In the lead-up to America's entry into World War II, as the United States watched the Battle of Britain unfold across the Atlantic, Congress established the first reemployment protections for military members with the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940. Those protections were modified several times during the early Cold War years, until 1974, when Congress amended and recodified them in the Veterans Reemployment Rights Act. In the post-Vietnam War era, the military underwent a fundamental realignment when today's all-volunteer force replaced the longstanding practice of conscription. Responding to this sea change, in 1994 Congress enacted the Uniformed Service Employment and Reemployment Rights Act.