Air Force reservist Richard Wright was just two months into what he said was his "dream job" as a consultant for a firm marketing Donald Trump's get-rich techniques when he was called up and sent to Afghanistan.

For six weeks in early 2007, Wright served in Kandahar as a master sergeant with the 920th Rescue Squadron, providing intelligence for helicopter missions.

But just a week after returning home to Cooper City from the war, Wright, 41, was fired, allegedly for missing work and for contacting clients to let them know he was home.

Now Wright has sued Xylophone, a Boca Raton company doing business as the Trump Institute, saying his dismissal violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, a federal law written to protect employees from losing jobs or promotions when called up for military duty.

"Not even Donald Trump can say 'You're fired' when you are returning from military service," said Wright's lawyer, Randy Fleischer, of Davie.

Frank Kruppenbacher, an Orlando attorney serving as co-counsel with Fort Lauderdale lawyer Haas Hatic in representing Xylophone, said Wright was fired for "certain performance issues" unrelated to his military service. Kruppenbacher did not want to elaborate other than to say they tried to mediate a resolution.

Wright is not the only service member to return from combat duty in Iraq or Afghanistan only to find problems in the workplace. According to the Department of Defense's Status of Forces study released in November 2007, nearly 11,000 reservists and National Guard members were denied prompt re-employment and more than 20,000 lost seniority, pay and other benefits since the two wars began.

Almost 20,000 saw their pensions cut, and more than 15,000 didn't receive the training needed to return to their former jobs, the study found.

And 23 percent of reservists and National Guard personnel surveyed in 2006 who could not find a job after deployment said they were unemployed because their previous employer did not promptly rehire them as required by law.

Earlier this month, U.S. Sens. Bob Casey, Edward Kennedy and Barack Obama introduced a bill to make it easier for returning soldiers to keep their jobs and benefits.

"Our brave men and women serving our country already sacrifice time away from their families, jobs and their lives," Casey, D-Pa., said in a statement. "The least we can do is help ensure that when they return their jobs will be waiting for them."

Wright said he was stunned by how quickly he was fired after initially being welcomed back to work.As a mentor for Xylophone, Wright said he was assigned to advise clients who had paid as much as several thousand dollars each for a Trump-approved course on investing in real estate. Although Trump lends his name to the seminars, he usually is not personally involved.

Wright returned from Afghanistan on Monday, April 16, 2007, and the next morning told his boss, Jay Shavin, that he would return to the office two days later. He did.

But the next Monday, Wright said Shavin chastised him in an e-mail for "duplicitous behavior" in contacting his clients after he had been told not to. Wright denies being told not to contact his former clients.

Twenty minutes later, according to e-mails that Wright has provided, Shavin warned him that his job was in "dire jeopardy" and cited "absences" related to his military duty. Wright said he told Shavin he wanted to discuss the situation.

In an e-mail from Shavin 15 minutes after that, Wright was fired.

"I have no idea what happened," said Wright.

In the complaint filed by Fleischer, Wright seeks reinstatement to his job, back pay, a promised $5,000 raise and compensatory damages in excess of $15,000.

Xylophone's attorneys responded with a motion denying the allegations.

Among several defenses, lawyers for Xylophone said re-employing Wright "would impose an undue hardship" on the company. A motion adds that Wright's "employment was brief, non-recurrent and with no reasonable expectation that it would continue indefinitely or for a significant period."

Shavin could not be reached to comment despite messages left on his office phone.

"I want them to pay for what they did. This caused a downward spiral in my life, almost forced me to bankruptcy," said Wright, who now sells real estate.