MB Civic

This was sent to me today.  I thought that I would pass it on.  It is sobering.
Annette

Not a good sign.

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Inactive Marines recalled to duty
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Corps says too few volunteer for tours in Iraq, Afghanistan

By Julian E. Barnes, Tribune Newspapers
Los Angeles Times

August 23, 2006

WASHINGTON — The Marine Corps said Tuesday that it would begin calling thousands of Marines back to active-duty service on an involuntary basis to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan, the latest sign that American armed forces are under strain.

Marine commanders will call up formerly active-duty service members now classified as reservists after the corps failed to find enough volunteers among their emergency reserve pool to fill needed jobs in combat zones. The call-ups will begin in several months, summoning as many as 2,500 reservists at a time to serve for a year or more.

The military has had to scramble to meet the personnel requirements of the Iraq war. Earlier this year, the military called forward its reserve force stationed in Kuwait, sending one battalion to secure Baghdad and two to Ramadi. Last month, the yearlong deployment of the Alaska-based 172nd Stryker Brigade was extended by four months to provide extra troops to roll back escalating sectarian violence in Baghdad.

For much of the conflict, the Army has had to use “stop-loss orders,” which keep soldiers in their units even after their active-duty commitment is complete, and involuntarily call-ups of reservists to supplement their forces.

The call-ups and the stop-loss orders have been criticized as a “back-door draft” and are unpopular with service members, many of whom believe they have already done their part.

“You can send Marines back for a third or fourth time, but you have to understand you are destroying their lives,” said Paul Rieckhoff, the founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. “It is not what they intended the all-volunteer military to look like.”

Marines typically enlist for eight years. Most serve four years on active duty and then enter the reserves, either as part of a unit that has a monthly drill or as part of the “individual ready reserve.”

The ready reserve was designed to be a pool the armed services could draw on in a time of national emergency. But the Iraq war has forced the Army, and now the Marines, to rely on the ready reserve to fill holes in the combat force.

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) said the call-up of the Marine ready reserve was an example of the wear and tear inflicted by Iraq on the armed services, a stress that could hurt the military in the future.

“The right way to address the issue is to increase the size of the military so you do not have to rely on the call-up of the individual ready reserve,” Reed said.

Although the Marines have for the most part avoided forcing reservists to serve in Iraq against their will, as the war has gone on, volunteers have been harder to come by.

“We have been tracking our volunteer numbers for the last two years. If you tracked it on a timeline or a chart, you would see it going down,” said Col. Guy Stratton, head of the Marine Corps’ Manpower Mobilization Plans section, who briefed reporters Tuesday on the reserve plans.

There are 138,000 troops serving in Iraq. About 24,100 active-duty Marines are serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa, although the bulk of that force is in Iraq’s Anbar Province.

Most Marine Corps tours in Iraq are about seven months long, compared with the Army’s yearlong tours. But Marines return to combat more frequently, with as little as five or six months in the United States between rotations. The grueling schedule means some Marines have served three tours in Iraq.

The Marines last did an involuntary call-up of members of their individual ready reserve before the initial invasion of Iraq. Although 2,658 involuntary orders were issued at the time, far fewer ended up serving in Iraq.

Stratton said that, when deciding whom to mobilize, the corps will select the reservist with fewer combat tours or who has served overseas less recently.

The Marines estimate they are about 1,200 people short of what is needed in Iraq and Afghanistan. With training taking six months, and deployments an average of six months more, the Marines need the authority to call up 2,500 people at a time. Marines called from the reserve could serve a maximum of two years, although most tours are expected to last 12 to 18 months. Stratton said the authority to involuntarily call up the ready reserve will last indefinitely.
Copyright (c) 2006, Chicago Tribune