As a federal correctional officer for the DOJ in Washington, D.C., Mathew Tully took pride in protecting the public from convicted felons. But in October 1995–only two months into his job–Tully, a member of the National Guard, was called to duty. Deployed first to Korea, then to Iraq, Tully was on active duty for three years and looked forward to returning home and getting back to work. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a warm homecoming.
“The DOJ hired me back,” Tully explains. “But it didn’t promote me, it didn’t provide me health insurance while I was gone, it didn’t provide me adequate compensation and time off because of my military service.”
