Working overtime

and Heidi Hall ~ Southeast Missourian

Businesses and public safety departments are left patching holes and filling gaps for perhaps up to 18 months while National Guard units such as the 1140th Engineer Battalion take valuable employees with them when they are deployed in a week.

Somehow, the businessmen and women left behind are supposed to keep up the production and sales while their compatriots are serving their country.

But it's not always that simple.

It's not simple for Roger Lang, who is owner-operator of a jewelry store.

He's leaving the family business in the hands of his wife, Judith Ann, who one month ago didn't know how to change a watch battery, take out a watch band link, key-wind an antique clock or deactivate an alarm system.

Those were Roger's jobs.

But Roger Lang, owner of Lang's Jewelers in downtown Cape Girardeau, will be shipping out on Jan. 3 along with nearly 500 other members of the 1140th. A 31-year veteran of the National Guard, he has closed the shop for his two-week training sessions, but he can't do that for an 18-month deployment.

"You close down for 18 months, and you're not opening back up," he said Wednesday.

So he's turning the operation over to his wife of six years, who has a strong background in retail sales but not in repair and adjustments of jewelry and antique clocks. Roger Lang, 53, worked with his father for decades until the elder Lang died two years ago.

A battalion construction foreman, Roger has been in Panama and Honduras for peacetime missions, but he's never been deployed during a conflict. While he knows he'll be surrounded by guerilla fighters and untold dangers in Iraq, he said his concerns lie with his wife and business back home.

His wife's concerns lie with him.

"I am not totally convinced this is going to happen yet," she said. "I keep thinking there will be a Santa Claus that says, 'Never mind.'"

The store will be closed this week and reopen Jan. 6. Other jewelers have volunteered to help with sizing and other tough jobs while Lang is overseas.

Job security

When the members of the 1140th Engineer Battalion report for active duty on Jan. 3, their jobs are supposed to be protected.

The Uniformed Services Employment and Re-employment Act clearly states that military men and women are supposed to get their jobs back when they return. They're supposed to receive the same pay increases or promotions as their peers.

Employment security is one of the few things guardsmen and reservists shouldn't have to worry about when they leave their families and jobs for duty, but some who own and operate their own small businesses worry about their work.

Such is also the case for Guy Conley, who repairs broken windows. He and his wife, Kim, of Millersville operate Mobile Autoglass Medix. Guy had to train a relative to handle his job while he is gone.

Even employees of midsized businesses worry about the jobs they'll have when they get home.

Paul Kohm Jr. of Perryville is the one and only dispatcher for SEMCO Distributing, a business that distributes landscaping products in 14 different trucks.

Kohm said SEMCO employs around 75 people. He's been training his replacement for about two weeks.

"I know what the laws require, but small companies are taking a big hit," said Kohm, who is also a volunteer firefighter. "It'll be interesting. Hopefully, I'll go back to work. We'll have to get re-acquainted with our families, but we'll have to get re-acquainted with our employers too. We'll just have to come back and see what changes have been made and start working again."

Spreading the burden

It appears there are enough different types of jobs in the Cape Girardeau and Jackson area that the 240 guardsmen aren't concentrated in one major factory or business.

For instance, a representative in Procter & Gamble's human resources department said P&G isn't losing one employee from the 1140th.

Southeast Missouri Hospital isn't losing anyone. St. Francis Medical Center is losing a part-timer.

Jackson's Wal-Mart and Rubbermaid are each losing just one person from the 1140th.

With more shoulders to carry the burden, big businesses have more options than a small business like Lang's, or even Buchheit Transportation, which employs 45.

Even with 45 employees, Buchheit Transportation might have been better able to handle the loss of two workers had they not been from the same department.

The trucking company, based in Perryville, is losing two of its eight managers to the 1140th mobilization.

General manager Ron Gjerstad wouldn't release the names of the men who would be leaving and said both were unavailable to comment due to holiday travel. However, both had a hand in scheduling and recruiting.

"We'll lose 25 percent of our management," Gjerstad said. "That means everybody else will shoulder extra responsibilities to maintain the projects that those two were working on."

Gjerstad said the management team would try to make it as long as possible without making new hires, but the business may have to bring in some temporary assistance, he said.

The loss of men won't just affect businesses. Local and state governments are held to the same rules as private businesses when it comes to call-ups.

The Cape Girardeau Fire Department is losing Capt. Sam Welker.

"He's one of our key players, being the fire inspector," said Mike Morgan, Cape Girardeau fire marshal and battalion chief. "It will put the burden back on me. Just like when I left, three other people had to take my job."

Morgan had missed some time earlier this year while serving on a Naval Reserve construction battalion in Guam.

While Welker is gone, other fire department personnel will have to pick up his responsibilities. Welker reviews plans and works with business owners who are trying to open a new business. He also performs liquor licensing inspections.

The department is already shorthanded with firefighter Michael Allen training in a different National Guard unit.

The Cape Girardeau Police Department has two officers currently serving or training with the Guard but won't lose anyone from the 1140th.

The Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department will lose jailer Justin Glastetter.

Even when the men come back, it doesn't mean businesses or public safety departments will be off the hook for more potential deployments.

"The war on terror isn't over by any means," Morgan said. "It's going to be a long haul, in Afghanistan and Iraq."

bmiller@semissourian.com

243-6645