Saw an interesting article in last week’s Navy Times that backs up what this Navy reservist wife has been saying for the last two years.

Overt discrimination in employment and re-employment stemming from employer ignorance of reservists’ legal rights has diminished, but more subtle discrimination is on the rise, says the executive director of the Reserve Officers Association.

Retired Army Maj. Gen. David Bockel, who took over as executive director of the 70,000-member group in November, said outreach to employers has helped them better understand dthe legal rights of National Guard and reserve members. But it hasn’t stopped more devious forms of discrimination, he said.

Employer discrimination towards Guard and Reserve members is not a new phenomenon. But I believe it is a growing one. I asked Major Melissa Phillips with the ESGR if the increase in requests in 2008 for information was any indicator at all that more employers are becoming more inclined to discriminate and she said they’ve had no “hard concrete evidence” of that. “Our hope is that in the near future we’ll be able to do a survey of employees for how they are feeling.”

Image via Wikipedia I’ve been “tweeting” (Twitter talk for all you non-Twitter folks ) with Lauren Vargas (@AAFES_STYS) who works for AAFES and she told me something I didn’t know – that the commanding officer in charge of AAFES, Major General Keith Thurgood, was an Army reservist before accepting his current assignment. Actually, I think I may have heard this fact several months ago but it didn’t really register with me at the time.

This is encouraging to hear because for most Reserve and Guard families, we don’t have the benefit of being near an AAFES or NEX to shop and get that benefit of savings most active military families receive. I am hopeful that more will be done over the next few years to bring those stores closer to Guard and Reserve families, or at least the awareness. We currently can go online and shop and receive great discounts – it’s the commissary that’s a whole different story!

MG Thurgood has a message on the AAFES blog about the new Strategic Plan they’ve just released and I commented on the fact that they like to encourage military to shop in the military stores because they put money back in the MWR (Morale, Welfare and Recreation) programs which in theory benefit the service members and the families. I say “in theory” because for most Goard and Reserve families, we never see those benefits because we don’t live anywhere near our respective military installations.

So AAFES would like to hear from you – as a Guard or Reserve family, how can they better serve you and your needs? What would make things easier? I am also curious as to how many of you out there actually shop at the exchanges, either in the brick and mortar locations or online. How many of you are just finding out about it with this blog post?

Go to the post on the AAFES blog and let your voice be heard!

A thousand apologies for not writing more consistently this summer! My excuse this week has been that my husband and son have been away visiting our family in Louisiana and I have had my nose to the grindstone, finishing up one project and working on another, as well as many details for Wives of Faith while they’ve been gone.

But they come home tomorrow and with school starting in just a short couple of weeks, a routine will once again be forthcoming and hopefully so will more consistent blogging for my blog readers. I’m looking forward to it!

Right now, I am working on the first three chapters of my new book, Weekend Warrior No More: Help and Hope for Reservists and their Families During Deployment, which I have to turn into my editor at the end of this week. In my second chapter, I’m covering not only what reserve/NG families need to know and have when they’re going through the pre-deployment period, but I’m also giving a little background of why our Reserves and National Guard forces have gotten to where they are today. I’ve been reading really exciting stuff like the final congressional report by the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves (all 400-something pages! OK, in all honesty, I’ve made it through the executive summary. But I have the rest to read later!)

My friend Carol brought me this month’s issue of Military Officer. It has a very interesting interview with the National Guard Bureau Chief, Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum. In case you didn’t know, recent legislation signed by President Bush has taken the National Guard Bureau out from under the Army and has created its own office so it will serve with the other joint chiefs of staff. There will be a lot of changes coming in the next few years for Guard and Reserve, hopefully for the better, especially for our families.

Anyway, Lt. Gen. Blum had a great quote in the article which I had to share:

When you call out the Guard and Reserve, you call out America.

THIS is one of the reasons why our spouses’ roles are so critical to our country. As frustrating and disappointing and complicated as deployments can be when our loved ones are activated for service, they, and in kind, our families, serve as a connection to the rest of America.

As much as we sometimes wish we were nearer active military installations for our own comfort and needs, we are nevertheless a reminder to the rest of our country that freedom isn’t free. To our friends and family, our churches, our schools, our local businesses. We are the reminder that there are major sacrifices made every time a unit deploys, every time someone puts on the uniform of an American service member, every time a family member wipes a tear as they say goodbye and that the lives they are living did not come by chance but by choice to serve for something bigger than yourself.

So, as we are reminders to others, let this be a reminder to you if you’re the spouse of a Reservist or National Guard member. What your spouse is doing really does matter. And what you and your family are doing also matters.

Thank you for your service. Our country wouldn’t be the same without it.