Pentagon email reportedly shows call-ups of ex-military

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: FW: Last step before the draft...?
Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 17:34:55 -0400
From: Singleton, Norman <Norman.Singleton () mail house gov>


I also read that the Pentagon will be using IRS data to track down reverses
they have lost track of.



> Phony Disengagement, Secret Escalation 
>
> http://www.antiwar.com/sperry/?articleid=2596
>
> May 18, 2004Phony Disengagement, Secret Escalation
> by Paul Sperry <mailto:plogician () aol com>
> W hile the Pentagon says it plans to scale back the U.S. occupation in
> Iraq, it's quietly doing just the opposite, high-level internal e-mails
> reveal.
>
> It has launched a massive nationwide call-up of former service members
> across the country who have not fully completed their eight-year
> contractual obligation to the US Army. They are known collectively as the
> Individual Ready Reserves, or IRR, and they number more than 118,000.
>
> It's one of the last options the military has before drafting civilians.
> And the move comes on top of rumors the Pentagon plans to redeploy to Iraq
> some 4,000 US troops stationed in South Korea
> <http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0518/p08s03-comv.html>.
>
> Call-ups for IRR members begin today, according to high-level Army e-mails
> I've obtained. Those who don't report could face AWOL or desertion
> charges.
>
> Ex-soldiers with time remaining on their contracts "are being sought for
> activation and assignment to a deploying OIF [Operation Iraqi Freedom]/OEF
> [Operation Enduring Freedom
> <http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/defense/enduringfreedom.html> ] unit,"
> says Command Sgt. Maj. Luis A. Garcia of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division
> in a May 13 e-mail to garrison sergeants major, under the heading: "IRR
> Activations: IMPORTANT!"
>
> "Call-ups will begin 18 May. The Army is looking for 8,000 soldiers to
> volunteer at first. After 18 May, separated soldiers may be located and
> called up INVOLUNTARILY," his e-mail emphasizes. "These people will be
> activated and ordered to report to any ARNG [Army National Guard] or USAR
> [US Army Reserve] unit that needs them."
>
> Garcia adds: "Those that fail to report could face AWOL or desertion
> charges. This is serious business."
>
> He cites a Pentagon-level e-mail he received two days earlier from an
> official at the US Army Human Resources Command
> <https://www.hrc.army.mil/indexflash.asp> headquartered in Alexandria, Va.
> In that May 11 e-mail, Sgt. Maj. Antimo Bruno refers to a recent video
> teleconference conducted by Lt. Gen. James R. Hemley, commander of the US
> Army Reserve, in which the commander outlined the call-up plan for IRR
> members.
>
> "Soldiers assigned to the IRR will start to be activated in support of
> missions in Iraq, Afghanistan and other locations," explains Bruno, who
> works in the transition branch of the Army Human Resources Command here.
>
> "The IRR will still be an option for soldiers exiting active duty, if that
> is what they desire to do," he adds. "But with this new policy, the
> likelihood of the soldiers being mobilized from the IRR has been greatly
> increased."
>
> The new mobilization policy requires the authorization of Defense
> Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who has bridled in public at calls for more
> troops in Iraq
> <http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-06-02-white-usat_x.htm>.

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