Furthermore, Krenke and other people, such as Dorothy Ogilvy-Lee, speak from experience when they maintain that employers and the general public will again rally around this country's reserve troops should there be a major mobilization for another war with Iraq.

Krenke, after more than five years, is one of the old hands at the office of the National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve in Arlington, Va.

Bobby Hollingsworth, a retired Marine Corps Reserve two-star general and former commercial airline pilot, took charge of the program, commonly referred to as ESGR, in November 2001.

Ogilvy-Lee has been chief of Family Programs for the National Guard Bureau in Arlington since 1984. She has nurtured the program's growth from the cradle to adulthood during Desert Storm and through many other deployments that now include duty for homeland security and the war against terrorism.

'September 11, 2001, was certainly a patriotic call to arms,' Krenke said. 'Employers were clamoring to find out what they could do to help their Guard and Reserve workers. I just can't see any major repercussions if we go to war with Iraq.'

'People would come out of the woodwork to support this next effort,' Ogilvy-Lee said. 'I feel very secure that the local people will rally around our troops and their families.'

There is little doubt that these two programs have come of age during the dozen years of non-stop deployments since Guard and Reserve troops began being mobilized for Desert Shield in August 1990 and for Desert Storm duty the following year.

ESGR, established by a presidential proclamation in 1972, has matured into an organization of 4,200 community volunteers, who are advocates for the 1994 Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act (USERRA) that outlines the rights and responsibilities of reservists and employers.

Family Programs provides information about military benefits and privileges, as well as assistance, for the families of Army and Air Guard members who are called to active duty.

It is well that they are up to speed, because these organizations address two critical concerns for the men and women, who need to focus on their military duties when they are called to arms.

They need to know their families are being cared for. And they need to know they can return to their civilian jobs.
'Re-employment and financial security are family issues, too,' said Ogilvy-Lee. 'The families, including the children, need to know that their soldiers or airmen can go back to their civilian jobs after they have completed their military duties.'

Members of the reserve forces now live with the idea that they could be called up for six months to two years to support the active services. Most of them consider that prospect as either going with the territory or part of the adventure.

The numbers don't lie. Guard members and Reservists served on active duty for an average of a million days a year 10 years ago, when that force was 22 percent larger. Now the country's 1.3 million reservists contribute 13 million duty days each year to active component missions and exercises. That's equal to 35,000 people or two Army divisions.

People affiliated with the family and employer support programs have their own ways of defining how and why they are prepared for another mobilization.

Ogilvy-Lee maintains that the colonels and majors and senior sergeants now leading the country's Guard units have matured in the system that has become just as concerned about families as it is with beans and bullets.

That awareness has grown significantly since the challenging days of Desert Shield and Desert Storm, when more than 398 Army Guard units were mobilized, 12,404 Air Guard members took part from 51 of the 54 states and territories.

'We have precedents now,' Ogilvy-Lee said. 'Our new leaders have grown up with Family Programs. They know they can't leave families on their own. They understand that taking care of families is part of being in their units.

"The challenge now is to seek out the high-risk families who need special help because they are isolated or having an especially difficult time dealing with their situations."

'Most families can function well when they are prepared with good information and a support system and when they get assistance from the military community when it's needed,' Ogilvy-Lee said.

'When we got into Desert Shield, we had to deal with a lot of families, who never thought their Guard members would have to go to war,' she recalled. 'Now we can look for the special cases, who need help with their finances or who have to care for parents who are ill. I don't want anybody falling through the cracks.'

ESGR, meanwhile, is gauging its success by the increased number of queries received from reservists and employers since Sept. 11, 2001, and in the ways that people have offered to help.

The ombudsmen at the Arlington office, who provide information, counseling and mediation about complying with the employment rights law, averaged 150 calls per week before Sept. 11, officials said. They received more than 500 calls per week after the attacks.

Now they are getting 250-300 calls per week. The full-time ombudsman staff has been increased from three to five to handle the increased load. 'Before Sept. 11, we got calls from employers trying to get smart about the law and about their service members' rights,' said Army Reserve Lt. Col. Paula Lorick. 'After Sept. 11, we got many more calls from employers asking how they can help the service members and their families.

'For every 10 employers who call, only one or two express concern about excessive orders,' added Lorick about the fear that employers think their reservists are spending too much time in uniform and away from work.

Business has also been brisk on the ESGR web site. The 6,200 hits per week before Sept. 11 mushroomed to 40,000 hits per week immediately afterwards. That has leveled off to 13,000 hits per week.

People most frequently click on to 'Frequently Asked Questions,' 'Fact Sheets' and 'USERRA.'

The fact that 43 governors have signed statements of support for the employment law and that three more will do so shortly is another sign of success. So is the fact that major companies such as Alcoa, General Dynamics and IBM have agreed to make up the differences in pay for reservists, who earn less while on active duty.