Call To Duty Puts Some Families In Crisis -- Guard says bankruptcy caused by length of activation

Dayton Daily News | March 25, 2002 | Timothy R. Gaffney

[Stand Watch Listen]

XENIA - While America continues to rely on National Guard troops to supplement national defense and the war on terror, officials say families of Guard soldiers on active duty since October are literally paying the price.

Many National Guard families have seen their incomes dwindle as civilian employers have ceased making up the difference between called-up employees' civilian salaries and their military pay, officials say.

And while the soldiers are protecting America, the Guard itself can do little to protect their struggling families, the officer in charge of family readiness for the Ohio guard said last week.

"I can tell you, we're forcing some of our soldiers into bankruptcy because there's nothing in place to help them," Ohio Army National Guard Col. Margaret Skelton said from Columbus.

The financial burden is hardest on families that never expected to see such long-term deployments and didn't plan for the possibility, said Skelton, who has been in the Army Reserve and Ohio Army National Guard for 26 years.

Instead of learning to live lean like active-duty families, Skelton said too many Guard families grew complacent because long deployments have been rare in Ohio. Skelton said Ohio Guard units have been deployed longer than they were during the Persian Gulf war, and some are experiencing their first active-duty deployments in half a century.

As of last week, the Pentagon had called up 2,116 Ohio guard members with approximately 229 more on standby, according to Ohio guard figures.

"Unfortunately, some soldiers took their National Guard jobs to supplement their income," she said. "In some cases, the National Guard paycheck was making that new-car payment. Now it's making all the payments."

With more units around the state mobilized this month, Skelton said, "I don't think it's going to get any better."

One unit where families are struggling is Xenia-based Company A of the 1-148th Mechanized Infantry Battalion. Company A is one of several units in the battalion with members on active duty since October - the first time the company has been mobilized since the Korean War.

Xenia Mayor John Saraga, a retired Marine Corps major, said has been hearing from Company A families in financial crisis.

He described one family that fears losing its house and car after its income plummeted from $75,000 annually to about $25,000. The soldier lost the bulk of his income this month, and his wife had quit her job to care for their four young children, he said.

The soldier's employer "has been really good" because, while required to keep his job open for him, it has no legal duty to pay him while he's on active duty, Saraga said.

Many employers voluntarily protect Reserve and Guard members' incomes for up to six months, Saraga said, but many troops called up after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have passed that point with no end in sight.

The Guard offers some family support services, but it doesn't make up the difference in lost civilian pay.

"The National Guard's really only designed to (be deployed) about six months," Saraga said.

Saraga said the soldier he described has asked for a hardship discharge, but his commander is in a tough spot because several other Company A members also have requested hardship discharges.

"From the commander's point of view, if he lets one go, where does he stop?" Saraga asked.

Company A isn't alone, Skelton said.

"There are many other families. I've had people call our office in tears. It's a harsh reality. The public just doesn't realize the sacrifices our soldiers are making."

Skelton said she feels torn in two about the families' problems.

"My heart goes out to them, but as a military person, I know this is what we signed up for," she said.

It's a nationwide problem, Skelton said. The National Guard says it has activated more than 51,000 members since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. As of last week, the Pentagon said 80,708 Guard and Reserve members were on active duty.

The Defense Department has grown more dependent on Guard and Reserve forces since the end of the Cold War, when it began downsizing its active-duty component.

Military leaders want larger active-duty forces to meet growing worldwide deployments.

"We are busier than we have ever been," Army Gen. William F. Kernan, commander in chief of the U.S. Joint Forces Command, told the House Armed Services Committee this month.

Kernan endorsed the services' requests for more troops. The four military services have indicated they need a total of 51,400 more people - 40,000 for the Army, 6,000 for the Air Force, 2,400 for the Marines, and 3,000 for the Navy.

The current cap on Army personnel is 480,000; Air Force, 358,800; Marines, 172,600, and Navy, 376,000.

