Army Orders Further Involuntary Troop Call-Up

[maddezmom]

minutes ago U.S. National - Reuters



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Army is ordering more people to serve in Iraq (news - web sites) and Afghanistan (news - web sites) involuntarily from a seldom-used personnel pool as part of a mobilization that began last summer.



They are part of the Army's Individual Ready Reserve, made up of soldiers who have completed their volunteer active-duty service commitment but remain eligible to be called back into uniform for years after returning to civilian life.


The Army, straining to maintain troop levels in Iraq, last June said it would summon more than 5,600 people on the IRR in an effort to have about 4,400 soldiers fit for duty in Iraq and Afghanistan after granting exemption requests for medical reasons and other hardships.


Lt. Col. Pamela Hart said on Wednesday the Army has now increased the number of IRR soldiers it needs to about 4,650, which means a total of about 6,100 will get mobilization orders.

more: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1895&ncid=1895&e=2&u=/nm/20050323/us_nm/iraq_usa_reserve_dc

[Hand]

1. A draft by any other name would blow as cold... nt

[himitsu]

10. Bunny icon above

Hi there,
I'm sorry I would have sent this via PM but I don't have enough posts yet. I was wondering if you knew that the bunny icon you are using is actually a bunny from the PetBunny usergroup, named Mimi, who just died recently. I think the bunny's family would be pretty upset to see the image of their beloved Mimi being used as an icon :(

Sorry to sound like a nutcase but I was really shocked when I saw the icon of Mimi's calendar picture @_@ (she won a bunny calendar contest a few years back).

Thanks,
~himitsu

[Hand]

11. Yes, I know. 8-)

I took the picture. Mimi was my bunny; we had her--well, she owned us ;)--for almost 9 1/2 years. I've been on PetBunny since 1994, and was completely delighted and honored when her "laughing bunny" picture was put on the home page.

This is quite amazing, though--I'm bowled over that you know and recognize our wonderful grumpy little mini-lop. Sadly, she passed on to the Rainbow Bridge about four years ago after a long life during which she pretty much had her way about everything. We still miss her--she was truly unique. :cry:

You can see more pix of Mimi and our other bunnies in my Webshots album:

http://community.webshots.com/album/133256710YIIxos

ON EDIT: Welcome to DU, himitsu! Bet this is as much of a surprise to you as it is to me!

[frictionlessO]

13. Preciously cool and wonderful thing to have happen online like that

and the story that goes with it even better. Mimi sounds like she had a lot of personality to offer up to you. Glad she had such a wonderful family!

This is the sort of thing that makes DU shine!

[llmart]

2. Next thing you know......

they'll be calling up WWII vets. No one in their right minds would enlist under BushCo's watch. He just uses them for his own personal gain like cannon fodder. He couldn't care less about the troops.

[dw]

3. A definition...

cannon fodder
n.
Soldiers, sailors, or other military personnel regarded as likely to be killed or wounded in combat.

Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.


cannon fodder
n : soldiers who are regarded as expendable in the face of artillery fire

Source: WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University

[salin]

4. Does anyone know the paramaters of this

army doc - out more than 12 years, in late 40s - would this profile be at risk or not at risk of involuntary call up?

[BrotherBuzz]

7. Military doctors are commisioned officers...

He/she need to resign their commision if they havn't already done so. The Army’s IRR is made up of are soldiers who still have a legal obligation to serve in the military reserves, as well as officers who have not reached their retirement or resigned their commissions.

[salin]

9. I am pretty sure that the commission was resigned

long ago.

[Hand]

14. Head for the hills, doc! nt

[KamaAina]

5. "It's not a draft! It's an involuntary troop call-up!"

On one of the last episodes of Cheers, Carla was inconsolable because she got hammered and slept with one of the regulars, who turned out to be -- no, not Cliff -- but Pauly.

Sam, trying to be helpful, decides to share an embarrassing secret of his won.

He reaches up and pulls off his toupee (which we all knew he had all along, of course, but the other characters didn't, you see :-) ):

Carla: "You wear a rug? You're bald?"

Sam: (testily) "It's not a rug! It's a hair replacement system!"

Meanwhile the thing is flopping over his hand like a dead wombat or something.

And now, to our own episode of "Jeers":

Rumsfeld: (testily) "It's not a draft! It's an involuntary troop call-up!"

Meanwhile the thing is flopping around like a dead albatross around his neck...

[katinmn]

6. Not all who were called answered the call

Hart also said 370 IRR soldiers had not reported to the Army by the date ordered and have not requested an exemption from service or a delay in reporting. Hart said none have been declared absent without leave, or AWOL, and the Army was trying to determine whether all of them actually had received their mobilization orders.


"We're giving them all ample opportunity to comply with their orders," Hart said.


The Army has approved 1,866 requests for exemptions or delays in reporting, Hart said.

[sam sarrha]

8. didnt they raise the backdoor draft age to 39 ???

[hadrons]

12. they raised first-time enlistment to the guard to 39 ....

backdoor draft .... they've been taking 50-65 years old

[trogdor]

17. These people needed to get out of the IRR a long time ago.

They stay because they get retirement points. They go on little training missions now and then, and get a paycheck and retirement points. They participate in mock callups, and get a paycheck and retirement points. They do Army correspondence courses, and rack up a point per credit hour. In the end, it pads the retirement check Reservists get starting at age 60, but they still run the risk of getting called up.

I did 15 years in the Regular Army, so I have tons of retirement points. I sit in the Retired Reserve, and don't play any of these other games. Retired Reserve guys are closer to the bottom of the barrel, since too many of them are three days older than dirt, so they'd have to be really, really desperate to bother getting Congress' permission to call them up.

[Toots]

15. Now I will not Employ National guardsmen, Reserves or Newly released

military. Sorry I can not take the chance they will be called away for more than a couple weeks a year and have to keep their job open til they return. Employment will become a lot harder for these people now. They can thank their battle hardened hero Bush*.

[bunny planet]

16. Does this apply to Marines too. I have one on my block, in his thirties

with * stickers all over his car and his house. Flys a US flag and the Semper Fi flag 24/7. Catch is, his wife is very wealthy, and so no signs of his having been called up or remotely in danger of being called up. I'm wondering whether or not his money will insulate him from a call up, not sure what his status is, whether he was an officer or not. The other people on our block are Dems so we don't converse with him much about anything to do with politics. Still I'm curious.

[annabanana]

18. the $ itself may not "insulate" him....

But I'll bet it could pay for a lot of lawyers to find some damn rich people's loophole or another....