WP: Army to Halt Call-Ups of Inactive Soldiers

[Pirate Smile]

Army to Halt Call-Ups of Inactive Soldiers
Thousands on Reserve List Seek Delay or Exemption on Return to Active Duty

By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 18, 2005; Page A11

The Army has suspended plans to expand an unwieldy, 16-month-old program to call up inactive soldiers for military duty, after thousands have requested delays or exemptions or failed to show up.

Despite intense pressure to fill manpower gaps, Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey said the Army has no plans for any further call-up of the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) beyond the current level of about 6,500 soldiers. The IRR is a pool of about 115,000 trained soldiers who have left active-duty or reserve units for civilian life, but remain subject to call-up for a set period.


The Army also announced, in a memo released this week, that it will no longer involuntarily mobilize from the IRR an estimated 15,000 Army officers who have already completed their eight years of required military duty, stating that under a new policy it will offer them a chance to resign instead.

Poor records management has hampered the Army's efforts to draw on the pool, intended to fill holes in existing Army units, Harvey told defense reporters last week.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/17/AR2005111701735.html

[bemildred]

1. Not working so good, is it?

Too many of the pidgeons saying "bugger off, I'm not going".

[Pirate Smile]

2. More from the Article:

"You're still in," he recalled the clerk telling him.

"No, I'm out," Davison replied.

"You're in."

"It was the most shocking, stressful, horrible thing," Davison said.

Davison and several of his West Point classmates were among about 800 people issued mobilization orders in the Army's latest batch of IRR call-ups between August and November, said Sgt. 1st Class Keith O'Donnell, spokesman for the Army's Human Resources Command in St. Louis.

Together with his classmates, Davison badgered mobilization officials and scoured the Internet looking for a way out of the predicament. One officer discovered a new clause in a July 16, 2005, Pentagon directive that in effect forbids the Army from keeping officers in the IRR against their will once their time is up.

"Dude! I think we've got the smoking gun!" the classmate said excitedly in a phone call to Davison earlier this month."

[Javaman]

8. "just when I think I'm out! The pull me back in!!"

Ahh the Mafia school of military recruitment.

[bluestateguy]

3. If they did that to me, I'd just move to Canada

IRR should only be used in a truly national emergency, not bullshit wars of empire, conquest and oil. Let the rich frat boys go off and fight in those wars.

[saigon68]

5. "rich frat boys" CAN'T GO OFF

Like their Icon War Criminal Cheney

"They have other things to do"

[Debau2005]

4. At the moment

I can't feel overly sorry for some of them, ok maybe I don't feel sorry for ONE of them. My ex stayed on the list voluntarily after his time was up. He was recalled July 2004. He is currently in HONDURAS! Where his only fear is getting a sunburn. His marathon times have come down considerably considering he has more time to train!!! He once accused me of not supporting him in the war effort. I reminded him that he is on a Central American paid vacation. Call me for support when he is humping it through the desert with snipers shooting at him. He is an officer, from a family with money. He can now claim that he supported his country and served his time. I wonder when he is going to VOLUNTEER for the Middle East?? And yes he is a huge neocon!

Sorry, I am ending my rant now.

[MADem]

6. Send in the Air Force, instead--this big change is NO accident

The AIR FORCE has changed their boot camp:

....At other times during basic, recruits would fake rubber M-16s, called "Rubber Duckies."
Rubber Duckies are no more. Now, each new recruit will be issued an M-16 replica on the very first day of training. The replica is exactly like the M-16 they will be expected to use in combat, except it won't fire. The replica is the same size, same weight, and has the exact same parts. The rifle-replica can be stripped and cleaned just like the real thing. It's an exact same replica, down to the small springs. To avoid confusing the replica with the real thing, the stocks on the replicas will be painted blue.

Recruits will begin instruction on the M-16 from day one, and will carry their "weapon" with them, throughout basic training. Recruits will have several chances (instead of just one, as under the previous system) to exhibit knowledge about safe weapons handling, identifying components, field stripping and cleaning the weapon, and carrying the weapon in formation and close order drill.

To free up more time for weapons training, the Air Force is changing it's long-standing basic training policy about folding T-shirts and underwear into little 6-inch squares. Instead, the Air Force will be adapting a Navy boot camp practice of rolling underwear up. Officials at Lackland estimate that eliminating the underwear folding classes and the folding time opens up 18 extra hours for weapons training.

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/airforcejoin/a/basicchanges.htm

[Javaman]

10. This is my rifle, this is my gun, this is for fighting, this is for fun...

Blue to Green, blue to green, this has been predicted on here about 2 years ago. Wait for it. Infact, I vaguely recall reading something about some Air Force soldier pulling guard duty in downtown Iraq.

[Coventina]

7. Wow, that really stinks for the suckers that were dumb enough to show up!

It's got to suck for them to be sitting in a ditch in Iraq and find out that if they just hadn't responded, they'd be in the clear!

[Squatch]

9. Whew!

*wipes brow*

That would be the last damned thing I need.