With extended Iraq tours, more reservists report problems returning back to work

[mcscajun]

Source: Associated Press (via Forbes)

WASHINGTON - Strained by extended tours in Iraq, growing numbers of military reservists say the government is providing little help to soldiers who are denied their old jobs when they return home, Defense Department data shows.

The Pentagon survey of reservists in 2005-2006, obtained by The Associated Press, details increasing discontent among returning troops in protecting their legal rights after taking leave from work to fight for their country.

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Nearly one-third, or 29 percent, said they had difficulty getting the information they needed from government agencies charged with protecting their rights, while 77 percent reported they didn't even bother trying to get assistance in part because they didn't think it would make a difference.

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"Most of the government investigators are too willing to accept the employer's explanation for a worker's dismissal," said Sam Wright, a former Labor Department attorney who helped write the 1994 discrimination law protecting reservists.

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A report by the American Bar Association as early as 2004 noted problems in which the government was "not seen as an aggressive advocate for the returning veteran." A presidential task force chaired by former Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson earlier this year found that agencies could do a better job of educating troops and veterans. The report did not address government enforcement of the law.

Read more: http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/11/08/ap4315904.html

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:sarcasm: Another "shining example" of how BushCo "Supports the Troops". :sarcasm:

[Toots]

1. As an employer I will never put my company in that position

I will never hire a National Guardsman or Reservist. The Bush* Administration convinced me of that. It would be immensely unfair to my company. Gone a year, maybe fifteen months and then back only a short while and gone again. How can any company afford to hold a job for someone like that? And it is extremely unfair to any person hired to "fill in" that works hard and then has to leave so someone that is now unfamilar with the job can take over for ? how long.. No I just won't do it. Of course I would never tell them that is the reason they would not be hired but reality is what reality is.. National Guard used to be something that was very worthy and I had no problem with weekend meetings and a two week absense every year but it has been ravaged.

[Supersedeas]

2. support the troops or use and abuse them to satisfied cronies in the Oil industry

[Kolesar]

3. Imagine that. Unemployed men on the streets

Some with post-traumatic stress disorder. Mercy