British Army Reserve Major Steve Hudson takes a break at Camp Alamo, Kabul,  Afghanistan. He is the second in command of a 26 member NCO training team comprised of 20 British, four US and two New Zealand Army reservists.

The congress received a timely brief on Hudson’s mission, reservist welfare and lessons learned. As the second-in-command of a 26-member NCO training team comprised of 20 British, four US and two New Zealand army reservists, he is exposed to the full spectrum of challenges faced by citizen soldiers.

Previously, Hudson deployed to Kosovo and faced a number of personal hardships on the home front while serving his country overseas.

“Basically, they retired me, “ said Hudson, referring to a former civilian employer. A number of his soldiers also faced similar job security and benefit problems placing stress on not only the service members, but also their families.

Regardless of the situation back home, Hudson and his team focus on mission accomplishment. However, in closing remarks he indicated that reservists are often not effectively used:

“Don’t waste their [reservists’] goodwill. Some commanders don’t look beyond the military qualifications and that is just the tip of the iceberg,” he said. “Our reservists often bring a wealth of knowledge and experience gained from their civilian occupations. Unfortunately, they are largely an untapped resource.”

The audience thanked the major for his timely and relevant discussion from the field. Many of the topics Hudson discussed correlate directly with the congress theme of post-deployment care of reservists.