As of Jan. 25, there were a total of 127,825 National Guard and reserve soldiers called to active duty, including many from Washington, according to the Department of Defense. Many of these soldiers are deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan for extended periods of time, leaving behind civilian life, families and jobs.

The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act works to protect soldiers returning from deployment and back to their civilian jobs. But many, such as small business owners or those who have lost touch with customers and clients, face obstacles none the less. 

“At the state level we have worked on reemploying soldiers as they come back from Afghanistan and Iraq,” said Tim Probst, CEO of Washington Workforce Association. “We are beginning to look at how we can improve those services and hopefully within the next few months we will begin seeing some additional progress on that.”