But even in his absence, his wife Denise, 35, knows there are two things she can count on—weekly phone calls and emails from her husband and a steady stream of income from the city of Sunnyvale.

Thanks to the city, the quality of life the Ramirez family enjoyed while he worked as a PSO is not gone, too, due to a program of benefits for the city staff serving in the military and their families. By making up the difference between Ramirez's civilian and military wages, his family has income as if he were still working for the city.

"Had we not had this offered to us, we would be struggling," Denise Ramirez said. "What Sunnyvale has done for us is allow us to continue to live the way we had been."

In October 2001, after 9-11, the city of Sunnyvale adopted benefits for extended military leave, providing supplemental salary for 13 two-week pay periods. That period was extended to 26 pay periods in April 2003. And recently, at the May 4 council meeting, those benefits were extended for another 26 pay periods.

Since October 2001, the city has budgeted more than $600,000 to the benefits program. Six employees have taken advantage of it, and currently, only Ramirez and one other employee serving in the military are receiving these benefits.

According to a staff report presented to the city council, "The purpose of this action was to minimize the impact that a call to active duty had on the employees and their dependants as a result of the loss of full-time employment income and benefits for such an extended period of time."

Sunnyvale Communications Officer John Pilger said that—like Ramirez—many of those serving from Sunnyvale are officers for the department of public safety, and that even though they are going for a significant time, it has not hurt the department or the city.

"It hasn't caused any hardships for us," Pilger said. "At this point, it's only two people who are gone."

Ramirez, who has been a PSO in Sunnyvale for more than two years, was called to Iraq in March 2003 and has only spent 10 days with his family since then. His benefits ran out last month, and his wife, Denise, said that within two days of the notice, a city employee called her to tell her that the extensions were coming up on a future council agenda for approval.

By law, the city is only required to extend benefits for 30 days, but three times now the council has opted to continue those benefits for extended periods of time.

This new extension will cover Ramirez's family for any extensions of duty he may receive. Ramirez—a military police officer for the United States Army—should have been back home April 20, but an extension—that does not go into effect until May 20—gave him another 90 to 120 days of service in Iraq.

"It wouldn't surprise me if the government kept him there for the full two years," Denise said. "There's no guarantee for basically anything with this."

Denise Ramirez said that in addition to helping her take care of her family's needs, the benefits have taken some pressure off Rudy. "It just puts his mind at ease, because he knows that his family is—at least financially—taken care of," she said.

She says she wishes her husband could be receiving his benefits for working hard here at home, not thousands of miles away in the desert.

"We just want him to be back here, with his friends and family, serving the city of Sunnyvale," Denise said.