The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported yesterday that the Army will start doing screenings of about 5,000 IRR reservists.
The IRR has been a source of controversy these days, particularly among war critics who accuse the government as using it as a type of “back door draft,” essentially calling people back who no longer want to serve in the military.
From the article:
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.
IRR – Individual Ready Reserve – is the category that reservists fall into after their active time of service is up. Active enlistments are usually for 2, 4 or 6 years, but there is a statutory mandate of 8 years of service that all service members, active or reserve, are required to fulfill. In other words, if a reservist enlists for six and decides to leave the military at the end of those six, he or she is still “on call” for two more years. He doesn’t drill, doesn’t receive any compensation from the military, but if he’s needed, he has to go. (For more information, visit GlobalSecurity.org.)
This happened to my friend Chris’s husband. He had left the reserves, wasn’t drilling, had nothing to do with the military and one day out of the blue, they received a letter in the mail ordering him to report for duty in 30 days. He was gone for 15 months – 6 months of training here in the states and the rest of the time in Iraq. He came back in May, having earned a bronze star for his service.
The screenings have the purpose of checking in on where these IRR service members are, which I think is a wise step on the Army’s behalf. The time, money and emotional toll it takes to bring an IRR member up to speed for a mission is too great to continue with the system as it has been. It’s hard enough for reservists and their families when they’ve never been through deployment, but to pull a member back when (mistakenly) they think they’re “off the hook” can create more problems than necessary. By requiring this physical muster screening, it’s a physical reminder to the individual as well as the family that the commitment is still there.
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