Army plans to recall 5,600 retired, disc

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Army plans to recall 5,600 retired, disc
11
Wed, 06-30-2004 - 11:05am
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/180111_army30.html

Army plans to recall 5,600 retired, discharged soldiers

Wednesday, June 30, 2004


By THOM SHANKER
THE NEW YORK TIMES


WASHINGTON -- The Army is preparing to call up 5,600 former soldiers for yearlong tours, mostly assignments in Iraq and Afghanistan, under a rarely used wartime program that allows the military to recall those who have left the service and did not join the Reserves, Pentagon officials said yesterday.


The decision was immediately cited by members of Congress as more evidence that the deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan and, more broadly, for the global campaign against terror, have left the Army too small to fulfill all its missions. Likewise, the presidential campaign of Sen. John Kerry quickly issued a statement yesterday labeling the decision "troubling news."


Proposals to expand the Army already are being debated in Congress, where some lawmakers have described the large reserve mobilizations and other unusual steps to fill the rosters in Iraq and Afghanistan as an unofficial draft.


Pentagon and military officials have resisted calls to increase the size of the Army, saying they first would rather find efficiencies elsewhere in the service. They also warn that decisions to expand the Army would lock the Pentagon into expensive personnel budgets for years to come.


The nation's pool of former officers and soldiers who are subject to being recalled to service is known as the Individual Ready Reserve. It allows the military to select specialists with needed skills and has not been utilized in such large numbers since the Persian Gulf War of 1991.


"Remember, we are at war," said one Pentagon official who confirmed the Army's plans to mobilize 5,600 members of the ready reserve, which is to be announced later this week. (me:  I thought that Bush had declared that the 'war' was over???)


Most of those called up will perform support and logistical jobs such as truck drivers, mechanics, administrative specialists, food service and engineering. One Pentagon official said military police will be included.


Members of Congress have been briefed this week on the Army's plans. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld gave the Army broad authority in January to reach into the Individual Ready Reserve, although the specifics of the new call-up were only approved in recent days.


The decision follows an announcement early this month that the Army would require all soldiers bound for Iraq and Afghanistan to extend their active duty at least until their units return home from their missions there, a move that could keep thousands of troops in the service for months longer than they expected.


That announcement, called "stop-loss, stop-move," expanded an existing program that applies to many troops already in the two countries and means that soldiers who had planned to retire, move to other Army jobs or leave the military when their enlistments expired will be required to stay for the length of their units' deployment in either of the two combat zones.


The Pentagon already is relying heavily on the regular reserve component. In addition to the active-duty force, the Pentagon as of June 16 had brought on to service 136,460 members of the Army Reserve and National Guard, people who voluntarily signed up to be on call and who generally have spent a weekend a month and two weeks a year in training. In contrast, the 117,000 names in the Individual Ready Reserve have not been associated with the armed services since their departure from the Army and have not been training.


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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-16-2003
Thu, 07-01-2004 - 4:56pm
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How much time is the military going to allow these draftees to get in shape? My heart sank when I read the above, then I thought about the coming situation in Iraq and it sounds all too possible.

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