Via the Calpundit, I see that my old unit may be deploying to Afghanistan:
Rumors are now swirling that one of two maneuver squadrons (battalions) of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment will soon deploy from Fort Irwin, California, to Afghanistan, and two of the three companies of the 1st Battalion of the 509th Infantry Regiment will travel from Fort Polk, Louisiana, to Iraq. These units are the permanent “opposing forces,” or OPFOR, at the National Training Center and the Joint Readiness Training Center respectively.
Allons!
BTW- Someone go explain to Kevin what IRR means and that it is not a draft or conscription. I would, but I can not suffer through his comments section anymore.
DoubleStandard
Heard about IRR today for the first time.
Heard that the Bush adminstration wants to find IRR personnel via IRS tax returns.
But, they will need Congressional approval for such an act.
Its like a backdoor draft for those who thought they were truly out of the military.
I guess UNcle Sam will need more than just a few good men (and women)
Lock and Load.
Marble
You’re way off base there DS.
Inactive READY Reserves. Bush doesn’t need to look through IRS forms, that information is readily available through each command.
I was in IRR for a very short time as I spent the majority of my enlistment serving (and even a few months of my Delayed Entry Program counted!).
Any reserve duty means you’re callable to action. Being a Marine Reservist, I knew I stood a higher chance of going to combat before much of the other regular forces.
For those who don’t want to ever be called to duty, best thing to do is not join.
Dodd
What? Kevin Drum not letting his utter ignorance of military matters interfere with making comments that deride the President?!? Who would believe such a thing?
Kimmitt
Good luck to all those deployed.
Jeff
Funny you should mention Drum’s insufferable comments section.
Are there ANY liberal blogs where you can actually have a decent debate with someone anymore?
A year or two ago, I would’ve said Drum or Oliver Willis, but as they’ve gone farther to the left, so have the people that comment there.
Like i said, you used to be able to have a decent debate with them, but now, any differing opinion is usually greeted with “fuck you, Freeper troll”.
Black Oak
Right on Jeff.
I used to try to “debate” on Kevin’s site. It got too tedius.
And the level of ignorance on military matters is always astounding. Just like Doublestandard proves. I’m in the IRR. They know right where I am all the time.
… need to use the IRS to find me, Bwhahahaha! I just talked to them a month ago.
BTW John, which unit were you with? The NTC OPFOR or the JRTC OPFOR. My last year in was as an O/C at JRTC (ahhh, Fort Polk. Truly the zit in the armpit of military bases).
Ron
Debates at Kevin’s are out of the question, but I still go over there to stir the pot every now and again.
Being mostly ignorant on military stuff, I’ll pass on this one, though.
Al Maviva
John, I had no idea you were red forces at Irwin. Cool beans. At the risk of sounding ghoulish, Opfor going on a combat deployment is one of the best things that could happen for Army training. Since everybody goes through NRTC or Graf (still open, I presume) top quality, high op tempo operational and tactical training is key. When my unit in GWI (1ID) came back from the Gulf, our first couple rotations beat the bejeezus out of the OpFor at Irwin. In our very first rotation, we ran the table on them during a 30 day rotation, about 18 of which was tactical. That had never happened before.
You come back from the zone, you are cool with running 48 hours straight, better at your job of scouting, acquiring targets, and killing them. Even the junior junior enlisted come back much stronger soldiers, much better at their jobs. So in addition to adding to combat strength, this will build on the proficiency of our troops. Of course you can have too much of a good thing – the hazards of deployment are clear, and too much time spent in combat stress can break men down. But in terms of improving the quality of the military – especially those formerly “joke” national guard infantry and armor units – this will be a damned good thing.
Meanwhile, who is going to run Irwin?
Bloggerhead
Welcome back, John. I trust that the downtime was site- or work-related, and nothing serious. (Yes, I’m not serious about work, myself.)
I’d written (and now have erased) a pissy comment, but in the spirit of comity (kudos to Harley at Tacitus’), if not community, I will simply point out here that nothing in Kevin’s post suggests that he equates IRR with conscription, per se.
I scarcely think it invalid, though, to suspect that as IRR does represent that bottom of the manpower barrel (not in terms of quality but quantity–jeesh, all this qualification, being civil is quite a labor, itself), a draft is possibly in the offing. Hell, if we’re going to do this remake-the-world-vision-thing properly, it may be an absolute pre-requisite.
Of course, expecting the Ace of Laredo to ask for such a sacrifice–hell, any sacrifice–in an election year is pissing up a rope. (OK, using the word “piss” is probably by definition being pissing, but only a little.)
Bloggerhead
Oops, “…using the word, “piss,” is probably by definition being PISSY…”