Army will order thousands in IRR to muster

[Ilsa]

Army will order thousands in IRR to muster
http://www.armytimes.com Look under news from July 16, or the discussion of the article.

By Robert Burns - The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Jun 16, 2007 9:10:19 EDT

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.

SNIP



Site for discussion of the original article, which is a week old:
http://www.militarytimes.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1559339
One comment:
snip ...To me, this call-up is garbage. They are recalling people who are clearly unfit for duty. For example, I have read about one guy who was previously kicked out of the Army for a medical condition that was recalled. The Army doctors reassessed him to be fit for duty. What could have changed?... snip

[formercia]

1. No curmudgeon left behind. n/t

[acmavm]

2. The US Military is showing its desperation and the entire world can

see it.

edit: spelling

[kenny blankenship]

3. The Volkssturm is soon being ordered into battle?

The old men? What's next-boy scout troops?

[formercia]

8. We have God on our side

[magellan]

14. Thank goodness we got mittens too

[Ilsa]

4. I really hate that the links to specific pages in the Army Times

don't work as a link. You have to go through the main page to get to them.

Another quote:
An Army spokesman, Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, said the 5,000 who are receiving “muster” orders this month were picked at random, and they are not necessarily in line to get mobilized and sent to Iraq.

uh-huh. sure. whatever you say.

[Ilsa]

6. Another discussion comment:

Wow...a Field Grade Private with no field time loud mouths about his (lack of) experience, and tells other people to get squared away. People like him are why people like me (good leaders with technical abilities) get the hell out of the Army.

I just got a call for this muster, and I have 6 months left in IRR time. I did 6x2 in the National guard, deployed overseas once, and served approximately 2 years worth of stateside duty. I'll go, i'm out of height/weight standards, and they'll tell me that.

What I will say about the IRR is that it's not a feasible way to get good soldiers back. I resent the Army, as they've come back to collect the money they paid for my college tuition. This month I finish paying them off..as I see it, the army needs me more than I will ever need them. If they were to call me up, I'd serve until the last day of my original 8 years contracted, and walk away, regardless of where I was.

They've burned so many people that it's impossible to believe that people are still enlisting.

[gratuitous]

5. We're just, ahhh . . . correcting an oversight!

Yeah, that's the ticket.

[LiberalFighter]

7. They haven't done this already?

[formercia]

9. Scraping the corners in the bottom of the barrel.

Like a drug addict searching all the ash trays.

[Orsino]

10. Activating the Last To Die for a Mistake Battalion. n/t

[Solo_in_MD]

11. IRR is seriously broken

[Marrah_G]

12. The army hasn't done this yet but the NAVY has?

How fucked up is that? I don't want to see any of them called back up, but I find it absurd that there are already Navy IRR on the GROUND in Iraq, but the Army is just starting to do it.

Yikes...

I've warned every retired officer I know that they are indeed at risk to being called back, no matter how long they have been out. The over-use of our reservists and guard is going to break the military. I just want to scream and hit something everytime I picture my brother in Bagdad after he served his time, retired, got married, had 4 boys and a girl, and got a great job. Now my sister-in-law will give birth without him in July.

The IRR are supposed to be there in caswe the country REALLY needs them (read is attacked and needs to be defended) not to be called up on a whim by some asshat of a president who would rather use them then active duty troops to fight his disgusting holy oil war.

[kineneb]

13. gov. is desperate for translators, too

They actually contacted my over-65 step-father who is a naturalized citizen, and native Farsi speaker. He politely told them "no way" was he interested in either doing translation work state-side or "in theater".

They are running out of people.

ed for spelling