As Tacitus wrote last Friday, there are rumors that the DoD would begin activating significant portions of the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) to meet our needs for more troops. As Tacitus pointed out “an IRR call-up is supposed to be an exceptional event,” such as the Chinese invading Oregon.
In today’s New York Times, Andrew Exum, a former Army captain, writes:
[T]he military is now activating significant portions of the Individual Ready Reserve as part of what it is calling an “involuntary mobilization.”
And while it’s not clear whether Exum is citing as fact the same information Tacitus was citing as “chatter” AND the HRC website still indicates that “At this time, there have been no involuntary assignments of IRR Soldiers to any Army Reserve units,” clearly the spectre of this coming to pass is pissing a lot of people off. As Exum writes:
The individual reserve consists of troops who are no longer expected to participate even in regular training; the idea is that they are to be called up only in a catastrophic national emergency. Most are veterans recently released from active duty; others are college students on scholarship and cadets at the service academies.
So several of my former soldiers now in the individual reserve — who have left the Army, begun new careers and have not even been serving in reserve or National Guard units — have now been told to expect orders to return to active duty in the near future.
Stop-loss and the activation of the inactive reserve show how politics has taken priority over readiness. The Pentagon uses these policies to meet its needs in Iraq because they are expedient and ask nothing of the civilian populace on the eve of a national election. This allows us to put off what is sure to be a difficult debate: whether our volunteer military is adequate to meet our foreign policy commitments. Meanwhile, in the absence of this debate, the men and women of our armed forces languish. (emphasis mine)
From the very beginning it’s bothered me that the only role the Bush Administration can find for average Americans to play in this war is to “trust” them and go about our normal lives. It’s a “new kind of war,” I know. And yet, if in your normal life you’ve completed your duty to your country and intend to use your well-earned scholarship to start college, it’s totally unfair that you might need to put off that mandatorily back-to-back two-semester course until this IRR callup issue is resolved.
And Exum’s right of course. A draft would certainly take a big bite out of Bush’s popularity this election year. But Bush should be paying less attention to his polls and more attention to this line in Exum’s essay:
For those of us who have seen these soldiers repeatedly face death, watching them march off again — after they should have already left the Army — is painful.
So much sacrifice asked of so few. I don’t have much respect for the architects of this new kind of war.
As a former US Army Reserve 1LT and an eight year member of the IRR, I wanted to make a minor clarification – Normally cadets in academies or ROTC programs are not members of the IRR and are not subject to any sort of deployment until they receive their commission as an officer. Even then, they must attend their officer basic course before being eligible for deployment. The OBC is typically a 3-5 month course that teaches the new officers their jobs.
The exception might be ROTC cadets who are also in the reserve or national guard which isn’t all that uncommon. Typically what happens is that they leave the guard/reserve when they complete ROTC training and receive their commission.
As far as the makeup of the IRR, anyone who enlists is required to sign an 8 year contract. Those on IRR are typically people who have served a period of time on active duty or with an actively drilling reserve/guard unit and are simply waiting out the remainder of their contracts. In some cases (as was in mine when I was in the IRR) they may be ROTC grads who were assigned to the reserves, have completed OBC but have not been able to find a reserve unit with an open position that can accept them. Thus, they are placed into IRR while they are expected to continue searching for a reserve unit (with the help of the Army personnel command).
I was commissioned in 1992 and I attended OBC in 1994. At the time we were in a drawdown mode and reserve units with open positions were next to impossible to find, thus I served all of my eight year committment in the IRR.
Thanks for the comments lbeplato. I’m still not clear about one thing though. When a person signs the 8 year contract, are they doing so with the understanding that an IRR callup would happen only in the case of an extreme emergency or that it could happen under less extreme conditions. In other words, how is that part of their obligation sold to them?
Meanwhile, despite claims on the more wild-eyed and credulous lefty blogs, there is no present attempt in Congress to bring back the draft.
i heard that one about no draft coming but then i also heard the one in January about not asking for more money for Iraq until after the elections.
Gary, No attempt or no chance in hell?
No present attempt. I thought those words were clear.
I’m not being predictive in the least. Circumstances change.
The idea that Rangel and Hollings’ January, 2003, bill, signed by the most left-wing members of the House, and no members of the Senate, is a Bush plot that will result in imminent passing of a draft is an incorrect notion. Yet it’s being wildly asserted, as I’ve documented. That’s all. Any comment on what I wrote?
“i heard that one about no draft coming but then i also heard the one in January about not asking for more money for Iraq until after the elections.”
A difference there is between an Administration that constantly lies, and that anyone with three brain cells knew they’d being asking for at least high two figures of billions dollars more, and passing a bill in Congress that would provoke a debate that would wrench the country, and be the most unpopular decision in forty years.
It’s useful to know the difference. Otherwise one is at sea, and clueless.
The only way a draft bill would pass would be after New York City is nuked, or some similar, mildly lesser, event.
The fact that that sort of thing is possible is, of course, unfortunate.
