USMC Individual Ready Reserve

C.I.R. Press Editorial

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Many on the left are treating this like it is some kind of massive draft (example: ThinkProgress "Name the Draft"), wanting to scare people in to thinking “you or your child is next.” It is nothing of the sort and most of those believing that simply do not understand how the military works. I ask you to read the following and then maybe you will view it as what it really is, people who signed up to serve and are now being called to do so.

Master Sgt. Michelle Ruckman, mobilization operations staff noncommissioned officer in charge at Marine Corps Mobilization Command in Kansas City, Mo., said the Marines won’t be mobilized all at once, but rather “100 here and 60 there” as manpower officials request them.

And more from the USMC:

"Although the move probably won't be popular among affected Marines,” Benjamin said it shouldn't be completely unexpected. "When you did your first time around (on active duty), you know it was a possibility," he said. "And knowing that it was a possibility, it's something that they should have always kept in mind."

Cpl. James Johnson, a postal clerk about to leave for his third deployment during his four years in the Marine Corps, said he applauds the decision to commit more Marines to the mission. That will help get the job done faster so U.S. troops can come home sooner, he figures. "So I think it's good. It will be a relief to the active force," he said.

"I always told my guys that they were joining the Marine Corps to be a Marine and possibly, if called, to fight for their country," he said. "I told them that any benefits they got were just the icing on the cake. So I have no sympathy for people who complain about being called up to serve their country."

Speaking to a Marine vet, who has returned from Iraq:

If he's called back, Mr. Anderson said there's a reasonable chance he'd be assigned to Camp Lejeune to replace a Marine being sent overseas. The prospect doesn't please him. "I've been in the rear, doing the support stuff, and it was some of the unhappiest times I spent in the Marines," he said. "I enjoyed what I was doing more when I was overseas, instead of dealing with all the politics.”

"But I have to continue on the path I'm on now," he said. "And if they call me, I'll hit the pause button."

And more cold hard truth from the source:

In addition, the service is excluding Marines who are in their first year of IRR service. Officials are deliberately avoiding activating Marines who have recently been in a combat zone.

He noted that about 2,600 Marine reservists are serving within U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility. “They’re part of our total force,” he added. “They’re a resource we should be able to tap into in times of war and contingency.”

The Marine Corps drew on its Individual Ready Reserve in the early days of Operation Iraqi Freedom, involuntarily calling up roughly 2,000 Marines, and in the 1991 Gulf War, when about 8,300 IRR members were involuntarily activated, O’Connor said.

In conclusion it is a little fact that people being critical like to avoid. People just back from combat are exempt, so don’t pull any of that “yanking by the collar men still bleeding and sending them back to battle.” Also every person called is not sent to combat, many will replace people currently serving here. And in the intelligence world they are just adding more manpower, more people to analyze and in a more expedited fashion deliver results.

War is not a thing that takes breaks for peoples lives, when you are needed you are needed. And in the military people tend to take contracts more seriously than others in civilian life, because their contract is one that stands to defend his/her country and fellow brother and sister in arms. This is part of what they signed up for, many years of peace leads society to feel it is a simple X number of years to get education… no it is more than that and these things are unknown to the general public until wartime.

Maybe it is only the Marines that understand the commitment they show, fighting in every war since the US has stood. I asked some co-workers and friends, they are fine with being called up. Not because they think it will be fun… because it is their duty and what they signed up for.

-md