Up to 1,800 IRR Marines to be recalled

[thedrifter]

Up to 1,800 IRR Marines to be recalled

By Kimberly Johnson - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Mar 26, 2007 11:21:22 EDT

The Corps is involuntarily recalling up to 1,800 members of the Individual Ready Reserve this month, Corps officials announced Monday.

This recall is the second time Marines have been pressed back into uniform in recent months.

The service’s Kansas City, Mo.-based Marine Corps Mobilization Command recalled about 150 IRR leathernecks in December, the first time the service has exercised its recall option in about four years, Brig. Gen. Darrell Moore said at the time.

Legally, however, there is a limit to how many the Corps is able to force back into service.

“The Marine Corps will continue issuing involuntary activation orders to recall up to 2,500 members of the [IRR] to fill critical manpower requirements in support of the Global War on Terrorism, under authority granted by the President of the United States,” said a Corps statement issued Monday.

Commandant Gen. James Conway hinted at an impending involuntary recall earlier this month, saying reservists would help fill billets taxed by frequent combat deployments.

“We’re getting a lot of what I’ll call individual augment requirements. And I’d like not to strip out our active-duty forces, especially those that are in the rotation, if there’s another means to field those things,” Conway said March 1.

Conway has pledged to make sure every active Marine deploys to the war zone, which means reassigning active-duty Marines to deploying units. Called “Every Marine Into the Fight,” the initiative targets 66,000 active Marines who have not been to war yet.

An IRR call-up would help fill personnel gaps while the Corps works to increase end strength and give Marines more time at home between deployments.

“What it helps is drawing the stress off those people,” Conway said. “We just want to expand our employment base.”

Ellie

[thedrifter]

1,800 Individual Ready Reserve Marines may get yearlong deployment

By Jeff Schogol, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Tuesday, March 27, 2007

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Marine Corps plans to notify 1,800 Marines in the Individual Ready Reserve this month that they could be mobilized for one year, to include an expected seven-month deployment to Iraq, said Maj. Steven O’Connor, Reserve liaison officer at Headquarters Marine Corps Public Affairs.

Troops in the IRR have left active duty but still have time on their obligation to serve. Unlike other reservists, they do not drill.

Of the Marines notified, about 1,200 are expected to get orders to join the I Marine Expeditionary Force in Iraq, O’Connor said Monday.

That breaks down to 1,067 sergeants and 133 captains, said Lt. Col. Jeff Riehl, of Manpower and Reserve Affairs.

Of the roughly 60,000 Marines in the IRR, about 25,200 are eligible for this callup, Riehl said.

Riehl gave the following breakdown of how many Marines the Corps is looking to call up per Military Occupational Specialty:
Aviation maintenance, 361
Logistics support, 225
Infantry, tanks and artillery, 223
Motor transport, 178
Communications, 97
Intelligence, 95
Military police, 21

In August, the Corps announced that it planned to mobilize up to 2,500 Marines in the IRR to stem a shortfall of 1,200 Marines. The Corps had been relying on volunteers from the IRR, but fewer Marines in the IRR had volunteered to be mobilized.

Since then, 150 Marines in the IRR have been notified they could deploy, of which 69 have received orders to go to Iraq, O’Connor said.

The Corps decides on a case-by-case basis whether calling up Marines from the IRR would pose an undue hardship to individual Marines, he said.

Those Marines who receive orders to deploy can expect to be on active duty from about Oct. 9, 2007, to Sept. 30, 2008, O’Connor said. They will receive their training stateside before heading downrange.

In addition to receiving combat pay and other benefits that active-duty troops get, the IRR Marines will receive a per diem to cover meals, lodging and incidentals, he said. Their Tricare benefits will also kick in 90 days before they deploy and remain in effect for 180 days after they come home.

Should the Corps need more Marines from the IRR, notifications could go out again this July, O’Connor said.

About 4,700 Marines from the IRR have been mobilized since 2001 as part of the overall war on terrorism.

Ellie