Reintegration poses challenges to returning soldiers, employers

By Alan R. Earls, Globe Correspondent, 2/27/05

Globe Staff Photo/Matthew J. Lee Sergeant Reid Gray (seated), a senior technical writer at Fast Search & Transfer Inc. in Needham works with operating chief Ali Riaz. Gray, an army reservist, served nearly 15 months in Iraq.

Sergeant Reid Gray has been a senior technical writer at Fast Search & Transfer Inc. in Needham since March 2002. But he had to make a quick transformation when, as a sergeant in the Army Reserve, he found himself suddenly called to active duty in January 2003. Like tens of thousands of other American citizens who are soldiers, his mobilization turned out to be a deployment to Iraq that ended up lasting more than 16 months.

During that time away, Gray says his unit - whose task was to provide support services to front-line troops - was hit frequently by mortar attacks, though the only casualties the group suffered were noncombat-related. Then when Gray's tour was over in May 2004, it was time for another transformation, this time back to civilian life and his job at Fast Search & Transfer. Fortunately, said Gray, his employer kept him "in the loop" via e-mail while he was in Iraq, and "treated me like royalty when I came back to work." Indeed, Gray said the biggest challenge he faced was "getting used to driving my Mercury Grand Marquis after driving a Humvee almost every day."

For both Gray and his employer, the deployment has been a learning experience. Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, about a quarter-million members of the National Guard and various reserve units have been called to active duty. Clearly, many of these Reserve and Guard soldiers didn't expect to be called to active duty for such long periods of time and neither did their employers. The return and reintegration of this huge group of people is now presenting companies with challenges and opportunities, and some of them are finding imaginative ways to make it work for both parties.

Fortunately, employers are getting some assistance. For example, the National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, which has a national office and local units for individual states, provides information on the specific legal requirements imposed on employers to hold job openings for their personnel called to active duty. And while there are loopholes and exceptions, David St. Germain, executive director of the Massachusetts unit, says, for the most part, the laws are working well.

St. Germain says the organization dates to the 1980s and got its first real test during and after the first Gulf War.

"At that point we found that there were too many loopholes" in the old Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act of 1940, which provides wide-ranging protection for military personnel against creditors, double taxation and other "hazards" of military life. While many of those original protections remain, St. Germain says additional provisions are embodied in the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, enacted by Congress and signed into law by President Clinton on Oct. 13, 1994. "For the most part, employers have cooperated," says St. Germain. Those that haven't usually become more supportive once they learn about the law, he adds.

To further encourage employers, St. Germain says the employer-support unit has established an awards program in conjunction with the secretary of defense. In September 2004 the program honored Lowell's Saints Memorial Medical Center. Prior to Sept. 11, 2001, the center did not have a policy in effect for long-term mobilizations. However, after 9/11, the hospital immediately changed its human resources policy to ensure that all reservists receive pay differential and continued benefits while on active duty. Although the funding was not in the budget, the medical center decided it was important that none of its employees experienced financial hardship or lost their jobs because of a deployment. The hospital continues benefits to its activated employees and sends letters of encouragement along with "care packages" to all of its reservists and to all of the deployed family members of its employees.

St. Germain says in addition to the protections it affords, the reemployment rights act also provides rights and benefits to returning soldiers. For instance, returnees are guaranteed a transition period between the end of active duty and their return to work. Indeed, in a sign of the times, Authoria Inc., a Waltham provider of human resources compensation and performance management software, recently added modules to its product that embed elements of the rights act into human resources practice. The module has been distributed for free to its client companies. Company president Todd Chambers says, "There were often misunderstandings on the part of employees enrolled in the Guard or Reserve about what was owed to them and vice versa, so we tried to develop a resource that would provide clarity."

Meanwhile, St. German points out that Reservists and Guard members are usually eligible for transition programs operated through town or city veteran's departments. Units in each state also run so-called Family Readiness programs, which provide help to veterans and their families before, during, and after a call-up. Finally, adds St. Germain, the military itself provides counseling and screening for those being demobilized to try to identify and remedy stresses related to combat or the transition itself.

At Livevault Corp., in Marlborough, chief executive Robert A. Cramer says, "As a small company we had no experience with handling issues related to call-ups, so we called around to other companies to learn about their procedures." So far, only one person, John Mauro, a network operations engineer, has been called up. But in that case, says Cramer, "we learned the government wasn't going to be able to provide him with personal protection equipment so the company bought him a bulletproof vest."

Cramer says that action is indicative of Livevault's willingness to go beyond the letter of the law in supporting Mauro. For instance, Cramer says Mauro's family has been invited to corporate events in his absence. Longer term, he says, e-mail has ensured that Mauro is fully apprised of what's happening back at his job.

As far as what will happen when Mauro eventually returns, Cramer says, "We have no formal plans for when he comes back... we just want to be supportive of him."

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