Individual Ready Reserve

The Individual Ready Reserve ("IRR") is a category of the Reserve Component of the Armed Forces of the United States composed of former active duty or reserve military personnel, and is authorized under usctc|10|1005. As of 22 June 2004, the IRR had approximately 112,000 members (does not include all service IRR populations) composed of enlisted personnel and officers, with more than 200 Military Occupational Specialties are represented, including combat arms, combat support, and combat service support.

An individual assigned to the IRR receives no pay or benefits and is not obligated to drill, conduct annual training, or participate in any military activities (except for periodic Muster activities) until activated by Presidential Reserve Callup Authority. An individual assigned to the IRR may receive pay or benefits for voluntarily performing specific types of active duty.By law, they are only required to retain possession of their service uniforms, retain their military identification card, and notify their service branch if they move and change their address.

Upon being called up, service members will usually be screened for their medical and personal status in order to qualify or disqualify them for activation. During the process, IRR members who seek to delay, defer, or exempt their activations have the opportunity to present their case to the mobilization authority for a decision.

Callup Authority and Activation

"Presidential Reserve Callup Authority" (PRCA) is a Provision of a public law (US Code, Title 10 (DOD), section 12304) that provides the President a means to activate, without a declaration of national emergency, not more than 200,000 members of the Selected Reserve and the Individual Ready Reserve (of whom not more than 30,000 may be members of the Individual Ready Reserve), for not more than 400 days to meet the support requirements of any operational mission. Members called under this provision may not be used for disaster relief or to suppress insurrection. This authority has particular utility when used in circumstances in which the escalatory national or international signals of partial or full mobilization would be undesirable. Forces available under this authority can provide a tailored, limited-scope, deterrent, or operational response, or may be used as a precursor to any subsequent mobilization. [ [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/army/usar-irr.htm GlobalSecurity.org U.S. Army Individual Ready Reserve (IRR)] ]

When activated by Presidential Reserve Callup Authority, soldiers are required to follow the activation instructions contained in Army Regulation 135-91 specifying that members of the IRR can be required to join an Army Reserve unit if they are statutorily obligated and have a skill needed by the Army. Reserve soldiers are normally obligated to serve up to two years active duty, a requirement that is waiverable by the individual soldier, mission constraints, or the needs of the Army.

Activations in the War on Terror

Until the War on Terror, members of the Individual Ready Reserve had not been called up since Operation Desert Storm [ [http://stinet.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA254322 The Mobilization of Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) Infantrymen During Operation DESERT STORM] ] .

Army

In March 2004, Army Human Resources Command began identifying IRR soldiers with Military Occupational Specialties that met the needs of the Army at that time. In June 2004, those soldiers were transferred into Selected Reserve units to begin drilling, training, and preparing for deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. Approximately 5,600 IRR soldiers were notified during the initial call up.Fact|date=October 2007 Since 2004, approximately 51% of IRR soldiers called up have actually reported.Fact|date=October 2007

Marines

The Marines began activating their IRR members beginning in 2001. They were allotted up to 2500 Marines to be activated at any one time. So far, two major activations have occurred, targeting mostly Corporals and Sergeants and those with high-demand training (combat arms, logistics, maintenance, etc.).

=History of War on Terror activations:=29 July 2004:
*5,600 members of the IRR, mainly with specialties as military police or civil affairs officers, were called back to active duty to support U.S. forces in Iraq. This activation was the first time that the IRR had been called upon since the 1991 Gulf War, when approximately 20,000 IRR troops were called up in support of Operation Desert Storm.

April 2005:
*Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has authorized the Army to mobilize up to 6,500 Individual Ready Reservists at any one time; [ [http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Apr2005/20050408_529.html Most Individual Ready Reservists Reporting as Ordered] ]
*3,900 IRR members with critical specialties have been called to active duty;
*About half of those called have reported for duty;
*About 550 of those called have failed to report for duty, some claiming exemptions, others ignoring their orders.

August 2006:
*President Bush has authorized the U.S. Marine Corps to recall 2,500 troops to active duty. [ [http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/08/22/marine.recall/index.html Bush OKs Marine recall] ]

March 2007:
*Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates approved the recall of 1800 Marines not in their first or last year of their IRR contract, 1200 of which will be Sergeants and Captains joining the I MEF in Iraq. Here broken down by MOS:
** Aviation maintenance, 361
** Logistics support, 225
** Infantry, tanks and artillery, 223
** Motor transport, 178
** Communications, 97
** Intelligence, 95
** Military police, 21

They will be used for early rotation into a 2008 deployment. If more troops are needed, another recall could happen in July. [ [http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=44629 "1,800 Individual Ready Reserve Marines may get yearlong deployment." Jeff Schogol, Stars and Stripes Mideast edition, Tuesday, March 27, 2007] ]

August 2007:
*The Marines sent out another recall for a September 2007 [ [http://www.usmc.mil/maradmins/maradmin2000.nsf/37f49138fc3d9c00852569b9000af6b7/c827446f5fc28a63852571d300775651?OpenDocument USMC MARADMIN 397/06: "POLICY AND PROCEDURES FOR THE INVOLUNTARY (INVOL) ACTIVATION OF UP TO 2,500 MARINE INDIVIDUAL READY RESERVISTS (IRR) ISO GLOBAL WAR ON TERRORISM (GWOT)."] ] muster and screening for possible activation in early 2008.April 2008:

*The Marines sent out another recall for a May 30th Muster and screening for a possible activation in October 2008.

*September 2008 The Marines sent out another notification of recall for a involuntary muster and screening on October 14th of 2008 for a possible activation early 2009.

Delay, Deferment, & Exemption (DD&E)

DD&E is the factors which may exclude a service member from immediate activation.
*Delay - When a service member cannot be activated immediately (for example, they are getting married soon), but they are for all other reasons qualified, and can be called up later for activation. Usually the delay will last up to 4-6 months depending on the needs of the activation.
*Deferment - The service member cannot serve immediately for a fixed amount of time (for example, the service member is in school and will graduate within a year), but can be called up later when the situation changes.
*Exemption - The service member has an immutable characteristic which will never qualify them for activation (for example, the service member is an ordained religious member).

ee also

*United States Army Reserve
*Battle Assembly
*Delay, Deferment, & Exemption - possible exceptions to activation.

References