I'm with Slice. I think it is sad that the burden of a protracted war is borne by so few. If this war is worth fighting, then it is natural for widespread sacrifice to exist. We are supposed to be a nation at war, not a military at war. The military didn't decide to go to war, our nation did. Sacrifice doesn't necessarily have to be in the form of military service, but something...anything.

As for reservists and the law: do your best to work with your employer, but don't be surpised if they throw you a curveball. I went overseas on a 15-month deployment. When I got back, my job of seven years was no longer mine. It had been taken over by someone else. I was offered a job, but not in the career field I had pursued for over ten years. To put it in airline terms, how about leaving your company as a pilot in good standing and coming back to a job as a ramper or maybe flight attendant? According to my USERRA representative, who is a civilian lawyer and former General in the Guard, this is totally legal under the law, so long as your pay and seniority with the company are not diminished (might not be a perfect comparison, due to airline seniority issues, but you get the point).

Sorry for the long post. Through my personal experience, however, I've come to believe that while many employers may talk a good game about supporting the troops, even a relatively minor inconvenience to their operation often reveals exactly how little of the "burden" they are willing to shoulder. And that is sad.