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August 23, 2006

Regarding the Marine Corps IRR Call-Up

...major dad (being the gentleman and the scholar he is) has found a link on the right hand side of USMC.mil. See where it says...

Volunteer for duty
IRR Marines and recent retirees needed for GWOT billets
Learn more and apply

...? This is the link (if mine doesn't work just click through theirs ~ might be Privacy Act issues). It's got cool little boxes where you fill in your MOS, grade, DuSta CONUS etc. and when you're available. Plug all that in, hit search and see if the Marine Corps can use you. Nobody wants or needs a SNCO in either 6313 OR Career Planner, which is just dandy by me. (So I'm not gonna sweat a recall and won't be power chugging ding dongs to get out of it.) But if anyone's worried they might be on the hit list, it probably wouldn't hurt to see if your MOS is something they're in dire need of. Like the WaPo article says:
They would come from a pool of about 59,000 members of the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) -- Marines with specific skills who left active duty and returned to civilian lives, but are obligated to serve if called. Marine Corps officials said yesterday that reservists in their first or last years of enrollment will not be subject to recall.

Officials said they will try to choose Marines with the smallest number of combat tours, leaving about 35,000 subject to the call-up.

Those receiving a recall notice will have five months to report to active duty and could serve tours of 12 to 18 months, Marine officials said yesterday.


Forewarned is forearmed. And, if you're like most Marines I've ever known and there's a slot for your MOS, you'll beat them to the punch if your wife will let you.

UPDATE: More on the skill sets they're looking for:

Yet the call-up is a rare one for the smallest of the country's four military services, which has always prided itself on its recruitment and retention record. Less than 180,000 Marines serve on active duty, but the Corps has consistently met or exceeded its recruiting and re-enlistment goals for years, even as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq drag on.

Those expected to receive involuntary activation notices include infantry and other combat specialties, communications and intelligence specialists, combat engineers and military police, the Marines said.

Posted by tree hugging sister at August 23, 2006 02:42 PM

Comments

They may not need a 6313, but they need SNCO's. But they need the type in combat arms, so you're still safe.

The reserves are getting tapped out, there's no denying. I just got back in October, got mobilized again for 5 months in New Orleans, and now they're pressuring me to mobilize again in December.

I'd like to finish at least ONE semester between war fighting. People with actual jobs are finding it harder and harder to explain to their bosses why they are gone, again, and why they should keep promising to hold a job for them.

I imagine I'll be leaving in the summer again. No problem for me, I can put school on hold for a year again and it helps me pay for school, but I am certainly sympathetic with those who are calling it quits.

Americans put up with anything, so long as they think we're winning. We aren't succeeding in making that point anymore, especially with this recent stunt of not supporting Israel.

Posted by: Mike Rentner at August 24, 2006 08:50 PM

But if you want, ths, you can go back to school and get a communications MOS!

Posted by: Mike Rentner at August 24, 2006 08:51 PM