I was talking to J.P. Borda of Milblogging.com, formerly TheNationalGuardExperience, the other day and I asked if he was going to stay in his current Guard unit or look for a new one near where he now lives, and if he was going to look for a new one, was he going to shop around for one that wasn’t scheduled to deploy until his time in service is done? He surprised me by stating that he would be very willing to go back if needed, but that the burden on his growing family would be too great the next time. He then half jokingly suggested that I should re-enlist so that we can go back together. I replied that I’m too old and my wife would never go for that. We laughed for a bit about that and then moved onto other topics. But, the truth is; I’m probably not too old, I mean heck I’m only 41 and I’m still in good shape, and I had been thinking of re-enlisting for some time now, so I mentioned the conversation to my wife that evening. As I expected she said “No!” right away, but later we talked some more about it and she said, “If it’s something you feel you have to do, we can look at finding a way to make it happen.” I have to tell you, my wife never ceases to amaze me. She has supported me in more than one hair brained endeavor and while not all of them turned out for the better, she never once told me that I was wrong.
Anyway, her reply to me got me thinking about what the actual burden would be on the family. This morning I spent an hour going through my company’s policy manual to see what they have to say about me re-enlisting and what would happen if I was deployed. The company follows all the federal laws to the letter, which means basically if I do get deployed, I can get my job back or a comparable job and that I can get all pay raises and bonuses that my co-workers received in the time I was gone, however, my insurance would end, unless I want to pick up the entire monthly tab and my pay would end as I would effectively no longer be an employee of my company.
Well, I have to say, that pretty much clinched it for me. To start shopping around for another employer that would be more acceptable to some possible future deployment and lose all my time in grade here seems foolish to me. Do I still want to re-enlist and take a more active role in the GWOT? I sure do, but right now I have to think about my family and I’m not ready to make them suffer any more than they should have to. If my current employer, changes their policy based upon my inquiry, even better, because I really love what I do.
I must say I’m a little shocked that my company isn’t more supportive than they are, especially considering that they make a couple hundred million dollars a year on military contracts, but on the other hand I’m not surprised. Knowing that your employee is in the Guard or Reserve and that they can be called up puts a strain on a company when that does happen. Not only are you missing a quality employee but now you have to find and hire a replacement. However, in my research this morning I found countless employers of all sizes and types that go the extra mile in supporting their employee/soldiers. Henrico County Virginia is one of those employers, when one of their employees is activated the County makes up the difference between their military pay and their regular pay. Not bad especially in this area where you need two incomes in your family to survive, now taking a massive pay cut to serve your country just got a whole lot easier thanks to employers like that. Way to go!
If your employer is going the extra mile, take a moment to thank them and then take a moment to thank the employees that are also Soldiers, Marines, Airmen and Sailors, they deserve it. Until such a time comes that I do re-enlist, I’ll be right here supporting those that are currently serving.
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