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08/05/2003 Archived Entry: "I'm wondering who they're going to call next."
I'm wondering who they're going to call next.
We hear so much that this is a 'volunteer armed force.' But if you're in and they don't let you leave - or you're retired and they call you back - does that name mean what they say it does?
Army Capt. Richard Hinman says he's a "draftee" serving in a volunteer army.Think about it, says Hinman. The West Point graduate, who left the military in 1999, didn't want to go to Iraq and Kuwait. But he got his orders on Feb. 8 and was sent overseas in May.
"I wanted to get out of this kicking-in-doors-with-guns kind of thing," said Hinman, who was looking forward to more time with his two children but is now serving at Camp Doha, Kuwait. "It was a real surprise."
And a shock, Hinman said in a telephone interview from Kuwait, because he was so unprepared. Even his old uniforms had been thrown away.
Hinman is an Individual Ready Reservist, one of about 300,000 former service members available for active duty in a time of crisis, according to the Pentagon. Each year, as thousands of military personnel finish their terms of active duty, they are placed on IRR status for a period that varies according to agreements they signed when they joined the service.
In some cases, a person on IRR status can be called up as many as 10 years after departure from the armed forces, the Pentagon says.
Although many people on IRR are never called back, the Department of Defense is relying on them more heavily as operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere stretch the military's manpower. And Hinman, who was enjoying civilian life, is returning to a life he had hoped to leave behind.
Replies: somebody speaks up.
im sure that someone who has been off for 10 years will be very well trained too. if we are calling up people who have been inactive for that long we must be in more trouble than i thought (and i always fear the worst so thats saying a lot)
this just goes to show that you should read things before you sign them. it does seem unfair though, because that is many poor peoples only hope of going to college, the poverty draft has always worked before.... i had 2 friends who joined the military right after high school. one friend got his tesicle crushed wrestling with another marine and got a medical discharge, but the other friend was shipped to the DMZ in korea, and i never saw him again, wonder if hes still alive.. either way, read stuff before you sign it, for that matter just dont join the military, theyll screw you every time
Posted by justin @ 08/05/2003 05:05 PM NY
