(FORTUNE Magazine) – AT THE CLOSE of business Friday, November 30, Dennis Irby's biggest worry was making sure his eight employees were delivering the finest bouquets in Valdosta, Georgia. By Monday morning his father, Otto, 65, had come out of retirement to take over the family flower business so his son could manage 117 infantrymen from Georgia's 48th Army National Guard Brigade -- men likely to be on the front lines if a ground war breaks out in the Middle East. Says Captain Irby through the din of grenades exploding on a practice field at Fort Stewart, Georgia: ''The call-up has placed a huge burden on my family. Expansion plans have been put on hold. I expect efficiency and profits to suffer. But someone has to fight for freedom.'' Irby is one of 130,000 citizen-soldiers who have left jobs on farms and ranches, in factories, office towers, stores, schools, and hospitals, to answer the President's call to arms. Though that number dwarfs the 35,000 called during Vietnam, it's hardly enough to hurt an economy of 125 million workers, particularly with labor markets slack. But it can mean emotional and financial trauma to soldiers and their families. Businesses, particularly small proprietorships, have been disrupted. Even if a family business is on the verge of collapse, it is virtually impossible to get an exemption or early discharge on the basis of financial problems. While military pay may be an improvement for a few, more suffer cuts, some significant. A maintenance supervisor for a large paper mill saw his annual income drop by $40,000; a surgeon, by more than $100,000. ''We all knew this was a possibility but figured it was remote,'' says mortar platoon Sergeant Tim Taylor, whose income as a fireman and electrician was halved. ''It's rough.'' Employers too can suffer, though most major corporations have lost only a handful of workers, largely in low-level positions. At Whirlpool's refrigerator manufacturing plant in Fort Smith, Arkansas, for example, 26 out of 2,500 workers were called. To fill their jobs the company had only to rehire people recently laid off. When William Holland left his post managing a carpet plant in Dalton, Georgia, to head the Guard's 48th Brigade, Collins & Aikman Corp. filled his position with one of his department chiefs. Says the brigadier general, now wearing fatigues in his new office at Fort Stewart: ''Fortunately, my company had made plans, just in case.'' Harder hit are small companies like Irby's Florist Shop or Meeks Inc., a family-run office supply company in Topeka, Kansas, which lost both its president and its warehouse manager. Modernization plans have been postponed until President David Meeks returns from Saudi Arabia, where he is a navigator on an air refueling plane. Meanwhile, his sister, Diane, is managing the company. Says she: ''We're not losing money, but there's a lot more stress for everyone. We're running a little bit late on deliveries. But when people see the yellow ribbons on our vans, they understand. No one has complained.'' Police forces, prisons, and hospitals, which have a high concentration of reservists and guardsmen, have been forced to scramble. The Georgia Corrections Department had to order prison guards to work extra shifts. After one of its seven doctors was mobilized, Pediatrics P.A., a group practice in Topeka, postponed physicals for older children until spring. Many hospitals are hiring temporary help. John Smith, executive vice president of Jackson & Coker, the nation's largest physician recruitment firm, says demand has surged 20% since the call-up. HOW ARE BUSINESSES helping mobilized employees cope? Employers are legally obliged to provide returning servicemen with jobs equal in salary and stature to those they left. But the Pentagon, which monitors how companies treat their reservists, has identified more than 200 that go beyond the legal requirement. Among the most generous: Exxon. It paid 12 employees called to active duty a lump sum of two months' salary, volunteered to make up the difference between their military and civilian pay for up to a year, and extended health benefits for the families. Other companies offering extra compensation include Xerox, Philip Morris, AT&T, Mobil, and Wells Fargo Bank. For personnel in financial straits, the military makes available lawyers to % help them renegotiate alimony and child support agreements and take advantage of a 1940 law, the Soldiers and Sailors Relief Act. It enables activated reservists to reduce interest rates on all loans to 6%. (Lenders must simply take the loss.) That is as far as government support goes. Families end up bearing much of the burden. Most reservists have been called for 90 days, and their service can be extended; some expect a year's duty or more. Meanwhile, sons and daughters have postponed college to help support their families. Wives have returned to work. Relatives are pitching in to babysit. Some single parents and two-reservist families have had to sign over custody of their children to relatives or friends. Fearing an increase in attendance and learning problems, school officials in Macon, Georgia, have set up a counseling program for children of parents called to active duty. Says Brigadier General Holland sadly: ''It's an emotional roller coaster for everyone.''