This weekend we’ll grill burgers, play games, wear red, white and blue caps and shirts, and watch fireworks, all as a way to show our patriotism. But guys like Ed Head show it another way — by serving our country.

Head will be away from his family this Fourth of July, training in Fort Hood, Texas. But Head’s story is an interesting one in that he is helping train the military rather than serving in it.

The Snellville resident is no stranger to the Army, having retired in 2008 as a first sergeant. Head, 55, felt a pull to return to the military but it’s a difficult process returning after retirement.

So he found another way, using his police background — he spent 22 years as a Gwinnett County officer — to land a job with a company that teaches soldiers how to train people in other countries in the ways of law enforcement. He signed on with MPRI, voluntarily heading back to the area of northern Iraq where he served during his last tour of active duty.

“It was time for me to retire in 2008, but it’s hard to walk away when you’ve had it be part of you for more than 30 years,” said Head, who served two hitches in the Army.

Head has a wife and four kids, so choosing to go back to Iraq was not easy. He said his wife, Valeria, “puts up with it” but he can’t help it. Head puts his all into things, whether its policing, serving in the military or helping coach the Gwinnett Barons home-schooled baseball for 18 years.

Serving his country is a calling, and in his mind it’s a way to serve his family as well.

“The first two times I did it because Uncle Sam said that is what you’re going to do,” Head said. “But I’ve always wanted to go over there and do it for the country.

“I feel if we can go over there and stem the tide in some way that maybe my ballplayers won’t have to do it, or my son won’t have to do it.

“I don’t mind doing it. I was called to be a policeman all those years, and I was called to be in the military.”

That experience makes guys like Head valuable teachers for MPRI. He knows both worlds and will impart that wisdom to the 1st Calvary Division, both in training in Texas and during implementation in Iraq. Though technically not in the military, Head’s duties will mirror those of the troops.

“We do everything they do,” Head said. “We’ll eat with them, live with them and do everything they do. We bring another asset to the table that at this point and time is needed in both theaters (Iraq and Afghanistan).”

Head said he has a 12-month, boots on the ground contract but is unsure what would happen if his unit’s tour is extended. The soldier in him would want to stay, to finish out the mission.

For now he has another month of training before some well-earned leave time in August. Then it’s off to Iraq in September.

“This gives guys a chance to do something for their country if they haven’t before,” Head said of some of the retired police officers who work with him, “and if they have, it gives guys another chance.”

E-mail Todd Cline at todd.cline@gwinnettdailypost.com. His column appears on Wednesdays.