Though it has been more than two months since Army Reservist Timothy Treagner returned from Iraq, he still has to pause and ask his wife for their new address.

“There are so many changes to get used to,” he said. “You kind of have to look around and figure where you fit in.”

His well-tending job was the last thing he wanted to worry about, but there was no getting around it.

Treagner’s bosses offered him the same type of position – only in another state.

“They said it was the only way I could have my job back,” Treagner said.

Some soldiers are experiencing similar situations – returning from Iraq and Afghanistan to find their jobs have been taken or are rearranged.

But even without a struggle to move a soldier into a former position, adjusting from a war zone back to the workplace can be a challenge, said Mary Graham, a spokeswoman for the National Mental Health Association.

“There are quite a lot of issues, especially with this war with so many National Guard and Reservists,” she said. “Active-duty soldiers come home to similar settings, but Reservists come back to jobs as accountants, prison guards.”

The economy has changed as well, so soldiers often will return to a transformed workplace.

“Your colleagues – who have been taking on your duties for a year – may not feel like giving them up,” Graham said. “Multiple deployments, trouble coming back and just going to work every day – that’s not what these soldiers signed up for.”

Some soldiers also are coping with anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, Graham added.

“It’s going to be really tough as they try to re-enter society,” she said.

For Treagner, uprooting his family and heading to Ohio was out of the question. His wife, Mistine, had bought and moved the family to a new home during the seven months her husband, a petty officer third class, was helping to construct facilities for U.S. Marines at a handful of locations in Iraq.

After three weeks of wrangling and a few calls to a local support group, it seemed Treagner, who must support a 10-year-old son, Nicholas, was getting nowhere.

Then Greg Simmons, who works to protect soldiers’ employment rights, stepped in.

“They didn’t really want to change,” said Simmons, an ombudsman for the Pennsylvania Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve.

So they began contacting more-powerful officials.

“An attorney for the Defense Department called, and my job was open after a 20-minute conversation,” Treagner said. “They have bite.”

Now, he is back at work in a similar position at Power Gas Marketing & Transmission in Cherry Tree, Indiana County, with a $2-an-hour raise.

But the atmosphere has been unsettling, he said.

“They were so supportive before I left,” Treagner said. “Now, the bosses don’t talk to me.”

A supervisor at Power Gas Marketing & Transmission deferred questions to the company’s Pittsburgh office, where a representative did not return calls.

Simmons said most employers do not know the specifics of a federal law that protects jobs for deployed soldiers.

“They have enough on their plate when they come home, and they shouldn’t be afraid their jobs won’t be there for them,” he said. “When they come back, their positions should be there, just as if they were never gone.”

That means service members are entitled to prompt reinstatement with seniority, status and pay as if they had been continuously employed, according to the Uniformed Services Employment and Re-employment Rights Act.

In Richland Township, 1st Lt. Matthew Helsel’s job at Laurel Toyota waits for him, but three weeks after his return from Iraq, he is unsure whether he is ready to pick up where he left off more than a year ago.

“It’s such a big change,” he said. “Here, people don’t relate to you, and it’s hard to relate to them.”

Helsel, 37, ran convoys across Iraq, where he was based in Ballad with the 463rd Engineering Battalion C Company of Wheeling, W.Va.

“I guess you just have to get used to being a civilian again,” he said. “(Active military) are GI Joes every day.”

A career change may be in order, but, for now, Helsel said he is comforted by the idea that his car-sales job is there if he needs it.

A supervisor at Lowe’s in Richland Township said employees lend an extra hand to cover for Guardsmen who have to leave their jobs to deploy.

“Luckily, the people here recognize and appreciate the sacrifices soldiers are making,” Operations Manager Dave Helmick said. “We’re very proud to help out.”

The law also requires employers to train returning soldiers if their jobs have evolved, said Dennis Ero, veterans employment and training assistant director though the state Department of Labor and Industry at local CareerLink offices.

“The rule of thumb is that employers should treat (deployment) like an extended leave of absence, with the same benefits as maternity leave or jury duty,” he said.

Soldiers called to service for more than 180 days are allowed 90 days to report back to work, though many cannot afford to stay away the full three months.

“We aren’t hearing that employers aren’t up to par, but this is a very pro-veteran area,” Ero said. “The law really highlights the needs of today’s military, where soldiers are being recalled and recalled.

“Most of the calls I get are from employers who want to take pre-emptive action and make sure they give Reservists and Guardsmen what they are entitled.”

In a neighboring office at the Somerset County CareerLink, Merritt Nord helps to update resumes for soldiers who are unemployed or looking for a job switch upon returning.

“A lot don’t know that they can file for unemployment,” he said. “That helps the guy or woman who comes back without a job from taking the first $6- or $7-an-hour job just to get by. This way, they can look for the job they want.

“They certainly have enough to get resettled.”