Another story today focused on the impact of the massive Reserve and National Guard call ups.  This one, in the Christian Science Monitor, pointed out, again, how recent events have left public safety forces, including police, fire, and prison departments, understaffed and depleted of critical leadership and expertise.  It also pointed out the financial burden of these deployments, in overtime, pay-matching, and temporary replacements.  Small businesses have been hit particularly hard, as have some more unexpected groups.  In Minnesota, for example, 60 teachers have been called up since Sept 11, 1999.

While no one disputes the important service these Ready Reserve members are doing, folks back home are concerned about trying to fill the gaps.  Like in Washington State, which needs every firefighter it can get in the rough wildfire season, and where 62% of the 87,000 National Guard are active duty during the summer fire season.  Or the Los Angeles Police Department, which has up to 200 members on Active Military Duty at any given time.

But the impact of the callups is more than that, as Warden Charles Flanagan of the Arizona Department of Corrections noted.  “There's more than just the impact of staffing," Flanagan says. "There's also an emotional impact, and it wears on all of us."