Army Reservists (IRR) ordered for screenings

[babylonsister]

This doesn't sound good...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070612/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/army_reservists;_ylt=Alft9Qgg9zjq9X29YN4PYHXMWM0F

Army Reservists ordered for screenings

By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer 1 minute ago

WASHINGTON - For the first time since the Iraq war began, the Army is notifying thousands from a special category of reservists that they must report this summer for medical screening and other administrative tasks.

The decision to issue "muster" orders for 5,000 members of the Individual Ready Reserve, or IRR, is not a prelude to a new mobilization or deployment of reservists to Iraq, an Army spokesman said. Instead it is part of a new effort to fix an IRR call-up system that failed on multiple fronts early in the Iraq war.

One problem was that the Army simply could not contact many of its IRR members; it had allowed them to ignore the requirement that they notify the Army of a change in residence. Some turned out to be deceased; others were physically unfit for duty or faced personal problems that barred them from serving.

To correct that the Army is now requiring that they show up in person for what it calls a one-day "physical muster." The idea is to ensure that when and if more IRR members are needed for Iraq or other active-duty deployments the Army will at least know which are fit for duty and where to find them.

The Army planned to announce the decision on Thursday.

Eventually all IRR members will get the order to report for screening; the first 5,000 are considered a test group.

more...

[MADem]

1. If they pay them, and they're gonna do that, then they're, in essence, reactivated

Even for that brief moment. Hmmm. You know that someone will die on the way to, or the way from, this event--then the death benefit issues get to be sussed out.



The first 5,000 will receive orders to report to one of four reserve centers — in Tacoma, Wash.; Fort Totten, N.Y.; Fort Meade, Md.; or Los Alamitos, Calif. — and will be paid a $176 stipend once they finish the one-day process, Gall said. All 5,000 live within a 50-mile radius of one of the reserve stations, he said.

The reporting is mandatory. It will begin in mid-July and run through August.

The last time the Army required IRR members to report to a reserve station for administrative processing was 2000, according to Raymond Gall, a spokesman for the Army's Human Resources Command in St. Louis. After that the Army considered it too expensive to repeat, but the Iraq experience changed Army minds.

I guess the way to avoid this, at least for now, is to live further than fifty miles from a reserve station!!!

[babylonsister]

2. It sounds like a reactivation to me, too. And all those IRR's will be

ready to roll when they get the next order to move out; otherwise, what'd be the point?

[MADem]

3. I'm betting they want to get a gander at 'em, do a pre-weeding.

I'd show up with my leg in a cast and dress to look as out-of-shape as possible! Carry around a pocketful of lead in case they do a weigh-in...whine about that aching back!