Oregon Public Broadcasting

Later this summer, roughly 2400 members of the Washington State National Guard will deploy to Iraq – some for the second time.

This means leaving behind not just families but jobs in the civilian world. By law, employers are required to hold those jobs. But what if you own your own business?

That presents a special hardship. Correspondent Austin Jenkins reports.

Scott Dale surveying near Spokane

Along a country road near Spokane, surveyor Scott Dale and his crew mark boundary lines for a piece of private property.

Scott Dale: “Okay, which direction so we can set the tack?

Crew member: “Towards me.”

Scott Dale: “Excellent, finally.”

Scott Dale is a veteran of the Iraq war. He’s a member of the Army Reserve and he was deployed to Iraq two years ago. He had to say goodbye to his wife and three children.

He had to abandon the surveying company he and his older brother Walter had just bought together. Dale says they knew going into the purchase that deployment was a possibility.

Scott Dale: “We said, okay, well it could happen. The best thing we could do is just try to position ourselves for that day when it does happen and that’s easier said than done.”

Dale and his brother tried to plan for his deployment. But at that time the economy was doing well and the brothers found it impossible to find someone qualified to take Dale’s position as manager of the business – especially for just one year.

So the brothers ended up hiring a couple of less-experienced people. Walter says it was like replacing the CEO with two warehouse workers.

Walter Dale

Walter Dale: “They don’t fill the CEO’s position. It’s just somebody to help you try to get the other stuff done so that the person left doesn’t have to try to do some of the other tasks.”

One of the people the brothers hired was a member of the Marine Reserve. He got called up too.

Walter Dale: “So thirty percent of our company was deployed.”

The Dale brothers’ story is not unusual. The U.S. Small Business Administration – or SBA - estimates that as many as 30,000 business owners have been deployed since the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan began.

That figure does not include key employees in small businesses. Nor does it account for multiple deployments.

Earlier this year, President Bush signed into law legislation that gives direct relief to business owners who are members of the Guard or Reserve. But so far the new law hasn’t been funded.

In the meantime, existing SBA programs offer long-term, low-interest loans for reservists who own a business.

The SBA’s William Elmore says so far very few deploying Guard and Reservists have taken advantage of the agency’s programs.

William Elmore: “The biggest challenge we face is how we inform the Reserve or Guard member themselves, or their family member that all of this assistance is available.”

The Dale brothers in Spokane say they tried to get assistance, but ran into walls. For instance, Scott is the 49-percent minority owner in the surveying business. That meant he didn’t qualify for loans that require the deploying service member to be a majority owner. A frustrating technicality for Walter.

Walter Dale: “We’re willing to spend billions of dollars to help someone else, but in the meantime we’re tearing ourselves apart and that’s really my heartburn.”

The Dale brothers estimate that Scott’s deployment set them back financially about two years.

Walter thinks they’d have the business paid off by now if Scott hadn’t been sent overseas. But for all the worry about the business, Walter says it’s nothing compared to his worry about his younger brother – while he was deployed and even now that he’s home.

Walter Dale: “He’s my little brother and I want what’s best for him. I don’t want him to have problems, I don’t want him to have health issues, I don’t want him to have family issues – he’s got three children – they didn’t see him for 18 months. That’s hard on me.”

Scott plans to retire from the military next year. But the effects of his deployment linger.

He can’t handle the stress of working in the office, so he spends his days surveying in the field. Walter says he’s also noticed that his brother is no longer willing – or able - to give as much of himself to the business as he did before he deployed.