Career Effects of Guard, Reserve Service Unclear

Common sense suggests that Reserve and National Guard members who have been called up for extended periods of active duty since the war on terror began have seen their civilian careers suffer as a result. But just how far-reaching the impact is cannot be determined because the Defense Department has not kept track of data necessary to monitor the issue, according to a May 27 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).  The report emerged because of a request Congress made in the 2008 defense bill, which called upon GAO to examine the impact of call-ups and deployments on the more than 600,000 citizen service members since Sept. 11, 2001. In most cases, the GAO stated, they have had to remain in uniform longer than the 12-month mark typical before the war started. Besides not keeping tabs on career effects, DoD has not "established relief policies and practices specifically designed to assist reservists in maintaining their civilian credentials," the GAO stated. DoD has avenues of addressing the issue, according to the report. Some programs offered by individual states could serve as templates, for example. Also, the department could pattern career help for Guard members and reservists after existing programs for military spouses.