INDIVIDUAL READY RESERVE PROBLEMS

Follow the link to a New York Times story about members of the Army's Individual Ready Reserve who are fighting their call-up to active duty. There are, in my estimation, two points to remember about this.

First, the former soldiers involved all should have read their enlistment contracts closely and understood their obligation. For most, this involved spending some amount of time in the Individual Ready Reserve. The former soldier should have received a form each year to verify his/her address, a pointed reminder that he/she was subject to a call-up.

Second, the Army makes mistakes. For example, I served three years of active duty in the Army in the late 1980s. My total commitment, however, was eight years. I was discharged from the IRR at the end of 1993. I received a DD 214 and a signed discharge certificate. Unfortunately, I kept receiving the Army Reserve magazine and the address update form, as well as the occasional call from a personnel soldier verifying my whereabouts. As a former personnel clerk myself, I knew this meant I was still being carried on the rolls of the IRR. Unlike some of the folks you read about in stories like the one from the NYT, I did something about it. I sent copies of all my paperwork to the Commanding Officer of the IRR with a letter asking him to fix the problem. He did. I'm now the proud owner of TWO DD 214s and TWO discharge certificates from the IRR.

In the end, as the article points out, many of these cases will be fixed as the Army realizes it's mistakes. This is NOT a back-door draft. For the former soldiers in the IRR this is their obligation. For those called up mistakenly, it's the Army's job to make it right.