One of the easiest tasks State Command Sgt. Maj. Tom Allan performed while serving overseas was scheduling for the holidays.

His motto: Send the young guys and gals with young families home, while the others with the Wyoming National Guard can probably wait for a trip to the States.

"It's very important to the kids to have them home during the holidays, and usually you can almost guarantee them Thanksgiving or Christmas," Allan said. "Us older guys, who've been married for ... 30 years, we can deal with a different date."

Deployed soldiers are entitled to 15 days of leave, plus travel time to and from their hometowns, during each year of deployment. But only 10 percent of those deployed can be gone from their duties at any given time. Thus, the scheduling priorities during the holidays.

But scheduling time off for holidays isn't the only thing soldiers and their families need to get through long and sometimes stressful deployments.

That's where Maj. Gen. Ed Wright, the adjutant general for Wyoming, takes over.

He isn't in charge of those deployed by the federal government, but once those men and women are gone, his job is to take care of their families.

"The last thing we want is a soldier in Baghdad walking down the street thinking about a problem at home," he said.

Likewise, he doesn't want families needlessly worrying about their deployed relatives. Allan said preoccupation can lead to unnecessary grief for those back home.

"Not only those who are married, but single soldiers, as well, get fixated on their job there," Allan explained. "If days and days go by, and you haven't called, I get concerned parents and wives calling [me]."

Wright also doesn't want the Guardsmen or their families to worry about losing employment, he said, so he works with employers to ensure they're following protocol.

While deployed, the Guardsmen are federally protected by the USERRA law, which requires employers to leave jobs open for deployed individuals in addition to granting the employees any raises or promotions they would have received had they not been deployed.

Volunteers with an advocacy group -- the ESGR -- act as intermediaries, making sure that jobs are secure and that employers know about federal expectations.

And much of the advocacy work for families is done through volunteerism within communities, too.

In Sheridan, Wright said, 46 companies -- from plumbers to electricians to beauticians -- contacted the local Armory to volunteer their services, mostly free of charge.

"So much of it is community businesses that reach out on their own and provide for [the families]," he said. "Organizations step forward ... The American Legions, those guys are old warriors themselves, and so that's important to them."

Wright challenged Casper and other areas of Wyoming to follow Sheridan's lead in supporting the troops through volunteerism.

"The most important thing is the family asking," he said. "We can connect them to things they need."

Contact weekend editor Megan Lee at (307) 266-0616 or megan.lee@trib.com.