thedrifter
03-06-07, 07:53 AM
Retirees want to serve
In the Feb. 12 issue, there is a letter from retired Army Col. Ralph L. Smith concerning the “surge” and where those extra troops would come from [“Retirees will answer call”].
He goes on to question why Congress hasn’t decided to have a voluntary call-up of retirees. Smith’s premise is that there are military retirees who would be more than willing to serve, and I believe he is correct in his analysis.
I think the problem lies with the fact that either no one in authority cares, or the system itself is broken. A case in point: In July 2004, I was forced to retire from the Marine Corps Reserve due to service limitations. There was nothing wrong with my fitness reports, etc., it was simply a case of a lack of vacancies in my military occupational specialty in the next higher paygrade.
I cannot speak for other services, but in the Marine Corps, if you haven’t attained a certain paygrade (even through no fault of your own) by a specified number of years, you are tossed aside, no matter what your level of professionalism or competency may be.
The same week that I retired, I read an article in Marine Corps Times in which the Corps was seeking recently retired Marines with specific skill sets to volunteer to come out of retirement to fill empty spots.
As I possessed four of the six skill sets the Marine Corps was seeking and desired to continue to serve, I went to the Web site and put my name in the hat. The article said that someone would contact me. Six months later, after not hearing a word from the Marine Corps, I went back to the Web page and again submitted my name for recall. I did this twice more for a total of four times over the course of the next year and a half.
To this date, no one has contacted me. I have lost track of the number of times and different entities I have contacted trying to get recalled, all to no avail.
So while Smith’s proposition is a valid one, it appears that no one, at least from the Marine Corps, is interested.
Reserve Gunnery Sgt. Ronald N. Brady (ret.)
Covington, La.
In the Feb. 12 issue, there is a letter from retired Army Col. Ralph L. Smith concerning the “surge” and where those extra troops would come from [“Retirees will answer call”].
He goes on to question why Congress hasn’t decided to have a voluntary call-up of retirees. Smith’s premise is that there are military retirees who would be more than willing to serve, and I believe he is correct in his analysis.
I think the problem lies with the fact that either no one in authority cares, or the system itself is broken. A case in point: In July 2004, I was forced to retire from the Marine Corps Reserve due to service limitations. There was nothing wrong with my fitness reports, etc., it was simply a case of a lack of vacancies in my military occupational specialty in the next higher paygrade.
I cannot speak for other services, but in the Marine Corps, if you haven’t attained a certain paygrade (even through no fault of your own) by a specified number of years, you are tossed aside, no matter what your level of professionalism or competency may be.
The same week that I retired, I read an article in Marine Corps Times in which the Corps was seeking recently retired Marines with specific skill sets to volunteer to come out of retirement to fill empty spots.
As I possessed four of the six skill sets the Marine Corps was seeking and desired to continue to serve, I went to the Web site and put my name in the hat. The article said that someone would contact me. Six months later, after not hearing a word from the Marine Corps, I went back to the Web page and again submitted my name for recall. I did this twice more for a total of four times over the course of the next year and a half.
To this date, no one has contacted me. I have lost track of the number of times and different entities I have contacted trying to get recalled, all to no avail.
So while Smith’s proposition is a valid one, it appears that no one, at least from the Marine Corps, is interested.
Reserve Gunnery Sgt. Ronald N. Brady (ret.)
Covington, La.