Jason Thimmes traded active military service for a civilian job and a role in the Army Reserve so he could spend more time with his wife and children.
But next month, he will be on his way to Afghanistan, possibly for a year, to help run a combat support hospital.
"My initial reaction was shock and disbelief," Thimmes, of Millersville, said of the call to active duty. He said it can be difficult on his sons, ages 3 and 6, when he leaves for two weeks of training, much less for a year.
But, he said, "I realized this is what I signed the contract for going in. I might as well step up and take my turn at bat."
With the Pentagon expected to mobilize tens of thousands of reservists and National Guard members in anticipation of an invasion of Iraq, many citizen-soldiers are savoring this holiday season more than most.
More and more Reserve and National Guard units are being used to fill military roles around the world. Soldiers who were once called "weekend warriors" now take exception to that label, expecting to spend a year or more on active duty.
As reservists' terms of active service increase in frequency and length, the risk of serious disruption to their lives and civilian careers grows. Analysts say that some reservists could face consequences such as increased family strain, home foreclosure and bankruptcy.
The trend started with a significant mobilization in the Persian Gulf war and grew through Bosnia, then accelerated after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The United States relies heavily on Reserve and Guard troops to handle everything from combat support to humanitarian missions to providing domestic security forces.
Army reservists represent 80 percent of combat support services, said Jack Gordon of the 99th Army Reserve Regional Support Command, which includes Maryland.
Gordon said reservists are deployed around the world in humanitarian missions from Central Asia to Central America. Meanwhile, the National Guard has taken full responsibility for the U.S. military contribution to peacekeeping efforts in Bosnia.
"The nature of service has radically changed since Sept. 11," said Jay Spiegel, executive director of the Reserve Officers Association, which lobbies in Washington on behalf of Reserve officers.
Spiegel points to an increased number of missions and decreased military funding before the Sept. 11 attacks as reasons for greater reliance on reservists and National Guard members.
As of Dec. 18, 55,530 Air and Army National Guard and Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine and Coast Guard Reserve members were on active duty. As of Dec. 10, 857 Reserve and National Guard members from Maryland were on active duty. Some have been on duty for a year or more.
The security forces squadron of the Maryland Air National Guard's 175th Wing, based in Baltimore and including more than 80 Marylanders, was mobilized in October last year.
"The vast majority of my unit has civilian jobs, and many are still mobilized either domestically or overseas," said Master Sgt. Lou Webster, whose full-time job is to "protect [Martin State Airport] from terrorist attacks."
The 16-year Air Guardsman, who has a wife and three children and lives in Bel Air, recently returned from 98 days of active duty in Uzbekistan.
Experience and skills
After Operation Desert Storm, the military, the nation and the world realized "these guys are good," said Gordon, the Army Reserve spokesman.
"A Reserve soldier on the average is older ... and many have civilian crossover skills," he said. In police officers, truck drivers and health workers, "you have these people being called to duty who have tremendous skill levels. The only change is doing it in a military environment."
Neal Perzynski, 46, of Bel Air found the transition smooth from working with a conveyor belt manufacturer to serving as leading chief petty officer at the Washington Navy Yard dealing with contracts for supplies.
Perzynski, in the Navy Reserves for 27 years, is like many soldiers mobilized for homeland security posts: He lives at home and reports to his military job during the day. He has been active for 14 months.
His commute is longer - three hours every day - and he often needs his weekends to get some rest. But Perzynski, who is married with a son, 6, and a daughter, 8, said, "Myself and my family ... have rearranged our lifestyle, and we are happy and willing to serve.
"Desert Storm ... was a wake-up call for everyone in the Reserves," he said. A lot of people who were not prepared to be called for new missions left the service, he said.
Many who remain have a positive attitude. But putting careers on hold and leaving families can be a serious challenge after getting used to a commitment of one weekend per month and two weeks per year.
Job protection
The Pentagon has rules that protect reservists and National Guard members from losing their civilian jobs. The Uniformed Services Employment and Re-employment Rights Act states that employees are entitled to restoration in employment after military service, with seniority, status and rate of pay as if continuously employed.
The General Accounting Office, the congressional research agency, reported in a study released in June that large employers have generally been very cooperative, but smaller employers have a harder time meeting the requirements.
And during service, it can be a financial hardship to leave a high-income profession for military pay. In the worst cases, "Some people have lost their houses or businesses because of mobilization," said Spiegel of the Reserve Officers Association.
Cpl. Teshon L. Hayes, an infantryman protecting the 5th Regiment Armory in Baltimore with the Maryland National Guard's First Battalion, 175th Regiment, said there has been a reduction in pay from his role as a juvenile justice worker.
