Military Reservists Customer service, Pentagon style

November 03, 2008
Customer service, Pentagon style
Posted by Nancy Youssef - McClatchy Blog

CBS’s 60 Minutes featured a story last night about reservists who find it increasingly difficult to hold on to their everyday jobs after serving multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. While many employers want to support the troops the first time around, they are less enthusiastic after the second or third tour, according to the story, even though the Soldiers & Sailors Civil Relief Act (SSCRA) protects reservists’ jobs no matter how many tours they do. Indeed, they are supposed to come back at the same pay. The companies argue they are incurring high costs to replace employees " even temporarily " during an economic downtown. At companies where the employee is not replaced, business suffers when someone is gone month after month, they said. So, some openly refuse to hire reservists.

The reservists said they don’t know where to turn. So Thomas Hall, assistant secretary of defense for reservist affairs, told reservists “call my office. Call me personally.” He then gave out his number, 703.697.6631, on the air.

“I invite people if they have a problem, tell me,” Hall told reporter Lesley Stahl.

Today, I decided to call the number and see what kind of response reservists would get from Hall’s office. I found LTC Matthew Leonard, who has been taking many of the calls. LTC Leonard could not have been friendlier, I am happy to report. He said that by noon he had received roughly 115 calls. But only about 15 percent were actually reservists who had an issue with an employer and needed help. The rest, Leonard said, were people hanging up (apparently only calling to see if the number worked), people with concerns not even remotely related to the military, and former servicemen convinced a 50-year-old injury from the Korean War was the reason behind the current ailments.

“A lot of times, they just want to bend your ear,” Leonard said.

My fellow N&Ser, Warren Strobel said Leonard’s experience reminded him of when then Secretary of State James Baker was testifying about Middle East peace at a particularly tense moment. Frustrated, he said that if the Israelis and Palestinians want to talk, they should call. He then shouted out 456.1414, the White House switchboard number (which still works by the way). He later had to buy the receptionists flowers after a flood of phone calls, none from Israelis or Palestinians offering to broker a peace deal.

As it turns out, reservists who need help shouldn’t call Secretary Hall, but log onto this website. The Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve is designed to address these kinds of issues, Leonard told me. So here is the link. If you are a reservist and don’t get the answers you want, could you let me know? My number is 202.383.6186. And I too want to hear from you.