Part-Time Soldiers Face Homefront Enemy ? Job Loss:

Published: Apr 10, 2005

WASHINGTON - National Guardsmen Charles Goodreau, Benito Colon and Michael McLaughlin are fighting not Iraqi insurgents but their employers.

They join the growing ranks of part-time warriors who lost jobs or say they were discriminated against when they returned from military service.

During the past three years, more than 4,400 service members have filed complaints with the Labor Department charging employers have fired, demoted or discriminated against them - possible violations of the 11-year-old Uniformed Services Employment and Re-employment Rights Act.

Such complaints have risen 62 percent since the Sept 11 attacks, as the Pentagon mobilized 483,000 part-time troops - some more than once - to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan or guard the homeland. It has been the largest call-up since World War II.

read more at Part-Time Soldiers Face Homefront Enemy ? Job Loss: From The Tampa Tribune