President Bush last week discounted the notion of reviving the military draft, saying "I think we're in good shape" with an all-volunteer force.

Skelton said the Ohio Adjutant General's office is "trying very hard to make these deployments only six months long, because it's killing our families." She said there's also concern the long deployments will discourage re-enlistments.

"When their enlistments are up, some of the families who have struggled with this are going to say, 'Hey, I've had enough,' " Skelton said. "And you can't blame any of them."

[ColdSteelTalon]

This is what happens when you pair down active duty military. National Guard has to make up for it and moral suffers.

[Delphster]

I was wondering when these kind of stories would come out. If the Guard is always being called up I can see future enlistments dwindling. Presently people are calling for Guard to protect borders, nuclear plants, airports etc. These thing should be protected but if National Guard is always activated I can see Guardsman leaving and employers not all that thrilled to hire them. My 2 cents.

[TADSLOS]

It's voluntary to join the Guard and Reserve. Don't join if you and your family can't financially and emotionally weather long deployments, otherwise, do your duty and quit whining.

[randog]

Maybe the Red Cross Plus-Sign will help these guardsmen out......

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[lkside]

...the people signing up for all this "EXTRA", and "FREE" money for some weekend Nat'l Guard duty are FULLY informed of the possibility of being called up BEFORE they sign. Maybe they should have taken their "guard money", and put it in a savings account for the time they do get called up. We had a local guy here get called up right after 9/11. It didn't take 2 weeks before his brand new 4x4 truck was out on the highway with a FOR SALE sign on it!

[OrangeDaisy]

The world has changed so much. We've moved too far away from our families and support groups. The mother with 4 kids needs family help so she can keep her job. It wasn't unusual during WWII and earlier wars for the servicemen's wives to move in with parents or in-laws. These days we can hardly fathom such an arrangement. I still don't think we understand the sacrifice that others have made over the years to ensure our freedom!

[doug from upland]

What an opportunity for a business to get great press. How about VISA saying that all payments are suspended on accounts while serving active duty, and interest accrues at 5%. How about mortgage companies cutting the payments and interest in half while on active duty?

[texlok]

I was wondering when these kind of stories would come out. If the Guard is always being called up I can see future enlistments dwindling. Presently people are calling for Guard to protect borders, nuclear plants, airports etc. These thing should be protected but if National Guard is always activated I can see Guardsman leaving and employers not all that thrilled to hire them. My 2 cents.

Actually, out of six people I know from either when I served or friends I've met locally, four have been called up because of 9/11, and all four are leaving, and one that wasn't called up is leaving. The other one is about to hit 30 years with active and NG duty and is going to stick it out.

I thought they'd be leaving because it is getting silly, but you know what?They are leaving because they are working side by side with civilians doing the same jobs at the airports and what-not, and getting paid less. They see no point in doing civilian jobs for less pay, and it has hurt them financially. A couple also mentioned they felt uncomfortable with some things they have had to do (I'm assuming the searches, they are quite conservative).

GW is going to gut the NG at this rate, although it's partially Clinton's fault for making so many cuts, and partially the Army for restructing their divisions around NG/Reserve units.

[doug from upland]

You two win the Jerk of the Day award. You sound like you belong on one of those RAT sites.

If Guardsmen are on active duty defending our country, they deserve our support.

[HiJinx]

GW is going to gut the NG at this rate, although it's partially Clinton's fault for making so many cuts, and partially the Army for restructing their divisions around NG/Reserve units.

So, spending the Peace Dividend 10 years ago left us in a position where we could no longer repeat the successes we attained during the previous 5 decades.

People being people, I don't see how you can reasonably expect Guardsmen to put aside their NG pay to substitute for lost income in the event of a call-up. Although bean-counting budgeteers used that logic to support previous $ cuts, this has been an inevitable consequence. For those out there with short memories, the same thing happened to Guardsmen during the Gulf War.

