. “I’ve been doing that since my junior year of high school at least once a year. It can be anywhere from the Civil War to World War II and I show the kids a lot of artifacts and material. It’s more like a living history demonstration so they can hold an actually piece of equipment and not just read about it in a book. I’m passionate about educating kids a little more in depth on history.”

With all the credentials Morgan has he could move on to other areas, but he is happy to make a home in Coshocton with his wife and four stepchildren.

“I want to make a difference here while we can,” he said. “Our rural farm community has a lot to offer and I want to help make a safe and healthy community for future generations to enjoy.”

Category: Business