I’m not sure where this idea that IRR soldiers are only recalled in the case of an outright catastrophe comes from. I was recalled from the IRR in January of 1991 to serve in Desert Storm, after having been off of active duty for just over a year. A lot of my fellow soldiers were also recalled from the IRR in the same way, at the same time. And to answer your question, Edward, we were definitely aware that being recalled was a significant possibility at any time during the eight years of our service commitment (I spent two years active, plus 5-1/2 months in Desert Storm; the rest was IRR). There was no mention that we could only be called up under extreme circumstances; it was understood that the Army owned us, and we could be recalled at any time, for any reason.
We didn’t particularly care for it, of course, but that was our end of the bargain.
And to answer your question, Edward, we were definitely aware that being recalled was a significant possibility at any time during the eight years of our service commitment (I spent two years active, plus 5-1/2 months in Desert Storm; the rest was IRR). There was no mention that we could only be called up under extreme circumstances; it was understood that the Army owned us, and we could be recalled at any time, for any reason.
In that case JesseV, do you think Tacitus and Exum are making a mountain out of a mole hill, or are they simply voicing that they don’t care for it either? I take my lead on how to interpret these things from the folks who have served and know what they expected that to mean.
Edward, I think that it would be more accurate to say that they misunderstand the dynamics of the IRR, and what the criteria for calling IRR members back to active duty may be. It is only in recent reading on blogs (such as here, as well as at Tacitus), that I have seen the term “extreme” used to describe an IRR call-up.
As an example, in addition to my Desert Storm return to active service, I was also called back twice in the ensuing years of my IRR service for brief (one and two days, respectively) training and physical examinations. I assume, from my experience, that this is quite routine for IRR soldiers.
It is only in recent reading on blogs (such as here, as well as at Tacitus), that I have seen the term “extreme” used to describe an IRR call-up.
I think the DoD needs to clear things up a bit. Exum’s understanding was that “the idea is that they are to be called up only in a catastrophic national emergency.”
Of course, someone flogging an upcoming book who agrees to write for the NYTimes is not necessarily the most trustworthy of voices, I’ll grant you, but Tacitus is normally quite solid on such matters.
Jesse is correct, IRR is NOT reserved for the invasion of Oregon, nor is it ever sold that way. In fact IRR is specifically mentioned and pointed out, but since it routinely effects such a small portion of the troops (less than stop-loss) and is context & relationally fickle nobody really talks about it much at the time of Enlistment or Commissioning. Everybody involved looks upon it as an “Act of God” kind of thing. You hope it doesn’t happen to you, but it’s anybody’s guess…
This is very much at odds with my understanding of the basic nature of the IRR. I’m well aware that IRR personnel are constantly called up in small numbers — ones and twos — even in peacetime. I recall a few unhappy IRR personnel forced back into uniform even in Clinton’s army, which didn’t have nearly the strain on it that today’s does. If the Army needs particular slots filled, and fast, it has always been willing to cherry-pick from the IRR. While Jesse and Irving are right that there’s no contractual proviso designating national emergency as a precondition for IRR activation, this doesn’t speak to the IRR’s basic strategic purpose, which is basically to serve as the “second reserve” once Reserve and Guard options are exhausted. The mechanism is different, of course — IRR personnel are recalled as individuals, not as units, and are posted to existing slots in existing units — but the “final resort” nature of the manpower pool remains. What’s unprecedented about the (supposed) plans being discussed now is the purported scale of IRR call-up. If that call-up puts a significant dent into that manpower pool, then yes, it’s something extraordinary.
Irving has it right.
That sums it up about as accurately as I’ve seen.
Bottomline: When you sign a contract with the government – read it closely. Most folks in the military look very poorly on those who grump about being called up or serving for their country, even when the odds are against such a call up, when that is exactly what they signed up to do.
not to be a “contrarian,” but what’s with this obsession about sacrifice? the only people sacrificing, it seems to me, are the soldiers who are over there. but the volunteers aren’t really complaining; they’re eager for combat. The national guardsmen are the ones who are complaining. And if they’re complaining–patriotic Americans who have signed up to be on call in times of need– because they have to give up some aspects of comfortable lives at home, imagine how our soft and pampered society at large would balk at having to give up, say, $15 tanks of gas.
Oh, wait.
Tacitus, I think that your understanding of the ideological purpose of the IRR is correct–to act as a “second reserve”–but in practice, from my experience, it isn’t used this way. When I was recalled for Desert storm, my fellow IRR soldiers (hundreds of us, just in my training class) and I were reactivated before regular guard and reserve units. The rationale, we were told, was that recently separated former active duty soldiers were better qualified to step in as replacements than guard/reserve forces in the same MOS (19D Cavalry Scout). In that particular recall, every IRR soldier in my MOS who had been separated from active duty for less than two years was reactivated.
I don’t know if you can elaborate upon what scale of recall you are hearing about, but I would be surprised if it were not something similar, with sweeping MOS-specific activations of IRR soldiers.