In all honesty, the only solution at this stage has already been suggested. Sell the house and cars, move in with Mom, Dad, or someone, and try to endure the wait.

[HiJinx]

I agree with you 100% that they deserve our support.
Beyond moral support, what can we do?
Establish a fund, supported by donations, at the state level to augment NG pay?
Freeze asset forfeiture actions to protect homes of NG personnel?
(All this for debate purposes, of course.)

[TADSLOS]

They get my support in the form of federal tax dollars to pay them with. Besides, I just spent the last 18 years as a Reservist and I have an acute awareness of their situation. The Soldiers and Sailors Relief Act and the Employer Support of th Guard and Reserve (ESGR), an omsbudsman organization, is supposed to keep these scenarios from happening, but more often than not, employers AND Guardsmen/Reservists fail to communicate with each other, causing a lot of problems that otherwise didn't need to be.

Guard and Reserve units have been on worldwide deployments in big numbers since Desert Shield. That was almost 12 years ago, and unless you live in a cave, is hard to miss. So, if people want to sign up, go ahead, but be prepared to serve with the same (reduced)pay and benefits as your active duty counterparts when deployed and plan ahead for your familiy's sake. It's ultimately their decision and their responsibility - NOT the government's.

So go ahead, call me a jerk if it makes you feel better, but that's the way I see it, having lived it.

[american spirit]

Somehow the fed's come up with $ to house, feed, clothe, educate and medicate illegals who care nothing for this country yet they let our own service people and their families suffer. When will this sheer stupidity ever end?

[texlok]

Somehow the fed's come up with $ to house, feed, clothe, educate and medicate illegals who care nothing for this country yet they let our own service people and their families suffer. When will this sheer stupidity ever end?

Hell, if they paid them as much as the civilians many are working beside doing the same jobs, I think a lot wouldn't have so much of a problem.Many probably didn't sign up for the NG to be standing around airports for hours on end. It's one thing to actually go and fight, like the Persian Gulf, but it's another to be standing around in your hometown airport watching people all day, while making much much less than the civilian right next to you.

[HiJinx]

It does appear heartless to apparently favor illegals over service personnel, but it is just that...appearance.

NG personnel recieve the same pay and allowances as their active duty counterparts when deployed/activated/federalized. When their civilian employer stops paying them, they lose whatever civilian pay they've been earning. You can't expect Joe NG to receive a Sergeant's pay and his $50K per year civilian income from the Fed. gov't., that isn't fair to the active duty Sergeant serving alongside him.

In this respect, TADSLOS is absolutely correct. Stop yer' whinin' and carry on.

It's the family members who are facing loss of homes and worse for whom we would hope to find a solution.

[Britton J Wingfield]

This is my only real fear about being mobilized.

[Britton J Wingfield]

There are actually some federal laws guarantying low rates for the duration of a service member's activation. I don't know what they are offhand, but one would have to contact the bank/card company and notify them. Many JAGs do not even know much about this, though.

[Jaidyn]

Thank you!!! My son has been in the ANG for ten years. Sometimes he lost money because he had to give up overtime. He didn't receive free college but is a patriot who is dedicated to his country. Since joining he got married, has a little girl (Jaidyn) and is expecting a child in Sept. He is on standby and was informed where he is going. His family is moving in with her mother while he is gone because of financial hardships. He is going to be working much harder and be in a H of a lot more danger than most of us here. He will be putting his life on the line for us, as so many wonderful men and women already have, and to have someone infer they should be independently wealthy, or in the least, have saved money to tide them over while being shipped out is not only ignorant but selfish as well. The same analogy could be said for all Americans who go through hard financial times. I've been there; too bad a few others seem to think everyone should be as well off as they are.

[Eagle Eye]

And screw the doctor, dentist, or RN that has a practice and an indefinate obligation as an officer, right? So what if they have to lose their practice over a lengthy deployment? They were fully informed about all this at the very beginning, right?