Reserves serve at a price

Many citizen soldiers called up for a possible war with Iraq must make do with less if

By CURTIS KRUEGER, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 3, 2003

ST. PETERSBURG -- Chiropractor Rod Jones does not let money slip through his fingers.

Despite a $65,000-per-year salary and a position as president of a clinic, he lives in a two-bedroom, 900-square-foot house with no mortgage.

So why would a man so cautious about finances willingly take a job that will cut his salary in half? "I said I'd be willing to serve and I am."

Jones, 37, a 17-year veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve, knows a call could come any day ordering him to active duty. He has packed a bag and set it on the floor of the room that otherwise belongs to his 9-week-old son Jaxon..

As the United States prepares for possible war with Iraq, more than 168,000 National Guard soldiers and reservists like Jones already have been called to active duty. This includes more than 7,800 from Florida. For virtually all of them, full-time military status carries financial consequences.

Some, like Jones, will lose money by serving their country. Others actually will make more, because their full-time military pay amounts to more than they make in civilian jobs. Even those who don't take salary cuts must adjust to a new pay system.

"Some may be getting less pay, some may be getting more pay," said Lt. Col. Ron Tittle of the Florida National Guard. "We've got a number of them who were students, and of course they're going to be getting more money (on active duty) than what they were getting."

John Gannon, a family program specialist at the U.S. Army Reserve's 81st Regional Support Command in Alabama, says of the soldiers he has spoken to recently, "the majority of them are younger soldiers, a good portion of them are single, and they're actually making more money" in the military.

But he's quick to acknowledge some soldiers make less money when activated, especially professionals such as doctors and lawyers. Gannon, a retired sergeant major, was called up himself during the Gulf War after he had started a business. "It just about ruined me," he said.

Federal law does provide reservists and members of the National Guard with some financial protections when they are placed on active duty for a war or emergency. Civilian employers must give their workers a job at equal pay and equal seniority when they come home.

But businesses don't have to pay the employees while they're gone. Out of patriotism, many employers do, anyway. State and local governments often make up the shortfall between their workers' military and civilian pay -- assuming there is one.

Dan Slingerland, 34, is a Crystal River police officer who was activated by the Army National Guard earlier this year. On the surface, he seems well taken care of. The Police Department does make up the pay difference for staff members who go on military duty. But in Slingerland's case, his military pay actually exceeds what he makes as a police officer.

That doesn't mean his wife, Michele Slingerland, an assistant Citrus County attorney, has it easy. When Dan Slingerland was called to active duty, she loaded up the children, who are 12 and 3, and drove two hours to Sanford, where he spent about 10 days training. She got a hotel room so the family could enjoy a few more days together before he shipped out.

"Just so we could have that couple hours a night with him . . . we racked up more than grand in debt," Michele Slingerland said.

She hoped to defray that cost because in her opinion, state law required the city to give her husband 30 days' pay when he went off for military service. The city attorney disagreed.

The City Council on Monday voted 3-2 to give her that money, but only after a debate in which two council members suggested paying a lower amount. The debate clearly upset Mrs. Slingerland, who left the council meeting in tears.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office is another government agency that makes up the pay shortfall for reservists. Of 27 employees now on military leave, all but a couple receive the subsidy, said Maj. Richard Cipriano. The staff on military duty includes 14 out of 1,144 law enforcement employees and eight of 912 detention workers.

Honeywell, a private employer, offers an even more generous policy to its employees. When workers go on military leave for active duty assignments, Honeywell continues paying their full company salary for up to six months, said Armando Castorena, human resources director at Honeywell Defense and Space Electronics Systems in Clearwater. So those employees make two salaries at once.

Active duty military troops also can qualify for additional benefits they wouldn't get otherwise, such as housing and family separation allowances. Federal law in some cases limits the credit card and mortgage interest rates that can be charged to soldiers and sailors on active duty, and protects dependents from evictions.

Jones, the chiropractor, still loves the Coast Guard and believes in its mission, but allows, "it's just not good timing."

He could be gone for a year, and if so, his base pay in the Coast Guard will be roughly $27,400. To keep the business running smoothly, he'll try to find a chiropractor to be his replacement, but he might need to lay off a few employees and cope with reduced business income. Meanwhile his wife, Mendy, who is 30 and a massage therapist, just quit her job paying more than $20,000 a year so she could care for Jaxon.

"We'll survive, it'll work. Whatever happens will happen,' said Rod Jones, who is the son of state Sen. Dennis Jones, R-Treasure Island. But he added, "It's definitely a financial hit."

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