Army Orders Further Involuntary Troop Call-Up

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Army Orders Further Involuntary Troop Call-Up

 

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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.

 

The IRR differs from the part-time Army Reserve and Army National

Guard, whose soldiers train regularly as part of units. People on the

IRR have no such training requirements.

 

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.

 

There are about 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, but the number is slated

to decline to about 138,000 this month. The Army has defended tapping

into the IRR, saying it was a legitimate personnel tool to find

soldiers in a time of need.

 

Army officials have said that they expect to launch a second round of

mobilizations from the IRR this summer on the scale of the current

round to provide soldiers for future force rotations into Iraq and

Afghanistan.