"I'm not worried yet, but there was a time when there was talk about the system being privatized, in which case I could have lost my job," said Hayes, 30, of Baltimore. He is married with two children and one on the way.
He said, "I was in the market for a house, but with the difference in pay, I had to put it off." He does, however, say that while at home, he has been able to take advantage of loan refinancing.
"There are incidences of people who, in their ninth or 10th month of duty, said, 'I'm going down financially,' and subsequently sold their house or declared personal bankruptcy," said Jay Farrar, vice president for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank.
Farrar interviewed a number of reservists to assess the effects of service on their lives.
"Twenty of the 100 people I interviewed reported that their civilian careers were negatively affected by being called into active duty," Farrar said.
For students, there is less protection. About one-third of reservists are in school, and no federal statute exists to compensate them for loss of tuition, housing fees or academic credit.
Also, soldiers with certain coveted specialties can be prevented from leaving the military for up to two years after their enlistment expires.
Part of avoiding such hardships is planning ahead, said June Cofield of Columbia, who volunteers as a family readiness leader for the 5115th Garrison Support Unit, based near Fort Meade.
Every Army Reserve unit is encouraged to have a family support group, but volunteers determine the scope and activities, Cofield said. Also, the Maryland Air and Army National Guards have a full-time state family program coordinator to ensure that each guard unit has a family readiness group in place.
Cofield's group encourages families to prepare budgets and wills, deal with power-of-attorney issues and be aware of their rights, including signing up to receive military health benefits and other services and taking advantage of reduced credit rates.
Her organization also offers a place that families, without a loved one to count on, can call for assistance with anything from how to turn on a gas stove to where to get a baby sitter to how to navigate military bureaucracy.
In the current climate, Cofield said, many families are watching the news and checking Pentagon briefings for word of more deployments.
She is wondering whether her husband, Victor, will be called to serve, leaving her behind with two teen-age daughters.
"What we've had is a lot of the air of uncertainty," she said. "You hear things, but you don't know how close it's going to come to your unit."
In light of a growing reliance on Reserve and Guard soldiers, many are looking for better communication from the Pentagon and other ways to ease the burden. "They should tell guardsmen and reservists that they will be called to duty more frequently," Farrar said. "These are people who should be used in a national emergency. We should use them judiciously."
"Reservists are patriotic, but they don't want to be taken away from their lives with no end in sight," said Michael O'Hanlon, military expert at the Brookings Institute, another Washington think tank.
"The problem arises with the extended nature of these tasks," O'Hanlon said. "What they don't like is extended deployment with purposes [that] are vague or protracted like we see here with the war on terrorism."
Emotional impact
Even with careful planning, being called to duty for a year at a time has a significant emotional impact.
Thimmes spent a year in Korea as a full-time Army infantry solider, including six months before his first son, Brandon, was born and six months immediately afterward.
Now, Brandon is 6, another son, Cameron, is 3, and Thimmes is thankful his deployment was delayed until next month.
"Now I'm getting Christmas and New Year's [off]. ... That makes it a little easier," Thimmes said. He is being called up without the rest of the 5115th Garrison Support Unit out of Fort Meade because of his computer skills.
He and his wife, Jorene, who used to be in the Army, are waiting to tell their children until after the holidays.
"It is going to be tough on them," said Jorene Thimmes of her sons, "I don't know quite how they are going to handle it."
"It's important for the active [soldiers] that there are people back home looking out for their families," said Lt. Col. Rob Gould, spokesman for the Maryland Air National Guard.
Webster, the Air Guardsman from Bel Air, agreed. "The support of our family and friends are paramount once we're deployed," he said.
Support within the military is important as well, as soldiers step up to fulfill their responsibilities.
For many, "Being in the military is part of who they are," said John Goheen, spokesman for the National Guard Association, which lobbies on behalf of Guard members in Washington. "The camaraderie these people feel with their unit is largely unmatched in their daily lives."
Maj. Doris "Dee" Maurer, deputy commander of logistics with the 175th Wing, has found that pride stretches to the communities that see their neighbors, friends and co-workers stepping in to protect the country.
Maurer, 43, of Elkton, recently returned from Operation Enduring Freedom in Oman. She said, "The general public attitude toward the military has been boosted."
"People come up to you in the diner just to say thank you," she said. "It not only makes your day, it makes your career."
Reservists and National Guard members "play an important link in mobilizing public support for conflicts," Goheen said. "When your neighbor is involved, people tend to rally behind the cause."