Army to Call Up Retired, Discharged Troops Tuesday June 29, 2004 9:01 PM AP Photo MAC105 By ROBERT BURNS AP Military Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Digging deeper for help in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army is preparing for an involuntary recall to active duty of about 5,600 civilians who have either retired or were discharged after previous service.In a new sign of the strain the insurgency in Iraq has put on the U.S. military, Army officials said Tuesday the move would be the first sizable activation of the Individual Ready Reserve since the 1991 Gulf War. Several hundred people had voluntarily returned to service since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Unlike members of the National Guard and Reserve, individual reservists do not perform regularly scheduled training and receive no pay unless they are called up.
``This was inevitable when it became clear that we would have to maintain significant combat forces in Iraq for a period of years,'' said Dan Goure, a military analyst at the Lexington Institute, a think tank.
The Army is pinpointing certain skills in short supply, like medical specialists and engineers. The intention is to give those selected for recall at least 30 days' notice, one official said.
The Army is so stretched for manpower that in April it broke a promise to some active-duty units, including the 1st Armored Division, that they would not have to serve more than 12 months in Iraq. It also has extended the tours of other units, including some in Afghanistan.
``It is a reflection of the fact that the (active-duty) military is too small for the breadth of challenges we are facing,'' Goure said.
The men and women recalled from the Individual Ready Reserve will be assigned to Army Reserve units that have been or soon will be mobilized for deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan, unless they successfully petition for exemption based on medical or other limitations.
Army officials discussed some details of the recall Tuesday on condition that they not be identified because members of Congress still were being notified and a public announcement was planned for Wednesday.
Those in the Individual Ready Reserve are former enlisted soldiers and officers who have some nonactive-duty military service obligation remaining, under terms they signed when they signed on but who chose not to fulfill it in the Guard or Reserve.
The Pentagon had hoped to reduce its troop levels in Iraq to about 105,000 this spring, but because of increasingly effective and deadly resistance the level has risen to about 140,000.
Military officials have said they may need to stay at that level for at least another year or two, a commitment of forces that could not be maintained by the active force alone.
The Army frequently must integrate reservists with its active-duty forces, but it rarely has to reach into the Individual Ready Reserve. The Army has about 117,000 people in this category of reservist; the Navy has 64,000, the Marine Corps 58,000 and the Air Force 37,000.
The military has relied heavily on National Guard and Reserve soldiers in Iraq, in part because some essential specialties like military police are found mainly in the reserves rather than the active-duty force and partly because the mission has required more troops than planned.
Reserve troops make up at least one-third of the U.S. force in Iraq, and this month they have accounted for nearly half of all troops killed in combat.
In January, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld authorized the Army to activate as many as 6,500 people from the Individual Ready Reserve, drawing on presidential authority granted in 2001.
Not until May did the Army begin looking in detail at the available pool of people.
At that point some Army recruiters caused a controversy when they contacted members of the Individual Ready Reserve and suggested they would wind up in Iraq unless they joined a Reserve or Guard unit. Some complained that they were being coerced to transfer into a Reserve unit.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4259032,00.html
I was at the base hospital when the was announced today. Some who were there who are civilians are not quite understanding the true nature of this 'recall'.
For those of you who are not aware when a person signs on the dotted line and pledges his time to the Army they sign up for a total of 8 (EIGHT) years on their initial enlistment. They however may and in many cases only serve three or four years in Active Duty. Most only serve such to get the college money and then get out.
They are VERY aware they still owe the Army 4-5 years more service and may be recalled at any time. Many decide to serve this time in a Reserve unit.
So this announcemnt is not as ominous as it seems. They agreed to serve the time and have the benefits of a 50,000 dollar GI bill and other benefits and knew this could happen.
Edit to add:
There is a time frame in which the Army may recall such retired or discharged troops, and I am unsure as to the exact amount of time in which the Army can recall such troops.
Cassi