do u know any officers who joined reserves/guard while working for dept.

[studentcj]

I'm not sure if this is possible, because my assumption is that a department wouldnt allow it, but do you know any officers who were already working for a department and decided to join the reserves or guards?if so how did the department take the news, was the individual let go or was he able to take a leave of absence while he went to basic and what ever other tech schools he needed

[Sgt. Slaughter]

There are statutes in place to protect the jobs of those who enlist in the Reserves or National Guard jobs.

[CCBlueMan]

The department wouldn't have a choice. The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) states that your employer must grant you military leave and keep your position OR grant you a similar position with similar pay, as well as placing you back with the same seniority as if you never left. This means you can't be fired simply for joining the reserves or guard. However, depending on how petty your employer is, they may find some "other" BS reason to get rid of you.

[retdetsgt]

We have a bunch of people in the guard or reserves. One, recently retired was a general (still head of the Oregon ANG) and several are full colonels. Not to mention a lot of just grunts.

My dept is not only legally supportive, but philosophically.

[Legoate]

I agree with the above statements, but find it's generally the other way around.... Cops don't join then guard/reserves, guardsmen/reservists join the police.

I can't think of any of the military folks I know that were cops first, then joined the military. However, there are tons of folks that were in the military then became cops.

I personally found it was a hassle trying to get the two schedules to work smoothly together, especially in these days of increased deployments. I retired from the military so I could focus on my career and spend more time with my family. My wife did a similar thing.

[retdetsgt]

I agree with the above statements, but find it's generally the other way around.... Cops don't join then guard/reserves, guardsmen/reservists join the police.

That's a good point. I don't know many now that even joined the reserve or guard who weren't prior active duty. I only know of one that concentrated on both careers and that's the guy who's the ANG BG. He also retired as an asst. chief. I know several colonels, but they all stayed at the patrol officer rank at work.

I joined the ANG back in 1971 on a "try one" basis, but it was a different ball game then. The guard was full of draft dodgers and totally incompetent. My biggest fear was that we might put on active duty because these people were terrible. Most of the field grade officers back then hadn't served any real active duty and couldn't command a day care center. One summer camp was enough for me.

I would have liked to have double dipped the retirement and I think I could have risen in rank fairly fast after looking at my competition. But as I said, it was totally different from today's guard and reserve. I was the XO of a brigade HQ company with a CO who was also on a try one basis. He couldn't wait to flee either.

By the time the guard revamped and became something to be proud of, I was too old.

[Sgt. Slaughter]

Out here there are plenty prior service cops that are still in the Reserves or National Guard. 1 weekend a month, 2 weeks a year, an occassional deployment and you get a still decent retirement out of the deal.