Individual Ready Reserve

The U.S. Army's IRR SSI worn by Army Reservists in the IRR that are not formally assigned to a particular unit or cadre personnel that run the IIR program.

The Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) is a category of the Ready Reserve 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 10 U.S.C. § 1005. For soldiers in the National Guard of the United States, its counterpart is the Inactive National Guard (ING). 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.

Overview

An individual assigned to the IRR typically receives no pay and is not obligated to drill, conduct annual training, or participate in any military activities (except for periodic Muster activities) unless activated by Presidential Reserve Callup Authority or electing to drill, train, or serve in a "Drill without Pay" or an "Active Duty" role. Unlike members of the Standby Reserve (active and inactive) and Retired Reserve, IRR personnel are members of the Ready Reserve and as such, they retain their status as uniformed military personnel, their military specialty (i.e., pilot, Surface Warfare Officer, infantryman, intelligence officer or enlisted intelligence specialist, etc.) and rank/pay grade. IRR personnel also receive benefits similar to other members of the Reserve Components of the Armed Forces to include entitlement to a United States Uniformed Services Privilege and Identification Card and for their dependents, PX/BX/NEX/MCX/CGX (Exchange) benefits, Commissary benefits, and MWR (Morale Welfare and Recreation) Benefits. (Note: These benefits are only available to IRR Members in the "CONUS" 48 States.) An individual assigned to the IRR may receive pay and full benefits (including medical care and dental care for member and dependents) for voluntarily performing specific types of active duty. Because members of the IRR rarely serve on extended active duty and are not retired from military service most are not eligible for TRICARE. However, if honorably discharged, they do have the VA for medical benefits.[1]

By law, IRR members are 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. An enlisted service member's IRR service ends after the completion of their mandatory service obligation (MSO), usually 8 years.

The Individual Ready Reserve, Selected Reserve, and Inactive National Guard comprise the three Ready Reserve programs.

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.[2]

When the nation is under a presidentially declared state of national emergency in accordance with the National Emergencies Act the President has even broader authority, allowing him to activate not more than 1,000,000 members of the Ready Reserve with no further limitation.[3] The United States has been in a state of national emergency since November 14, 1979.[4]

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. The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), the portion of public law that primarily governs the military as a subset of the general population, is applicable to soldiers activated from the Individual Ready Reserve as of the date that their activating orders require them to report.[5] This subjects them to the possibility of punishment under UCMJ for being Absent Without Leave (AWOL) if they choose to resist activation.[6]

To date no personnel have been prosecuted under UCMJ for refusing or ignoring IRR orders.

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.[7] A major difficulty in activating the IRR stems from the fact that many of its members, typically those from the junior enlisted ranks, are unaware that they are even in the military. This results from such members typically being informed that they are "discharged" upon release from active duty when in fact they have been transferred to the inactive reserves. To solve this situation, many military separation transition courses now spend additional time explaining the nature of the inactive reserve. As of 2005, the military also began to enact "IRR Musters" which were once a year occurrences where an IRR member would be required to report to a military base, confirm their personal and contact information, and sign acknowledgment paperwork that they were members of the IRR.

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.

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

February 2003:

29 July 2004:

April 2005:

August 2006:

March 2007:

They were used for early rotation into a 2008 deployment. If more troops were needed, another recall was planned for July.[10]

August 2007:

April 2008:

As of March 2009, the US Army had recalled 26,954 ready reservists since September 11, 2001. Of those, 10,592 requested exemptions of which 6,352 were granted.[12]

Delay, Deferment & Exemption (DD&E)

Delay, Deferment and Exemption (DD&E) are the methods by which a service member may be relieved of immediate activation.

See also

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/29/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.