(Ex-USAF/IRR here)
The call-up of IRR people may not be extraordinary for a limited number of specialists (MD’s come to mind), large scale call-ups of the IRR are, IMO, very unusual.
There isn’t any question of the legality of this, but I’m surprised and concerned that the national media has virtually ignored both the call-up matter and the “stop-loss” actions.
Surely the Congress and the American people should be fully aware of this and discussing whether this is good policy – as opposed to other approaches to expanding available forces, for instance.
More of the hidden objectives and actions that BushCo seems to prefer over and over.
“Don’t get in the way of the nations most important agenda item: re-electing the President”.
phew.
In my experience we didn’t think we would be called up unless Russia invaded Germany or something of that scale. However, my MOS was a fairly routine specialty (vehicle maintenance operations). However, it was not uncommon for IRR with specialized backgrounds (medical, MP, civil affairs) to be called back. As others have stated, lots of these folks were called back in Gulf war I.
So, if we were starting to bring back Infantry IRR’s, I’d say it could be called “extreme” but not for other specialties.
I was never called up during my 8 years in IRR. My only obligation was to call the personnel office if I moved. I also was obliged to look for an active reserve unit for my first four years on IRR.
The media’s just a bit slow on the issue Jim.
Here’s the latest.
Army Expanding ‘Stop-Loss’ Program
A link to the management of the IRR for those interested…
Just an assumption, but it appears that the Army is beginning to look at the infrastructure issues with transitioning to a expeditionary force. Personnel are type-coded by specialty, rank, skill-level, etc and expeditionary units are mocked-up with the a set of these coded requirements. Thus when an expeditionary unit needs to be rapidly assembled and “fleshed-out” unfilled type-codes are manned from the available pool (active, reserve, IRR etc…). The coding of the IRR pool may be just the personnel departments starting to get their act together…
“A difference there is between an Administration that constantly lies, and that anyone with three brain cells knew they’d being asking for at least high two figures of billions dollars more, and passing a bill in Congress that would provoke a debate that would wrench the country, and be the most unpopular decision in forty years.”
Hmm. Where does one start, and that’s not including the snarky comment that followed this. First of all, what does any of the above mean? Do you think this Administration lies? Do you approve of an Administration saying one thing and then doing another? Are we supposed to know between the absolutely no’s and the ‘wink, wink no’s’ that are both denied flatly when questioned? Is this something that we are supposed to put up with? And so what if there is a decision that is the most unpopular in 40 years. And what was that decision you are alluding to? Is it leaving Vietnam or is it segregation, both of which were good decisions? Sometimes the right decisions are the hard ones and that’s why we need leaders, and ones with a real vision that is combined with a love and understanding of our Constitution.
Does anyone know what ‘significant portions’ of the IRR means? My husband is in the IRR and we have heard so much crap in the last month or two that I don’t know what to believe anymore.
We had a retention officer calling us last month warning us that my husband would be called out of the IRR and should join a unit now to control where he was placed. When that didn’t work, he called and told us they were ‘disbanding’ the IRR and that EVERY SINGLE IRR member would be put into units before June 1st. We still didn’t fall for it, which turned out to be a good thing, because it came out that this ‘disbanding’ of the IRR turned out to either be rumor, mistake or, as some dubbed it, a scam to trick IRRs into reenlisting.
And now I hear this. Will it ever end?? I just want to know what is truth and what is rumor. I did read in a national newspaper (and not in the Op/Ed section) that the Army has mobilized 5,000 IRRs. Would 5,000 out of 118,000 be considered significant? When we were going through the whole ‘Who’s getting called out of the IRR’ debate a week or two ago, a high-ranking official informed us that, when it was all said and done, about 5-6,000 IRRs would be activated, so I am guessing this is the case.
If someone would care to elaborate on the ‘significant’ number they heard, I would be much obliged. Until then, I will continue to treat everything I hear regarding the IRR as fishy and believe nothing until a telegram arrives at our house.
“And Exum’s right of course. A draft would certainly take a big bite out of Bush’s popularity this election year. ”
As well it should, as should any other measure that would degrade morale in the military and at home and impede our ability to fight.
“Stop-loss and the activation of the inactive reserve show how politics has taken priority over readiness. The Pentagon uses these policies to meet its needs in Iraq because they are expedient and ask nothing of the civilian populace on the eve of a national election. This allows us to put off what is sure to be a difficult debate: whether our volunteer military is adequate to meet our foreign policy commitments.”
It would be if we had a larger volunteer military, which would involve raising the enlistment caps. That would work a hell of a lot better than a $#^*& draft would.
FYI – 11/17/2004
My brother just got called to active duty needs to report Ft. Sill 12-14-04. 4 years active 1LT and four years IRR. Never resigned his comission now 3 years after his supposed IRR ended he is being called up (out of active duty for 7 years.) He is a Field Artillary Officer, not a truck driver or engineer or other supposedely needed MOS.