AND TRYING TO GIVE EMPLOYED FAMILY MEMBERS A BREAK

Top officials with most of the major employers of military spouses in Europe promise, however, that managers will do their best to give the husbands and wives of returning troops as much time off as possible.

In many places, that’s not going to be easy.

Just ask Terry Batenhorst, who manages 15 commissaries in the Wiesbaden area, home of the 1st Armored Division, which is now preparing to return from Iraq. Of his 400 employees, about one out of every four is married to a returning soldier.

“It’s going to take a lot of planning to manage this,” he said.

Complicating things is that soldiers’ schedules are still very fluid right now. Return dates are constantly changing, making it hard for spouses to even ask for specific leave times.

Then there are places like his Dexheim store, where eight of the 10 workers are married to soldiers in the 123rd Main Support Battalion.